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European Go Journal: New Project Starts
By Artem Kachanovskyi | News | 05.03.2021 14:40| Views: 16704 | Comments: 14
The online world entered into the era of video content a long time ago. The success of such platforms as YouTube is obvious, and we all notice even more videos appearing on websites and social networks.

In European go, a few years ago we observed Twitch streams becoming a "golden standard" for live commentary of face-to-face tournaments. I guess, most of you still remember how things were before that happened: the tournament games were broadcast on KGS, and the commentators used to analyze the game in the chat. Needless to say, live video commentaries on Twitch have become a great improvement on that.

During our pandemic times, most of the face-to-face tournaments were canceled, and we all lost the opportunity to meet together face to face. As a result, live streams on Twitch have become even more popular. Many of the European go players comment on their own games live on Twitch these days. Such a project as European Professional Online Go League is based completely on Twitch live streams.

Indeed, video content, especially live streams, are an extremely effective way of studying and sharing knowledge. But does this mean the end of reading? Of course not. I think we can agree that the perception of information in written and video forms is extremely different. Video content is more dynamic and usually requires less effort and thinking to "digest" the information - in fact it imitates seeing and listening to somebody in actual life. When you read something, on the other hand, you have some freedom to stop and think, to choose your own pace. While reading it's easy to go back and read once again what was not clear - just move your eyes up or turn the page back if needed.

For me personally reading becomes especially pleasant when there is a paper book in front of me. I know that such a thing as the paper book becomes less and less popular nowadays. Yet, there is a special joy in the process of reading a paper book - you keep a real material object in your hands. That makes a difference. Besides, there is no doubt that it's more comfortable for the eyes to read from the paper than from the screen of a mobile phone or computer.

The idea of writing a go journal has been in my mind for years. It happened so in my life that gradually I was learning the skills needed for such a task. At the moment when I started to consider my idea seriously, I was ready both technically and mentally.

The cover page of the February 2021 edition of the European Go Journal

The European Go Journal is published on a monthly basis. The journal consists of three sections:
1. Go News - an overview of the most important news of the month, focusing on Europe but including major events worldwide. In this section, you will also see reviews of some games - one game from Europe and one game from the worldwide go arena (perhaps mostly a game of some top professional go players from Asia).
2. Reading material - interview and "art & photography" chapter.
3. Studying material - analysis of some positions using AI, go problems, tesuji of the month.

Along with the journal you will receive a collection of recent go records played by professionals. As I am a pro player myself, I follow the games of the top professional players from Asia, so each month I will compile a collection of games that I recommend to study.

The journal is distributed in two forms: digital and printed (paperback). The digital edition is sent to subscribers via email, while the printed edition is delivered by post. If you subscribe to the printed edition, you receive the digital edition as well.

The digital edition consists of several files:
  • PDF file of the journal
  • archive with the games used in the journal (ZIP file with SGF files inside)
  • archive of pro games (ZIP file with SGF files inside)
  • PDF file with pro games (suitable for printing)
The first edition of the journal (February 2021) is free of charge (digital version), so you can check whether you like this kind of content or not:
journal-february2021.pdf
journal-february2021-sgfs.zip
pro-february2021-sgfs.zip
pro-february2021.pdf

Here are the prices of subscription (per month):
  • digital edition: 5 €
  • printed edition: 15 € (delivery included in price)
You can find more information and subscribe to the European Go Journal on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/europeangojournal.

I invite all the readers of the journal to give their cooperation: feel free to send me any kind of suggestions or feedback to [email protected]

In case you want to order a specific edition of the journal (including the past editions), use the email address specified above. For example, you can order the printed version of the first edition (February 2021).

Here are some examples of the input that I would be glad to receive:
  • An illustration, a poem, a photo, or any other kind of art to share. In this case, you should be the author of it, or you should have permission from the author. And of course the artwork must be related to go.
  • A person to interview.
  • A situation to review with AI.
  • A game of professional players to review.
  • etc.
I would like to express my gratitude to Kim Ouweleen who helps me by editing and designing the journal. You can find an information about his art on the Murugandi Art Facebook page.
European Go Journal: New Project Starts

This article was written by Artem Kachanovskyi

EGF professional Go player.
Born 12th December 1992.
Started to play Go in 1999.
Promoted to 1p in 2016, 2p in 2018.
Living in Ukraine, Kyiv.
All his articles on the EGF website.

Comments:
Anton
#1
07.03.2021 12:02
Amazing, Artem!
Thanks a lot! Much appreciated.
Muszlak Sacha
#2
08.03.2021 7:47
Hello Artem,

Great initiative !
Just a remark on the price : I feel 15 euros monthly is out of budget for a lot of people, most monthly journals in France are priced at about 8 euros, printed. I do understand you might feel the target audience is limited and content is massive so it's good value for the money, but still I feel priced this way it might limit your readers even more so...

Best wishes for the future of this new European Go journal.
Artem
#3
08.03.2021 8:33
Hello Muszlak Sacha,

Thank you for your remark!

Unfortunately, international delivery costs more money than the domestic one. The price of printing also gets cheaper when you have a large amount of copies. So it's hard to compare a go journal delivered worldwide with a usual monthly journal.

Talking in numbers, if I set the price to 10 euro, lets say, the journal will end up in minus financially.
Altug Duzgungu
#4
09.03.2021 8:55
Thanks Artem,
30 years ago i was reading chess journals.
I guess i will start reading again thanks to you.
Henrik Falk
#5
09.03.2021 15:31
Great initiative!
Gerard Bouwman
#6
12.03.2021 16:35
Wow! Very ambitious project! Your first issue is very promising. Wish you lots of success!
Costel
#7
21.03.2021 2:47
HI Sacha. Looking from a narrow point of view, and comparing with other situations 15 Euros may seem too much, but it is not.

You have so option to subscribe at digital version and print it on your own printer. It will cost 5 euros and few cents. Sure, you will not have it nicely put it together, but you can do it at a printing shop, and it will cost you 6 more euro, plus the bus ticket you are at 15 :) So you have an opportunity here. Give to Artem a collaboration. Convince 100 players from your country to get a subscription for 8 Euros, the price you suggest is fair. Artem will get his 500 for the the digital copies, and you get 300 for printing and delivering them. At 100 copies you will get a better price compared with a single copy, and you got a nice business for yourself. :)

On a serious note, I may give you two examples. One is BGJ from BGA. I was subscribed at it long ago, before internet. Great content, fair price. 4 issues every year. I do not remember the precise price. but now is 28 pounds, including the other benefits of a BGA membership. So is 7 pounds per issue. About the price you suggest. BUT. BGJ is produced by volunteers. So the cost is exclusive for printing and shipping. So, you see, those 10 euros extra for printing this journal is matching those 8 pounds.

The second example is about a journal I produced myself and some friends. You can find it here. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0By823EI-TcuNfk1PUkRoeUFSeFc0Vm9ib28wZ3JCSEV3Uk5DWGRHN0xxNzE2RjE1WlFrUEE

It is useless for you because it is in Romanian. But you can browse it to see what it was like. We offered it for free. And here is the catch. Without the money incentive our drive to make it vanished. So, after 21 issues we stopped. The same problem, of volunteering affected the BGJ team. They are running out of volunteers. And anyway, the content is not at the level that was decades ago.

As conclusion. Reading this journal is a privilege. Reading it in printed form is an extra privilege. So the price of 5 or 15 euros for these privileges is quite fair. Many of us cannot afford this privileges, including myself, but here is not the place to fix this.
Artem
#8
23.03.2021 8:39
Hello Costel,

Thank you for explaining your opinion in details.

Indeed, I think at the moment 5/15 euro for digital/printed edition is an optimal price. I will do my best to provide a quality go content for the readers of the journal. It's a pity to read that for some people it's not affordable.

And special thanks for sharing the Romanian Go Journal with us, it's interesting to see it!
Robert J. Terry
#9
03.06.2021 17:29
I would like to discuss go promotion with other players involved in it. I have published 35+ books about go and other material. Examples of my work are available free at www.GoWizardry.com. I am also involved in video production, but only commercially, not about go.
Artem
#10
03.06.2021 23:38
Hello Robert,

Here are the contacts I can suggest:
- EGF executive board for general European level of promotion: [email protected]
- here if you click on a country you will find contacts of specific European country go organization: https://eurogofed.org/members/
- if you have anything to discuss about the European Go Journal: [email protected]
Robert J. Terry
#11
04.06.2021 20:36
Hi,

My name is Robert Terry and my website is www.GoWizardry.com. I have posted much material there of interest to go players.

I have also published 35 go books. I sell them on my website and others sell them as well. I am interested in promoting the game, and I welcome others to join in, especially those who want to further promote go.

I speak, read and write Japanese fluently. I have met with the top Japanese, Chinese and Korean go players many times and traveled extensively in Asia. I have been grateful for the gracious response I have always received.

I understand that you are expanding your go journal. I would be gratified if I could make a contribution to that effort. I have a lot of experience in publishing go material and perhaps I could make some suggestions as well.

I might add some insights as to what's happening in America as regards to go. (Especially on the West Coast -- the AGA doesn't seem to cover what we ae doing here in California -- not to mention Oregon and Washington -- since it doesn't affect them in any way.) Go is booming here and the more people who know about it, the better.)

There are also exciting developments in AI that I would like to discuss with the Journal.

Yours,

Bob Terry
Pauline A Toward
#12
18.08.2021 13:01
New book
Go - The World's Hardest Puzzle'
Chapters available Interesting

Publis Nov, 2021
OlivierDulac
#13
31.08.2021 4:16
Artem, I wish you great success with your new journal! I will continue reading the first edition that you graciously provide to get a hint on the content (which is a very good initiative!), and I may subscribe. I will also mention its existence to other Go players in the future.

I also really like that cover, and recognized its author by her style, but am surprised that you didn't mention her on this page (but you do mention her in the journal itself) : the drawing is made by Camille Leveque ( her sites: http://sillons-traces.fr/ , and https://www.patreon.com/stonedonthegoban )
Artem
#14
31.08.2021 7:48
Thank you, Olivier, for your feedback!

Yes, the creator of the art on the cover is mentioned on the first page. Since June edition, if I am not wrong, we also dont write my name on the cover. First of all, it puts restrictios on using illustrations on the cover (there has to be a space for the name), and second - our team is growing and its not a project of one or two people anymore.
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