American Go E-Journal

The main US Go Congress tournaments got underway Sunday morning as some 260 players started their clocks in the US Open and another 40 players began the Masters Division of the US Open. While the Open is still six rounds played each morning (except Wednesday), the Masters Division is a 9-round event, with an additional three rounds being played Sunday, Tuesday and Friday nights. This new format replaces the 4-round North American Masters Tournament (NAMT) and the 4-round Strong Players Open. Eligibility in the Masters Division is limited to professionals, 7 Dan or stronger players and NAMT qualifiers. Prizes total over $11,000, including $5,000 to the first-place winner and additional prizes to the top three NAMT scorers within the Masters Division. Click here for the Masters Division crossgrid, which includes results available through Sunday night’s second round. The E-Journal broadcast top-board games live on KGS and those game records are available on the crossgrid as well. Jennie Shen 2P also did two audio game commentaries with EJ Managing Editor Chris Garlock on KGS and those are available free on KGS Plus; look under “Recent Lectures” under USGO5; the 8/10 11:04a game is the AGA City League game between Simon Yu (Seattle) and Bill Lin (Vancouver) and the 11:26a game is the Masters Division Round 1 game between Matthew Hu and Qiyun Zhu. Monday’s live broadcasts start around 9a EST on KGS; the pro game commentaries are scheduled to begin around 10a on KGS. Keep up with breaking news at the 2014 US Go Congress by following us on Twitter @theaga and Facebook at American Go Association. 
– report/photo by Chris Garlock