The San Diego Go Club has been barred from its coffee house where it has met once a week on Tuesdays, from 7-11 p.m., for more than 25-years due to the Coronavirus, but the go players still compete. Local and more afield go players play on KGS on Tuesdays and simultaneously talk and see each other on the Discord app. The average online attendance is actually more than was showing up at the coffee house.
The Ninth Annual San Diego Go Championship was supposed to occur earlier this year, but when face-to-face competition was impossible, the club decided to have a free 5-round tournament online on KGS, in the San Diego Go Club room. Competition started three-weeks ago by 24-players (7-dan to 22-kyu) – more than half of whom are youth.. They will play one game a week for four weeks. The last round will be face-to-face whenever that is possible. There are no cash prizes, but the winner of the Open will have his name engraved on the club’s permanent plaque and win a trophy. Previous winners include Mark Lee (10-dan), Ari Saito (7-dan), Leran Zou (7-dan) and Yi Wang (6-dan).
After 3-rounds, Yixian Zhou 6d is the only undefeated player. In the Handicap section, four players remain undefeated: Anna Zhou 16k, Angelina Zhao 8k, Michael Sanders 7k, and Arunas Rudvalis 6k.
The San Diego Go Club has petitioned the AGA Board to allow this online competition to have its games AGA rated.The AGA Board is still deciding, but players are happy to have some meaningful competition none-the-less.
The 3rd annual California State Go Championship is still on the SDGC’s schedule, for the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving. If face-to-face playing is not possible by then, the tournament will be held online, so that there will be a 2020 California Go Champion as well as an U16 girl and an U16 boy Champion. Everyone can compete, but only California residents can win the titles.
-report by Ted Terpstra
