Monday August 5, 2013
Today’s tournaments in the Youth Room at the US Go Congress included 9×9 and 13×13 tournaments, run by Fritz Balwit, and a little impromptu frisbee go on the ten foot by ten foot 9×9 board as well. Table winners in the 9×9 were: Willis Huang 3d, Job Betcher 2d, Julie Burrall 4k, Bryan Tan 8k, and Bob Liu 13k; 13×13 table winners were Justin Ching 4d, Daniel Puzan 1k, and Eric Liu 5k. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor; photo by Phil Straus
Monday August 5, 2013
Sweden: Recently, Leksand hosted both the Leksand Open and the European Women’s Go Championship. Even though he had triumphed at the EGF Qualification tournament for Beijing 2013 two days before, Hui Fan 7d championed the Leksand Open on July 24 with Ali Jabarin 6d in second and Cristian Pop 6d in third. The same day, victory at the European Women’s Go Championship belonged to Natalia Kovaleva 5d (left) while Dina Burdakova 5k placed second and Manja Marz 3d came in third. Croatia: The 475. Velika Gorica weekend go tournament finished July 27 with Mladen Smud 1k in first, Nikola Primetica 4k in second, and MIrko Primetica 9k in third. Romania: Catalina Bianca Tudosie 12k took first at the TrSeverin – Under 16 club tournament on July 28 in Drobeta-Turnu Severin. In second was Catalin Fabian Birlan 12k and third was Marina Popa 16k.
— Annalia Linnan, based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news
Monday August 5, 2013
Tournament Recap: Top players get two bites at the competitive apple at the U.S. Go Congress, playing in both the U.S. Open in the morning and then in either the North American Masters Tournament (NAMT) or the Strong Players Open (SPO). In an upset win, Jianing Gan 7D forced a resignation by Andy Liu 
1P in yesterday’s first-round action at the U.S Open (USO), but Liu — who conducted a simul in the afternoon (right) — notched a decisive win against Yuan Zhou 7D in the evening round of the NAMT. In other top-board USO action, Canadian pro Zi Yang Hu 1P beat Tianyu (Bill) Li, Chinese pro Cong Li 3P lost to Yuhan Zhang 7D and Beomgeun Cho (9.2 AGA) defeated Andrew Lu (7.5 AGA). In other NAMT top results, Hugh Zhang 7D scored an upset against Yongfei Ge 8D, Zi Yang Hu 1P defeated Jianing Gan 7D and Andy Liu 1P beat Yuan Zhou 7D. In the SPO, Cong Li defeated James Sedgwick 7D of Canada, while Beomgeun Cho beat Andrew Lu and Juyong Koh 7D defeated Maojie Xia 6D. Track results — and check out game records, where available — of each round here: U.S. Open; NAMT; SPO. For Congress tourney crosstabs going back to 2008, click here. photo by Chris Garlock
Today’s online live coverage of Round 2 of the U.S. Open begins at 9a (PST) on KGS (look for the USGO accounts); professional commentary by Myungwan Kim 9P and Cathy Li 1P begins at 10a. Our coverage of the second round in the North American Ing Masters and Strong Players Open begins at 7p.
Seen & Heard: A top player in the US Open was late to his game because he was found trying to get into the wrong room, which turned out to be a locked storage closet, not the playing room.
Attention Congress Attendees: Exercise sharpens your mind: pick-up tennis and soccer games are at 4p this afternoon: see the signs outside the main playing area for details. Don’t forget to send us your Congress reports, sightings and photos. Got something all Congress attendees should know? Email it to us at journal@usgo.org!
Correction: This report has been corrected to reflect Chinese pro Cong Li 3P’s loss to Yuhan Zhang 7D in the US Open; our original report said that Li won.
Monday August 5, 2013
Sunday’s snapshots: top right: Yilun Yang 7P lectures (by Phil Straus); 
middle & bottom right: strong players review their games (Chris Garlock); bottom left: Cathy Li 1P plays in a simul (Peter Mooyman); top left: the main playing area during the US Open (Phil Straus).
Plus: Click here for Phil Straus’ complete album of the day.
Sunday August 4, 2013
Hui Fan 7d (left) is on fire lately. On top of his recent Leksand Open and EGF Qualification for Beijing 2013 wins, Fan has climbed to the top of the leader board for the main tournament at the 2013 European Go Congress underway in Poland. Behind him are Antti Tormanen 6d and former first place holder Mateusz Surma 6d. However, formidable contenders Ilja Shikshin 7d, Alexandr Dinerchtein 7d, and Ondrej Silt 6d hold sixth, seventh, and eighth. Twenty-year-old Lukas Kräemer 5d is also closing in on the top ten. The main tournament recommences on August 5 at 10 A.M. local time.
Meanwhile, the weekend tournament finished August 4 with Shikshin in first, Fan in second, and Ali Jabarin 6d in third. For the latest updates, full results, photos, and more, visit the official 2013 European Go Congress website.
— Annalia Linnan; photo courtesy EuroGoTV
Sunday August 4, 2013
Jianing Gan 7d and Aaron Ye 6d both won their first round matches in the Redmond Cup Finals at the US Go Congress Sunday afternoon. Gan, who is from Canada, was undefeated in the qualifiers, and is the defending champion in the Senior Division of the Redmond (under 18). His opponent Andrew Lu 6d is the current US Youth Champion, and lost only to Gan in the qualifiers. Lu was out for a win, and played strongly throughout today’s match, but ran into time trouble and ultimately had to resign. In the Junior Division (under 12) defending champion Aaron Ye, age 11, faced off against Canadian David Lu 6d, also 11. Lu is new to the Redmond, entering for the first time this year, and was undefeated in the qualifiers. Ye lost only to Lu, and was out for revenge in the finals. Lu stumbled early in the game, when Ye killed a large group in the corner, but kept up his resolve and created tremendous complications for Ye throughout the rest of the game, which hinged on a ko that almost turned the tide. Ye played steadily throughout though, and ultimately won by a large margin. The game was broadcast live on KGS, and drew 150 observers. Round two will be broadcast on Tuesday at 3pm PT, in the AGA Tournaments Room.
In the Youth Room at the Go Congress, today’s event was a lightning tournament, with ten minutes per player. 32 kids and teens played in the match, and table winners won $10 gift certificates to Congress go vendors. Shirley Lin 3P and Andy Liu 1P also held simuls. Justin Teng 6d won at the top lightning table, which included some of the strongest young players at congress. Jimmy Yang 5d, April Ye 1k, Yukino Takehara 2k, Austen Cao 9k, and Anson Hu won the other tables. Tomorrow’s events will be 9×9 and 13×13 tourneys, and professionals Myungwan Kim 9p and Mingjiu Jiang 7P will also hold simuls. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photos: top left: Andrew Lu 6d (l) vs. Jianing Gan 7d (r), photo by Phil Straus; bottom right: Youth Lightning Tourney, photo by Paul Barchilon.
Sunday August 4, 2013
The AGA’s second pro certification tournament is being planned for this 
coming December, AGA President Andy Okun tells the E-Journal. “We had hoped to announce earlier in the year, but the sponsor of our first tournament, Tygem, decided for internal reasons not to continue their support, so we spent some time on the search for a replacement sponsor.” The AGA’s pro system committee felt strongly that a 2013 tournament should be held and so a smaller tournament is being planned for early or mid-December, with eight competitors competing for one pro position. The competitors will include the two runners-up from last year’s certification, two from the top finishers of the US Open at this year’s U.S. Go Congress, one chosen in an online tournament, one from the Cotsen Tournament tentatively scheduled for late October, one from a tournament in New York, and the top-rated eligible AGA player not selected by these events. The finals will be held in Los Angeles and will include a modest travel subsidy. photo: Myungwan Kim 9P congratulates Andy Liu 1P, the first pro certified by the AGA in 2012; photo by Steve Colburn
Sunday August 4, 2013
What do these three guys have in common, besides the game of go? Send your 
guesses to journal@usgo.org.
photo by Gurujeet Khalsa
Sunday August 4, 2013
Wu Poyi carried the flag for Taiwan at this year’s Japanese Amateur Meijin. Coming to Tokyo by way of Miaoli County, he represented Hong Mal-geun-saem’s dojo in the final face-off against Korean-born Osaka resident Hong Suk-eui (left). More than an east vs. west grudge match, though, Poyi had everything to gain. This was his first major amateur tournament in Japan and Suk-eui has held the title for the last two years.
As if that were not enough, Suk-eui has also enjoyed extreme success in the Agon Kiriyama Cup when he defeated seven pros including a victory over a 9-dan that put him in the top 16, not to mention the half dozen amateur titles he has won in his home country. A tall order for any challenger. “If I lose to him, it will be only natural,” Poyi said.
Though Poyi fought hard in the first game and had a decent lead in the second game, Suk-eui won both games by resignation. He is the first player to win the Amateur Meijin three times and hopes next year to make it four. For more about Poyi and the 2013 Amateur Meijin, visit the official IGF website.
– Annalia Linnan, based on a report by the International Go Federation
Sunday August 4, 2013
Team Los Angeles won the Pandanet-AGA City League A-League finals Saturday at the U.S. Congress in Tacoma, WA, defeating the Washington team 2-1 in hard-fought games (click
here for game records). Beumgeon (Evan) Cho defeated Jie Li on Board 1, while Seung Hyun (Kevin) Hong beat Yuan Zhou on Board 3 in the afternoon games, broadcast live on Pandanet. Eric Lui, playing via Pandanet from Seoul Korea, where he’s playing in the Samsung Cup preliminaries for the AGA, scored DC’s only win by defeating Dae Hyuk (Daniel) Ko. Andy Okun captained the LA team. “We’re tremendously pleased with the results of our first year of the Pandanet AGA City League,” League Project Co-Manager Jon Boley reported to Congress attendees Saturday night at a brief awards ceremony. Twenty eight teams competed in four leagues: LA won the A League, Toronto won the B League, Chicago won in C League, and Brentwood, TN won the D League. Karoline Burrall was the League Manager, Steve Colburn was the League webmaster and support was provided by Andy Okun and Thomas Hsiang. The EJ’s Andrew Jackson and Dennis Wheeler recorded the Board 1 and Board 3 games. photo (l-r): Jon Boley, Evan Cho, Andy Okun, Daniel Ko, Steve Colburn, Kevin Hong and Karoline Burrall; photo by Phil Straus