The 2019 MA State Championship on Saturday, November 16, was a huge success with a healthy turnout of 30 players, the biggest tournament in Western Massachusetts in years. It was hosted by the Western Mass Go Association (WMGC) at Springfield College. Full results and more pictures available here.
A successful tournament requires help from so many people, without whom participants could not have had such a great day:
– The team in Boston for giving the WMGC the opportunity to host the state championship.
– Professor Andrew Perry who suggested and helped arrange for the use of the beautiful space at Springfield College.
– The AGA for its encouragement and sponsorship of the state championship.
– David Kohn, president of MGA, and Eva Casey, for support in publicity, logistics, and coordination with the other MA tournaments.
– Past Go Congress organizers Micah Feldman, who arranged for snacks and took a voluntary bye in round 1, and Bill Saltman, who photographed the tournament.
– Chris Morse and Micah Feldman both helped teach a beginner’s class at Springfield College the evening before the tournament, with about a dozen students in attendance.
– Martha Marteney, who was on hand all day to manage the technical details of running the tournament.
– An anonymous donor for a very generous $500 donation to help draw in some very strong players, and increase the prize pool all the way down the line.
– Neil Ritter, MA State Championship Coordinate, for all his help in preparing for the tournament. He also drove in early from Boston with boards, stones and clocks, and orchestrated an efficient setup and teardown. The tournament would not have been such a success without Neil’s help and encouragement.
– All the players, many of whom pitched in throughout the day to help, especially during setup and teardown.
The picture at right is from the third round, and includes the open section top finishers. Xu Yilin (6d) on board one in black with glasses, on his way to being undefeated. Luo Yin (5d) in the white hoody manages to win this hotly contested third round game against Ruihan Cao (3d), standing with the blue jacket. Luo Yin’s only loss was in the previous round to Xu Yilin, the tournament winner. Ruihan Cao had battled his way up from below the bar, to lose only to the top two finishers in the tournament, in rounds 3 and 4, after having polished off one 6-dan in round 2, earning himself a special mention prize, with the strongest 2-2 result possible from his starting position.
Other excellent results were put in by three 4-0 winners:
– Aojie Kong (1k), the AGA’s newest member.
– Andrew McGowan (2k), who, despite having the pressure of a large crowd of players gathered around his 4th round game – the last one of the tournament to finish, managed to hold on to a 1/2 point win against a strong 1d.
– Teng Chi-hse (5k). In this top-heavy tournament, he didn’t play a single even game. In two games he gave a handicap, and in two he received stones. A great result, showing off his ability to both give and take handicap stones effectively.
And, in a tough field, there were only two 3-1 winners outside of the open section: Ni Niel (1k) and Choung Jino (2k).
– Trevor Morris, Tournament Director; photos by Bill Saltman
