The American Go Association’s Board of Directors has announced that it’s now accepting applications from members of the American go community for the post of AGA President. A brief functional description of the position can be found here.
“The position involves a lot of work and a lot of responsibility,” says outgoing President Andy Okun, “but also the opportunity to join with the board, the chapters, and the members of the AGA to build a remarkable future for our game and our organization.”
Interested members should email a statement of candidacy and a CV to the AGA Presidential Search Committee at president-search-committee@usgo.org by April 15, 2022. Qualified candidates will be sent a preliminary questionnaire to submit for further review.
Condemning the war against Ukraine, the European Go Federation has suspended Russia from the EGF, and canceled all EGF events planned in Russia. Additionally, Russian go players “are not allowed to play under their country’s flag in EGF events,” and will be accepted only as neutrals. “We call for a quick and peaceful end to this aggression against Ukraine,” the EGF said. These sanctions are far-reaching, as Russia has a lot of go players, including at the top level.
Artem Kachanovskyi
The International Go Federation has done the same, but with the inclusion of Belarus, “confirming IGF’s strong condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia with support of Belarus and expressing IGF’s unwavering solidarity with our Ukrainian friends.”
European pro and European Go Journal editor Artem Kachanovskyi, a resident of Kyiv, has posted movingly on Facebook about having to flee the city and not being able to fight since he must take care of his children. He’s also decided not to have any Russian contributors to the EGJ, calling it a difficult decision to make.
Tony Claasen reported on the EGF’s website that he joined an anti-war demonstration with over 150,000 people in Prague before the European Youth Go Championship (EYGC) training camp started there recently. “This war is having a big impact on the social life of every one in Europe,” Tony says, “and now also in the go community as a lot of players from both Ukraine and Russia can not participate in the Camp or in the EYGC.”
Anti-war demonstration in Prague; photo by Tony Claasen
AGA president Andy Okun tells the EJ that a Ukrainian go player he met years ago is in Kyiv, and told Andy “Your help is need – the world must know about our war and that the Russia is fascism! For the moment Ukraine need to safe the sky! We hope that World and USA will help us and we will win! Glory to Ukraine and its heroes!”
We’ll pass along more related updates and news as we receive them; please send to journal@usgo.org
Chris Garlock, Managing Editor, American Go E-Journal. NOTE: Updated with a quote from the IGF and link to their statement.
Sunday March 20th starts the fourth round of the Pandanet AGA City League. At this midway point some leaders starting to emerge among the leagues. Perennial favorites New York City and Canwa Vancouver 1 are leading the A League. Newer teams, Ithaca and Denver, are in a tight race with Canwa Vancouver 2 for the B League. North Corvallis and Atlanta 1 are chasing Washington DC 2 in the C League. Returning LA 2 and NY City 4 top the D League. All of these teams face tough competition in the coming rounds. Who will lead their league after this round? Think they will stay the same? Watch LIVE this Sunday at 3pm EST/12pm PST.
“Registration for the American Go Honor Society (AGHS) Weekly Go Problems is now open, and all players are welcomed!” says AGHS Secretary Henry Chen. “Each Sunday, we will provide Go problems with five different levels (Level 1, Level 2, etc) from the most beginner to the most advanced level. Practicing problems is a great opportunity to enhance your skills and will benefit you tremendously in your games. The Spring Season will last ten weeks, and at the end of the season, prizes will be awarded.”
The deadline to sign up for the spring season is March 20, 11:59 pm PT. You can register here. If you have any questions, feel free to contact aghsregister@gmail.com.
After extensive meetings with the AGA Board and officials during the last two months, U.S. Go Congress directors are pleased to announce plans for an in-person event. “We believe a reasonably safe Congress can be held with the proper precautions such as those described on the continually updated AGA website Covid-19 page,” they say, noting the recent steep drop in cases and that most Americans are now well protected from COVID. (AP News).”
Given that playing go puts players face to face, across from each other for prolonged periods of time, organizers currently plan precautions that exceed CDC recommendations, including wearing masks during indoor play. Vaccination will be required. A statement of the policy will be available on the Congress website.
The 38th annual U.S. Go Congress will be held July 30th – August 7th at the YMCA camp near Estes Park, CO. The camp is just outside Estes Park, about 1.5 – 2 hours from Denver International Airport (DIA).
“We’re very excited to be holding an in-person Congress again this year”, says Co- Director Eric Wainwright. “People are eager to greet old friends, make new friends and resume the great tradition of playing go at the week-long Congress.”
Young players made a strong showing in the 2022 South Central Go Tournament. Thirteen-year-old Derek Zhou (bottom right) finished first in the Open section, 11-year-old Juanshu Lan (3rd in the Open, top right) became Texas State Champion (the Texas resident finishing best) and 12-year-old Massa Jin (left) won the top band of the Handicap Section.
Because of COVID the tournament was held online on February 19 and 20. It included players from all around the U.S. and one living in Canada. The Open Section had ten players ranging in strength from five dan to three dan. The Handicap Section had thirty-nine players in four bands. Strengths ran the gamut from 1 dan to 29 kyu. – Bob Gilman
Just like the famous cherry blossoms, tournaments are returning to the National Go Center in Washington, DC. The April 2nd Cherry Blossom Tournament will be the NGC’s first tournament of the year, and organizers say “It will be great to see faces old and new for a day of tournament go.”
Doors will open at 8:30a on April 2 for the 4-round AGA-rated tournament; fees are still the same with discounts to NGC members. “Joining the NGC is easy and also gives the Center a much-needed financial boost after being mostly shut down the past two years,” says Gurujeet Khalsa. “We are a 501(c)3 non-profit and if you can afford to also make a tax-deductible donation to the NGC it will be a huge help as we restart.” CLICK HERE to register. Memberships and donations can also be done at the National Go Center website. There are prizes in every section and all players can win.
“For all the WORDLE fans out there we’ll also be having a fun side event with entries from the WORDLE archives to be completed during the day when not in your tournament go games and a scoring system to win a prize as the top WORDLE’r of the day,” Khalsa adds. Organizers are also finalizing participation for a booth to promote go at the annual Sakura Matsuri festival in downtown DC the following weekend and will be recruiting volunteers; details coming soon.
By Daniela Trinks, Korea correspondent for the E-Journal
Pro newbies Kim Hyoyoung 1p (left) and Kim Minseo 1p. Photo courtesy of Han Changkyu/Hangame.
15-year-old Wins First Title 9 Months after Becoming Pro The 1st Mediheal Millenium Women’s Go Championship was won by 15-year-old Kim Hyoyoung 1p who became pro just nine months prior on April 29th, 2021. The sponsor Mediheal is a Korean-based international cosmetic company. The championship was open to female players born in 2000 or later. 15 pros and one amateur competed in the double-elimination round of 16. Amateur Ko Misoo (20) defied all expectations by defeating three pros before she was toppled by Kim Hyoyoung 1p in the semi-finals. It was a 135-minute battle of 264 moves which the teen pro barely won by half a point.
In the final, which took place on February 4th, Kim Hyoyoung 1p encountered another newcomer: 14-year-old Kim Minseo 1p, who became pro seven months prior and is currently the youngest among the 393 pros affiliated with the Korean Baduk Association. Each player had a thinking time of 30 minutes plus byoyomi of 40 seconds 3 times. Kim Hyoyoung took home 5 million KRW ($4,200) and Kim Minseo 3 million KRW ($2,500).
The Winner Rookie Team from China (from left: Zhou Hongyu 6p, TuXiaoyu 6p, Wang Xinghao 6p). Photo courtesy of Kim Sookwang/Cyberoro.
Team China wins 1st Uijeongbu International Rookie Team Championship The Ujieongbu Cup is a new tournament sponsored by Uijeongbu city (Korea) where a Go stadium is being built. A team each from China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, and South Korea competed. Each team consisted of two male and one female player born in 2002 or later as shown in the table below. From March 3rd to 5th three rounds of round-robin were played online with a thinking time of 1 hour and a byoyomi of 40 seconds three times. The second table shows the final standings. Check out the game records to get a peek into the ability of new rising Go stars. The prize money was 40 Million KRW ($32,000) for the victorious team China, 15 Million KRW ($12,000) for team Korea which placed second, and 10 Million KRW ($8,000) each for teams Chinese Taipei and Japan who came in third and fourth, respectively.
By Daniela Trinks, Korea correspondent for the E-Journal
Nongshim Cup Team Korea (From left: Park Jeonghwan, Shin Minjoon, Shin Jinseo and Won Seongjin). Photo courtesy of Han Changkyu/Hangame.
Team Korea wins Nongshim Cup The third and final stage of the 23rd Nongshim Cup began in February. The thinking time of 1 hour and one minute overtime is relatively short for an international tournament; this perhaps contributes vastly to its popularity among Go fans because a lot of upsets happen in the heat of the byoyomi battle. The situation didn’t look promising for Korea at all with only one player remaining in the tournament, while Japan had three and China two. Unlike previous editions, the first stage of the competition was very balanced because no player managed to win more than one game before being eliminated (see table below). The real hero emerged in stage 2 where Iyama Yuta won four games in a row, a first-time record for a Japanese player in the history of the Nongshim Cup. Unfortunately, the three-month break before the third stage didn’t do him any favors – he lost momentum and was defeated by Mi Yuting 9p from China. Now the last Korean player, Shin Jinseo 9p, entered the fray and sparked a series of events that could only be described as a “miracle”. After a controversial ending to a game against Mi Yuting 9p, which Shin won on time, there was an appeal by the Chinese team about a technical glitch by the server. A rematch was organized after lengthy consultations amongst referees in Korea, China, and Japan. Shin wasn’t thrown off by the incident and in fact, won the rematch comfortably the next day. Out of the three remaining games, the clash between the current world-top Go players, Ke Jie and Shin Jinseo was the most highly anticipated. Ke Jie fell behind after making two mistakes in the opening (moves 39 and 43), and never really recovered. Untypical of him, he didn’t show his special ability to complicate and reverse the game. Shin Jinseo seems to be invincible in international matches these days – since June 8 last year, he has not lost to any non-Korean player. He won 28 times in total, including 23 against Chinese players.
Table. Players are marked according to their professional affiliation: South Korea (blue), Japan (orange), and China (green).
The Nongshim Cup prize money has increased from 200 million to 500 million KRW ($160,000 to $410,000) since the 17th edition, making it one of the most lucrative international Go competitions. Different from other team competitions, there is no prize money for the second and third-placed teams. In the Korean team, the prize money split was calculated based on each player’s contribution to the victory. Shin Jinseo, who recorded a four-win streak and won the deciding match, received 195 million KRW ($158,000). Next, Park Jeonghwan and Won Seongjin each received 96 million KRW ($78,000) for winning a single game; lastly, Byun Sangil and Shin Minjoon each received 83 million KRW ($67,000) for participating but not winning a single game.
Shin Jinseo 9p. Photo courtesy of Han Changkyu/Hangame.
Shin Jinseo sweeps LG Cup On February 8th and 9th, Shin Jinseo 9p, from Korea, defeated Yang Dingxin 9p, from China, 2:0 to win the LG Cup trophy for the second time in his career. Yang had a strong start in the first game, his winning rate had climbed to 95% after 184 moves. However, Shin managed to turn the table by playing complicated moves which confused his opponent. Most notably the double peep 186. This induced Yang’s three decisive mistakes in byoyomi which allowed Shin to reverse the course of the game and snatch a dramatic last-minute victory. In the second game, Shin led till the middle game until an overplay turned the game into another nail-biter. After 6.5 hours and 247 moves, Shin finally won by resignation. The winner’s trophy came along with a cash prize of 300 Million KRW ($250,000), while the runner-up received 100 Million KRW ($83,000).
“The AGHS is holding its second Girls Who Play Go tournament! Inspired by Girls Who Code, this tournament aims to promote go among young female players in the go community,” says AGHS Co-President Sophia Wang. “All under-18 female participants from across the globe are invited to participate. Rounds will be held on March 20th and March 27th on KGS (a change from last year’s BadukClub).”
If you would like to participate, please read the rules/regulations and sign up here by 11:59 pm PT on March 13th, 2022. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the tournament. Feel free to email aghsregister@gmail.com for any questions or concerns.
