Events/Tournaments « American Go E-Journal

AGA seeks players for the 3rd Wu Qingyuan Cup World Women Weiqi Tournament

Friday June 12, 2020

American and Canadian women players 5D and stronger are invited to submit their names by June 19 for a chance to represent North America in the third Wu Qingyuan Cup. In light of the global COVID-19 situation, the event will take place on-line. Dates have yet to be determined, but likely sometime in July or August. North America and Europe have each been invited to send a team of four players, pro or amateur, to the event. The standard AGA and CGA eligibility rules will apply. The tournament will continue with semifinals for the top finishers. Please submit to tournaments@usgo.org with questions or entry.

Categories: China,Main Page,Other,U.S./North America

Survey: planning for online AGA activities

Sunday May 24, 2020

While we all continue to take precautions for the health and safety of ourselves and our communities, the AGA wants to encourage people to continue to play Go and to socialize virtually with other people in the Go community.

The AGA is planning to put on some limited online programming during the first week of August to bring the AGA Go community together during the time in-person Go Congress has traditionally been held. We are still figuring out the details, and that’s where you all come in! If you are interested in participating, please take a minute to fill out this survey and help us plan a better event for you!

Categories: Main Page,U.S. Go Congress,U.S./North America

China-US Internet Go Tournament’s second round concludes with wins for Chinese team

Monday April 20, 2020

After two days of games, the China-US internet Go Tournament concluded successfully. “The tournament went well,” says organizer Stephanie Yin 1P. “The CWA appreciated the AGA’s cooperation in this tournament, especially in such a short time.” Albert Yen 7d scored one win for the US team in the first round. “Albert had a good chance against Wei Xiaolin 7d on Board 2 of the second round,” reports broadcast host Stephen Hu. “There was an intense back-and-forth exchange, but eventually Albert lost a large group after a huge ko fight in byo-yomi and had to resign. This means that the final score of the event was 11-1 to China.” Live video commentaries were provided by Kim Yoonyoung 8P and Cho Hyeyeon 9P for the first and second round respectively. Recordings of the commentaries will be uploaded to the AGA’s YouTube channel soon, and in the meantime viewers can find these recordings on Twitch. The tournament was organized and coordinated by Stephanie Yin 1P for the AGA and the Chinese Weiqi Association.

Final results:

DAY 1 – CHINA 5:1 USA
Board 1: REN Ke 6d (B) vs. Albert YEN 7d (W)
Board 2: Andy LIU 1P (B) vs. HU Yuqing 7d (W) [MAIN BOARD]
Board 3: CAO Ruxu 7d (B) vs. Aaron YE 7d (W)
Board 4: Alan HUANG 7d (B) vs. WEI Xiaolin 7d (W)
Board 5: CHEN Junyu 7d (B) vs. Kellin PELRINE 6d (W)
Board 6: Audrey WANG 6d (B) vs. XIA Jun 5d (W)

DAY 2 – CHINA 6:0 USA
Board 1: Andy LIU 1P (B) vs. HU Yuqing 7d (W) [MAIN BOARD]
Board 2: WEI Xiaolin 7d (B) vs. Albert YEN 7d (W)
Board 3: Alan HUANG 7d (B) vs. CAO Ruxu 7d (W)
Board 4: CHEN Junyu 7d (B) vs. Aaron YE 7d (W)
Board 5: Audrey WANG 6d (B) vs. XIA Jun 5d (W)
Board 6: REN Ke 6d (B) vs. Kellin PELRINE 6d (W)

Categories: China,Events/Tournaments,Main Page,U.S./North America

2020 US Go Congress cancelled due to coronavirus

Friday April 17, 2020

The 2020 U.S. Go Congress has been canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The following statement was released on April 17 by the American Go Association Board of Directors:

At a Special Board Meeting held on April 15th, the AGA board, with the agreement of the Go Congress organizers in Colorado, voted to postpone the 2020 US Go Congress in Estes Park to a future year, meaning that there will be no US Go Congress in 2020.

Over the next few weeks, the AGA and the US Go Congress will continue with the cancellation process, including refunding registration fees that were already paid. We expect these refunds to happen over the next month or so; you do not need to reach out to the Congress team to get your refund.

Given the seriousness of the Coronavirus epidemic, the AGA cannot in good conscience bring together our customary crowd from around the country and the world. The AGA does not take this decision lightly, and plans to resume our annual US Go Congress in 2021, with as much play (both fun and serious) as always.

At this time, the AGA is recommending cancelling all in-person go events (both club meetings and tournaments) through the end of May, but feels that it is too soon to make recommendations about summer events, given that local conditions may vary.

Please stay safe and healthy

Categories: Main Page,U.S. Go Congress,U.S./North America

Albert Yen 8d a winner in first round of China-US Internet Go Tournament

Thursday April 16, 2020

The first round of the China-US tournament, organized by the China Weiqi Association and the AGA and coordinated by Stephanie Yin 1P, was held on Tuesday evening, with Albert Yen 7d giving the US team its first win against Ren Ke 6d of the Chinese team. The second round will be held Wednesday evening April 15th on the Fox Go Server. Viewers can tune into the AGA Twitch channel to see the broadcast of the games and game commentary by Cho Hyeyeon 9P and hosted by Stephen Hu.

Categories: China,Events/Tournaments,Main Page,Other,U.S./North America

New York Go Honor Society takes New York Go League international

Wednesday April 15, 2020

After initially announcing a league in March of this year that would allow New York players to compete both in-person and online, the New York Go Honor Society has taken the New York Go League international in light of the recent pandemic and the inability of players to meet in person. “We are proud to announce that we will be opening the league to all players, not just those who reside in New York,” says NYGHS vice-president Patrick Zhao. Participants will play two games per week be allowed to schedule their games with their opponents on their own time. Entry and play in the league is completely free and open to any player with a stable rank with any association or credible Go server. All players interested in joining the league should fill out the Google registration form before the registration deadline of May 1, and take time to read the rules and regulations. Players should address any questions to co-president.nyghs@ny-go.org.

Categories: Events/Tournaments,Main Page,U.S./North America,World

Maryland Open to return in 2021

Monday April 6, 2020

Baltimore Go Club head Keith Arnold has announced that the Maryland Open will be postponed in light of the coronavirus outbreak. “With a heavy heart, the Maryland Open, the AGA’s longest running tournament, will be taking a year off,” says Arnold. “I will miss all of you and plan to be back, better than ever, next year.”

Categories: Events/Tournaments,Main Page,U.S./North America

China-US Internet Go Tournament seeks players

Saturday April 4, 2020

The AGA is seeking strong players to participate in an online team tournament against players from the Chinese Weiqi Association. The team will consist of six players, of which at least one will be female and at least one will be under 18 years old. The dates are April 15th and 16th at 9:30 EDT / 6:30 PDT each day. Games will be played on the Tencent – Fox Go Server (English Version). A setup tutorial video is available on Youtube. Players should contact tournaments@usgo.org to express interest by Friday, April 10.

Categories: China,Events/Tournaments,Main Page,U.S./North America

WAGC postponed until 2021

Saturday March 28, 2020

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Go Federation has postponed the 41st annual World Amateur Go Championship – originally scheduled to be held in June in Vladisvostok, Russia – until the summer of 2021. “We kindly ask you to understand this critical decision and hope to meet with players from all over the world in Vladivostok in 2021,” said Russian Go Federation Vice President Natalia Kovaleva in an announcement. The pandemic, still growing rapidly around the world with near 600,000 confirmed cases and 27,000 deaths, has brought a near complete halt to most face-to-face activity in the world of mind games. Tournaments scheduled for spring and early summer in Chess, Bridge, Draughts, and Go have been postponed or cancelled outright in many countries. The AGA has urged its chapters not to hold meetings or tournaments for the time being, and while the US Go Congress is still being prepared for August in Estes Park, CO, AGA and Congress staff are monitoring the situation and will issue an update in April. Organizers of the European Go Congress 2020, set for Kamyanets-Podilski, in the Ukraine, have put their preparations on hold. “A decision will be made by mid-May whether EGC will be postponed or held as planned,” according to the EGC website.

-report by AGA President Andrew Okun

Categories: Main Page,World,World Amateur Go Championships

Corona Cup 2020 brings over 350 players across Europe together on KGS

Friday March 27, 2020

“On Thursday 12th March I was working in the garden for many hours and I knew my country was going to be in a quarantine soon,” says tournament founder and organizer Lukas Podpera, setting the scene for the tournament’s inception. “Many live tournaments had already been cancelled, therefore I started to think about ideas, what could I do for the Go community. And one of the ideas was to run an online tournament, originally planned only for Czechia, maybe Central Europe.” Originally hoping to gather about 100 participants, news of the tournament spread through international Facebook groups, prompting Podpera to send invitations to all EGF associations. “Corona Cup is an online tournament in the times of coronavirus crisis, when tournaments are cancelled around Europe and most of the Go clubs are not meeting. I’m trying to make it look as much as a live tournament as possible.”

Podpera and his team are using Google Docs to post pairings and disseminate information. The tournament will be a total of six rounds over the next three months, with paired players given a week to meet on their own time to play in the Corona Cup 2020 room on KGS and report results. The tournament is sponsored by Jena International Go School and supported by the Czech association who will also publish registration and results. Over 350 players have registered so far, including three professionals. “You can see that many European top players are participating,” says Podpera, “but I hope I can get a good result myself even in this kind of competition!”

Categories: Europe,Events/Tournaments,Main Page,Other

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