Ziggy's Go Club

Still meeting for the holidays!

2008-12-23T09:53:00.000-08:00

Just a quick reminder that we meet every single Sunday, and that includes the 27th of December! Hope to see everyone there! You can show off your new Go equipment that you got for Christmas :)

Ziggy's Healthy Grill Changes Format

2008-12-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

Recently Ziggy's Healthy Grill changed from an order-at-the-front place to a full-service sit-down restaurant. As of now, they're still letting us use the back room, but there is a big "RESERVED" sign on the door, and the door that lets us keep an eye on the front door is closed permanently.

So the bottom line is that if you're new and showing up, just walk to the back room that says RESERVED on it. We'll be there, even if you can't see us when you walk in!

Ziggy's goes rated!

2008-09-07T18:48:00.001-07:00

Ziggy's has always welcomed rated games, but for the longest time, no rated games were played. Now we have enough regulars that there is interest to play more rated games, so each month we are going to have an informal "tournament" that spans the entire month.

So far here are the standings for September. Please note that the tournament is ongoing throughout the entire month, so the more often you show up and play rated games, the higher a chance you have of winning the monthly tournament!* :)

If you're an AGA member (or want to become one), come on out and join us. Also, for a limited time, the AGA is permitting us to sign up first-time members for the low low rate of $15 (normally $30). Note the rated games and the membership are completely optional! If you do not want to play rated games or particiapte in the tournament, you can still show up, play an unrated game or two for free, and have a great time!

New rated games 9/7/08:
Carey (5k, W) v. Keith (10k, B) - 5 stones - W+R
Mike (14k, W) v. Oliver (15k, B) - 0.5 komi - W+T

Current standings for September:
Carey - 1 game
Mike - 1 game
Keith - 0 games
Oliver - 0 games

*Of course there are no prizes, but at least there is no entry fee and you get a chance to improve your ranking! Plus you get gloating rights, which everyone knows is more valuable than gold.

Meeting Thursday this week but not Sunday

2008-04-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

We had great success at West Gray last week, so we're going to meet again. Same address, same time (see last blog entry).

However, because of most of our regular members are attending the Houston Go Club Spring Tournament, it is one of the rare occasions where we will not have a Sunday meeting this weekend!

I hope everyone has fun at the tournament!

Impromptu Meeting, Cafe Express West Gray, 4/17 at 7:30pm

2008-04-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

Looks like we have enough interest with the people we've talked to. For all you people who just can't make it out Sunday morning, please join us at Cafe Express at 1422 W. Gray this Thursday (April 17th) at 7:30pm for an informal meeting of Go. Bring a board if you have it!

When you get there, just look for the people with the go boards :)

~Carey

Houston Go Community

2008-04-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

After looking and seeing that Houston has 4 Go clubs listed on AGA, none of which are really active (online). While some clubs may have some internal mailing lists or phone trees, there hasn't been a single website to address all the Go players in Houston. I thought I would try to remedy that by putting up a message board for people to discuss go-related activities in the Houston area.

Check out http://careyj.com/houstongo/ . I've made four boards, one for each go club, where people can post and share ideas, etc. relating to their club, as well as a general category, where Go players from ALL of Houston can discuss anything they want.

Please pass this link on to Go players in the Houston area. It's time we start building a stronger local Go community.

(I apologize to Ziggy's members who already got my announcement through the google group and are getting this a second time)

Brits Adopt U.S. Rules

2008-04-08T05:30:00.001-07:00

This was just released in the AGA Go Journal, and I thought it was worth a note:

BRITS ADOPT U.S. RULES: The British Go Association officially adopted AGA rules of go at last weekend's British Go Congress at Hastings, reports BGA President Ron Bell, who was re-elected for another term. "AGA rules have two major benefits," Bell tells the E-Journal, "First, they neatly allow either the Japanese or Chinese styles of counting the score to be used. Second, the use of pass stones allows any disagreement between the players to be resolved by simply resuming play. Since the BGA Council adopted AGA rules last October, they've been used successfully in about half a dozen tournaments. We do have some members who wanted to keep the previous Japanese rule set - but the motion at the AGM to approve the change was passed with no opposition

Japanese Festival

2008-04-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

All,

This weekend the Japanese Festival will Run, I invite whomever can go to give it a GO with GO.

The Houston Go Club will have some representatives to show the Game so stop by.

Regards,

The Staff

We meet EVERY Sunday, including Easter.

2008-03-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to make a quick post to announce that we still will be meeting this Sunday despite the holiday. Feel free to come play one game with us in the morning at 9am and head out to church afterwards, if you feel so inclined.

See you there!

Houston Go Club Spring Tournament

2008-02-29T05:30:00.000-08:00

Details for the Houston Go Club Spring Tournament have been announced. The tournament will be April 26 and 27th at St. Catherine's Montessori School (near South Loop and Stella Link). Looks like they have online registration now!

I might be able to make it this time around...

Also, don't forget to come to Ziggy's Go Club every Sunday at 9am! We meet at Ziggy's Healthy Grill on Greenbriar and Alabama. Just because we don't update the site often doesn't mean we don't meet. There will be someone to play you every single week if anyone new decides to show up.

Austin Go Club Tournament - Nov 3, 2007

2007-10-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

From the Austin Go Club Sensei's Page:

The Austin Go Club will be holding a tournament at Great Hall Games on Saturday, November 3. The intention right now (unless something happens to blow things up) is to start signing folks up at 8 am on Saturday, and starting the first round at 9am. We plan on having 3 rounds, which should end up at 5pm if all goes well.

I'm planning on 45 minutes each side + 3 x30 second byo-yomi periods. Maybe we will be able to squeeze in 4 rounds, but that would take us out to about 7 pm by my accounting, and I wanted to wrap up by 5pm. If we can get the data and software, yes the results of this will be submitted to AGA for ratings updates. We will start with current or best-guess AGA ratings to build the pairings.

We will be sharing the space with the regular board gamers starting at noon, but there are two separate rooms and we can split up if we have to.

Entry fee will be $10 to AGA members, $15 to non-members. AGA membership is not required but encouraged as a way to boost Go and get a firm rank. You can fill out a small form to join AGA, pay 1 years dues and get the lower rate for the tournament.

Prizes will be awarded to the top three players in each rank band.

Joe Eaton will be the tournament director, jeaton32@gmail.com if you have questions or would like to help. :)

I'm assuming it's at Great Hall Games, which is where their usual meeting is

Houston Go Club Fall Tournament 2007

2007-09-26T08:39:00.001-07:00

The Houston Go Club Fall Tournament information has been added to their website. Same rules and fees as spring: 7 rounds handicap over two days, $45, box lunches included. Prizes include cash and go books and paraphernalia. Please visit their website for more details and to register.

Interactive Map

2007-08-21T11:19:00.000-07:00

I know this is OLD but Am updating with new technology... Now Is interactive...

View Larger Map

Links for 2007-07-25 [del.icio.us]

2007-07-26T00:00:00-07:00

Java Online Class
Free java course

Links for 2007-07-24 [del.icio.us]

2007-07-25T00:00:00-07:00

YOUR WORST ENEMY IS YOURSELF

2007-07-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

ENOUGH SAID...

YOUR ARE YOUR TOUGHEST OPPONENT

Links for 2007-07-16 [del.icio.us]

2007-07-17T00:00:00-07:00

Modbus protocol, specifications and in depth tutorial

Houston's GO WORLD Map

2007-07-16T04:56:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

I want to ask for help to better maximize the effectiveness of the HOUSTON GO (BADUK, WEI QI) Map, if you know of any other place or venue where GO is present let me know so I can update the map.

This is what I have so far

HOUSTON'S GO WORLD

MINGLE with St. Arnold's?

2007-07-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

If you are in Houston and you want to Mingle at the St. Arnold's Brewery in Houston...

Let me know so we can be group. But you will miss quite a good brew, if you don't go...

Go Marathon

2007-07-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

Support your GO and PLAY GO TO YOU DROP!...

This event is sponsor by PANDANET and Japan. I can't participate in this because of work.. But if you can GO RIGHT AHEAD!..

Here are the general Guidelines:

In Marathon Go event, you compete for the number of games played in the designated period. However the following games will not be counted:

* The maximum playing-time per day is 8 hours and any game starting after this time limit will not be counted (In case of a game played over two days in IGS Japan Time, it shall be counted in the date it has started).
* A game not started within the designated period
* A game which was interrupted due to disconnection by both players
* A game played on other than 19x19 board
* A game played against Robot (Robots' User IDs begin with "Robot")
* A game that does not meet the following time requirements:
(1) Pandanet style: at least 5 minutes for 25 moves
(2) Byoyomi style: at least 20 seconds per move
(3) No Byoyomi: at least 30 minutes for one game
* A game with less than 40 moves
* A game which Organizing Committee considered to be inappropriate

[ Ranking ]

Participants with the winning percentage of 30% or more are subject to the final ranking and the winners will be decided as follows:

1. A player with largest number of games played, if the tie remains, then:
2. A player with better winning percentage, if the tie remains, then:
3. A player with larger moves (the sum of all games), if the tie remains, then:
4. These players are considered co-winners

The Organizing Committee reserves the right to disqualify any player who is excessively discourteous to other players.

More Info can be found HERE

A place to Start

2007-06-27T05:39:00.001-07:00

Finally a place to Start learning all thanks to GOBASE.ORG, they are embarking in a big project called 321go.org, Check it out.. Am going to try this, it looks pretty good.

Lessons, Reviews, Tips, Reading Material... I think this summer I shall improve with this...

The downside is a whole lot of material is in Dutch, but in theory they'r working to produce the English version.

Will keep you guys posted.

Meet Up

2007-06-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

I was thinking the other day, maybe there are people out here in Houston that want to play go but time is the issue. Well If you want to meet up during the week or some other day than sunday. Please Reply to this post, leave your email or something I can use to contact you and let's meet for a Game...

Waiting for replies...

1st Game in 2nd Life

2007-06-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

My First Game in Second. The guy with the jeans is me, and the Kimono guy is a Friend from 2nd. The experience is quite out of this world, you sit down turn on the Goban like it was a videogame, select the conditions of the game and there you go, you Start playing GO in a virtual world, Your character moves his hand to place the stone, you can say comments, say "OHH NO" and the character will speak, is quite fun. I all of the sudden thought I was playing back at Ziggy's.

Here are some more pictures of my game, I lost but then again I was playing a 6 Kyu. I invite you guys to try this out, at least once..

Links for 2007-06-21 [del.icio.us]

2007-06-22T00:00:00-07:00

How to Take Great Group Photos

2nd Life

2007-06-20T04:28:00.000-07:00

I wasn't the type to try this type of thing. But I said well why not...

My first encounter was really ackward, I found my place in a totally strange new world, with a new persona, walking around and talking to people (via 3d Chat), I asked around until I found a Go center, teleported myself there and magically appeared in a Dojo type place were there were Go Boards. To my surprise there was someone there and they invited me to a Game, We sat down like on real life, and started touching the board to set up the game and we did actually play...

This is exactly what I saw I found that as well as these pictures am still new to this 2nd life thing so I don't really know how everything works, so I had a hard time trying to talk walk and play....

I may try again 2nite and give it a GO!.

The Go Center can be Located here and the 2nd life address

Hypermap to the World of Go in Houston, Texas

2007-06-14T08:30:00.001-07:00

I have added my 2 cents to the Go world.

Here is my little addition to Google

HOUSTON's 1st GO MAP

Look for it on Google as "Go places in Houston, Texas"

Enjoy.

THE GO MASTERS TRAILER

2007-06-12T07:37:00.001-07:00

ENJOY!... The Go Master Trailer (thanks for correction)

A bit of plot...
The film chronicles Qingyuan's (Go Seigen's) discovery as a child prodigy in China, his move to Japan and rise as a champion. Later, he marrys the leader of a cult and finds himself being exploited by the group. When relations between Japan and China deteriorate into open war, Qingyuan stays in his adopted nation. Now in his 90's, he lives there to this day, teaching and writing about Go.

on a side note, this film looks very similiar to GO MASTERS (1982) A super to hard to find movie, but some of you are good a treasure hunting... Is a intense film, with kind of the similiar note plus was the first film China and Japan collaborated after the war... Am going to try to find this movie over netflix or some other rental place... Stay tuned...

Long long time

2007-05-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

Is being far to long in my opinion since I have added a post to the blog... I have been away from the club since I got relocated far far away to a land GO doesn't exist...

But enought of that for the moment... I wanted to share what I found the other day browsing the web.

Is the Series EMPTY TRIANGLE,is a great strip... I congrat the creator...

Check them out.

Japanese Festival

2007-04-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

Konnichi wa!, The japanese Festival is comming to town this weekend...

So please come by and enjoy the festivities or a game of GO.

I will place photos of the Festival for people that can't attend.

See you there!