Undaunted by autumnal rain, over two dozen players hunkered down for the 2012 Portland(Oregon) Go Tournament 
last weekend. The event, including a 7-round handicap tournament and a 5-round open, was held on the picturesque campus of Lewis & Clark College on October 20-22. A startling number of iPads were present, used to record games through Anders Kierulf’s “SmartGo Kifu” app.
Two father-son pairs competed: John and John Sajo and Guozhong and Ethan Zhuang. The younger brother of Vincent Zhuang, Ethan was one of two six-year-olds debuting at this tournament; the other was Maxwell Chen. Maxwell won the youth prize, racking up five wins despite having to miss one round to attend a birthday party.
Four strong players played in the open. Guozhong Zhuang came out on top, winning four rounds. In the handicap bands, the winners were: Dan: John A. Sajo (1st), Glenn Peters (2nd), Louie Liu (3rd); Single-digit kyu: George Schmitten (1st; at left in photo), Jeffrey Kleiss (2nd), Robert O’Malley (3rd); Double-digit kyu: Maxwell Chen (1st), Fillard Spring-Rhyne (2nd), Patrick Easley (3rd).
Thanks to Yellow Mountain Imports for offering a generous discount on prizes. GoClubsOnline was used for pairing and other tournament management tasks.
– Peter Drake, Tournament Director. Photo: George Schmitten (l) plays Masaya Tsukamoto; photo by Peter Drake.
