American Go E-Journal » Events/Tournaments

U.S. Go Congress Preview: Sunday, August 4

Sunday August 4, 2013

Online live coverage of top boards at the U.S. Open begins at 9a (PST) on KGS (look for the USGO accounts); professional commentary begins at 10a (PST). Redmond Cup coverage on KGS will begin at 3p (PST) (USGO accounts). Our coverage of the North American Ing Masters and Strong Players Open begins at 7p (PST). Track results of each round here: U.S. Open; NAMT; SPO.

Other highlights of the Congress today are the Youth Lightning tournament, pro lectures, simuls and game reviews, as well as the launch of the new Teacher’s Workshop. We hope to file reports on some of these during the day on the website; let us know if there’s anything in particular you’re interested in.

Attention Congress Attendees: Send your own Congress reports, sightings and photos to us at journal@usgo.org; we’ll publish the best. Also, reminder that you must sign up for Wednesday Day Off trips today (see sign-up sheets in the registration area). Got something all Congress attendees should know? Email it to us at journal@usgo.org!

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U.S. Go Congress Scrapbook: Saturday, August 3

Saturday August 3, 2013

Hundreds of go players are converging on Pacific Lutheran University in Takoma, WA today as the 29th annual U.S. Go Congress gets underway. Here are some snapshots by EJ photographer Phil Straus: top right: Yuan Zhou plays Seung Hyun Hong in the Pandanet-AGA City League Finals on Saturday afternoon; bottom right: early arrivals waste no time getting on the board; bottom left: Congress Registrar Judy Debel prepares early Saturday for the onslaught of go players from around the world; top left: E-Journal staffers Todd Heidenreich (right) and Steve Colburn prep for the EJ’s Congress coverage.
– photos by Phil Straus; collage by Chris Garlock
Plus: Click here Phil Straus’ complete album of the day. 

 

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Pandanet AGA City League Finals this Saturday

Friday August 2, 2013

Team Los Angeles, captained by Andy Okun, will play Team Washington DC, led by I-han Lui, in the inaugural Pandanet AGA City League finals this Saturday at the U.S. Go Congress in Tacoma, WA.

Schedule: Saturday, August 3, 3:00 p.m. (PST): Beumgeon Cho vs Jie Li on Board 1 and Seung Hyun Hong vs Yuan Zhou on Board 3; at 8:30 p.m. (PST) Dae Hyuk (Daniel) Ko vs Eric Lui (Eric Lui is in Seoul Korea to play in the Samsung Cup preliminaries as a representative of the AGA.  Due to this special circumstance, organizers, working with Myung-wan Kim 9P, arranged for a monitor for Eric and a place for him to play in Seoul at the KBA in Pro Room A)All games will be broadcast on IGS: Board 1 on on AGACL1; Board 2 (Daniel Ko vs Eric Lui) will be played directly against each other online; Board 3 will be broadcast on AGACL2.

Player Notes:
Team Los Angeles
Beungeum Cho
 was undefeated in League play with a score of 10-0. Started playing Baduk at the age of 8.  When he was 13 he turned serious and attempted to become a professional Korean Baduk player. At the age of 18 he had to choose between becoming an Yeonguseng (Insei) at KBA and going to University.  He decided to study English in school with an eye towards teaching Baduk internationally.  He is now in Los Angeles teaching Baduk with Kim Myung-wan 9p.
Dae Hyuk Ko learned Baduk at the age of 5 from his parents.  He started actively playing at the age of 15.  In 1998 he moved to the US to study English and go to college.  In 2006, he joined the AGA and started playing in AGA Tournaments.  His wins include the 2008 Korea Times Myung-In Championship in Los Angelese, 2009 Samsung North Americca qualifier, and 2010 the Cotsen Open in Los Angeles. Three time winner of the Santa Monica Cup.
Seung Hyun Hong is substituting for Curtis Tang who was unable to make the finals.  Seung Hyun starting playing Baduk at the age of 6 from his father a 10 kyu.  In middle school, he was a Yeonguseng at KBA for one year.  In 2006 he came in third place in the US Open. Seung Hyun is now focusing on teaching his daughter to play Baduk.  She is 2 years old.

Team Washington DC
Jie Li has represented the United States nearly a dozen times in top international invitational championships, and has won 11 North American titles, 7 U.S. national titles, and 13 regional titles. Though not holding a professional certificate, he is one of the strongest go players in the United States, playing at an equal level with many American professionals and has earned the all-time-most North American and US titles combined.
Yuan Zhou 7D
was born in Tianjin, China. His father taught him to play go at the age of six and he was twice invited to represent Tianjin in the All China Go Prodigy Cup. In 1989 Zhou immigrated to the USA, joined the American Go Association (AGA) and became a US citizen. Zhou was the president of the University of Maryland Go club, from which he earned a BS in Electrical Engineering, and became increasingly involved in AGA events, winning many go tournaments, including 30 U.S. go titles and has represented USA in international tournaments many times (WAGC, Korea Prime Minister Cup, World Pair Go Championship, etc). Zhou was also elected to be the AGA board of directors in 2005. Zhou is also a popular author, teacher and lecturer; he lives in Germantown, Maryland.
Eric Lui achieved amateur one dan at the age of 6, representing the US internationally in Seoul, Korea a year later. To date, he has had about a dozen international representations to the World Youth Go Championship, WAGC, Korean Prime Minister Cup, World Student Go Oza, Pair Go, and the Samsung. Eric holds Japanese go in high esteem, citing Kobayashi Satoru and Takemiya Masaki among his favorite players. He also has great admiration for Ma Xiaochun and Yoo Changhyuk.

 

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Seattle Go Center Expecting Visitors Around Go Congress

Friday August 2, 2013

With the U.S. Go Congress happening just an hour’s drive away in Tacoma, the Seattle Go Center is preparing for special events before and after the Congress.   Professional Ryo Maeda will be visiting the Go Center before the Congress, on Aug. 1 and 2, while Masaki Takemiya 9p and Chihiro Chujo 1p will be giving lectures and playing simultaneous games Aug. 12-15 after the Congress.  The calendar on the Go Center website has the details.

The Seattle Go Center will be closed during most of Go Congress, but it will be open on Tuesday, Aug 6, from 3 – 10 p.m.  “Tuesdays are our biggest day, so it’s always great time for visitors to drop by; everybody can find a game, from beginners to 6 dan players,” reports Manager Brian Allen.  Photo: Brian Allen washing the Go Center sign.  Photo by Luke Allen.

 

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Your Move/Readers Write: Following Congress Tournaments; Watching Congress Games on an iPad

Friday August 2, 2013

Following Congress Tournaments: “Since I (and the large majority of AGA members / US go players) cannot attend the U.S. Go Congress,” writes Kate Collin, “the most important thing for me is to have an up-to-date reference regarding what’s going on with the tournaments. I’d love to have something like the daily sports section of my newspaper, that would tell me: Results, Current standings, Broadcast schedule. I notice that the Congress web site does not even seem to be set up to anticipate posting results, which is frustrating, and I don’t see a central place on the AGA web site that would do that either. Another thing that would be very useful, since I generally won’t be able to watch games live, would be a reference for what KGS IDs are used to broadcast the various games, so that it is possible to search the archive for the games. Good luck! And thanks in advance for your efforts!”
The E-Journal will once again be coordinating tournament coverage, including broadcasting top-board games on KGS (mornings 9-12 and evenings 7-11; look for USGO), and posting results, game records and photos. Click here to see an example of the 2012 U.S. Open tournament grid; our post-Congress wrap-up from last year also includes grids from the NAIM and Strong Player’s Open as well as pro game commentaries and more, all of which we expect to do again this year. We also try to do a daily recap in the EJ of highlights from each tournament and other Congress events. If there’s more or other coverage readers are interested in, just let us know and we’ll do our best to get it for you!

Watching Congress Games on an iPad: “Can I use my Ipad to watch the games from the Congress?” wonders Joe Walters. “If so, how?”
Unfortunately, probably not, since iPads can’t run the KGS java client. “People have done this by running the client on their computer and then sending the display output to their iPad,” KGS’ Bill Shubert tells the EJ, “but I don’t personally know how to do this, so I think an iPad won’t work at this time.” If anyone has information on how to make KGS work on an iPad, let us know at journal@usgo.org and we’ll pass it along.

 

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European Go News: Pandanet European Team Championship, 2013 EGC

Friday August 2, 2013

Team CzechiaAt the 3rd Pandanet Go European Team Championship — being played at this year’s European Go Congress in Poland — the Czech Republic triumphed, with Russia in second and Ukraine in third. According to reports, Russia asked the first match between the Czech Republic and Ukraine to be replayed due to an issue with the clock. However, Ondrej Silt 6d (manocska) (left), Jan Simara 6d (flashback), and Jan Hora (JanHora) 6d still led their team to victory. For complete results and full team listings, please visit the official Pandanet website.

Pavol Lisy 6d is the current leader of the main tournament at the 2013 European Go Congress in Olsztyn, Poland. Behind him are Hui Fan 7d and Polish player Mateusz Surma 6d. However, Lisy must continue to play sharply as Fan recently won both the EGF qualifying tournament for Beijing 2013 and the Leksand Open. Meanwhile, Alexander Dinertchein 7d and Ilja Shikshin 7d remain just outside the top ten. According to the official schedule, round four of the main tournament will commence on August 1. For the latest updates, full results, photos, and more, visit the official 2013 European Go Congress website.
— Annalia Linnan, with additional reporting by Alain Cano; photo by Karin Valisova

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U.S. Go Congress Update: Congress Handbook Available; How to Get There

Wednesday July 31, 2013

U.S. Go Congress attendees can get a head start planning their activities in Tacoma by downloading the Congress Handbook, which includes the complete schedule of events, details on the tournaments, bios of the professionals, activities for non-players, maps and more. The 2013 U.S. Go Congress starts this Saturday and runs through August 11.

And for details on how to get to the Congress site, click here and check out “How do I get from the Airport to the Congress site?” or click here for driving directions.

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EJ Plans Full Coverage of U.S. Go Congress

Monday July 29, 2013

From Saturday’s opening ceremonies right through to the banquet the following week, the American Go E-Journal will once again provide complete coverage of the annual U.S. Go Congress, this year being held in Tacoma, Washington August 3-11. In addition to daily reports in the E-Journal, the EJ team will broadcast top boards from the U.S. Open (mornings) and the North American Masters (evenings) live on KGS (the team has a few openings for game recorders; email journal@usgo.org). Many of the live broadcasts will include live commentary by visiting professionals. We’ll also report on the many different events, including lectures, evening programs, youth events and more. If there’s something of special interest to you, email us at journal@usgo.org and let us know; we also welcome reports by Congress participants. photo: Richard Dolen recording at the 2012 U.S. Go Congress; photo by Steve Colburn

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EuroGoTV Updates: Sweden, Ukraine, Romania

Sunday July 28, 2013

Artem Kachanovsky 6dSweden: The EGF qualification tournament for Beijing 2013 finished July 22 in Leksand with Hui Fan 7d in first, Pavol Lisy 6d in second, and Alexander Dinerchtein 7d in third. Ukraine: Victory went to Artem Kachanovskyi 6d (left) at the Samsung Cup in Kyiv on July 14. Dmytro Bohatskyi 5d came in second and Andril Kravets 6d placed third. Romania: At the 4th Radu Baciu Grand Prix in Barsov (also July 14), Lucretiu Calota 5d took the lead, followed by Sergiu Dan Iugulescu 2d in second and Sora Sorin 4d in third.
— Annalia Linnan, based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news

 

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Your Move/Readers Write: Go Congress T-shirt Update

Wednesday July 24, 2013

The U.S. Go Congress t-shirt modeled by Congress Director Chris Kirschner in our recent report (7/20 EJ) is actually the “Early Bird T-shirt” reports Congress Handbook Editor and t-shirt/logo designer Lee Anne Bowie. “The actual T-shirt for the Congress will have the design that appears on the website,” Bowie tells the EJ. “Attendee’s t-shirts will look more like the photo at right if they selected the dark shirt.” The 2013 U.S. Go Congress is set for August 3-11 in Tacoma, WA.

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