The New York Institute of Go’s new Manhattan location celebrated its grand opening the weekend of February 24-26 with over 100 players from around the country. To mark the occasion, Will Lockhart, director of the Surrounding Game documentary, donated a treasured ING board to the center. Players were also treated to some passionate Hikaru No Go karaoke, sung by Edward Zhang in honor of the many years of Japanese support for the community.
Saturday night’s activities consisted of Crazy Go, hosted of course by Terry Benson, half a dozen tables of PairGo organized by Devin Fraze, and lots of drinks and snacks. In addition, they celebrated four youth birthdays with song and cake.
The tournament featured 44 youth players, with awards being split by youth and adults into a total of 10 award sections. The top three youth players in each section were awarded trophies with places 4-6 receiving a certificate. Adults in each section were awarded $100, $75, and $50 in order of place, with the top division earning far more.
Championship Division 1st-6th places (left to right in the above photo):
- Ninghan Duan (FL)
- Michael Chen (PA)
- Tianhao Li (NJ)
- Xiaodi Huang (MA)
- Haoran Wang (NY State Champion)
- Alan Huang (NY)
Apparently the final Board 1 game was decided by half a point. Duan’s endgame skill got him a comeback and $1,200 prize, making it perhaps is the most expensive point in 2023 even in Manhattan’s standard.
- reported by Devin Fraze; click here to see more photos.
