American Go E-Journal

Over 300 go fans showed up on KGS to watch the future of North American go display their talent at the 3rd US-Canada Youth Friendship Match. Neither team disappointed, with many exciting games featuring intense fighting. The 7-player Canadian team won all but the last two boards, repeating their dominance of the U.S. in last year’s edition of the friendship match. On the top board, Calvin Sun, the U.S. WYGC representative, battled Ryan Li, the runner-up in the 2010 Canadian Open. Li gained an early edge, claiming a lot of territory, but a weak group during the midgame gave Sun a chance. However, Li squeaked out life, and Sun could not gain any advantage while attacking the group, giving Li the victory. The Canadians asserted their dominance in the next few boards as well, with Gansheng Shi, Tianyu (Bill) Lin, Jianing Gan, and Andrew Huang all claiming commanding victories, leaving Ben Lockhart and Vincent Zhuang as the only victorious members of the U.S. team. With such a strong showing from both teams, the North American team will definitely make for an exciting matchup against European youth in the 3rd Transatlantic Youth Go Match in Spring 2011. Full results are here.
– Special report by Lawrence Ku