Tuesday May 31, 2016
On June 5, at 9 am EST, Nikola Mitic of the Nordic Go Academy, currently a class A insei at the Nihon-Kiin, will give a lecture on the direction of attack in the early game. The lecture will take place in the Advanced Study Room of KGS and it is free to attend. Mitic, whose user name on KGS is nidza92, can be reached at mitic375@gmail.com. The Advanced Study Room can be found under the heading “lessons” in the room list on KGS.
Monday May 30, 2016
The Mexican Go Association’s 3rd Annual Go Congress in Mexico City will be host to three professional teachers, including one each from the US and Canada. With the aid of AGA, Stephanie (Mingming) Yin 1p from NY and William (Gansheng) Shi 1p from Vancouver will be visiting Mexico, and with the support of the Korea Amateur Baduk Association, Cho Hye-yeon 9p from Seoul will teach as well. This is the first time a Mexican Congress will have this many pros.
“Western go is developing in a tremendous way. While America and Europe already have pro systems, in Latin America we don’t even have a Congress type of event. We can’t lag behind compared to other regions,” said Emil García, Mexican Go Association president. “The main purpose of the event is letting the local players grasp some of the deep insight pros have and for them to teach us through lectures, game reviews and simul games.”
Airfare for the two North American players is courtesy of the American Go Foundation, said AGA president Andy Okun. “When we received an invitation from the Mexican Go Association for pro teachers for their event,” said Okun, “I thought about the projects on which we’ve cooperated with Mexico and their success in promoting the game to kids. I also thought about the many years of generous support we have received from the go associations in Asia and thought this would be a chance for us to ‘pay it forward’ for the good of the game.”
The three-day event will also hold the 3rd Mexican Go Open with a prize pool near $1,000 US and will take place in the Tlatelolco University Cultural Center, Mexico City, Mexico. You can check more info about this event in its webpage.
Monday May 30, 2016
The AGA Summer Go Camp includes a week of go learning in a friendly kid’s summer camp setting,” says Co-Director Fernando Rivera. “Campers enjoy morning and evening go lessons with a professional teacher throughout the week, and outside of the daily lessons enjoy more traditional summer camp activities.” Matthew Qiu writes “at go camp [last] year I made a lot of good friends, and played a lot of go. Go camp is a fun way to meet new people, and improve your game.” With a mix of lessons, outdoor activities, tournaments, and other Go related activities, the camp is an ideal place for kids to make friends and have fun while also improving their go skills. “Outside of the go classroom, we did many fun-filled outdoor activities,” writes camper Leon Chang, “we went canoeing in the lake, shot arrows at the archery range, climbed ropes courses, and much more!”
Perhaps 12-year-old Joe does the best job of summing up everyone’s feelings after a great week at camp: “When I left camp I was sad that I will miss all my new friends, but when I came back home I was happy because I was beating everyone and showing that I improved.” Go Camp will take place from July 3-9 at YMCA Camp Campbell Gard in Hamilton, Ohio. The camp will be run by Nano Rivera and Frank Luo. Youth who played in the NAKC or the Redmond Cup are eligible for a $400 scholarship, and need-based scholarships of up to $250 are also available courtesy of the American Go Foundation. For more information on the latest camp-related news, and to download the registration forms, visit the camp website, or e-mail Nano Rivera at agagocampeast@gmail.com. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Quotes and photos by Nano Rivera.
Monday May 30, 2016
Zhengbokang Tang 7d won the 2016 Maryland Open Sunday, after the event ended in a four-way tie at the top on 4-1 and a 
two way tie on both SOS and SODOS tiebreakers. Tang topped the field by virtue of winning the head-to-head match with Shiuyao Qiao 1p. Tang (at left in photo) also bested the other pro in the field, Calvin Sun 1p, while falling only to Zhaonian Chen 7d. Seventy one players, including two professionals, attended the 43rd Maryland Open, directed by Gurujeet Khalsa, assisted by Todd Heidenreich.
Open Section: 1st – Zhangbokang Tang 7 dan; 2nd- Shiyao Qiao 1p; 3rd- Zhaonian Chen 7 dan; 4th – Calvin Sun 1p
A Section: 1st – Gabriella Su 5 dan; 2nd- Ashish Varma 4 dan
B Section: 1st- Muyuan Wang 3 dan; 2nd – Jared Beck 3 dan
C Section: 1st- Adam Jiang 2 dan; 2nd – John Wang 1 dan
D Section: 1st – Terry Luo 1 kyu – Kyu Champion; 2nd- Neil Ritter 2 kyu
E Section: 1st- Chenzi Wang 6 kyu (only player to go 5-0); 2nd – Tevis Tsai 7 kyu; 3rd – Amanda Miller 8 kyu
F Section: 1st – Jimmy Yang 15 kyu; 2nd- Sarah Crites 10 kyu
G Section: 1st – Antonina Perez-Lopez 20 kyu; 2nd – Tianfeixue Han 28 kyu
Fighting Spirit Prize – Justin Ching 6 dan
Greg Lefler Award – Feng Yun Go School
– reported by Keith Arnold (at right in photo). photo by Gurujeet Khalsa; click here for more photos.
Sunday May 29, 2016
If you are planning to attend the US Go Congress in Boston this year but haven’t signed up or paid, you’d best get cracking! The early bird price expires at the end of May, i.e. Tuesday, with the registration fee going from $375 to $425. And if you haven’t decided yet to come to Congress this year, why not? Aside from a location steeped in history, culture and seafood, this Congress boasts an illustrious complement of pro teachers, a powerful lineup of strong players and a tremendous roster of attendees, swelled by the work of the Congress team as well as all the exciting new developments in the world of go. Sign-ups are well into record territory with more than 330 paid attendees already and nearly 430 altogether in the process. See the Congress website for more details and to sign up.
Sunday May 29, 2016
Popular teacher Mingjiu Jiang 7P will talk about “Tricky Moves in Josekis” at the upcoming US Go Congress July 30-August 
7 in Boston. Also joining the professional line-up at the Congress are Ryan Li 1P, Eric Lui 1P and Calvin Sun 1P; together with previously announced Andy Liu 1P and William Shi 1P, all the young North American pros will be in attendance at the Congress. Longtime Congress favorite Cathy Li 1P has also confirmed she’ll be there. A special guest, An Yan 7P from China, will also attend; he’s taught many strong players in the US, including 2016 Congress director Walther Chen 5d. Over 300 have already registered for the Congress; see who’s coming here.
Saturday May 28, 2016
The AGA is looking for a new treasurer. After six years of tireless service, longtime AGA stalwart Roy Schmidt is coming to the end of his third term as treasurer. The new treasurer must be willing to work, be good at detailed work, patient and able to keep good financial records. He or she should also be someone who does their own tax return and finds reconciling checking and credit card accounts easy. It would be good as well to have had a course in managerial accounting (bookkeeping), experience with Quickbooks and experience with small business transactions. After board approval, the new treasurer designate will receive full training and assistance from the incumbent. Please get in touch with Andy Okun at president@usgo.org.
Friday May 27, 2016
Members of the Evanston Go Club took the game of go to Anime Central last weekend, teaching hundreds of attendees how to play, reports club president Mark Rubenstein. “This event is so much fun!” said Rubenstein. “We were there for 14 hours on Friday and 12 hours on Saturday, and we were teaching non-stop. I’m sure many of the kids we taught will continue to learn and play.” Evanston Go Club has been teaching go for many years at ACEN, the largest anime convention in the midwest, with over 31,000 attendees last year. “I think I’m finally catching up on my sleep now!” mused Rubenstein four days after the convention.
Monday May 23, 2016
Nineteen go players showed up the San Diego Go Club’s Spring 2016 Go Soiree, an informal quarterly gathering of players 
from all the go clubs in San Diego County, with other visitors from southern California. The match of the day featured AGA president 
Andy Okun matched up with UCSD freshman Weihan Huai, a 2-dan professional from China. Okun fought gamely but was no match for the student in a handicapped game.
The go party was at the club president’s house which gave the players the opportunity to peruse a 200+ go book library and borrow tomes that would improve their game. After playing for five hours, players socialized over pizza provided under the AGA rewards program.
– report/photos by Ted Terpstra. photos: (right) action shot of a game and problem analysis; (left) Weihan Huai (left) and Andy Okun
Kim YouTube Commentary Tuesday as Ke Jie and Park Junghwan Contend in LG Cup
Monday May 30, 2016