American Go E-Journal

Two-time US Open Champion Myungwan Kim 9P (CA) extended his winning streak to 16 games after defeating Canadian champion Yongfei Ge 7D (ON) and former China Hebei Province champion Yue Zhang 7D (OH) last weekend in the Strong Players Online Tournament (SPOT1). Three other top amateurs made the Final Four, including Zhaonian “Michael” Chen 7D, Jianing Gan 6D and Eric Lui 7D. Chen (NJ), defeated Changlong Wu 7D (NC) and Xinyu Tu 7D (NJ), while Gan 6D (ON) prevailed over Hugh Zhang 6D (CA) and Sarah Yu 6D (ON), and Lui 7D (MD) outplayed Yinli Wang 6D (IN) and Calvin Sun 7D (CA). Jie Li 7D and Jennie Shen 2P gave live commentaries on the two games separately on KGS. Shen’s audio lecture attracted a large audience of almost 400, while Li managed his commentary despite a busy weekend before finals week in law school. The semi-final match-up schedule on KGS next weekend: MyungWan Kim 9P vs Zhaonian Chen 7D: Saturday, May 8, 1p; Eric Lui 7D vs. Jianing Gan 6D: Saturday, May 8, 1p.
SPOT1 Notes: “I think he is a pretty good player,” said Kim of Ge. “There were some very smart moves, like R2 and S15.” Chen was the 2006 North America Ing Masters Champion and the 2009 US Open runner-up, where he only lost to Kim (click here for game record ). “I was lucky to have come out ahead in the last battle,” Chen admitted. “It is very tough to play Kim 9P,” yet Chen’s plan for the next game is “play well, have patience.” Four other Sweet 16 matches: Yue Zhang 7D (OH) defeated Yuan Zhou 7D (MD); Xinyu Tu 7D (NJ) defeated Curtis Tang 7D (CA); Calvin Sun 7D (CA) defeated Jie Liang 7D (NH);
Sarah Yu 6D (ON) defeated Jung Lee 7D (CO).
– Reported by Tournament Director Zhiyuan “Edward” Zhang
Photo: Four-time US Open champion Jie Li 7D gave commentaries to over 600 fans on KGS during the Sweet 16 game between Kim and Ge.