American Go E-Journal » 2011 » September

This year’s Portland Go Tournament – set for October 29-30 at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR — will involve no less than four 6-dans, reports organizer Peter Drake. “Guozhong Zhuang, his son Vincent — who recently represented the U.S. in the World Youth Go Championship —  Nicholas Zhirad, and Solomon Choe (self-promoting from 5.9),” says Drake. “Lesser dans and single- and double-digit kyu players should also be present in abundance.” The two-day, five-round handicap tournament is the largest annual tournament in Oregon and is again being held at Lewis & Clark College, recently ranked as the second most beautiful campus in the country by the Princeton Review. The tournament director is experimenting with the new software from goclubs.org, which was used successfully at the Tacoma Go Club’s recent Back-To-School tournament. Click here for details on online registration.

To mark their 16th anniversary, the Seattle Go Center had a party on Sept. 10, and a tournament on Sept 17.  About 40 people came to the party, which featured sushi, fresh bread from longtime local organizer Chris Kirschner, a go game cake by Vicki Wheeler, a silent auction, and a mesmerizing koto concert by Shiho Kurauchi and Chiyusa Kitai. All the music had been composed since 1970.  The next Saturday, 12 players competed in three sections.  Both dan winners were new arrivals to Seattle. First place went to Yu Zhou, a high school student from China playing his first AGA games,  while Daniel Poore from Washington D.C. placed 2nd.  The upper kyu section was won by Brian Allen, with Frank Brown 2nd.  The lower kyu section was won by youth player Josh Hall, with Anne Thompson 2nd.  Photo/report by Brian Allen

All donations made to the Seattle Go Center in the month of September will be matched by another  donor, reported Manager Brian Allen at the Center’s 16th anniversary party.  “Our anonymous benefactor will match donations up to a total of $10,000”, he said.  Some donors may also trigger matching grants from their employers, since the Go Center is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit.  Center supporters can donate online using the website donation page: donate. Now that the downstairs of their building is rented out, the Go Center has been gradually increasing programming and outreach, often with volunteer help.  The Seattle Center is open 5 days a week; two days a week for classes, and three days a week for games and informal lessons.  It is also open on Sundays for tournaments about twice a month.  “This is a great time to support the Center and help us get back to teaching and promoting go full time”  noted Allen.  Photo: Dennis Wheeler plays out a famous game with M&M’s on a  cake for the Go Center Anniversary Party.  Photo/report by Brian Allen

The American Go Association will host a qualifier on KGS this weekend for the Second Qiong-Long-Shan World Women Championship. China is hosting the Qiong-Long-Shan Championship October 8-14. Sixteen strongest female players throughout the world are being invited to attend in Suzhou China. Top prize is RMB 200,000 (about $30,000). Prize per game is RMB 6,000.

The AGA will host a qualifier on KGS this weekend. All female players with ratings above 5.0 are welcome. AGA membership and US citizenship are required (UPDATE: green card holders are now eligible!) except for CGA representatives. Web camera and KGS accounts are required. The tournament will be during September 25-28 with flexible schedule as long as both players agree, otherwise players must be available to play 3 rounds on 8 PM ET/5 PT on 9/26, 9/27 and 9/28. Basic time is 1 hour. Overtime is 5 periods of 1 minute.

Please write to tournaments@usgo.org to register by 8 PM ET on Saturday 9/24.