American Go E-Journal » 2023 » March

Sign-up is now open for the second season of the North American Online League (NAOL). NAOL is an online league funded by the North American Go Federation in collaboration with the American, Canadian, and Mexican go associations. It is intended to be a primary driver of an online rating connected to your go association ID.

Click here to sign up for the League; sign ups end March 14th, and pairings will be posted March 15th. Anyone with an active American, Canadian, or Mexican go association member is eligible to play in the NAOL, and you do not have to live in one of these countries to be a member of their go associations.

The league runs for five weeks. On March 15^th, participants will have their pairings for all five weeks, and can choose to play them at the recommended start time or contact opponents to reschedule. Tuesday night 8pm Eastern time is the standard scheduled time to play. The MGA hosts a Zoom meeting during Tuesday nights, so you can reach out to the other players of the league. Wednesday night 6:00 pm – 10:45 pm eastern, a certain number of games, played on time, will be reviewed. Games will be played on OGS with a 45 min byo-yomi 3 x 30 second timer, no handicap, AGA rules.

To register sign up here; questions refer to the FAQ. OGS page; Discord. Email: naol@usgo.org

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):

1. Ninghan Duan (FL)
2. Michael Chen (PA)
3. Tianhao Li (NJ)
4. Xiaodi Huang (MA)
5. Haoran Wang (NY State Champion)
6. 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.

The Gotham Go Group of New York City has teamed up with the New York University Game Center to host the next Gotham Go Tournament on Saturday, April 1. The tournament will be held in NYU’s Brooklyn location. “A relationship between the Gotham Go Group and the NYU Game Center is a natural fit” says local organizer Peter Armenia, who only recently discovered the center’s existence. Frank Lantz, an expert on games, is one of the center’s founders and is a go player himself; you may have seen him interviewed in The Surrounding Game movie. 

The first Gotham Go Tournament was held 10 years ago in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This year’s tournament, known for the large strong field of players, tasty treats, generous and unique prizes, is expected to be the largest yet.

The tournament will be held on Saturday, April 1^st at the NYU Game Center, 370 Jay Street in downtown Brooklyn.