American Go E-Journal » Events/Tournaments

Dark horse Youwhan Kim 7D, a former Korean insei, won the 2014 Cotsen Open, upsetting 2014 Masters champion Mark Lee in the second round and going on to sweep the rest of the tournament, 5-0. Kim’s play was consistently sharp and tough and he was unfazed by the speedy 20-second overtime, which added pressure to some of his opponents. Tournament sponsor Eric Cotsen congratulated the new tournament champion, saying “I like change. Anything that shakes things up at the top, that works for me.” Click here for top-board game records and complete results. Additional photos are on the AGA’s Facebook page.

Kim is part of an informal dojo at Myungwan Kim 9P’s home in Los Angeles, where Beomgeun “Evan” Cho and Mark Lee also live. Youwhan Kim arrived three months ago to study English and says Myungwan Kim (no relation) “has been a big help with advice about life in Los Angeles.” Although Youwhan Kim and Mark Lee did not know each other back in Korea — Lee is of a younger generation — the two have played at Myungwan Kim’s, where they split games 1-1. Youwhan Kim was in the second insei league, “close to professional,” says Myungwan Kim, but is now too old to become a professional in Korea. He’s studying go at Myongji University and had many friends in Korea who spoke English, and realized he’d need to learn English too. He has one more semester of study at Myongji and will return to finish up in a few months. His advice to amateur players who want to improve: “Review your own games carefully; this is the best way to get better.”
– report/photos by Chris Garlock

Click here for top-board game records and complete results. Additional photos are on the AGA’s Facebook page.

Special Awards: Richard Dolen (top right) and Larry Gross received special awards from tournament sponsor Eric Cotsen for their longtime support and promotion of the game of go.

Open
1. Youwhan Kim 7d
2. Calvin Sun 8d*
3. Mark Lee 7d*
4. Qipeng Luo 7d*
5. Beomgeun Cho 9d*
* Sun & Lee were tied for 2nd; Sun was awarded 2nd place by default when Lee missed the award ceremony; Luo and Cho were tied for 4th place and Luo won 4th place in a rock-paper-scissors shoot-out conducted by Eric Cotsen.

A – 3d-5d
1. Jerry Shen 4d
2. Michael Wanek 4d
3. Nathan Harwit 4d

B – 1d-2d
1. James Lou 2d
2. Tina Bai 2d
3. Dan Alvira 2d

C – 1k-5k
1. Ryan Kierulf 1k
2. Clement Wong 3k
3. Yunyen Lee 3k

D – 6k-11k
1. Greg Kulevich 8k
2. Christopher Rumsey 9k
3. Chris Kaynor 8k

E – 12k+
1. Dowson Yang 19k
2. James Maloney 25k
3. Victoria Blue 26k

CLUBS
1. Orange County
2. Bay Area
3. YuGo*
* YuGo was tied with Arizona and won 3rd in a rock-paper-scissors shoot-out (at right)

Cotsen Staff: Samantha Davis & crew: Wenguang Wu, Katie Dicus, Matthew Jarrell, Torey Byrne was photographer, and Jerry Miller. Chris Sira was the Tournament Director.
E-Journal Team: Richard Dolen (Board 2), Nick McNelis (Board 3), Joe Cepiel (Board 4); team coordination (& Board 1 recording) by Chris Garlock