Mark Lee won the 2016 Cotsen Open, scoring a decisive 5-0 sweep in which the only real threat came in Round 3 when he
faced “a very hard situation” against Dae Hyuk “Danny” Ko. In the end he prevailed against Ko by resignation, a similar end for most of the rest of his games, earning a second straight Cotsen title. Lee (center) missed this year’s US Open and says he’s been hard at work studying, but not go. He’s a freshman in college now, where he says his favorite subject is geography. “I like it, but it’s not nearly as much fun as go,” he laughed.
In addition to tournament sponsor Eric Cotsen (right), AGA president Andy Okun (left) thanked Ambassador Lee Key Cheol, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles for his strong support for the Cotsen Open. He also thanked Kim Nakjung, Director of the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and Seunghoan Roh, General Manager of the KCCLA, which hosted the Cotsen Open this year. “We really appreciate the longstanding support, not just for this great event, but for promoting go throughout the United States,” said Okun. Cotsen, in addition to thanking all the players for showing up, expressed special appreciation to his tournament team, “who handled this year’s challenges incredibly well.”
See below for the Cotsen winner report. Click here for the 2016 Cotsen crosstab, where we’ll be posting the top-board games broadcast this weekend on KGS. If you’d like your game record included, please email it to us at journal@usgo.org; be sure to complete all the game information.
Six more videos have been posted on the AGA’s YouTube channel, including the Day Two preview with Chris Garlock and Andrew Jackson; Myungwan Kim 9P on the Round 3 game between Mark Lee 7d and Danny Ko 7d, Jennie Shen 2P on the Round 4 game between Mark Lee and Luo Qipeng, Yang Yilun 7p on his exhibition 
game against Liao Guiyong 9p, Jennie Shen 2P on the Round 5 game between Mark Lee and Chang Duek Je and a wrap-up interview with AGA president Andy Okun. You can check out all the Cotsen Open video reports on this handy 2016 Cotsen playlist.
2016 Cotsen Winner Report
Open winners: 1st: Mark Lee; 2nd: Qipeng Luo; 3rd: Aaron Ye; 4th: Andrew Lu; 5th: Danny Ko; 6th: Deuk Je Chang.
Division A: 1st: Qi-Hao Zhao; 2nd: Mellisa Xuning Zhang; 3rd: Kevin Chao
Division B: 1st: Tim Chang; 2nd: Jesse Jenskins; 3rd: Seowoo Wang
Division C: 1st: Kevin Blaw; 2nd: Yunjen Lee; 3rd: Angelo Orlando Cafazzo
Division D: 1st: Daniel Su; 2nd: Jung Ho Lee; 3rd: Raghavendra Morthy
Division E: 1st: Zongren Huang; 2nd: Alexander Guru; 3rd: Lucia Moscola
Club winners: 1st: Santa Monica, 2nd: Orange County, 3rd: Bay Area
– report/photos by Chris Garlock
Update: this post has been updated to correct the spelling of Qipeng Luo’s name.
discount on registration and free lunch tickets for Saturday and Sunday. Registration closes on October 19 and the tournament runs October 21-22 at the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles. “Please don’t wait to register,” says Tournament Organizer Christopher Saenz, who also recommends pre-paying using the PayPal link. “This will guarantee making the first round of play as long as you check in with the Tournament Director.”
