11-year old Ary Cheng 6d (r) defeated 10-year old Matthew Cheng 5d (l) in the third and deciding game of the Redmond Cup Junior Division Finals Thursday August 10th at the 2017 US Go Congress to claim his third consecutive title. While Matthew has been the only challenger so far to defeat Ary in his 3 consecutive Junior Finals, Ary has still established his dominance at the top of the Junior scene. In addition to clinching the Redmond title with the final match, he also defeated Matthew in the US Open that same day. Taking black in game 3 of the Redmond, Ary was off to an early lead due to a joseki mistake by Matthew. However, Matthew fought back strongly. While there were several opportunities for him to turn the game around, he wasn’t able to take full advantage of them and Ary seized victory. Ary and Matthew both took home trophies as well as $300 and $200 respectively. In addition, all of the Redmond Cup finalists also had all of their Congress expenses covered, courtesy of the AGF and AGA. Both kids still have at least one year left in the Junior Division (Under 13), so we can expect them to clash again in the near future and continue to develop as rising stars in the youth Go community. If you missed the game, you can check out the exciting live video commentary of the third game provided by 2005 Redmond Cup champions Zhaonian Chen 8d and Lionel Zhang 7d. Registration for next year’s tournament will open in early February 2018; check out the Redmond Cup page to learn more about the tournament and eligibility requirements.
Special thanks to Ashish Varma, Ethan Frank, and Dennis Wheeler for broadcasting the Redmond Cup Finals on KGS, and if you missed any of the video broadcasts, you can find them on the AGA’s Youtube channel. Stay tuned for highlighted videos of the commentaries; game records of all of the games will be uploaded on the Redmond Cup page within the next week. – Story and photos by Justin Teng, AGA Youth Coordinator
