Go author and blogger Jonathan Hop has launched a project to translate videos of professional games with commentary into English. “It’s all free and available on YouTube for all to see,” he tells the E-Journal. Hop says he’ll “try to do one or two a week depending on my schedule.” Available so far: Mukai Chiaki vs. Yamada Kimio, Cho Sonjin vs. Yukawa Mitsuhisa in the 63rd NHK Tournament, Takemiya Masaki vs. Goto Shungo and Kanazawa Makoto vs Akiyama Jiro in the 63rd NHK Cup.

Hop is back teaching and playing go after a long hiatus. After going to Korea, studying at a professional dojo and writing four books on go, he realized he didn’t want to be a professional go player, “So when the game felt like a chore, when studying was no longer exciting, I just plain stopped,” he writes on his blog. But now he’s heading to China next month and says “There’s no way I’m going to be in China and not play. So I decided I needed to get back in shape before I go.”

In addition to the pro game translations, Hop is playing on Twitch TV and archiving the games on YouTube. He’s also offering to review kyu level games or low level dan games for free and make videos of the review available on Youtube; send games to sundaygolessons@gmail.com. He’s also planning a go-playing marathon when he reaches 1,000 subscribers, and says that “I think I’m at 997 which is close enough for me to schedule it. Sunday August 2nd, 12 straight hours of go beginning around 11 a.m.”

Photos: (right) Cho Chikun commenting the Mukai Chiaki vs. Yamada Kimio game; (left) Hop playing on Twitch.TV