American Go E-Journal » Events/Tournaments

Go Congress registration tops 450

Sunday June 18, 2017

More than 450 attendees have already registered for this year’s US Go Congress, set for August 5-13 in San Diego at the Town and Country Resort. So far eleven North American-based professional go players have accepted invitations to attend, including Myungwan Kim 9P, Yilun Yang 7P, Mingjiu Jiang 7P, Cathy Li 1P, Shirley Lin 1P, Jennie Shen 2P, Stephanie Yin 1P, Eric Lui 1P, Ryan Li 1P, Andy Liu 1P and William Shi 1P. “Every afternoon and evening during the Congress — except Wednesday which is a day for sight-seeing — these pros will be lecturing, playing simultaneous exhibitions and analyzing Go Congress players’ games,” reports Congress Co-Director Ted Terpstra. “Multiple sessions will be going on at once, so it may be difficult to go to all of the events that one would like. The complete schedule will be released as soon as it is ready.” In addition to all of the pro events, will be a five-day workshop by noted European-based go teacher In-seong Hwang. Also, foreign professional go players from China, Japan and Korea will be coming to the Congress to teach. More details on them and their lectures will be forthcoming. All of these sessions are included in the price of Congress registration.
photo: main playing area at the 2016 US Go Congress; photo by Chris Garlock

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

WAGC Update: China wins WAGC; US’ Danny Ko in 4th

Thursday June 8, 2017

by Thomas Hsiang, special correspondent to the E-Journal

In the WAGC’s 7th round, the top three tables featured China vs. Russia, Japan vs. DPR Korea, and Taiwan vs. Korea. China came in at 6-0 and the other were at 5-1. Bai Baoxiang had no problem with Dmitry Surin; North Korea played brilliantly to defeat Sakamoto Shusaku of Japan; then Taiwan’s Lai Yucheng surprised most people with an upset over Korean Lee Sangbin. Lee had played a lot of the new “AlphaGo style” moves in this tournament, but for this game his “alpha-like” 4-4 attachment against B’s 3-4 and ogeima enclosure actually led to a very bad early result that he could not recover. After that, Bai vs Lai in round 8 became a fight for the championship. Click here for complete results.

Bai played a very calm game in round 8, playing solidly and keeping the game close; then pulled ahead in the end game to win the championship. Lai Yucheng dropped to third. The second table featured a north-south all-Korean game. Ri JinUng played very well and led most of the game. However, in the end game, he repeatedly made errors – missing sente moves, etc – to give away the game by 0.5 point. Ri dropped from 2nd to 6th due to the loss, a game he will not forget for a long time. South Korea

moved up to second place. In fourth place was the US’ own Danny Ko, who played solidly in his late-round games. Japan took fifth after defeating the Czech Republic. From 7th to 10th are, in order, Romania, Hong Kong, Russia, and Czechia. Canadian Gong Yujie placed 15th, while Mexico’s Emil Garcia was 17th after winning 5 games in the tournament – a Mexican record in this tournament!

Thus concludes another successful chapter of this unique international amateur go event. Guiyang City offered great hospitality and a beautiful setting. Next year’s WAGC will move to Tokyo and back to the May schedule (May 2-9, 2018). In 2019, the 40th WAGC will be held in Matsue City of Shimane prefecture. In 2020, WAGC moves to Vladivostok, the Far East Russian seaport, assuming the sponsor agrees to the schedule.

photo (top, l-r) Lai Yucheng (Taiwan), Bai Baoxiang (China), Lee Sangbin (Korea); (bottom, l-r): Emil Garcia (Mexico), Danny Ko and Thomas Hsiang (US), Yujie Gong (Canada).

Categories: World Amateur Go Championships

WAGC Update: Only China remains undefeated

Tuesday June 6, 2017

by Thomas Hsiang, special correspondent to the E-Journal

The morning’s round 5 was highlighted by an exciting game between China and DPR Korea, won by China with the smallest margin of 0.5 point. US rep Danny Ko lost to Cornel Burzo and fell to the 2-loss group. Japan’s Sakata Shusaku has been playing well since he lost in the second round. He met Hong Kong’s Chan Naisan and played a strong game from the start, giving his opponent no real chance of coming back.

In the afternoon, the top game was China vs. Korea. Because of the large number of spectators, the playing area had to be screened off by a “chair wall”. The game lasted well after all other games had finished and remained close. But in the end, Korea made a yose mistake and had to resign. Japan defeated Romania and sent Burzo to two losses. Russia’s veteran Dmitry Surin defeated Czech Lukas Podpera to remain the only 1-loss Western player. Danny Ko played Thailand’s Vorawat Tanapatsopol and fell behind by quite a bit late in the game and had also entered his last period of 30-second byo-yomi. But Ko played a well-designed whole-board yose trap to overtake his opponent. When his opponent resigned, Danny Ko had played his last sixty or so moves within the last byo-yomi period.

Entering the last two rounds tomorrow, the picture is clearer. Having won all his games, China’s Bai Baoxiang has the championship in his control. There are five countries at one-loss: Japan, Korea, DPR Korea, Taiwan, and Russia. These six will play each other in round 7: China vs. Russia, Korean vs. Taiwan, and Japan vs. DPR Korea.

photo: WAGC headquarters hotel; Guiyang Sheraton set next to a large Ming-dynasty temple

Categories: World,World Amateur Go Championships

WAGC Day 2 Report: China, South Korea, and North Korea undefeated after 4 rounds

Monday June 5, 2017

by Thomas Hsiang, special correspondent to the E-JournalFor day 2 of the 38th World Amateur Go Championship, there were no major surprises at the top tables. Round 3 in the morning saw US and Russia lose to China and North Korea respectively; Thailand lose to Czech; Austria lose to Hong Kong; and France lose to South Korea. The Czech player Lukas Podpera caught a lot of attention after he beat Lai Yucheng from Taiwan yesterday. In round 3 he played a strong game against the Thai representative Vorawat Tanapatsopol, a Go teacher from Bangkok, and won.

There were a number of strong games in round 4. At the end, only three undefeated players remain – China, South Korea, and North Korea. The round started with an exciting game between Hong Kong’s Chan Naisan and South Korean Lee Sangbin. “Lee is just too strong”, sighed Chan after losing a well-fought game. Lukas Podpera lost by just 0.5 point to North Korean Ri Jin-Ung (whose name was mis-spelled in yesterday’s report). Anoother Go teacher, Romanian Cornel Burzo lost to China in a game that finished very late and attracted many Chinese Go reporters. The match between Japan’s Sakamoto Shusaku and Vietnam’s 12-year old Vo Duy Minh (right) also attracted a lot of media attention, although the result was hardly surprising. Danny Ko recovered to defeat the player from Macao.

For round 5 on Tuesday, the top games will be China vs. North Korea, Finland vs. South Korea, Japan vs. Hong Kong, and US vs. Romania.

Categories: World Amateur Go Championships

WAGC Day 1 Report: Early strong pairings

Sunday June 4, 2017

by Thomas Hsiang, special correspondent to the E-Journal

The pairing for WAGC this year, as in 2016, uses a Chinese algorithm that does not pre-order the players. Therefore some early strong pairings have already taken place on the first day. In round 1, Japanese 7D Sakamoto Shusaku met with South Korean Lee Sangbin, with Lee winning a tough match. In the second round, Taiwanese representative 7D Lai Yucheng lost to Czech 7D Lukas Podpera by 2.5 points, producing the first major upset. US representative Danny Ko fought a difficult battle with German Lukas Kraemer and achieved a 2-0 result. After the game, former world champion Yoo Changhuh reviewed the game for the players in great detail and Danny said that he felt like he had improved from the review. He will need the extra strength as he prepares to meet Chinese Bai Baoxiang in the third round. Bai has won the WAGC once previously already. Canadian representative Yujie Gong lost in the second round to long-time Polish mainstay Leszek Soldan and was 1-1 going into the second day. Other players who drew special interest include the DPR Korea player Jin Ungri who, although listed only as 4D, defeated a number of famous North Korean players to emerge as the country’s first representative to WAGC in several years; the 12-year old Vo Duyminh from Vietnam and the 72-year old Zoran Mutabzija from Croatia, who the youngest and oldest players respectively. Jin easily won his first two games so far, while the other two were both 1-1 with Vo given a forfeiture after he misread the schedule and was late by 25 minutes in the first round. In the third round, the strongest pairings include Danny Ko vs. Bai Baoxiang, Russian Dmitry Surin vs. Lee Sangbin, and Hong Kong 7D Chan Naisan vs. Austrian Victor Lin.

Categories: World,World Amateur Go Championships

IGF meetings kick off 38th World Amateur Go Championship in Guiyang, China

Saturday June 3, 2017

by Thomas Hsiang, special correspondent to the E-JournalThe 38th World Amateur Go Championship is being held at the five-star Guiyang Sheraton Hotel in downtown Guiyang, China. On June 3, the first day, the International Go Federation held its annual Board and General Assembly meetings. A number of important announcements were made by Chairman Chang Zhenming, president and chairman of CITIC

Securities, Inc:

The next three WAGC’s will be held in Tokyo May 2-9, 2018; in Matsue City of the Shimane Perfecture in 2019; and in Vladevostok, Russia, in 2020. Maxim Volkov, president of Russian Go Federation, was on hand to celebrate the announcement.
IGF will host the “CITIC Securities Cup” – the First International Artificial Intelligence Go Open – on August 16-17, 2017, in the City of Ordos of Inner Mongolia, China. 16 programs will be entered into the competition from over the world. Generous prizes will be provided.
IGF offers a $20,000 grant to support the First Latin America Go Congress, to be held October 12-16, 2017 in Cancun, Mexico.
The Second IMSA Elite Mind Games, participated by IGF, will be held December 8-16, 2017 in Huai’an City, China. This event will continue at least through 2019.
The 2017 Pair Go World Cup will be held August 7-10, 2017 in Tokyo.
A new member, the Republic of Georgia, was admitted and is now the 77th member of IGF.

Mr. Hiroaki Dan, chairman of Nihon Kiin and vice president of IGF, made the proposal for IGF to take on surveying and building up go instructional materials for schools. The proposal was approved unanimously by the Board and will become a priority for IGF in the next few years. Chairman Chang made the following declaration on behalf of IGF: “In recognition of the benefit of Go in the development of intelligence and character of youths, IGF will promote Go education in schools by surveying its members for existing Go educational materials worldwide, followed by sponsoring studies that consolidate these materials to build systematic educational content and pedagogy. We welcome active participation from IGF members.”

Mr. Chang also called on IGF to take up studies to work toward a universal ruleset and to establish a universal rating system.

After the General Assembly, the traditional ceremony to draw pairing was held. In the evening, a lavish dinner banquet concluded the busy day. Tomorrow the first two rounds of competition will be held.

Categories: China,World,World Amateur Go Championships

Early-bird Congress registration extended

Wednesday May 31, 2017

Due to the excitement surrounding the recent AlphaGo – Ke Jie match and the Memorial Day weekend, the Directors of the 2017 US Go Congress – San Diego have decided to extend the end of the early-bird Congress registration from June 1 to

Monday, June 5. “This will enable registrants to still take advantage of the $50 saving for Congress registration and the subsidized meals packages through Sunday, June 4,” says Ted Terpstra.

The Congress will be held at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego from August 5 to August 13. Discounted hotel reservations can be made through the Congress web site.

Nearly 400 have already signed up to attend the 2017 Congress, including delegations of players from China, Japan, and South Korea. Teachers and pros from around the world will be at the Congress to lecture, play simultaneous exhibitions and analyze games in the afternoons and evenings. A round of the US Open will be played every morning except Wednesday, which is a rest day to take in the sights of San Diego.

– photograph of the Town and Country Resort taken by Ted Terpstra

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

2017 US Go Congress update video; early registration ends soon

Friday May 19, 2017

Andrew Jackson and Michael Wanek are back with another video update on this year’s US Go Congress, th 2017.05.19_congress-update is time with Congress directors Les Lanphear and Ted Terpstra. Lanphear and Terpstra talk about some of the highlights of this year’s Congress and remind those thinking about attending that Early Registration ends June 1st, when registration price and meal plan prices increase. Also, they note, after June 1st, the rooms at the hotel — “And it is an amazing venue!” says Wanek, who just did a site visit last week — will not be guaranteed.

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

2017 Cotsen Open dates set

Saturday May 13, 2017

The 2017 Cotsen Open dates have been confirmed for October 21-22 at the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Registration will open soon, says Tournament Organizer Christopher Saenz. As usual registration fees will be refunded for all players who show up both days, free lunch is provided by tournament sponsor Eric Cotsen (right), and of course free shoulder massages.

Categories: Cotsen Open,U.S./North America

Teacher of the Year Nominations Sought

Saturday April 22, 2017

Nominations for the American Go Foundation’s Teacher of the Year award are due by May 21st. Presented each year at the U.S. Go Congress, the award recognizes an outstanding American teacher. The winner will receive an all expenses paid trip to the US Go Congress. To be eligible, a teacher must be a member of the AGA, have been teaching go to children for at least two hours a week (during the school year) for two years, have started a go club or organization for youth, and have helped their students enter appropriate tournaments, if possible. If you would like to nominate someone for this award, including yourself, e-mail mail@agfgo.org. Nominations are due by May 21st and should include a description of the teacher’s activities, how long they have been teaching, and how many students attend their program. – Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photo: Paul Lockhart, 2016 AGF Teacher of the Year, working with students in New York. Read more about Lockhart’s work here.

Categories: U.S. Go Congress,U.S./North America,Youth

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »