American Go E-Journal » 2016 » October
Dairong Xu Squashes Competition at NOVA Pumpkin Classic
Monday October 31, 2016
U.S. Pros Battle in Sankei Cup
Monday October 31, 2016
Gansheng Shi 1P (l) made it through to the second round of the Sankei Cup before losing to Tetsuya Kiyonari 9p. He defeated Yosuke Shintani 1p in the first round. Eric Lui 1P (r) lost to Mika Yoshida 8p in the first round. Click here for complete results.
– photos courtesy the Kansai Kiin
US Pros Eric Lui & Gangshen Shi Playing in Sankei Cup
Sunday October 30, 2016
Lee Sedol 9P taking on Ke Jie 9P in Samsung Reprise; Live Commentary Sunday Night
Saturday October 29, 2016
Lee Sedol 9p will take on Ke Jie 9p in the Samsung Cup semifinals, in a reprise of last year’s match, when they also met in the semis. The match starts this Sunday, and Myungwan Kim 9p will provide commentary on the three-game series live on the AGA’s YouTube and Twitch channels, starting at 9p Pacific time on Sunday, October 30 (PDT, UTC-7). Game 2’s commentary will begin at 9p PST on Monday, 10/31, and if necessary, Game 3’s commentary will start at 9p PST on 11/1.
Nihon Ki-in Chairman Participates in Nick Sibicky YouTube
Thursday October 27, 2016
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nihon Ki-in, Mr. Hiroaki Dan, gives a greeting in Japanese at the beginning of Nick Sibicky’s latest YouTube lecture. Mr. Dan was in the United States on personal business, and he had a one day layover in Seattle. He spent the afternoon and evening with Seattle Go Center board members, and attended the beginning of Nick Sibicky’s class, which was on Go Seigen (Lecture #223). Later, while enjoying Dungeness crab, he said he was impressed with the quality and amount of teaching done by volunteers at the Seattle Go Center. report/photo by Brian Allen.
AGA Live Commentary: Park, Tang Down to Last Game of Ing Pro Final
Tuesday October 25, 2016
Myungwan Kim 9p will give live commentary on exciting final round of the 8th Ing Pro Cup finals. Park Junghwan 9p and Tang Weixing 9p play the fifth and final match of the best of five series on Tuesday evening starting at 6:30 p.m. PDT. The players are tied 2-2 and the winner of this round will take home the grand prize of $400,000. The commentary will start at 11 p.m. PDT on the AGA’s YouTube and Twitch channels.
Mark Lee Wins Cotsen Open, Sweeping 5-0
Sunday October 23, 2016
Mark Lee won the 2016 Cotsen Open, scoring a decisive 5-0 sweep in which the only real threat came in Round 3 when he faced “a very hard situation” against Dae Hyuk “Danny” Ko. In the end he prevailed against Ko by resignation, a similar end for most of the rest of his games, earning a second straight Cotsen title. Lee (center) missed this year’s US Open and says he’s been hard at work studying, but not go. He’s a freshman in college now, where he says his favorite subject is geography. “I like it, but it’s not nearly as much fun as go,” he laughed.
In addition to tournament sponsor Eric Cotsen (right), AGA president Andy Okun (left) thanked Ambassador Lee Key Cheol, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles for his strong support for the Cotsen Open. He also thanked Kim Nakjung, Director of the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and Seunghoan Roh, General Manager of the KCCLA, which hosted the Cotsen Open this year. “We really appreciate the longstanding support, not just for this great event, but for promoting go throughout the United States,” said Okun. Cotsen, in addition to thanking all the players for showing up, expressed special appreciation to his tournament team, “who handled this year’s challenges incredibly well.”
See below for the Cotsen winner report. Click here for the 2016 Cotsen crosstab, where we’ll be posting the top-board games broadcast this weekend on KGS. If you’d like your game record included, please email it to us at journal@usgo.org; be sure to complete all the game information.
Six more videos have been posted on the AGA’s YouTube channel, including the Day Two preview with Chris Garlock and Andrew Jackson; Myungwan Kim 9P on the Round 3 game between Mark Lee 7d and Danny Ko 7d, Jennie Shen 2P on the Round 4 game between Mark Lee and Luo Qipeng, Yang Yilun 7p on his exhibition game against Liao Guiyong 9p, Jennie Shen 2P on the Round 5 game between Mark Lee and Chang Duek Je and a wrap-up interview with AGA president Andy Okun. You can check out all the Cotsen Open video reports on this handy 2016 Cotsen playlist.
2016 Cotsen Winner Report
Open winners: 1st: Mark Lee; 2nd: Qipeng Luo; 3rd: Aaron Ye; 4th: Andrew Lu; 5th: Danny Ko; 6th: Deuk Je Chang.
Division A: 1st: Qi-Hao Zhao; 2nd: Mellisa Xuning Zhang; 3rd: Kevin Chao
Division B: 1st: Tim Chang; 2nd: Jesse Jenskins; 3rd: Seowoo Wang
Division C: 1st: Kevin Blaw; 2nd: Yunjen Lee; 3rd: Angelo Orlando Cafazzo
Division D: 1st: Daniel Su; 2nd: Jung Ho Lee; 3rd: Raghavendra Morthy
Division E: 1st: Zongren Huang; 2nd: Alexander Guru; 3rd: Lucia Moscola
Club winners: 1st: Santa Monica, 2nd: Orange County, 3rd: Bay Area
– report/photos by Chris Garlock
Update: this post has been updated to correct the spelling of Qipeng Luo’s name.
Mark Lee Cruising in Cotsen
Saturday October 22, 2016
Defending champion Mark Lee 7D cruised through the first three rounds of this year’s Cotsen Open on Saturday, putting himself in position to capture the title for the second year in the final two rounds on Sunday. Also undefeated are Qipeng Luo and Andrew Lu. Click here for complete results through Round 3: 2016.10.21_cotsen-tiebreakreport Catch the top-board action live on KGS, starting at 10:30a PST. The E-Journal’s coverage this year includes short videos posted on YouTube, including player interviews, brief pro commentaries and an interview with Eric Cotsen. Photos and videos are also posted on the AGA’s Facebook page and more photos on our Twitter feed. The tournament, one of the largest and most popular on the AGA’s annual calendar, returned to the Los Angeles Korean Cultural Center this year, and attracted a field of 166 players.
– report/photo by Chris Garlock
Cotsen Open Videos
2016 Cotsen Open – Chris Garlock and Andrew Jackson preview the Open (2:39)
2016 Cotsen Open — Interview with Eric Cotsen (8:59)
2016 Cotsen Open – Rd 1 Bd 1 review! (Yilun Yang 7P on Mark Lee 7d vs Wenyi Wang 6d) (17:50)
2016 Cotsen Open – Rd 2 Bd 1 review! (Yilun Yang 7P on Mark Lee 7d vs Kai Naoyuki 7d) (13:10
“Why We Play Go” at the 2016 Cotsen Open, Samantha Fede with Lisa Scott (1:42)
“Why We Play Go” at the 2016 Cotsen Open, Samantha Fede with Rui Wong (2:21)
“Why We Play Go” at the 2016 Cotsen Open, Samantha Fede with Sam Tregar (1:37)
Videos produced by Chris Garlock; Andrew Jackson, Technical Producer
10/22 (7:15a PST): This report has been updated to include the other undefeated top players and the PDF of game results.
The Power Report: New Honinbo league starts; Kono wins first Agon Kiriyama Cup; Iyama makes good start in Oza; International tournaments
Thursday October 20, 2016
by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
New Honinbo league starts: The 72nd Honinbo League got off to a start on October 6. Hane Naoki is back after a gap of four terms, so for the first time in a while the “the four Deva kings” (the others are Yamashita Keigo, Cho U, and Takao Shinji) who dominated Japanese go in the first decade of this century are together. In the opening games, Cho U 9P (B) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by resig. and Motoki Katsuya 7P (B) beat Yuki Satoshi 9P by the same margin. Another game was played on October 13. League newcomer Mitani Tetsuya 7P (B) beat Ko Iso 8P by resig.
Kono wins first Agon Kiriyama Cup: The final of the 23rd Agon Kiriyama Cup was held at Shakasan Daiboji temple, the Kyoto headquarters of the Agon Buddhist sect, on October 8. Taking white, Kono Rin 9P beat 25th Honinbo Chikun (Cho Chikun) by half a point after 220 moves. Cho had taken the lead in the middle game, but Kono played relentless endgame and pulled off an upset. This is Kono’s ninth title and his first Kiriyama Agon Cup. The play-off with the holder of the Chinese Agon Kiriyama Cup, Ke Jie 9P, will be held in Kyoto in December. Incidentally, this was the first clash between Kono and Cho for a title. First prize is five million yen.
Promotion
To 3-dan: Mutsuura Yuta (40 wins, as of October 14)
Iyama makes good start in Oza
The first game of the 64th Oza title match was held at the Westin Hotel Osaka on October 17. Taking white, Iyama beat Yo Seiki 7P by 1.5 points. The second game will be played on November 7.
International tournaments
China wins Jastec Cup: This tournament was founded in 2012, but this is probably my first report on it. The full name is the Jastec Cup International New Stars Igo Tournament. It is open to eight-player teams, including two women players, from China, Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Japan. It’s an all-play-all team tournament, so a lot of games are played. It was held at the Belle Salle Iidabashi hall in Iidabashi in Tokyo from September 23 to 25. The sponsor, Jastek, seems to be one of the leading software companies in Japan.
Results were as follows:
Round 1 (Sept. 23) Japan 4 Korea 4, China 8 Chinese Taipei 0
Round 2 (Sept. 24) Japan 4 Chinese Taipei 4, China 5 Korea 3
Round 3 (Sept. 25) Japan 4 China 4, Korea 5 Chinese Taipei 3
1st: China; 2nd: Korea; 3rd: Japan; 4th: Chinese Taipei
Prizes: 1st: 1,000,000 yen; 2nd: 500,000; 3rd: 300,000; 4th: 200,000
Nong Shim Cup: Ichiriki’s biggest win
Ichiriki Ryo 7P is very busy this year, as he is studying at Waseda University. He attends classes by day (five 90-minute classes on his busiest day) and goes to the Nihon Ki-in at night. His hectic schedule is not affecting his play, however: he has just won his first open title (see previous report) and is about to challenge Iyama for the Tengen title.
Ichiriki is also often chosen to represent Japan in international tournaments. Last year, he got his country off to an excellent start in the Nong Shim Spicy Noodles Cup with three wins in the opening round. This year also he made a good start in the 18th Nong Shim Cup, beating Lee Sedol in the opening game. Taking white, he edged Lee by half a point. Actually Ichiriki played solidly at the end because he miscounted and thought he was 1.5 points ahead. This is probably the biggest win of his career. This time, however, he didn’t get a winning streak, as he lost to China’s Fan Tingyu, who went on to win three in a row. The opening round was held in Jilin Province in China. Results:
Game 1 (Sept. 27) Ichiriki 7P (Japan) (W) beat Yi Sedol 9P (Korea) by half a point.
Game 2 (Sept. 28) Fan Tingyu 9P (China) beat Ichiriki by resig.
Game 3 (Sept. 29) Fan (W) beat Lee Tonghoon 9P (Korea) by resig.
Game 4 (Sept. 30) Fan (B) beat Cho U 9P (Japan) by resig.
Fan is 20, just one year older than Ichiriki. When he was 16, he won the Ing Cup. The venue for the opening round was a little out of the way: a Nong Shim factory (Nong Shim is a Korean company) located in China near the borders with North Korea and Russia. The visiting players first stayed a night at Incheon in Korea on the 25th, then flew to Yuanji Airport in China on the 26th. From there it was a three-hour bus ride. The factory makes mineral water, using the local White Mountain Water.
Samsung Cup semifinalists
As is more and more often the case these days in international go, Chinese players dominated the 21st Samsung Cup, with three of them making the semifinals. However, they are joined by an ominous figure: Lee Sedol, the top player of
the 21st century. The second round and the quarterfinals were held on October 4 and 6. Pairings in the semifinals will be Tuo Jiaxi 9P (China) vs. Fan Yunruo 5P (China) and Yi Sedol 9P (Korea) vs. Ke Jie 9P (China). The semifinals, which are best-of-three matches, will be held in Taejon City, Korea from October 31.
China wins Gratitude Cup
This tournament is the international version of a domestic tournament for younger players (30 and under) (see my report around June 21). It is open to five-player teams from China, Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Japan and the international version was held for the third time this year. Teams are made up of three male and two female players. The venue was the Temple & Shrines Hall, Ise City, Mie Prefecture. Results follow.
Round 1 (Oct. 14). China 4 Korea 1, Japan 3 Chinese Taipei 2
Round 2 (Oct. 14). China 4 Japan 1, Korea 4 Chinese Taipei 1
Round 3 (Oct. 15). China 5 Chinese Taipei 0, Korea 5 Japan 0
Play-off for 1st (Oct. 15). China 3 Korea 2
Play-off for 3rd (Oct. 15). Chinese Taipei 3 Japan 2
Prizes are quite substantial for a junior tournament like this. First: 4,500,000 yen; 2nd: 1,500,000 yen; 3rd: 1,000,000; 4th: 750,000. There are also individual prizes for players with three (300,000) or four (500,000) wins.
AGA Broadcast Sunday Night: Ing Cup Finals, Park Junghwan 9p v. Tang Weixing 9p
Sunday October 23, 2016
Myungwan Kim 9p, hosted by badatbaduk, will give live commentary on the action as the 8th Ing Pro Cup finals draw to their conclusion. Park Junghwan 9p and Tang Weixing 9p play the fourth match of the best of five series on Sunday evening starting at 6:30 p.m. PDT. Park currently leads by 2-1. The commentary will start at 11 p.m. PDT on the AGA’s YouTube and Twitch channels.