American Go E-Journal » 2008 » November

Canadian teenager Gan Sheng Shi (left) defeated both Mingjiu Jiang and Huiren Yang last weekend to earn a berth in the North American Fujitsu Cup championship final against Jie Li. The excitement continued Sunday when the final had to be adjourned because of technical difficulties. It was excitement on all fronts during the North American Fujitsu Cup championship. While top seeds Jie Li, Andy Liu and Huiren Yang made it through unscathed to the semi-finals, defending champion Mingjiu Jiang let a favourable position evaporate when he lost on time to Redmond Cup champion Gan Sheng Shi. The Canadian teenager then astonished a crowd of 500 by taking down professional Huiren Yang to earn a spot in the finals against perennial strongman Jie Li. The excitement continued when Jie Li suffered network problems at move 55 of the final game and could not reconnect to continue. The game has been adjourned and will be rescheduled at a later date. Click here for complete details on the tournament so far.
– Philip Waldron, AGA Tournament Coordinator

Dae Hyuk (Danny) Ko (right) 7D (AGA 8.712) took first place in the Myung In Tournament, held November 15-16 in Los Angeles, CA. The Los Angeles Go Club, a popular 7-day playing spot in LA’s Koreatown, hosted the tournament, which was organized by the newly-formed Korean American Baduk Association. About 50 players, including a number from outside the Korean community, played in two handicap sections and one open section for $4,000 in prizes, won by Ko, of the Santa Monica Go Club. The tournament also featured an exhibition game between two Southern California professionals, Myung Wan Kim 8P and Yilun Yang 7P. “Sunday evening dinner was provided to all the players,” reports Andy Okun, “and there was a raffle of donated goods as well, in which your correspondent unexpectedly won 40 pounds of rice.” Korean American Baduk Association officials plan to hold more events in the coming year.