American Go E-Journal

Tim Song 1P snatched the US Open Masters title from Ahn Dalhoon 9P, defeating the Korean professional in the ninth and final round by resignation in a thrilling game watched by hundreds on Twitch and KGS. Tianyi Chen won the top section of the US Open (click here for the official final standings), and in an interesting wrinkle, 15-year-old Brandon Zhou 5d (right) went 6-0 to top the 5-dan division, defeating three 6-dans, including 6-dan division winner Tianyi Chen.
Commentator Yilun Yang 7P’s assessment in the Masters final was that Ahn had a good position until he ran into time trouble in the late middle game, but AI analysis indicated that Song had an advantage from fairly early in the game. Either way, Song (left), a young Chinese pro who now lives in the US, relentlessly pressured Ahn until, with the last few seconds ticking away in his final byo yomi – and with two weak groups at stake, he turned off the clock in acknowledgement of his defeat. “I’m really impressed with way the field has developed in recent years,” said AGA president Andy Okun. “It bodes very well for the future of American go.” The upset was not the only one of the day. On board 2, Chinese pro Ding Wei 9P fell to Michael Chen 7d, also losing by resignation. The losses by the two top professionals threw the results into tiebreaks; both Ahn and Song were 7-2, but Song prevailed by a single SOS point. Song is the title winner, but because they had the same win/loss records, they’ll split the $7,500 first and second place prize money evenly. Four players had 6-3 records, and Ding Wei won the third place trophy on SOS; Andy Liu, Ryan Li and Michael Chen are the runners-up. Latest Masters crosstab here.
– report by Chris Garlock and Dennis Wheeler; photos by Garlock
7/29: updated with link to official final US Open standings