Events/Tournaments « American Go E-Journal

Registration opens for SDGC Thanksgiving Tournament

Tuesday October 25, 2022

2021 King Cup winners pose with their trophies and plaques

The San Diego Go Club has opened registration for the 2022 King Cup – California State Go Championship, scheduled for November 26-27.

“Registration is off to a strong start”, reports organizer Ted Terpstra, “Eighteen go players, including three 6 dans, have already registered in the first week.”

Entry fee is $20 for adults (and youth playing in the Open section) and $10 for youth. Unrated beginners (above 20 kyu) will have their entry fee waived; pre-registration for Round 1 closes on Thanksgiving Day, November 24^th at 11:59 pm PST, but same-day in-person registration is available for rounds 2-5. American Go Association membership is necessary for all players. The tournament will be held at the San Diego Chess Club in Balboa Park, CA.

The tournament will be composed of five rounds, with 45 minutes/player main time and a byo-yomi of five 30-second periods. Masks are recommended for players and spectators. There will be tables outside for anyone wishing to play outdoors. Check-in will occur on both days from 9-9:30 am with Saturday’s three rounds scheduled for 10 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm. Sunday’s two rounds will be at 10 am and 1 pm with the tournament’s award ceremony at 4 pm. All participants will receive a complimentary book from Yutopian Press.

The Open winner of the King Cup will receive at least $400 out of a cash pool of over $1,000. Her/his name will also be engraved on the permanent state championship plaque next to past winners Kevin Yang (2021), Bo Luan (2020), Evan Lin (2019), and Calvin Sun (2018). Go professionals are ineligible to win the King Cup although they are allowed to play in the Open.

This will be the fifth annual California state go championship hosted by the San Diego Go Club and the second King Cup sponsored by the Bi family. The 2021 King Cup drew a total of over 70 players in four different sections with ratings from 7-dan to 25-kyu.

“All indications are that this will be the largest go tournament SDGC has hosted except for the 2017 U.S. Go Congress in San Diego”, said Terpstra. “Competition for the King Cup this year should be fierce with several new go arrivals at UCSD playing in the Open section. The San Diego Go Club also welcomed several new players who will populate the beginner’s section.”

Registration, membership checking, pairings, tie-breaking, and posting of tournament results to the AGA will all be done by GoClubs.org. “Hats off to the developers of this software,” added Terpstra, “and thank you to our sponsors at Rubio’s Coastal Grill, State Farm Insurance, and Yellow Mountain Imports”.

For more info/details, email Ted.Terpstra@gmail.com

Categories: AGA Chapters,Events/Tournaments,Go News,Main Page,U.S./North America

Kevin Yang 1P Wins Lanke Cup Prelim

Sunday October 16, 2022

Kevin Yang 1P has won the preliminary qualifying round of the first Quzhou Lanke Cup World Weiqi Open Tournament, an international professional event organized by the Chinese Weiqi Association. Yang will represent North America in the tournament, which kicks off December 24, 2022.

The Quzhou Lanke Cup offers a prize of 1,800,000 RMB (about $250,000 USD) to the winner. In total, 32 players are invited: 14 from China, 8 from South Korea, 5 from Japan, 2 from Chinese Taipei, 1 from Europe, 1 from North America, and 1 additional player will be nominated by the organizing team as a wild card once all 31 competitors are finalized.

Among professional players based in North America, four entered the preliminary qualifying round. The format was double elimination (see below for results), and the event was held on OGS with video recording requirements. In addition, for the final match, proctors were also present with each player. The North American Go Federation appreciates the generous gift of Edward Zhang, which supported the presence of proctors.

– reported by Hajin Lee

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

2021 Virginia Open: Winners Report

Friday October 7, 2022

Five Capital Go Club members at the 2022 Go Congress (l-r: Edward Zhang, Xiaodi Huang, Della Tang, head coach Michael Zhou, and Al Tang)

In October last year, nearly 50 AGA players competed online in the 10th Virginia Open via BadukClub ‘s tournament platform.

Yi Li 7D (5W-1L), an undergraduate at Duke University and 2021 North Carolina champion, overcame a 3^rd-round loss to take 1^st place over Zhengbokang Tang 8D (5W-1L) from Colorado by a narrow SOS margin. James Chih-Rong Sun 6D from Canada won the Youth 1st-Place award, and Stephanie Tan 1D from Indiana was the women’s champion.

“Even with the expected errors and no-shows, our TDs worked overtime to maximize the number of games played and perfect the pairings,” stated Co-TD Devin Fraze. “Players seem delighted. With a total of 0 players struggling with technical details and with all games starting automatically. The BadukClub in-page chat helped a few players befriend another and was flooded at the end with many thanks.”

Qingbo Zhang was the co-TD and distributed prizes and certificates. The total prize pool was $560 with 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place of the Open Elite division receiving $200, $100, and $50 respectively.

Full winners report:

Division, Prizes, 1st, 2nd, 3rd (and/or 4th)

Open Elite (6-8D) $200/100/50 :Yi Li, Zhengbokang Tang, Chen Zhang, Jimmy Creeks (Jing Guo)
Open (4-5D): Qingbo Zhang, Juanshu Lan, Mani Sanford
Youth 1D+ James Sun, Juanshu Lan, Al Tang
Youth 1-9K Derek Zhou, Massa Jin, Kai Lan
Youth 10-20K Chenchen Xiong, Kyle Tang, Lucia Moscola
Women’s Stephanie Tan, Angel Zhou, Della Tang, Anna Zhou, (5th Serena Tu, 6th Lucia Moscola, 7th Melody Liu)
Expert (1-3D) Al Tang, Stephanie Tan, Evan Tan
Proficient (1-4K) Derek Hounong Zhou, Massa Jin, Tai-An Cha
Intermediate (5-9K) Jim Sandy, Justin Collier, Della Tang
Novice (10-20K) Chenchen Xiong, Kyle Tang, Steven A Zilber

The Capital Go Club also plans to host an in-person tournament in Fairfax Virginia on 11/27/2022, which may feature a hybrid tourney with the California State Championship over the same weekend.

Report by the Capital Go Club

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

Eric Lui and Alex Qi share 1st place at NGC tourney; Pair Go/Paella Night returns

Wednesday September 28, 2022

On left: Mark Fraser 7K plays six-year-old Winston Yan 7K.
On right: Alex Qi 1P (L) faces off against Eric Lui 2P (R) as rising star Richard Duan 2D (C) watches

Tied up with 3-1 records, Eric Lui 2P and Alex Qi 1P shared first place at the National Go Center’s Back To School Tournament this past Saturday, September 24^th. With 27 participants, the tournament featured a “plethora of exciting games” and gave players an opportunity to watch professional players in action. “It was great to see two of our North American professionals competing in one of our local tournaments,” said TD Gurujeet Khalsa.

Other notable appearances included rising local go star Richard Duan 2D (pictured above at right watching a game between Eric and Alex), and Mark Fraser 7K from Albuquerque who can be seen above left playing six-year-old Winston Yan 7K. “Winston is another young up-and-comer destined for the Dan ranks,” Khalsa noted.

The tournament kicked off the previous evening with the return of the popular Pair Go/Paella night. Chris Garlock made his famous paella and 16 players socialized and competed at four tables. The top board winners were James Pinkerton 5D and Larry Kaufman 2D.

Three-game winners at the Back To School Tournament on Saturday were Eric Liu (2P), Alex Qi (1P), Richard Duan (2D), Jake Vikoren (1D), Lee Hyungwook (5K), Mark Fraser (7K) and Ashley Qi (11K).

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

Registration opens for 2022 Chicago Rapid Championship

Tuesday September 27, 2022

*The main playing hall at the 2022 May Chicago Open*

Registration has opened for the 2022 Chicago Rapid Championship. The tournament will be held on Saturday, November 12 in Evanston, Illinois. Registration and tournament details can be found here. Register by 11/1 for early-bird pricing and free entry into a raffle for a lesson with Alex Qi 1p.

The Championship will feature the longstanding arena-style handicap division for players from beginner to mid-dan, as well as a rapid-format Open division for high-dan players. There will be live streaming and a variety of prizes, including cash, medals, and lessons from North American pros and prominent go teachers.

“Our tournaments are so big now we don’t even fit in one room,” remarked co-organizer Mark Rubenstein, reflecting on the previous blockbuster turnout at the May Chicago Open, which drew 84 people.

“The Chicago Rapid Championship will be even better,” said fellow co-organizer Albert Yen 8d. “This time, we want to maximize interactions between professional players and the community. We are honored to have Tim Song 1p, winner of the 2018 US Open Masters, come as a special guest to provide reviews to players of all levels. Bracket winners in the main division will also have a chance to play a teaching game with Alex Qi 1p, the youngest North American pro. Even our Twitch stream commentary will be led by Eric Lui, a 2-dan professional and veteran player in the North American Go scene.”

“Pro game review, teaching games with pros, and stream commentary by pros,” Rubenstein reflected, “In my 30 years as a go organizer, I’ve never seen so much pro involvement in the Midwest!”

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

Han Han 5P: “Harder than I expected”

Tuesday August 23, 2022

The competition at this year’s North American Masters Tournament was “harder than I expected,” Chinese professional Han Han 5P told the E-Journal earlier this month after closing out his 7-0 sweep of the field. “In a few of the games, I was actually behind and had to fight hard to get back in the game.” Han’s 4^th-round game against Michael Chen 8D was especially tough, he said. While American professionals are improving in strength, they don’t get enough opportunities to play in high-level competitions with other professionals to develop and hone their skills, Han said.

Born in Beijing in 1989, Han Han became a professional go player at the age of 14 and achieved 5 dan in 2009. He used to play in the National Go League A and defeated more than a dozen world champions in tournaments. He has been teaching go for more than 15 years and helped many kids become professionals. He’s also lectured on go many times at Tsinghua and Peking University since 2015, and is currently a columnist for the most popular go magazine in China. Outside of go, he loves art and is zealous about classical music. He now lives in California, near San Diego.

Han’s advice to amateur players looking to improve their game is to “practice life and death problems, that’s a basic reading skill.” AI analysis is of limited use for all but the most advanced players, Han said. “The basics – life and death, tesuji – are so, so important.”

Han, who several times during the NAMT raised concerns about the possibility of cheating through use of AI go programs, said that steps need to be taken to reduce that possibility, including metal detectors at tournaments (these were used at the recent U.S. pro qualifier), having observers or referees, and either delaying live broadcasts (as is done in poker tournaments) or not permitting commentary during the broadcast.
– report/photo by Chris Garlock; thanks to NAMT TD Kevin Chao for translation assistance.

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

Phil’s Photos: 2022 U.S. Go Congress

Friday August 19, 2022

Phil Straus, for many years the E-Journal’s official photographer, though mostly retired from those duties, still takes the U.S. Go Congress and EJ staff photos as well as his own snapshots and portraits; here’s a selection from this year’s Congress.

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

Pandanet AGA City League Finals and Winners

Thursday August 18, 2022

This year marks the 10th season of the Pandanet AGA City League. Through the years we have seen the best players in the country and many upcoming strong players. This year was so tough that there is a need for a second set of finals! Thats right, we’re having two sets of finals. These games will be broadcast on Pandanet over the next two weekends.

The A League will see four time winner New York City face off against Chicago. Chicago, new to the A League this season, has faced down almost every team and come out victorius. During the fifth round they faced off against New York City and came out ahead 2-1. Watch their playoff on Sunday August 28th at 3pm EST/12 PST.
Board 1: Tim Song 1p (B) vs Ryan Li 3p (W)
Board 2: Calvin Sun 1p vs Stephanie Yin 1p
Board 3: Albert Yen 8d vs Michael Chen 8d

The most competitive league has been the B League over the last few years. This has been expanded to a larger number of teams over the years to accomodate the number of strong players. This year see’s newcomer Ithaca face off against Canwa Vancouver 2. Vancouver 2 has bounced between the A and B leagues over time. Both teams never faced each other during the season. Ending with the same number of points a playoff had to take place. This will be a tough fight to see who the new challenger to the A League will be next season. These teams will face off Sunday August 21st at 7pm EST/4pm PST.
Board 1: Alan Huang 7d (B) vs Leo Tian 6d (W)
Board 2: Hongkui Zheng 7d vs Nick Jin 5d
Board 3: Aaron Ye 7d vs Kevin Wang 5d

Our other leagues and winners have played really exciting games this season. If you have not checked your cities record see how they did at the Pandanet site. Congratulations to all who played this season!

A League:
Third: Canwa Vancouver 1
Fourth: Toronto
Fifth: Los Angeles

B League:
Third: Raleigh
Fourth: Denver
Fourth: New Jersey

C League:
Winner: Washington DC 2
Second: Atlanta 1
Third: Los Angeles 4

D League:
Winner: New York City 4
Second: Los Angeles 2

Categories: Main Page,Pandanet-AGA City League,U.S./North America

2022 U.S. Go Congress EJ Team credits

Wednesday August 17, 2022

*Front row, l-r: Kevin Chao, Chris Garlock, Devin Fraze, Eva Dee Beech, Keith Arnold; 2nd row Joanna Li, Shawn Ray and Ginger Persolus; back row: Sol Smilack and Jenny Ding. Photo by Phil Straus.*

It takes a lot of dedicated, hard-working people, most of them volunteers, to enable the American Go E-Journal to stream U.S. Go Congress coverage to the world. Our deepest thanks and appreciation to every one of them, especially after all the challenges of the pandemic hiatus; here are the folks who did such amazing work this year.

Professional Streaming Commentators: Michael Redmond 9P, Ryan Li 3P, Eric Lui 2P, Stephanie Yin 1P, Inseong Hwang 8D. Pro Coordinator: Audrey Wang.
Stream Hosts-Local: Devin Fraze, Michael Fodera, Solomon Smilack.
Stream Hosts-Remote: Stephen Hu, Eric Lee, Sathya Singh, TheLovingSun.
Game Recorders-local: Keith Arnold, Ginger Persolus, Joanna Li, Jenny Ding, Solomon Smilack, Dave Weimer.
Game Recorders-remote: Angelo Di Lorenzo, Jamin Kochman, Nikolai Norona.
Producers: EvaDee Beech & Devin Fraze.

Special thanks to Shawn Ray for his help with the Friday night stream and for re-tweeting all our posts; Phil Straus for taking our team photo, and for teaching me go back in 1984 and bringing me into this wonderful community.

Masters TD Kevin Chao, US Open TD Andrew Hall, Die Hard TD Jae Donley, and of course all the 2022 Go Congress organizers and staff: THANK YOU!

Chris Garlock
Managing Editor, American Go E-Journal & Yearbook

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

’22 Go Congress team thanks

Saturday August 13, 2022

The 2022 Go Congress team wishes to thank attendees for coming to this year’s congress in Estes Park, CO. Your presence has reinvigorated the go community and helped reestablish the yearly tradition of the congress. For old and new timers alike, we hope that your week was rewarding and memorable.

In particular, we’d like to thank all the hard-working volunteers who made it possible:

Front row, L-R: Emil Meng (Registrar), Ursa Woodring (A/V), Chris Garlock (E-Journal), Devin Fraze (A/V & E-Journal), Solomon Smilack (Treasurer), Cat Mai (TD Coordinator), Brad Cable (Registration), Matt Murray (Equipment Manager)

Back row, L-R: Keith Arnold (Lightning TD), Neil Ritter (Asst. Open TD), Dave Weimer (Congress advisor), Ginger Persolus (E-Journal), Eric Wainwright (Director), Howard Landman (Director), Laurie Linz (Deputy Registrar), Paul Barchilon (Director), Jordan Hagen (Tours & Transportation), Andrew Hall (Open TD), Chris Kirchner (Congress advisor), Rich Newman (Registration & Self-Pair TD)

Further mention: Ragnarr Marksen (Registration), Terry Benson (Registration), Eva Dee Beech (E-Journal).

UPDATE (8/17): We inadvertently left Audrey Wang (Pro Coordinator) off our mention list, but she played a big part. Thank you, Audrey! The two movies that appeared in the Welcome Ceremony, Game of Stones and Congresses of Yesteryear, are now posted on YouTube. Enjoy!

Lost and Found: a congress attendee left behind an Apple Pencil. If you wish to have it returned, please email Paul Barchilon.

photo by Phil Straus

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

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