American Go E-Journal

Yunxuan Li 5d took top honors at the Rocky Mountain Spring Go Tourney, held April 13th in Boulder, Co.  Li, who lives in California, flew out to compete in order to accumulate points for the North American Masters Tourney, which will be held at the Go Congress in August.  Li, who is 15, surprised everyone by defeating one of Colorado’s top players, Jung Hoon Lee 7d, in a nail biting game that gave Li a half point win with komi.  He also defeated Yun-Bo Yi 6d and Matthew Harwit 5d, in an eight player field of high dan players.  In the low dan and single digit kyu section, Josh Hoak 1d won first prize with four wins, as did Timothy Chang 12k, in the double digit kyu section.  Twelve-year-old Stanislav Irisov, competing in his first tourney, won the Best Newcomer’s Award for winning three games.  The tourney drew 30 players, 14 of whom were kids and teens. – Story and photo by Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.  Photo: Yunxuan Li 5d (r) out-reads Matthew Harwit 5d (l).