American Go E-Journal » 2013 » January

Although there were many familiar faces at the annual Jujo Jiang Ing Cup last weekend, there were many new faces as well. “This year Jujo brought a group from China, led by former LG Cup titleholder — and Chinese National Team Coach — Yu Bin 9P,” reports organizer Ernest Brown. “Also on the tour was Li He, current women’s world go champion.” Nine amateur players from the Chinese contingent joined more than 70 local players on the boards, including Herb Doughty, Steve and Matthew Burrall and Martin Lebl. The 21st Jujo Jiang Ing Cup was held January 26 in San Francisco, sponsored by Ing’s Goe of California and organized by American Ing Goe and the Bay Area Go Association.  “Go in the San Francisco area seems to be thriving,” Brown added. The one day, 4-round event used the Go Clubs Online pairing software for the first time, and Brown reports that “The software held up well without any technical problems.  We plan to use it again and encourage pre-registration for future tournaments.”     Every contestant received a t-shirt from Jiang’s go school in China along with a carton of Kid Robot collectible “Fat Cap” figurines as door prizes. “Jujo plans to bring an even larger group to next year’s tournament,” Brown says.
photos:  top left: An Yu (left) & Aaron Ye; bottom right: Herb Doughty. photos by Ernest Brown

Winner’s Report (see below for top-board game records)
Open Division: 1^st: Yi Xue; 2^nd: An Yu (daughter of Yu Bin); 3^rd: Hugh Zhang; 4^th: Aaron Ye
Dan Division: 1^st: Zhi Ma; 2^nd: Jun Yao; 3^rd: Chengji Huang; 4^th: Daniel Liu
Expert  Division: 1^st: Linden Chiu; 2^nd: Kevin Chou; 3^rd: Charles Su; 4^th: Eric Branlund
Intermediate Division: 1^st: Liang Chen; 2^nd: Jonathan Mi; 3^rd: Matthias Kramm; 4^th: Eric Liu
Novice Division: 1^st: Peter Pan; 2^nd: Matthew Cheng; 3^rd: Maxim Razin; 4^th: Eric Huang

Downloadable top-board game records; recorded by Chris Burg
Round 1, Board 1_Hugh Zhang 7d – Shao Liu 7d
Round 2, Board 1_Hugh Zhang 7d – Renyu Chen 7d
Round 3, Board 1_Hugh Zhang 7d – AnYu
Round 4, Board 1_Yi Xue – An Yu

Go is returning to Hollyhock after more than a decade as Janice Kim 3P leads a workshop at the learning center in British Columbia June 28 through July 3. Kim promises to “Increase your go skill through interactive lectures, small and large group exercises, game practice and analysis,” as well as help players “Develop critical thinking skills and improve your confidence while exploring effective and positive real world decision-making.” An award-winning author and professional 3-dan, Kim brings decades of experience to her acclaimed workshops; in 1984 she won the World Youth Go Championship, took second place in the 1985 Fuji Women’s Korean Go Champion and in 2008 she placed 4^th in the World Poker Tour Bellagio Five Diamond Classic. She’s also been a contributor to the American Go E-Journal, most recently contributing commentary at the 2012 Sport Accord World Mind Sports Games in Beijing.

Kevin Chou of Hillsborough, CA won the second annual San Diego Go Championship with a 3-0 record in the dan division. Nearly two dozen players contested for the $100 top prize at UCSD. Tying for first place in the single-digit kyu division with two wins were David Baran of Beverly Hills,Seth Cardew of Tennessee, Michal Lebl, and Peter D Schumer of Vermont. Julian A Koslow won the double-digit yyu division with a 3-0 record and Megan Elizabeth Duff of Orange won the women’s division. “It was a wonderful day of go,” said Ted Terpstra, President of the San Diego Go Club. photo courtesy Ted Terpstra

With the technical glitches solved, the twice-delayed game between Lee Sedol 9P and new American pro Andy Liu 1P took place Saturday morning on go9dan.com. Lee won by resignation but said that “Andy is much stronger than

I had anticipated,” adding that AGA President Andy Okun “must be really happy about how strong the AGA pros are!” Okun responded that “we really pleased and proud of our new pros. We are also grateful to Lee Sedol for giving them a chance to hone their skills and learn from such a champion.” The second round in the AGA-Europe Pros vs. Lee Sedol Lee 10-Game Series is likely to be held next weekend; stay tuned for details.

Organizational priorities and goals for the year ahead were the main topic of discussion at the January 13th meeting of the AGA’s board of directors. The top priority is to complete the rank certification program, followed by expanding the AGA’s presence on go servers, and creating a mentoring program. Although not chosen as a priority per se, the board also intends to create a reasonable reserve fund policy. Also on the agenda were the AGA president’s report and approving prize funding for the USYGC. An overview of the discussion of AGA priorities will be in the minutes, which will be posted as soon as they are approved at the next meeting, scheduled for February 3rd.
– Daniel Smith