American Go E-Journal » 2011 » November

Over two dozen players – some in Halloween costume – participated in the 2011 Pumpkin Classic in Arlington, VA on October 29. The four-round handicap tournament was sponsored by the NOVA Go Club and Capital Go Club. Zhixiong Shi, Kabe Chin, Diego Pierrottet and Anderson Barreal won their respective divisions, taking home trophies as well as the traditional pumpkin.

In the 3-round Winsonet Greater Washington Team Go Competition — also held in Arlington on October 29 — Team Chinese American defeated Team USA 3-1, Team Korean American 3-1 and Team Taiwanese American 2-2 in a tie-break. Chinese anchor Lin Lu 7D was the only female player in the high-Dan competition and pulled out three impressive anchor wins against Juan Pablo Quizon 5D (US), Ray (Hsien-Ho) Chang 7D (Taiwan) and Jin Park 7D (Korea). Team Taiwanese American was the runner-up, beating Korea 3-1 and US 4-0. The USA team, which averaged 4D, was seemingly the underdog, but thanks to anchor Quizon and blitz player Joshua Lee 5D, took third place by winning over Koreans (2-2) who have two 6-dans and one 7-dan.

Pumpkin Classic Winners Report:
Dan division: 1st, Zhixiong Shi; 2nd, Ray Hunley.
1-4 kyu division: 1st, Kabe Chin; 2nd, Kelsey Dyer and Kevin Chin
7-10 kyu division: 1st, Diego Pierrottet; 2nd, Julian Erville
15-22 kyu division: 1st, Anderson Barreal, 2nd, Jackson Hergenrather and David Dobbs.

Winsonet Greater Washington Team participants:
Chinese America: Binquan Wang 5D, Zhenying Gu 5D, Wei Sun 5D (Captain, Zhixiong Shi 3D
Taiwanese American: I-Han Lui 7D, Daniel Chou 6D, Justin Teng 4D, Ching-Sung Chin (Captain)
USA: Daniel Short 4D, Haskell Small 3D, Yuan Zhou 7D (Captain)
Korean American: James Park 6D, Won Seok Suh 6D, Chang Sun Lee 2D, John Goon (Captain)

– based on reports by Tournament Director Edward ‘Zhiyuan’ Zhang

The Lancaster Go Club hosted the Pennsylvania Open last weekend for the first time in almost a decade. The venue, the Summit Grove Camp and Retreat Center, “was a hit,” reports organizer Michael Rhone II.  “It was the best value for a go tournament ever,” Keith Arnold said, “five games … two meals.  It was a total bargain.” Players came from as far away as North Carolina, Delaware, and New Jersey, and there were over twenty players in attendance, with handicaps given in some instances, but many even games were played. There were plenty of choices for dinner locations at night, and rooms were right down the hall from the playing area. “Some of us stayed up to play casual games both Friday and Saturday night,” Rhone tells the E-Journal. “A great time was had by all.”

Results
Open Section: First place: Kevin Huang; Second place: Keith Arnold
2d-3d Section: First place: Sudhir Vel
1K-5K Section: First Place: Kelsy Dyer; Second Place: Willis Huang
6K-8K Section: First Place: Terri Schurter; Second Place: Gurujeet Khalsa
9-13k Section: First Place: Bob Crites

Ben Hakala took top honors in the October 29-30 Portland Go Tournament. Twenty six players — including three 6-dans and a 7-dan — participated in the tournament, held on the campus of Lewis & Clark College. While organizer Peter Drake laments that “the award for top female player was not awarded, as all 26 players were male,” he reports that Akane Negishi did stop by long enough to offer KGS Plus memberships to the top single- and double-digit kyu players.” Other prizes — books, boards, etc.– were supplied by Yellow Mountain Imports and Slate & Shell, both of whom offered generous discounts. David Fotland also donated a copy of The Many Faces of Go. “Plans are already forming for next year’s tournament,” Drake adds. “The strong players inquired about the possibility of an open division. There is also the possibility of increasing the number of rounds from five to seven — more than the US Open, crammed into two days. That would be a brutal feat of mental endurance, but why not?” Drake also notes that “The tournament tools at www.goclubs.org were enormously useful, especially in reporting results quickly to the AGA.”
photo by Weitian Liu

Winners:
Dan division (first to third): Ben Hakala, Nicholas Jhirad, Vincent Zhuang
Single-digit kyu division: Louie Liu, Trey Cundall, James Moore
Double-digit kyu division: Roger LaMarche, Johnny Sajo, Cooper Stevenson
Youth: Louie Liu

The recently-launched Central Mississippi Go Club (CMGO) is expanding to the Madison/Ridgeland area, reports organizer Greg Smith. “We’ve been requested to make a location convenient to a core group of go players in the (Ridgeland) area,” Smith tells the E-Journal. “We’re happy to comply!” Every fourth Tuesday, the club will meet at the Barnes & Noble off I55. “We had a great turnout” for the club’s first meeting November 1 at The Froghead Grill (off Springridge Road in Clinton), Smith adds. “We played a few games face-to-face, taught a new person how to play go, and we all planned to do it again next week. I couldn’t ask for more.” The AGA’s “help really allowed me to assemble an easy-to-transport ‘Go Box,’  making it very easy to host a meeting with a professional feel,” said Smith. “The resources at usgo.org have been invaluable, and (the AGA’s) personal assistance made it much easier to get the specific help I needed…I’m confident CMGO will be a hub for teaching and playing go in Central Mississippi for quite a while.”
Photo: Future CMGO members Doss and Kirk play the first ever CMGO game.