Cary Chinese School won the team competition and Eric Zhang 5d (right) topped the individual competition in the 2015 Carolina Spring Go 
Tournament. The 12th annual tournament Carolina Spring Go Tournament, held in Raleigh on April 19th, co-organized by the Chinese American Friendship Association of North Carolina (CAFA), Confucius Institute at NC State, and the Cary Go Club, attracted 28 go players with a wide range of ages and go experience but with an equal amount of love for go.
Nine young players from Cary Chinese School’s go classes formed three teams to compete in the team competition. As expected, the team competition generated a lot of excitement, with young players eagerly reporting and checking the scoreboard during the breaks between rounds. CCS Team 1 of Alvin Chen, Alex Kuang and Ellen Zeng, and CCS Team 2 of Andy Chen, Jasmine Ye and Ethan Wan scored the same 9 wins (out of 12 games), thus tied as the winners of the team competition (photo at left).
In the individual competition, Eric Zhang 5d, of Chapel Hill, won the open section championship with a score of 3-1. Andrew Zalesak, 1d, of Cary High School, won Section A with a perfect score of 4-0, including an impressive win over a 3-dan player on a non-handicapped game with no komi. One of the youngest players, Ethan Wan of Cary Chinese School won Section D with a perfect score of 4-0. Alvin Chen won Section B with a score of 3-1 while Ellen Zeng and Alex Kuang tied for the first place finish in Section C with the same score of 3-1. Below is the complete list of winners.
Individual Competition Winners:
Section: open (3d-5d) winner: Eric Zhang, 5d. Final score: 3-1
Section: A (3k-2d) winner: Andrew Zalesak, 1d. Final score: 4-0
Section: B (10k-4k) winner: Alvin Chen, 10k. Final score: 3-1
Section: C (11k-20k) winners(tied): Ellen Zeng, 14k, and Alex Kuang 16k and both with a final score of 3-1.
Section: D (30k-21k) winner:Ethan Wan, 28k, final score: 4-0
Team Competition Winners (tied):
Cary Chinese School Team 1: Alvin Chen, Alex Kuang and Ellen Zeng
Cary Chinese School Team 2: Andy Chen, Jasmine Ye and Ethan Wan
– report by Tournament Director Owen Chen; photos by Jeff Kuang
