American Go E-Journal

There were no surprises on the top boards on the first day of the 2013 World Amateur Go Championship, as strong players dominated weaker opponents in the early rounds. China’s Yuqing Hu, one of that country’s strongest amateurs, defeated Belgium’s Lucas Neirynck and Slovenia’s Janez Janza; Korea’s Hyunjae Choi beat Andrew Kay of the UK (right) and Curtis Tang of the US; Tapei’s Shin-Wei Lin defeated Thiago Sinji Shimada Ramos of Brazil and Artem Kachanovskyi of the Ukraine; Russia’s Ilya Shikshin beat Charlie Akerblom of Sweden and Suzanne D’Bel of Malaysia; Hong Kong’s King Man Kwan defeated Bertan Bilen of Turkey and Kikou Emura of Japan. Curtis Tang of the US defeated John Erickson Javier of the Philippines and lost to Korea, and Canada’s Bill Lin defeated Alexander Bukh of Kazakhstan and Aleksandar Savchovski of Bulgaria. In other results, France’s Thomas DeBarre defeated both Ireland’s James Hutchinson and Denmark’s Per Marquardsen, while Czechia’s Ondrej Silt lost to Singapore in the second round, after defeating Lithuania’s Vladas Zaleskas in Round 1. Click here for full results; here for selected game records and here for the player roster. Four matches are broadcast each round on Pandanet and WBaduk. Click here for Michael Redmond 9P’s commentaries on the Round 2 Finland-Colombia and Argentina-Israel games.
-Chris Garlock; photo by John Pinkerton; game commentaries by Michael Redmond