American Go E-Journal

Thirty-seven players showed up last Sunday to take part in the San Diego Go Club’s “Back-to-School” Tournament.

A new resident to the area, Alan Ai (7.2-dan) won the Open section with a 3-0 record over a strong field including two 6-dans and a 5-dan. “The last time Ai was seen in San Diego, he took second place in the 2017 Redmond Cup at the U.S. Go Congress here,” reports San Diego Go Club President Ted Terpstra. “He is now enrolled at UCSD, so hopefully, he will become a familiar face at San  Diego Go Club events.” The club was honored to have two Chinese pros who now live in Southern California stop by to watch the competition: Hai Li and Weihan Hua, who is the president of the UCSD Go Club.

Players going 3-0 in the Handicap Sections were Seowoo Wang (2.5-dan) in the 3D-5K bracket, Warren Andrews (6.7-Kyu) in the 5K-10K bracket, Tony Morgan Yang (12-Kyu) in the 10K-20K bracket, and Eric Green Yang (25-Kyu) and Andy Shunwei Zhou (20-Kyu) in the 20K-30K bracket.

The tournament was held at the San Diego Chess Club in Balboa Park, which will also be the site for the 2018 California State Go Championship. The first annual event will be a 5-round tournament to be held on the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 24&25. Free registration for the California Championship is now open here.