American Go E-Journal

Thirteen-year-old Calvin Sun 7d and ten-year-old Kevin Fang 1d won their divisions at the World Youth Go Championships qualifiers on April 10 and 11.  In the Senior Division, Sun faced stiff challenges from Curtis Tang 8d and Zhongxia Zhao 7d.  Zhao bested Tang in the semi-final, but then lost to Sun at the finals.  The qualifier was held on KGS, and drew over 300 viewers on the top boards.  In the Junior Division, all four youth happened to live in the Bay Area and were able to compete live at the Bay Area Go Players monthly ratings tournament.  In the first round Aaron Ye 1d, 7,  was top seeded, but lost to Sammy Zhang 1d (9), while Kevin Fang 1d (9), beat out Henry Zhang.  Fang and Sammy Zhang faced off in the finals, with Fang emerging the victor.  Both boys will be off to Taiwan to compete in the World Youth Championships in July, along with their teacher and team coach Mingjiu Jiang 7p.
– Paul Barchilon, Youth Editor; photo: Henry Zhang (l) vs. Kevin Fang (r) and Aaron Ye  (l) vs Sammy Zhang (r) at the World Youth Qualifier in Palo Alto, CA.  Photo by Stanley Fang