American Go E-Journal

Defending Champs Hold Onto Redmond Cup Titles

Wednesday August 14, 2013

Defending champions Jianing Gan 7d and Aaron Ye 6d both held on to their Redmond Cup titles in the exciting final rounds of the tournament at the US Go Congress last week.  Ye won round one (see the E-J from 8-4) and was determined not to lose his title to the challenger David Lu 6d, of Canada. The Redmond finals are a best two out of three match, so the second game is crucial.  Ironically, Lu drew Ye as his opponent in the US Open on Tuesday morning, Aug. 6, and defeated him.  Going into the afternoon match, the question on everyone’s mind was could Lu do it twice in a row on the same day?  The boys played a spirited game, even commenting on each other’s moves before finishing, but Ye showed his full strength and held onto his title.  Ye has now won the Redmond Cup three times – putting him in line to be Redmond Meijin if he can win twice more before turning 18.  In the 20 year history of the Redmond, Eric Lui 7d and Curtis Tang 7d are the only two players to have successfully crossed that line.

In the Senior Division (ages 12-17) Jianing Gan won round one against Andrew Lu 6d.  Lu played a spirited game in round two, determined not to lose two in a row.  Playing white, he successfully parried Gan’s Low Chinese opening, reducing or invading at every possible juncture, but found himself with a running line of eyeless stones as a result.  The tide turned when he was able to save this group, making the game very close.  Gan fought back skillfully, but Lu prevailed to win by 2.5 points.  Round three was played on Thursday, and Gan again opened with the Low Chinese.  Lu managed to invade on both sides, completely undermining Gan’s original Low Chinese side, but giving Gan massive thickness on the outside as a result.  Changing directions, Gan then attacked Lu vigorously on the other side of the board.  Lu, behind on time and in byo yomi for most of the game, was forced to resign when he couldn’t find a solution to save his group.  Having won the final match, Gan held onto his Redmond title for the second year and will be a force to be reckoned with next year as well.  The Redmond Cup has been run by Michael Bull for the past 20 years, with online qualifiers, and a final at congress.  All of the final games were broadcast live on KGS, and drew hundreds of spectators.  Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photo by Paul Barchilon: David Lu 6d (l) vs. Aaron Ye 6d (r),  Justin Teng 6d is recording the game in the background. 

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