The Beginnings of Steven’s Go Career

In December of 1977, Steven, who was in Montreal for the holidays, was visiting a local bookstore where he came across Iwamoto’s now-famous Go for Beginners. On seeing the cover of the book, Steven was immediately overcome by the intuitive feeling that go was his kind of game. At that time in his life, Steven was in a game-learning phase. He had already spent some time learning bridge, poker, and dominoes. Now he was eager to add go to this collection.

What made him decide to buy the book and begin, unknowingly at the time, his go career, was that the book contained a table of go clubs listed by country. Steven immediately wrote to John Williams, who was listed as the contact-person in Toronto, where Steven was a student, to obtain the address of the local club. In January and February of 1978, Steven began to play his first games of go.

At first, Steven’s go career got off to an uncertain future. He was playing the usual 9-stone games and was being slaughtered, but his opponents weren’t taking the time to explain his mistakes. Steven got discouraged, and he stopped playing.

Then in early 1980, back in Montreal and having more time on his hands, Steven decided to try his hand at go one more time. He was determined that, at the very least, he would stick it out long enough to learn and understand the fundamentals of the game. Since then, Steven hasn’t stopped playing.

Steven’s Go Statistics

The foundation of Steven’s go statistics followed an evolutionary path. At first, Steven simply kept track of the number of times he went to the go club. This was soon followed by the number of games he played each time. Though not always consistently, he then began to record the names of his opponents and sometimes indicated who won the games. At the same time, he sometimes recorded the number of handicap stones in each game.

By June 1st, 1980, Steven began to record consistently the essential raw data that has become the foundation of his go statistics. For each game, Steven records the following information: (1) the date, (2) the name of the opponent, (3) the number of handicap stones, and (4) the winner (note).

After each session of go-playing, Steven records this raw information in two places: in a yearly agenda book and on the index cards of his opponents. The agenda book helps Steven to keep track of his games in chronological order and it is the all-important source of his raw data. The index cards were useful at first as a means for allowing Steven to measure his progress vis-à-vis his opponents. This last function has long since lost its importance, but Steven has never abandoned the practice of recording his games on these cards.

In May of 1982, Steven decided to compile his statistics in a table format. After deciding on the number of tables and on the layout of each one, he selected the month as the basis for each compilation. Ever since then, Steven compiles his statistics on, or shortly after, the 1st of each month.

In the spring of 1994, Steven transferred his statistics to his newly bought computer. He created two database files: one to contain information on all his games, in chronological order; and the other one to contain summary information of his games with all his opponents. These computer files have allowed Steven to create charts based on his statistics (real neat).

What Constitutes a Game of Go

For the purposes of his statistics, Steven has established the following criteria that each game must meet to be recorded as a valid game:

(1) It must be played on a 19 x 19 board.
(2) It must be within a 9-stone handicap range, either way.
(3) It must be played with a single opponent (no Zen-go or Ren-go).
(4) It must end in a victory for one of the two players (a tied game is counted as a loss).

Steven’s Go-Related Activities

In the 28 years that he has been playing go, Steven has made a number of contributions to his "hobby," besides merely playing go and compiling statistics. Have a look below.

Member of the Following Organizations:

• Association québécoise des joueurs de go (Quebec Go Association), since 1980.
• Canadian Go Association (CGA), since 1982.
• American Go Association, 1986 to 2003.

Officer in the Following Organizations:

• Vice-President of the Association québécoise des joueurs de go (AQJG) (Quebec Go Association), 1984-1989, 1992-present.
• Board member of the Fédération québécoise des jeux récréatifs, an umbrella organization of leisure-related associations, including go, in Quebec, 1984-1988.
• Board member of the Canadian Go Association (CGA), 1987-2007.
• Vice-President of the CGA, 1987-1988.
• President of the CGA, 1988-1992.

Tournament Director (21 tournaments):

• 2 Canadian Opens: 1985 (with Paul Dumais); 2003 (with André Labelle).
• 16 Quebec Opens: 1985, '86, '87, '88, '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, '99, '00, '01, '02, '03, '04, '05.
• 1 Montreal Open: 1987 (with Mario Carrière).
• 2 Winter Tournaments (Tournoi d'hiver): 1985, '92.

Tournament Participant (115 tournaments):

• 12 Canadian Opens: 1980, '83, '87, '88, '89, '90, '91, '92, '93, '95, '97, '01.
• 13 Quebec Opens (Montreal): 1981, '82, '83, '84, '89, '90, '91, '92, '93, '99, '06, '07, '08.
• 25 Winter Tournaments (Montreal): 1981, '84, '86, '87, '88, '89, '90, '91, '92, '93, '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, '99, '00, '01, '02, '03, '04, '05, '06, '07, '08.
• 1 Montreal Open: 1988 (this tournament only lasted for two years, 1987 and 1988).
• 2 Montreal Chinese Cups: 1988, '89 (this tournament only lasted for two years).
• 2 Montreal Korean Community Opens: 1999, '00.
• 4 Concordia University Go Tournaments (Montreal): 2003, '04, '05 (twice).
• 14 Ottawa Opens: 1983, '84, '85, '86, '87, '88, '89, '90, '91, '92, '93, '94, '96, '97 (this event was not held in 1995, nor has it been held since '97).
• 6 Ambassador's Bowls (Ottawa): 1986, '87, '89, '90, '91, '92 (this event was not held in 1988, and has not been held since 1992).
• 4 Embassy's Cup (Ottawa): 2004, '05, '06, '07.
• 7 Chinese Community Go Tournaments (Ottawa): 1990, '92, '94, '95, '97, '98, '01.
• 2 Heritage Games Go Classics (Ottawa): 1993, '94 (this event has not been held since 1994).
• 4 Toronto Opens: 1986, '90, '92, '93.
• 5 Ontario Opens: 1982, '85, '86, '87, '89 (this event has not been held for a while).
• 5 U.S. Go Congresses: 1987, '89, '90, '91, '93.
• 5 U.S. Opens: 1987, '89, '90, '91; Day-Off tournament in '93.
• 4 other tournaments (Rochester, 1992; Kingston, 1993; Vermont, 1993; Montreal Express, 1998).

Trips to the Orient:

• Korea, 1990, as member of the First Canada-Korea Go Friendship Tour.
• Japan, 1991, as guest official at the 2nd International Pairs Tournament.

Book Edited:

• Strategic Fundamentals In Go (Yutopian Enterprises, 167pp, 1999, read about it here). Steven was responsible for the editing, layout, and diagrams.

Computer Applications Written:

• Go Tournaments 1.0 (June, 1999. See the Freeware Applications page at this Web site.)
• Go Games 1.0 (August, 1999.)

Articles Written:

• Touch and Go, A Rejoinder, an article on when a move should be considered played in a game (Canadian Go Gazette, Winter 1986, pp. 2-3).
• Annual reports to Ranka Yearbook on go-related activities in Canada, since 1988 (except for 1993).
• A History of Go in Montreal, (Ranka Yearbook, No. 5, 1989, pp. 76-83).
• International Amateur Go Events, (Canadian Go Gazette, Winter 1992, pp. 23-29).
• New Go Rules, an article on the new rules of the American Go Association, (Canadian Go Gazette, Spring 1992, pp. 6-11).
• 2nd International Amateur Pair Go Championship, Part I, (Canadian Go Gazette, Spring 1992, pp. 24-30).
• 2nd International Amateur Pair Go Championship, Part II, (Canadian Go Gazette, Summer 1992, pp. 19-23).
• Sakata in Montreal, (Canadian Go Gazette, Fall 1992, pp. 10-13).
• Chronique du jeu de go, an eight-part article on the fundamentals of go (in French), published between April/May (1993) and August/September (1994) in Récréation Québec, a bi-monthly publication of the Fédération québécoise des jeux récréatifs.
• The International Go Federation and Ranka, (Canadian Go Gazette, Vol. I/II 1995, pp. 23-24).
• The AQJG is Now Present on the Information Highway, (Canadian Go Gazette, Vol. III 1995/96, p. 10).
• Guide in How to Apply McMahon Scores in a Swiss-McMahon Tournament, (Canadian Go Gazette, Vol I 1996/97, pp. 19-26). This guide may be viewed and downloaded in its PDF format. (To view this document, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. This software is free and may be obtained from Adobe's Web site by clicking here.)
• The ABC of Go, a book review (June, 1997, read it here). It may also be read at David Carlton's Go Bibliography Site). (N.B.: At David's site, the front and back covers of the book are not displayed). Biographical information on Walter de Havilland, the author of The ABC of Go, was added in March, 1999.
• The Origins of Canadian Byo-Yomi, (Canadian Go Gazette, Vol II 1997/98, pp. 8-11, read it here).
This article also appeared in the Ranka Yearbook (No. 15, 1999, pp. 88-90) under the title The Origins of Canadian Overtime.
• Canada’s First Published Book on Go, (Canadian Go Gazette, Vol II 1998/99, pp.14-20, read it here).
• And countless reports on various tournament activities and other sundry matters.

After reviewing all this activity, it’s no wonder that some have been overheard saying to Steven “Steven, get a life.”