The 3rd Virginia State Go Championship has adopted a best-of-three format for the final rounds. After a strong Open Elite division competed at the 10th Virginia Open in October, finalists from five cities will gather at the Korean American Baduk Association in Annandale on Saturday November 6th. The final will be held at the National Go Center on Wednesday 11/17 and 12/1 if necessary. Game records and results will be updated promptly on the Capital Go Club site.
Seeds:
Qingbo Zhang (from Fairfax)
Zhiyuan Zhang (Vienna)
Yaming Wang (McLean)
Ruoshi Sun (Charlottesville)
Irvin Pajarillo (Fredericksburg)
Semi-final games: 11am and 3:30pm ET on 11/6 Final: 5pm and 8:30pm ET on 11/17
The San Diego Go Club – in an effort to increase its diversity – is participating in the San Diego Japanese Friendship Garden’s eight week Pop-up exhibit in National City, California. Hosted in the National City Chamber of Commerce building, JFG is exhibiting art and providing free cultural and educational programming including demonstration games and teaching of Go by SDGC volunteers.
National City is a city of 61,000, ten minutes south of downtown San Diego, with sizable Mexican, Filipino, and Chinese descendant populations. The SDGC is hoping to increase its membership of under-represented populations in the AGA.
-report and photos by Ted Terpstra
SDGC volunteer Jiaying Wei & Ted Terpstra playing an exhibition game
SDGC member Jiaying Wiei looking at part of the Japanese Pop-up exhibit
Thirty-six go players trekked to Temecula in Southern California to contest the 3-round first Dapu Cup North America Go Open. The tournament was organized by Kevin Yang and directed by the San Diego Go Club.
In a strong Open section – which included two 7 dans and two 6 dans – King Bi 4d topped the field with a perfect record. Open players who tied for second with 2-1 records were Kevin Yang, Seth Cardew, Xingshou Liu, and Yixian Zhou.
In the handicap section, Tommy Liu 1d went 3-0 to top the strongest band (all dan players). Roxin Cao 1k, Nick Liddington 11k, and Donavan Chen 26k were all 3-0 in the other handicap bands.
-report by Ted Terpstra
Trophy winners at the Dapu Cup
King Bi (middle) accepting Dapu Cup from Kevin Yang (left) and his father Yimeng Liu
Youngster viewing first board competition between Kevin Yang (rt) and Yixian Zhou
The Canadian Go Association’s annual Canadian Open tournament will be held online from October 23-31st. Interested players of all levels worldwide are welcome to participate. “I hope to see many of our AGA friends join the tournament!” says TD Ron Mackenzie. All of the tournament information is available on the CGA website.
The tournament will feature an open division for 5d+ players with cash prizes. Other divisions will feature other prizes including those donated by sponsors. There will be six rounds run over 4 days, with rounds at 1PM and 5PM EST each day: Saturday, Oct 23: Rounds 1 and 2 Sunday, Oct 24: Rounds 3 and 4 Saturday, Oct 30: Rounds 5 and 6 Sunday, Oct 31: Open division playoffs, Pair Go, and Blitz tournaments
Yoonyoung Kim 8p will provide two review periods for players to share their games with her for analysis, which will be broadcast on her twitch stream. Interested players may join the review sessions regardless of whether or not they are playing in the tournament. Ryan Li 3p will also be offering a lecture on the New York Institute of Go Youtube channel on October 23rd at 7:30PM EST, the topic of which will be a review of one of the games from the open division.
Regular registration is $20 and will close on October 17th. Registration between October 17th and October 22nd will be $25. Any questions after not answered on the tournament page may be sent to TD Ron Mackenzie at ronm.cga@fastmail.com.
“Who won the most Virginia “Major Titles” from 2007-2020?” asks Jeff Zhang 5d. After identifying “major titles” as the Cherry Blossom, Lunar New Year, Pumpkin Classic, VA Open tournaments, the Capital Go Club searched the online EJournal archives for the past 13 years and the top four achievers are: Eric Lui 2P (11 major title wins), Daniel Chou 6d (8 wins, 2 runner-ups), Justin Teng 6d (3 wins, 7 runner-ups) and Joshua Lee 6d (3 wins, 4 runner-ups). “Big applause to the Top Four players!” says chapter representative Edward Zhang 6D (1 win, 3 runner-ups). “Meanwhile we welcome a new generation of players to take over Virginia.”
The next major Virginia tournament will be the 10th VA Open, taking place on OGS on Saturday October 9th. Last year, nearly 100 players competed. Click here to register. For more tournament winners history, visit the Washington Go Festival site.
The North Carolina State Championship and 20th Annual Memorial Go Tournament was held on September 25 and 26, 2021, at Umstead State Park in North Raleigh. A total of 42 Go enthusiasts from North Carolina, Tennessee, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Illinois participated. “We were especially impressed by and appreciated the presence of Richard Hugh, a 93 year young Go player who played well and lifted everyone’s spirits,” says Bob Bacon. “He was the unofficial champion of the tournament.”
The games took place in an open air shelter in a beautiful park setting. Masks and hand sanitizer were provided and their use encouraged. All participants were required to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Lunch was provided both days courtesy of the Triangle Go Group. Jeff Kuang directed, and trophies and cash prizes were awarded in five sections, topped by a very competitive open section. “The previous NC State Champion, Chen An, was unable to compete due to academic demands,” says Bacon, “but he visited Sunday and played an exciting game against the new State Champion. Well over half of the participants were dan level, which was unusual for our gatherings but extremely enjoyable!”
Section D, with players 9 kyu and lower was won by Bhaskar Bharath and Russell Herman, who tied for top honors. Justin Su came in second. Section C, 6 kyu to 8 kyu, saw Bob Bacon in first, and Tom Roncoli second. Section B, 1 kyu to 5 kyu, was won by Stephen Choung, followed closely by Robert Qi in second place. Section A, 3 dan to 1 dan, enjoyed great competition and the victory of young Huo Sheng. Second place was a tie between veterans Nianci Gan and Suyoung Yoon.
Finally, in the Open Section, 7 dan to 4 dan, Yi Li, an undergraduate student at Duke University, handily won the section and became the new North Carolina State Champion. Second place was secured by Alexander Qi.
“Thank you to all participants and especially to Adam and Arlene Bridges who coordinated and provided the lunch fares,” continues Bacon. “Another outstanding year!”
The North Carolina State Go Championship Tournament will be a two day event September 25 and 26, 2021, at Umstead State Park in north Raleigh. The State Go Champion must be an amateur Go player who has resided in North Carolina at least 50% of the past year. Students meeting these criteria are eligible. The tournament will be held at shelter #2 at the Reedy Creek entrance to the park.
Preregistration will be required to be paired in the first round. To play in the first round you must register before 6:00pm EDT Friday, September 24th. Register online and read more details on the website. Jeff Kuang will be the Tournament Director for the six round tournament, with three games on Saturday and three games on Sunday. Players will have one hour main time, with five byo-yomi periods of 30 seconds each. This is an AGA rated tournament. Players should be sure they have a current AGA membership or renew their membership before the tournament begins at usgo.org.
Entry fees will be $25 for adults and $15 for youths and students. Players may register for a single day of play only for a reduced tournament fee of $15 for adults and $10 for youths and students. There will be generous cash prizes and trophies in all sections. Participants must attend both days to be eligible for prizes.
Since this is an open-air tournament, COVID risks are reduced. Organizers will provide masks and hand sanitizer and players are encouraged to use them. Players older than 12 years old must be vaccinated to participate. Lunch will be provided onsite on Saturday and Sunday, courtesy of the Triangle Go Group and the AGA. Players can join the group and enjoy easy communication with other area Go players at the Triangle Go Group Facebook page.
Kevin Yang 6d went undefeated to win the San Diego Go Club Matsuokai/Sakakibara Go Tournament held at the San Diego Chess Club in Balboa Park on Sunday. Kevin beat his brother Tony Yang 5d – who finished tied for 2nd – in the final round of a strong Open Section to claim the championship. Adam Miller 3d, who flew in from Palo Alto, was the other second place finisher in the Open. A total of 42-players contested for the title in the first open in-person go tournament in Southern California in over a year.
Following Covid-19 protocols, all adults had to be vaccinated and everyone wore masks in the playing room. Many games were played one per table, and several players opted to play outdoors on the picnic tables. Bottles of hand sanitizer were available on every game table.
Two professional players were in attendance to watch their students play: Hai Li, a Chinese 5P, who has Go schools in Irvine and San Diego, and Han Han, also a Chinese 5P, newly arrived and living in Temecula, CA. “It was great to note that almost half of the players were youth and half of those were girls,” reports San Diego Go Club president Ted Terpstra. ‘Many of these young players were playing in their first AGA rated tournament and have now been added to the memberships of the AGA and SDGC.”
Winners in the Handicap Sections:
Division 1: 2-dan to 4-kyu 1st Place – Pasco Kwok 2d 2nd Place – Lester C Lanphear 1k 3rd Place – Enrique Garcia 3k
Division 2: 5-kyu to 9-kyu 1st Place – Angel Shunying Zhou 5k 2nd Place – Angelina Zhao 5k 3rd Place – Warren T Andrews 6k
Division 3: 10-kyu to 24-kyu 1st Place – Zoe Tan 15k 2nd Place – Lucia Moscola 10k 3rd Place – David Saponara 17k
Southern California Go tournaments coming up: The Dapu Cup North America Go Open: Sunday, October 17, 2021 in Temecula 4th Annual California Go Championship: November 27&28, 2021, San Diego
-report and photos by Ted Terpstra
Socially distanced San Diego Chess Club Go competition
Awards ceremony, left to right: Tony Yang 2nd place, Ted Terpstra SDGC president, Kevin Yang 1st place, Henry You SDGC vice-president
The North American Youth Go Open is an annual open tournament sponsored by the American Go Foundation for all young players of all levels under the age of 18. “Since the US Youth Go Championship was discontinued many years ago, we all missed having it,” says Stephanie Yin. “The goal for the NAYO is to provide an opportunity for young players to once again compete in a high-standard North American tournament. We are proud to host the 2nd NAYO this year and believe to make this event the largest open youth Go tournament in North America.” Originally intended as a face-to-face competition, the first tournament was held online due to the pandemic. Organizers plan to hold the tournament in-person in the future, sponsored by the New York Institute of Go as well as the American Go Foundation.
The day will begin with a short and greeting ceremony, which all participants can join, at 11:30 – 11:45 AM EDT on Saturday, September 4, 2021. There is no rank requirement to enter. The top three players in each division – based on rank – will receive certificates and trophies. For registration, schedule, and rules, tournament video requirements, please visit the tournament website. Registration will close Wednesday, September 1. “Players can join other young fighters preparing for the tournament at the NYIG summer Go camp!” concludes Yin.
Last Sunday, over 50 Go players, students, and parents of Hai Li’s go school gathered in an Irvine, CA park to celebrate in-person Go for the first time in over a year.
Hai Li 5P of China relocated to Southern California about a year after bringing several of his Go students from his school in China to attend the 33rd U.S. Go Congress in San Diego in 2017. He has since has become a well-known local teacher with students in San Diego and Orange counties. His students are regular participants in tournaments and Li himself has assisted with coordination of the California and San Diego Go Championships.
The party naturally featured Go games between the students and players, but the focus of the afternoon was the reacquaintance of friends. A lavish lunch, featuring many Chinese dishes provided by the families, capped the afternoon.
