Sam Zimmerman Receives the 2024 INAF Lifetime Achievement Award

Sam Zimmerman – Photo by Joshua Guevin

The Iwamoto North America Foundation for Go enthusiastically awards its 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award to Sam Zimmerman.

Successful voluntary organizations often rely on exceptionally dedicated members who quietly do the work needed to make good things happen. For many years, Sam played this role for the American Go Association, serving as Ratings Coordinator and Membership Database Manager. During his decades of service, he was an often behind-the-scenes contributor to virtually every AGA initiative.

Sam, who is 92 years old, was an avid chess player before he discovered Go in the early 1960s. He and a colleague at Westinghouse taught themselves how to play from a book. He later was a Go organizer in Baltimore, Maryland, where he directed the Go club for many years. Sam became aware of the AGA in the early 1970s after attending a Go tournament hosted by the Japanese Ambassador in Washington, DC. Soon after joining, he became a very active member.

In 1986 he took a pioneering step toward creating our virtual Go community when he released Tele-Tsuke, the first software that allowed Go to be played remotely on computers.

Many American Go players will remember Sam from tournaments and Go Congresses. He directed a number of tournaments, including the main tournament at the first U.S. Go Congress. Sam directed the 1997 U.S. Go Congress in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and helped the directors of many other congresses. Keith Arnold, who worked with Sam on many Go projects, reports that Sam was invariably kind and patient despite any challenges. Keith goes on to say that he believes that over the years no one contributed more to the successes of U.S. Go Congresses than Sam.

Please join with the INAF in thanking Sam for the many years he devoted time and energy to promoting Go in North America.

July 9th, 2024|

INAF Announces the Presentation of Three Videos Produced in Cooperation with Nihon Kiin

The first is a lecture by Takemiya Masaki 9p on his choice of the “best selection of cosmic-style game”. He gives detailed commentary of the game between himself and Cho Chikun to decide the 1988 Kisei challenger. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-mC7AKWXA8.

The second video introduces several modern “AI style Josekis” in a lecture by Cho Zuiketsu 5p. These new moves are analyzed in detail using actual games between Cho and other pros as examples, including a very clever ladder-blocker that you don’t want to miss! Cho should be familiar to the western players as he was dispatched by the Nihon Kiin to the Seattle Go Center in 2018 and to Europe in 2019. See https://youtu.be/ZhRQnht3Gg4

The third video is given by Tajiri Yuto 5p on “how to use thickness for kyu players”. Tajiri visited the US Go Congress and the Seattle Go Center in 2019 and was a popular lecturer for the kyu players. In this lecture he discusses how to build and use thickness, an important topic as one moves from the kyu to dan ranks. See https://youtu.be/0mkARrIL5zQ

November 21st, 2022|

Request for Proposals: Relationship between Mind Sports and Cognitive Functions

INAF seeks to fund one or two university projects for a comprehensive literature survey and review of research linking mind sports to cognitive science. Of particular interest is how mind sports such as Go may contribute to the cognitive development of youth and to the cognitive maintenance of senior citizens. The deadline for submitting a proposal is March 31, 2023. See details.

November 20th, 2022|

INAF Solicits Nominations for a Newly Established Lifetime Achievement Award

INAF Board has approved establishing a new “INAF Lifetime Achievement Award” to honor individuals who, over their lifetime, have made significant contributions to the advancement of the culture and sport of Go in North America. It is expected that up to one award will be made each year. The deadline for submitting a nomination is March 31. See details.

November 20th, 2022|

New lectures by Michael Redmond 9P and Tsuruyama Atsushi 8P sponsored by INAF

The Iwamoto North American Foundation (INAF) is pleased to sponsor two more lectures produced by the Nihon Kiin. 

The first is a dan-level lecture in English by Michael Redmond 9-dan on “the Art of Sacrificing Stones” based on a game between the greatest master of the Edo period, Honinbo Dosaku (本因坊道策), and the multi-talented genius Yasui Santetsu (安井算哲). The URL is https://youtu.be/C-nS2xpqfQ4

The second is a kyu-level lecture on “Useful Techniques for Capturing Race” by Tsuruyama Atsushi 8-dan, given in Japanese with English subtitles. The URL is https://youtu.be/MpxuHGhiXW0

September 2nd, 2021|

A special game commentary by Ichiriki Ryo on his challenger match with Iyama Yuta.

The Iwamoto North American Foundation, with co-sponsorship by the Nihon Kiin, announces a special YouTube game analysis in English by Ichiriki Ryo 9p, current Japanese Gosei title holder.  His opponent is the 7-crown champion Iyama Yuta; the occasion is a challenge match in the Tengen title series.  The match is dubbed “Gosei vs. Kisei”– the clash between the top two Japanese pros of 2020 – 2021.  See https://youtu.be/BDKxsJLii0M.

August 19th, 2021|

Sign up for Joint INAF-Nihon Kiin Online Events

In recent years, INAF and Nihon Kiin have jointly sponsored a number of teaching events every year.  In 2021, several online events will be held instead.  Below we announce the first two of this series – two zoom lectures intended for kyu players but all are welcome to sign up.

Please sign up for the event(s) of your choosing.  The zoom links will be sent to all registrants in late July.

Event 1

August 2nd, US Eastern time 21:00 to 22:30.  Lecture for kyu players by Mitani Tetsuya 7p (三谷哲也) and Antti Tormanen 1p.  This pair has visited Europe and given many popular lectures since 2012.

Event 2

August 7th, US Eastern time 21:00 to 22:30.  Interactive AI play for kyu players with Tajiri Yuto 5p (田尻悠人).  All participants will join in to play with AI; Mr. Taijiri will lead and provide Q&A, quizzes, and commentary.

Future events include:

Lecture by Tsuruyama Atsushi 8p, a student of Cho Chikun, on “Key points of Capturing Race” (single-digit kyu to 4d players);

Lecture by Michael Redmond 9p on Technical Improvements (dan players);

Lecture by Mitani Tetsuya 7p and Antti Tormanen 1p on “Understand Go Rules and How to Play on 9×9” (beginners);

Lecture by Ichiriki Ryo 9p, commentary on his games (all players). 

Watch here for announcements!!!

July 11th, 2021|