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I set up a group on Facebook for Connecticut Go players. If you have an interest in Connecticut Go happenings, please join. Here is the link. 

Here is a go news link that shows latest pro battles: http://igo-kisen.hp.infoseek.co.jp/news.html

Check out:  . I found it using search.twitter.com.

The Korea Baduk Association has a nice collection of go terms in various languages.  Here is the link. Slate and Shell also sells “Contemporary Go Terms” by Nam Chiyung ( which is likely far more comprehensive  ).

If you  play on the KGS go server and are part of the Connectigut GO family, please join the “Connecticut Go” room there. The room’s permanency is based upon use so your support/attendance is much appreciated.

Hopefully it will become a online addition to the growing Connecticut Go scene.

My handle is “mspan” on KGS. Feel free to post your KGS handle in the comments of this post.

I was inspired by a post by Orum on godiscussions.com ( see the post here) to make my own goban this weekend. I ended up with a goban that is just as imperfect as my go game. To tackle the task, I imposed two requirements for this first prototype. … I had to make it fast and cheap. It had to be fast because I have two small children so I have no time. It had to be cheap to accommodate my vintage slate and shell stones I scored on ebay for only $92 (with the bowls! ). Fortunately, I lucked out a few months ago and found a nice pile of 3″ scrap wood at the local landfill. I am pretty sure it is pine but I am no woodworker so I am not sure. The board cost me $8.69 in materials because I did not have any satin finish polyurethane on hand. Since it was my first shot at making a goban, I used the least perfect two pieces of my dump-find stockpile to make this “club” board. Here is a picture of what I ended up with:

The side grains came out better than I thought (also on flickr):

I recklessly followed Orum’s guide on his website as a starting point. I did learn a lot in making this first board. here are some of the highlights:

I call this goban the two-eyed cliffhanger because:

1. The board has two knots on the surface that look like eyes. Maybe it will remind me to make two eyes once in awhile.

2. I did not make the board quite as wide as I wanted. I also laid the grid down slightly off-center so one border line is closer to the edge of the board then the other. The board is 2.8″ thick mini-cliff.

Some things I will change in the next iteration:

1. Find something better than a fine tipped sharpie for the lines. the line is a little too thick and too flat. I am thinking of trying some lacquer paint next time to see if I can get a raised, thinner line.

2. Scrounge up a hefty single piece of wood. I will make some more boards using the wood I found first to get some practice in though. Our club is short of boards so even imperfect boards will help.

3. Don’t screw up the lines. see a mistake here:

4. Don’t use gray wood filler to fill in an imperfection on the board (see photo above). The gray just popped right out once I coated it with poly. I may try to use a more traditional wax instead of satin poly too although the satin poly does look nice for this “club” quality board.

5. Start with a bigger board.

Overall, I am very happy with the new club-quality board. I will test it out a the Wesleyan go club this Friday night to see if it acceptable to others as well.

Join us at 5:30 PM at the Usdan Student Center. Bring a board if you have one. The Wesleyan Club is co-sponsored by the Central Connecticut Go Club and the Wesleyan Chinese Cultural Club.

Yesterday we experimented with extending the reach of Central Connecticut Go Club onto the Wesleyan campus in Middletown, CT. The first meeting was a great success. The Chinese Cultural Club graciously hosted the meeting at the Usdan Student Center. The Center is a perfect setting to meet. Once we set up some boards, it didn’t take long for the lessons for beginners to commence. Players of varioius playing strengths joined in and played some games as well. The interest seems solid. Based on last nights success, it looks like we are going to try to make it a regular Friday night gig.

We will start to do some real promotional advertising on campus soon. Since the semester is winding down, the summer will give us an opportunity to organize. Lack of equipment is an inconvenience at this point. If anyone knows how to get Ing sets from the AGA/AGF, please let me know.
EMAIL me if you are interested: m i k e s p a n e r @ y a h o o . c o m (remove spaces) and I will get you on the mailing list. Please let me know if you are a Wesleyan student and we’ll hook you up with the Chinese Cultural Club listserv as well.