Tuesday June 14, 2016
China’s Baoxiang Bai (right) defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chia-Cheng Hsu to win his second world amateur championship with a 
perfect 8-0 record. Korea’s Kibaek Kim was second, and Chinese Taipei’s Chia Cheng Hsu was third. Benjamin Lockhart of the US was 13th, Manuel Velasco of Canada was 28th and Emil Garcia of Mexico was 36th. The tournament took place June 5-8 in Wuxi, a city of six million located slightly northwest of Shanghai. Full results here. Click here for more WAGC reports on Ranka.
Sunday June 12, 2016
Automatic game recording app “JustGo” will be demonstrated at this year’s US Go Congress. Lei Chen 7d and Yi Tang 2p 
from WanTong technology will be on hand at the Congress with their newest technology. Click here to see a demo; the app will be available both in iOS and Android.
Sunday June 12, 2016
Save the dates of October 22-23 on your calendar for the 2016 Cotsen Open. The popular tournament returns to the Korean 
Cultural Center Los Angeles this year, thanks to the support of the Korean Consulate and KCCLA. The 2016 tournament will feature all of the things that previous participants have come to expect and look forward to from the Cotsen Open, including roving masseuses, free lunches, gorgeous trophies, a game between Yilun Yang 7p and another top pro, and thousands of dollars in prizes. “This is a tournament you won’t want to miss!” say local organizers. Registration will open soon; stay tuned for more details and get updates on the Cotsen Open Faceboo page. photo: Mark Lee gets a massage at the 2015 Cotsen Open; photo by Chris Garlock
Sunday June 5, 2016
Register for the 2016 US Go Congress by midnight Monday and save $50! The $25 registration will increase to $75 Monday, 
6 June at 11:59 pm EST. The US Go Congress is the largest go activity in the United States. It happens once a year and runs July 30 – August 7 in Boston, MA this year. Events include the US Open, the largest annual go tournament in the US, professional lectures and game analysis, continuous self-paired games, and all kinds of go-related activities from morning to midnight. “Come for the go. Come for the camaraderie of old friends,” says Congress Director Walther Chen. “Whatever your reason, we are looking forward to seeing you there.”
Monday May 30, 2016
The Mexican Go Association’s 3rd Annual Go Congress in Mexico City will be host to three professional teachers, including one each from the US and Canada. With the aid of AGA, Stephanie (Mingming) Yin 1p from NY and William (Gansheng) Shi 1p from Vancouver will be visiting Mexico, and with the support of the Korea Amateur Baduk Association, Cho Hye-yeon 9p from Seoul will teach as well. This is the first time a Mexican Congress will have this many pros.
“Western go is developing in a tremendous way. While America and Europe already have pro systems, in Latin America we don’t even have a Congress type of event. We can’t lag behind compared to other regions,” said Emil García, Mexican Go Association president. “The main purpose of the event is letting the local players grasp some of the deep insight pros have and for them to teach us through lectures, game reviews and simul games.”
Airfare for the two North American players is courtesy of the American Go Foundation, said AGA president Andy Okun. “When we received an invitation from the Mexican Go Association for pro teachers for their event,” said Okun, “I thought about the projects on which we’ve cooperated with Mexico and their success in promoting the game to kids. I also thought about the many years of generous support we have received from the go associations in Asia and thought this would be a chance for us to ‘pay it forward’ for the good of the game.”
The three-day event will also hold the 3rd Mexican Go Open with a prize pool near $1,000 US and will take place in the Tlatelolco University Cultural Center, Mexico City, Mexico. You can check more info about this event in its webpage.
Sunday May 29, 2016
If you are planning to attend the US Go Congress in Boston this year but haven’t signed up or paid, you’d best get cracking! The early bird price expires at the end of May, i.e. Tuesday, with the registration fee going from $375 to $425. And if you haven’t decided yet to come to Congress this year, why not? Aside from a location steeped in history, culture and seafood, this Congress boasts an illustrious complement of pro teachers, a powerful lineup of strong players and a tremendous roster of attendees, swelled by the work of the Congress team as well as all the exciting new developments in the world of go. Sign-ups are well into record territory with more than 330 paid attendees already and nearly 430 altogether in the process. See the Congress website for more details and to sign up.
Sunday May 29, 2016
Popular teacher Mingjiu Jiang 7P will talk about “Tricky Moves in Josekis” at the upcoming US Go Congress July 30-August 
7 in Boston. Also joining the professional line-up at the Congress are Ryan Li 1P, Eric Lui 1P and Calvin Sun 1P; together with previously announced Andy Liu 1P and William Shi 1P, all the young North American pros will be in attendance at the Congress. Longtime Congress favorite Cathy Li 1P has also confirmed she’ll be there. A special guest, An Yan 7P from China, will also attend; he’s taught many strong players in the US, including 2016 Congress director Walther Chen 5d. Over 300 have already registered for the Congress; see who’s coming here.
Sunday May 22, 2016
With this year’s US Go Congress in Boston on track to be the largest-ever, American Go Association president Andy Okun 
wants to hear from communities that would like to put on a Congress in the coming years. “We are trying to fix a venue for a California Congress in 2017, but we need to look further ahead, or possibly consider returning to one or two of our successful Congress sites from the past.” Interested chapters should contact Okun at president@usgo.org; a future Congress organizers meeting will be held in Boston as well.
photo: at the 2015 US Go Congress in Minneapolis/St Paul; photo by Chris Garlock
Sunday May 22, 2016
More pros and their lecture topics have just been announced for this year’s US Go Congress, set for July 30- August 7 in 
Boston, MA.
Feng Yun 9P will talk about: “Invading,” Jennie Shen 2P will co-host with Myungwan Kim 9P, and they will have a joint session on “AlphaGo 5 games summarized commentary” and William Shi 1P will talk about “Star point josekies and recent developments (strong kyu to weak dan)” and “Avalanche Opening Joseki (lower dan and up)”
Click here for details and to register.
Wednesday May 18, 2016
The last round of the Pandanet AGA City League is this Sunday, May 22nd. Each of these teams has played six exciting rounds so far with one more and the finals to go. Play starts at 3pm EST/12pm PST on Sunday unless otherwise noted on the schedule pages. Schedules: A League / B League / C League
Vancouver has climbed slightly ahead of Greater Washington in the A League. They are 5-1 each against the rest of the field. With two professionals for each team (Chinese and American professionals), play has shown the strength of their players. Los Angeles has been hot on their heels all year with Boston one game behind them.
Washington DC 2 has taken a commanding lead all year with their undefeated streak. Edmonton has taken one loss this year. We’ll have to see who leads the middle of the pack between Washington DC 1, New Jersey, and San Francisco 1.
The C League is led by Atlanta 2, followed by Boston 3, and Atlanta 1.