American Go E-Journal

The Pair Go team of Feng Yun-Jie Li will represent North America at the World Pair Go Association’s 2010 World Cup, after defeating Jin Yu-Jing Yang in last week’s North American Qualifier. The Cup is scheduled for March 20-23 in Hangzhou, China. In related news, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the International Amateur Pair Go Championship, the Japanese Pair Go Association has just published ten essays about Pair Go. Manja and Micha Martz won first place with their thorough, entertaining and well-illustrated essay on the history of Pair Go in Europe and longtime U.S. go organizer – and IGS rep –Thomas Hsiang contributed A Few Memories of Pair Go, noting that “Pair Go has not only been accepted but flourished beyond anyone’s imagination. Aside from frequent regional tournaments held worldwide, Pair Go was featured as the only mixed-gender mind-sport in the First World Mind Sport Games in 2008 and will be a medal event in the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games.” Hsiang also points out that “the US go scene that was once almost exclusively male-dominated now sees a much greater participation by female players, especially among the young….Pair Go has brought together many couples in US and Europe, and not a single couple has been broken up by it!” Click here http://www.pairgo.or.jp/event/pairgo20th/index-e.htm to read the Pair Go essays.