“The Oregon State Go Championship was played on September 21 and 22 at the beautiful Portland Japanese Garden,” writes tournament director Roy Schmidt. “Due to space limitations, the field was limited to 28 players. Top honors in the Open section went to Steve Stringfellow 4d, of Tacoma, Washington, with a perfect 5-0 score. The highest finishing Oregon resident, and thus the new State Champion, was Robert Tirak 5d, with a score of 4-1, losing only to Stringfellow by half a point.
“In the Handicap section, first place was claimed by Tyler Moore, 4k, (5-0) from the Bay area, CA. Second place was a tie at 4-1 between Andrew Zhang 1k and Stewart Towle 7k.
Garden visitors were guided through an observation area, where they could watch the games in progress.
Peter Freedman adds, “Doug Cable and I spent Saturday and Sunday teaching people to play Go in the Japanese Garden. The place was packed on sunny Saturday, but not so much on rainy Sunday. Still, we must have taught 50 people how to play, and probably 20 got to hear my talk on Go history and its cultural relevance to Japan.”
– photos by Neal Wright
– edited by Nate Eagle
