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The best amateur go player in the state of California in 2019 will be crowned over Thanksgiving weekend. The San Diego Go Club will host the 2nd Annual California State Go Championship at the San Diego Chess Club in Balboa Park on Saturday, November 30 and Sunday, December 1. Although only California amateur go players, including students, are eligible to win the top prize and title of Champion in the Open Division, everyone is welcome to play in the tournament. The top boy and girl under 16 years of age will also be crowned California U16 Champions.

The organizers will run a separate 13×13 youth tournament for youngsters without an AGA rating. For non-players, Balboa Park contains nine museums, the world famous San Diego Zoo, and a free organ concert at 2 p.m. on Sunday all within walking distance from the San Diego Chess Club. Registration, information, and directions are available at https://www.goclubs.org.

-report and photo by Ted Terpstra

The Evanston Go Club hosted its semi-annual tournament on November 9th, drawing 33 players from Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. In addition to the normal handicap section, the tournament included an Open section for dan players. “We’ve never had more than one section before,” says club president and TD Mark Rubenstein, “so I was a little nervous about it. I have my hands full running the self-paired section, so I knew I’d need someone to run the Open section. Thanks to the outstanding help of Lee Huynh, it went smooth as silk!” 

Rubenstein uses his own custom software for running the club’s tournaments, which are always self-paired. Huynh used OpenGotha to manage the Open section. The response of the dan players was unanimous; they greatly prefer to play even games, regardless of the difference in rank… even knowing they’d be up against Albert Yen 8d!
“Special thanks to our Central board members Lisa Scott and Devin Fraze (all the way from Columbus Ohio) for joining us!” says Rubenstein.

Results:
Open Section: 1st place Albert Yen 8d (4-0), 2nd place Meng Wang 6d (3-1)
Handicap A Section: Nathan Beecher 2d (4-0)
Handicap B Section: Daniel Lambert 4k (4-0)
Handicap C Section: 1st Place Alicia Seifrid 14k (5-0), 2nd Place David Bireta 15k (4-1) playing in his first tournament.

Andy Liu 1P took the top prize by tie-breaks after a three way tie in the top division of the Gotham Go Tournament on November 2nd. “Thanks to everyone who participated,” says organizer Peter Armenia, “and thanks so much to our fabulous tournament director David Glekel, his assistant Jino Choung, and my beautiful wife Gretchen Hanser for keeping the coffee warm, feeding us, and making beautiful ceramic go mugs for the top prizes!”

Division winners were Yong Chen 7d, Niel Ni 1d, Alexander Yu 2k, and Micah Murphy 10k, with Amari Gonzales 20k and Zhihan Huang 29k also undefeated in Murphy’s division. Peter Armenia’s eight year old daughter, Veronica, played in her first official tournament and he reports that she took her losses in stride with grace and composure.

Complete winner’s list
Open Division (all 3 wins)
1st Andy Liu; 2nd Alan Huang; 3rd Michael Chen
A: 1st Yong Chen; 2nd Lei Sun; 3rd Jianjin Lin
B: 1st: Niel Ni (undefeated); 2nd Sophie Lin; 3rd Afa Zhou
C: 1st Alexander Yu; 2nd Alex Fan-Cui; 3rd Luke Luo
D: 1st Micah Murphy (undefeated); 2nd Amari Gonzales (undefeated); 3rd Zhihan Huang (undefeated)

Qingbo Zhang, Josh Lee, Yaming Wang and Ran Zhao will face off in the final games of the Virginia State Champion in Annandale VA on Saturday, November 16. The Korean American Baduk Association (KABA) will host, and KABA president James Lee will be the Tournament Director.

“We would like to see more Virginia women and youth players join us at the Virginia State Championship,” said chapter representative Edward Zhang. “Please contact us so we can host Virginia Women’s Championship and Virginia Youth Championship for you!” Players may write to agatd1@gmail.com or zhiyuanz@gmail.com if they are interested. The KABA is open 11am-9pm everyday at 7202 Poplar St, Suite A, Annandale VA 22003.

The Santa Fe Go Club will host this year’s New Mexico State Championship to be held Saturday, November 23, at the Aldea Community Center in Santa Fe, NM. “Billy Maier is eager to defend his title!” reports organizer Robert Cordingly. The winner will hold the perennial trophy until the following championship, but will also receive a personal trophy to keep. Players may compete for the championship if they are full members of the AGA with at least 6 months residency in New Mexico in the past 12 months, but all players are welcome to play in the tournament. Players who register online at GoClubsOnline will receive a box lunch on the day.

The weather was warm in Raleigh, and the atmosphere on fire as 25 players engaged in their favorite board game. Tournament Director Jeff Kuang ran the show smoothly and pairings appeared quickly. A sumptuous lunch was again provided by Arlene and Adam Bridges.

For the second year running, Chen An 7d won the North Carolina State Championship with a perfect 4-0 record. He faced strong competition this year from another 7 dan player, Chengyu Fu, who placed a very respectable second in the event. The Open Section was quite competitive with two 7 dans, a strong 5 dan, two powerful 4 dans and four battling 3 dans.

Section A ended with a tie between Chen Yuan 2d and Sheng Huo 2d, each with a 3-1 record. Justin Blank 3k was the clear victor in Section B with the only other 4-0 score for the day, with Andrew Thieman 7k and John Aiken 8k tying for second place. Section C produced a 3 way tie for first, with Jeremy Marshburn 9k, Ganning Xu 11k, and Bhaskar Bharath 12k each finishing with a 3-1 result. Yet another tie emerged for top honors in Section D between Justin Su 12k and Russell Herman 12k. Complete results and more photos can be found on the club website.

-report and photos provided by Bob Bacon

A very successful Vermont Go Championship in Middlebury this past weekend attracted participants from far and wide. The 20 player field included five players from Canada and two from Grenoble, France, who happened to be visiting on holiday. Players traveled from Maine, Massachusetts, and throughout New England. Rich Chalmers 1d took first and was crowned Vermont State Champion. Dave Felcan 2d and Dan Deneen 2k claimed second and third place, respectively. In the open handicapped division, Benoit Potvin 11k took first place with the only undefeated record. Robert Lafleche 1k placed second and Andrew Richter 10k placed third.  

Prizes were generous and plentiful. In addition to trophies and framed certificates, sizable gift certificates from Kiseido, Guo Juan’s Internet Go school, and the Yunguseng Dojang were awarded. Prizes also included books donated from Slate and Shell, equipment donated from Yellow Mountain Imports, and Go related goods from local vendors. Everyone received at least one prize. Jars of local honey were given to everyone as a door prize compliments of Rich Chalmer’s farm. Special thanks to Jack Cary for making some awesome posters and tirelessly promoting the tournament.

-report and photos by Pete Schumer

Registration is still open for the 8th Virginia Open/1st Virginia State Championship Qualifier on September 28th. Residency in Virginia is required to qualify to be Virginia State Champion, but all are welcome to participate in the Virginia Open (AGA membership required). The field for the open division is shaping up to be strong with numerous 5 dan-7 dan players, including Maryland-based AGA pro Eric Lui 1p. Registration for the other side events happening concurrently as part of the Washington Go Festival are still open as well. Fairfax County Cable TV will also be providing media coverage of the event as part of a TV program on Chinese culture. “We are excited to crown our first Virginia State Go Champion, Virginia Youth Go Champion, and Virginia Women’s Go Champion and encourage all Go enthusiasts to join us! All registered AGA members will receive a free Go book courtesy of Hinoki Press,” reports event organizer Edward Zhang.