Go Orlando

The Go Club at UCF was able to get a table at the UCF Knights of the Round Table Opening Night on Sunday.  Our table was well attended, and a number of people expressed interest in the game.  For those who found their way to the site, please look to the top-left to see how to sign up for our mail list.

Also, if you are new to the game, you might find this older post about resources for learning Go useful.

Remember everybody, we meet tomorrow (Tue) night at 7p at Pom Pom’s across from UCF.

We will meet Tuesday, August 3 from 7p-10p at the Pom-Pom’s Teahouse near University.  (See post below for map.)

Josh recently forwarded on to me some information about a new social network site dedicated to Go called iGoLocal.  It’s a bit buggy and awkward, but still looks quite nice.  Check it out.

We’ve met at a variety of locations this summer (Barnes & Noble, Natura Café, Paneras, Pom-Pom’s Teamhouse), but the start of term is fast approaching, and it would be nice to settle on a steady location. I’m interested in feedback regarding people’s preferences.

For today, we’re at Pom-Pom’s again.

Go Orlando will hold a summer cookout at the Blanchard Park YMCA, 2451 North Dean Road, Orlando FL. It will be from 12p-5p, and food and drink will be provided.

This Tuesday, 29.June, we will try yet another new meeting spot:  Pom Pom’s Teahouse (University Location, 12275 University Blvd.).  We will meet at our usual time, 7p.  The location is walkable from the University and the place is open fairly late.  As usual, comments and suggestions are welcome.

View Larger Map

As those on the mailing list know, we are using the summer to “try out” new places to meet for our weekly Go meetings.  Tonight we’re going to try the Panera Bread on University at the usual time (7p).  To stay abreast of the current location, your best bet is to join the mailing list (look in the left-hand sidebar for info).

Panera Bread‎
11472 University Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32817-2109
(407) 273-4411
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Printable details about the tournament, including directions, can be found on the flyer.

• PDF in tri-fold flyer format [500K] (print on duplex printers only, in landscape mode)
• PDF in 3-page packet format [500K]

If you haven’t registered yet, please do so. Some details about the tournament follows.

• Date: Saturday, May 8 — Sunday, May 9, 2010

• Location: UCF Student Center in the Key West room, 218AB

• Saturday Schedule: (tentative, subject to change)
  
  • 9:30a — 10:00a Registration & Rules Explanation
  • 10:00a — 12:00p Round 1
  • 12:00p — 1:00p Lunch (on your own)
  • 1:00p — 3:00p Round 2
  • 3:00p — 5:00p Round 3

• Sunday Schedule: (tentative, subject to change)
  
  • 11:30a — 1:30p Round 4
  • 1:30p — 2:30p Lunch (on your own)
  • 2:30p — 4:30p Round 5
  • 4:30p —5:00p Final Standings Announcement & Closing Words

• Format:
  
  • AGA rules, 5 rounds
  • Accellerat handicap pairings, 7.5 komi for even games, reverse komi for small rank differences, 0.5 komi to white in handicap games
  • Four strength divisions (TBD), prizes in all divisions
  • Time: 45 minutes main time & 5/30s Japanese byo-yomi

• Fees:
  
  • No tournament fee, but must be a member of the AGA (can join on-site)
  • AGA fees discussed here

• Bring:
  
  • Boards & clocks (if possible)
  • AGA membership card (if possible)

• Sponsors:
  
  • Yellow Mountain Imports
  • Slate & Shell

Register for the 2010 Orlando Go Tournament! You can do so on-line this year.  Go here tournament info.

Jonathan S. and I drove to Tampa yesterday to visit their club.  The Tampa crew are very energetic and eager to interact with other clubs in the area.  They already have a strong relationship with the Sarasota club, and they were very hospitable to us.  They are excited about the upcoming Orlando Go Tournament … for several of them, it will be there first Go tournament.

Like us, they have a stable core group of attendees (perhaps six or eight) that come very regularly, and a larger group of people who come with varying frequency.  Regulars concentrate in the single-digit kyu strengths, though they have one or two dan-level players, and they seem to have a good showing in the 12k range (I gather).

I think they may be doing a better job of reaching out to new players, though.  So it might be good to pick their brains a bit.  Some things they do or are considering doing that we do not include:

• Leave cardstock/laminated 9×9 boards and baggies of stones in the shop at which they meet (on a shelf with other games) so that when they teach people, they can come back and play on their own.
• Have regular, arranged times where they meet up on KGS in addition to their face-to-face meetings.
• Planning to have another regular face-to-face meeting where they meet just to discuss problems and professional Games.
• Maintain a very active Facebook fanpage.

We all are hoping for more joint activity in the near future.  They have a great place to play, and they’re really not that far (about 1hr 45min drive or so) … and also accessible for the Sarasota group.  So we could even coordinate a three-way club meeting fairly easily.  Obviously running down their every week is not an option, but I think regular (monthly, quarterly, etc.) trips seem feasible for various subsets of us, as we have time.  They also indicated they’d like to come here … though we may have to adjust our “usual” Sunday time for them in such events.

So I’ll probably do that again some time in the near future.  Next time, I’ll try to give more warning, though.

Paul.

P.S.,

Note that Sarasota meets at 11:30a on Sundays, Tampa meets from 3p-6p on Sundays, and we now meet (also) at 7p on Sundays.  This also suggests the possibility (some time) of every now and then literally hitting all three club meetings one Sunday.