FENG YUN/JIE LI WIN N.A. PAIR GO 1ST ROUND: Feng Yun and Jie Li defeated Wan Chen and Curtis Tang Sunday night in the first round of the North American World Pair Go Qualifier, played on IGS. “One pair withdrew at the last moment, and one member of another pair did not show up, so two games were not played,” reports Allan Abramson. Feng Yun and Jie Li will have a bye for the second round, and play the final game on Thursday night. Jing Yang and Jin Yu will play White vs Yuan Zhou and Yinli Wang on Tuesday night – also on IGS, in Round Two.
USYGC SEASON OPENS: The 2010 United States Youth Go Championship is kicking into gear, with qualifiers now scheduled across the country. First up is the Orange County Go Club, in Los Angeles, on Feb. 21-22. New Qualifier locations have been added as well, with Boston, New Jersey, Colorado, and San Francisco all hosting events. There will also be an online qualifier, hosted by the AGHS <http://aghs.cc>. This year, the AGA is also adding National Single Digit Kyu (SDK) and Double Digit Kyu (DDK) championships to the event. The winners will receive trophies, and prizes will be awarded in the following brackets: 1-4 kyu, 5-9 kyu, 10-15 kyu, 16-20 kyu, 21-25 kyu, 26 and up kyu. In the dan brackets, the strongest kids in the country will be competing for the right to represent the US at the World Youth Go Championships this summer. Low dan youth will have a chance at prizes and trophies too, with prizes for 1-5 dan as well. The event is sponsored by the AGA and the AGF, and Guo Juan has donated audio go lessons <http://internetgoschool.com/> as bonus prizes for youth in all categories. For more information, visit the tournament webpage <http://www.usgo.org/tournaments/USYGC/2010/>
-Paul Barchilon; photo: young players study at the 2009 U.S. Go Congress; photo by Chris Garlock
KIRBY SWEEPS NORCAL TOURNEY: Brian Kirby topped February’s monthly ratings tournament in Northern California, February 6 in Menlo Park, CA. There were 25 players, ranging from 25 kyu to 7 dan, and two played in their first tournament ever. The next monthly ratings tournament will be March 6 in Palo Alto, CA. Winners report: Four game winner: Brian Kirby 2k 4-0. Three game winners: Lucas Baker 2d 3-1, Samuel Gross 1d 3-0, Roger Schrag 7k 3-0, Larry Qu 15k 3-1.
– Roger Schrag
SMARTGO IN SOUTH KOREA AND COMING SOON TO IPAD: SmartGo Pro for the iPhone/iPod touch is now available in South Korea under the name “Smartgo Pro Baduk,” http://itunes.apple.com/kr/app/smartgo-pro-baduk/id353159718?mt=8 reports SmartGo author Anders Kierulf. “It comes with over 15,000 professional games and 2,000 problems.” Search for Baduk in the iTunes App Store. Kierulf also tells the EJ that “I’m working on a version of SmartGo optimized for Apple’s upcoming iPad.”
