Gangsheng Shi (far left) defeated Jianing Gan Saturday morning to become the second US-certified professional in the AGA-TYGEMGO Pro Finals that concluded today in Black Mountain, NC. Shi and Andy Liu won professional certification and $1,500 each in prize money.
“You both played beautifully and really earned this honor,” American Go Association President Allan Abramson (second from left) said at a special welcoming ceremony Saturday afternoon with tournament organizer Myungwan Kim 9P (second from right) and TD Jeff Shaevel (center). Kim outlined the rights and responsibilities of a professional go player to the newly-minted professionals as they sipped organic green tea from US-made cups. “You’re eligible to play in major Korean tournaments as well as other tournaments where US pros are invited,” Kim said. He also discussed the “high expectations” of professional go players, noting that “You are not individual go players any longer, you are now representatives of the AGA and the US go community.” The two nodded solemnly, looking a bit overwhelmed.
“It sounds very exciting,” Liu said, “the KBA has been so very generous to us all.” Added Shi, “I’m very happy for the opportunity to play and I hope that our success will influence more people to play go.” TD Jeff Shaevel agreed, saying that “A lot of people, including right here at the Congress, are looking up to you now. It might seem like the same as a few days ago, but everything’s changed now.”
Here’s the final set of results from the AGA-TYGEMGO Pro Finals, including all standings and prizes. For latest standings and game records, click here and scroll down to Results.
Morning games (8/4):
Promotional League:
7A (Game 2): GANSHENG SHI (W, PRO), Jianing Gan (B, Seed)
Exhibition League:
Game 1: Curtis Tang (W), CALVIN SUN (B)
Game 2: SOOIL KIM (B), Matthew Burrall (W)
Game 3: YUAN ZHOU (B), Edward Kim (W)
Game 4: BILL LIN (B), Andrew Lu (W)
Game 5: JUSTIN TENG (W), Ned Phipps (B)
Final standings and prizes
Promotional League:
PROS: Andy Liu, Gansheng Shi ($1500, each)
SEEDS: Jianing Gan, Eric Lui ($800 each)
ALTERNATES: Jing Yang, Hugh Zhang ($400 each)
Exhibition League:
1st (Final score: 6 points, $300 each) : Curtis Tang, Calvin Sun, Bill Lin
4th (4-4.5 points, $175 each): Andrew Lu, Sooil Kim, Yuan Zhou
7th (3-3.5 points): Justin Teng, Edward Kim, Matthew Burrall, Ned Phipps
11th (2 points): Ben Lockhart
photos: top right: Shi and Liu receive pro certificates from Myungwan Kin 9P and AGA President Allan Abramson as TD Jeff Shaevel looks on (photo by Chris Garlock); middle left: Shi and Liu meet with Kim for a special welcome ceremony (photo by Chris Garlock); bottom right: the entire AGA-TYGEMGO Pro Finals group; photo by Nik Gonzales, Second Camera, The Surrounding Game
The US Pro Qualification Tournament, which will be held in Los Angeles Jan. 2-8, is adding a youth tournament for all ranks, to be held Jan 4-5, announced Myungwan Kim 9P, chair of the AGA’s pro system committee. The event will be called the Milton N. Bradley Youth Go Championship, in honor of the late Bradley, who was devoted to youth go. Players must be under the age of 17 (born on or after Jan. 5th 1996). “I think it’s a good idea to hold a youth go tournament in LA area every year,” Kim told the Journal. “We already have a great location, the Hotel Normandie, and kids can see professionals, the professional system and very serious games. It will help to stimulate kids to learn go, watching all these top players and their games. I will play 13×13 simul games as well.” Orange County organizer Kevin Chao will be the Tournament Director, and will handle registration. He plans two four round tournaments, both 19×19 and13x13, for a total of eight games in two days. 19×19 games will be AGA-rated. To register e-mail pogychao@yahoo.com. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Image: a page from Bradley’s Go for Kids, illustration by Seho Kim. Bradley’s cartoon form is seated at right.
AGA Pro Tourney Game Records Posted; Women Who Get Go; Vogue interviews Xie Yimin; GoGoD Publishes Chinese Classic in E-Book Form; Go Mention in Stevie McCabe Mystery; Nice Go
Wednesday September 12, 2012
AGA Pro Tourney Game Records Posted: AGA-TYGEMGO Pro Tournament game records for both the main tournament and the Exhibition League have been added to the AGA Professional System page on the AGA website. To see the tournament draw – and download game records – scroll down to “Results.” Thanks to Dennis Wheeler and Steve Colburn for their work on this.
Women Who Get Go: Go has been catching on recently among young women in Japan, Daniel Krieger reported in The Japan Times earlier this year (The women who get go 5/15/2012). “Just last year, it started to get more popular,” said Mayumi Otsuka, 29, who has been hosting monthly get-togethers since last year at a go parlor in Osaka where she and her 27-year-old sister, Satomi, have been working (and playing up to 10 times a day) for the past three years. International Go Federation vice president Thomas Hsiang said that “To facilitate the next big change, we need a model” like a “Bobby Fischer” of women’s go, and suggested that the two best bets on the pro scene are 18-year-old Joanne Missingham, who is a sensation in Taiwan, and Hsieh Yi Min (Xie Yimin), a 22-year-old prodigy who came to Japan 10 years ago and is now at the top of the women’s game. photo: Yasuko Mantani (left) and Aya Kitano commence a game of go at the Shinsaibashi Igo Salon in Osaka. photo by AIMI NAKANO, courtesy The Japan Times
Vogue interviews Xie Yimin: In a related story, GoGameGuru’s David Ormerod reports that “Vogue Taiwan and the
fashion house Chanel recently did a video interview with Xie Yimin, the Women’s Honinbo Meijin in Japan. It’s part of a series of interviews with directors, musicians, go players – basically artists.” Although the video is in Mandarin, GoGameGuru has posted an English transcript along with the video here. “When I first arrived at the Nihon Kiin, I had to learn to kneel while I played,” Xie Yimin says in the interview. “I would kneel until my legs and feet went numb. However, my Go Sensei (teacher) said that, before the goban, one must learn to display a modest demeanour before one can become strong at Go.”
GoGoD Publishes Chinese Classic in E-Book Form: GoGoD has issued another e-book on Amazon: Gateway To All Marvels. Gateway is special edition of the 1347 Chinese classic Xuanxuan Qijing (Gengen Gokyo in Japanese), which
John Fairbairn says “is surely the most significant go book ever produced. It has become the foundation for virtually every problem book since, as well as being the main source for early go theory.” The new e-book version “brings together every problem and every variant from perhaps every subsequent edition, and discusses how the almost 500 problems and their solutions have evolved and varied, and also how even modern professionals often disagree on the correct solutions or, dare we say it, trip up,” Fairbairn adds. Previous GoGoD e-books include Inoue Genan Inseki and The Life of Honinbo Shuei, also available on Amazon.
Go Mention in Stevie McCabe Mystery: “Go is mentioned in the fifth novel in the Stevie McCabe mystery series, No Shadow in the City by John Callaghan, a Scottish author,” reports Su Co Chon Duc (Marjorie E. Hey). “In Chapter 4, there are several pages introducing go to the private investigator, Stevie McCabe. It is mentioned again in passing in Chapters 6 and 29. There’s some mayhem, but there are no ripping viscera, no splintering skulls. Yes, there are sexual encounters, because the characters have real lives, but no lingering erotica. It is marked for For Adults because of language.” While the first four books are available in paperback and Kindle format, Su Co Chon Duc notes that this book is currently only available on Kindle.
Nice Go: Bob Barber reports that go pops up in “Mr. Nice,” a 2010 film about a Welsh drug dealer. “There’s a minute of go at minute 19,” says Barber.