American Go E-Journal » Events/Tournaments

2022 in-person U.S. Go Congress a go

Saturday March 12, 2022

After extensive meetings with the AGA Board and officials during the last two months, U.S. Go Congress directors are pleased to announce plans for an in-person event. “We believe a reasonably safe Congress can be held with the proper precautions such as those described on the continually updated AGA website Covid-19 page,” they say, noting the recent steep drop in cases and that most Americans are now well protected from COVID.  (AP News).”

Given that playing go puts players face to face, across from each other for prolonged periods of time, organizers currently plan precautions that exceed CDC recommendations, including wearing masks during indoor play. Vaccination will be required. A statement of the policy will be available on the Congress website.

The 38th annual U.S. Go Congress will be held July 30th – August 7th at the YMCA camp near Estes Park, CO. The camp is just outside Estes Park, about 1.5 – 2 hours from Denver International Airport (DIA).

“We’re very excited to be holding an in-person Congress again this year”, says Co- Director Eric Wainwright. “People are eager to greet old friends, make new friends and resume the great tradition of playing go at the week-long Congress.”

Registration is expected to open in about a week. 

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Registration Open for the 2022 Redmond Cup and AGA Girls Cup

Thursday February 24, 2022

Redmond Cup and AGA Girls Cup finalists compete at the 2019 US Go Congress in Madison, Wisconsin

Registration is now open for the 29th Redmond Cup and 5th AGA Girls Cup, the AGA’s annual premier youth tournaments for North American youth under 18 and females under 16 respectively. Players must have an accredited rank of 1-dan or higher to participate in the Redmond Cup, and an accredited rank of 10-kyu or higher to participate in the AGA Girls Cup. The Redmond Cup features both a Junior (under 13) and a Senior (13-17) division, while the AGA Girls Cup will feature one division (under 16). Both tournaments are online preliminaries to determine two finalists in each division who will be invited to play in a best-of-three match at the 2022 US Go Congress. The American Go Foundation will cover all reasonable expenses for the finalists of both tournaments to travel to and compete at the 2022 USGC. If there is no in-person 2022 USGC, the Finals will be played at the following in-person USGC. Players who complete all rounds of either tournament will also be eligible for a $200 scholarship to the next in-person USGC.

This year’s tournaments have undergone several major changes, including a format overhaul and mandatory video calls with strict camera setup guidelines during games. In light of issues regarding prohibited use of AI assistance during tournament games, these changes were made to maintain a high standard of tournament integrity in a practical manner.

Registration for the Redmond Cup will close on March 16th, with competition starting on March 21st. Registration for the AGA Girls Cup will close on March 23rd, with competition starting on March 28th. Interested competitors can read about the rules for the Redmond Cup and rules for the AGA Girls Cup for more information, and email youth@usgo.org with any inquiries.

– Story and photo by Justin Teng, AGA Youth Coordinator

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Registration Open for the 11th Virginia Open 

Wednesday February 23, 2022

Registration is open for the 11th Virginia Open, which features a larger prize pool than ever before with awards and certificates for six divisions (Open Elite, Open, Expert, Proficient, Intermediate and Novice) as well as for top youth and female players. The past three VA Opens have drawn over 200 participants. The tournament will take place on OGS and feature six rounds spread out over four days. All levels may choose to sign up for the Open Elite division, which had an average rating of 7 dan last year. Webcams will be required for top board players in the final two rounds, who will be invited to a Zoom meeting hosted by the TDs. Players from around the world are welcome to participate, and the organizers will provide assistance to reschedule the matches to reasonable times for international players.

The tournament is tentatively scheduled for early April 2022. Interested players can find more details and the registration form here, and any inquiries can be directed to agatd1@gmail.com.

– Edward Zhang of the Capital Go Club

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Transatlantic Online Pro League Qualifier set for this weekend

Friday February 18, 2022

This weekend, two seats in the new season of the Transatlantic Online Pro League (https://eurogofed.org/pros/league.html), which begins on Feb 26, are up for grabs in an amateur qualification tournament.

Four North American players are invited: Aaron Ye, Brady Zhang, Kevin Yang, and Alexander Qi. The tournament format is a double elimination. 

All games will be played online on OGS with a time setting of 30 minutes main time and 3×30 byo-yomi. To ensure fair play, all competitors are required to record a video during their games and submit the video afterwards.

The match start times are as follows:

Round 1

Feb 19 (Saturday): 10 AM Pacific Time / 1 PM Eastern Time

Aaron vs. Alexander

Brady vs. Kevin

Round 2

Feb 19 (Saturday): 1:30 PM Pacific Time / 4:30 PM Eastern Time

Winners bracket

Losers bracket

Round 3

Feb 20 (Sunday): 10 AM Pacific Time / 1 PM Eastern Time

Loser from winners bracket vs. Winner from losers bracket

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Pandanet AGA City League Begins Sunday

Monday January 3, 2022

Andy Liu, Stephanie Yin, and Ryan Li receive the A League trophy from TD Steve Colburn, Williamsburg 2018

Are you ready to watch the biggest go league in the US? Watch LIVE on Sunday January 9th for the first round of the Pandanet AGA City League! Entering the 10th year there are 36 teams among four leagues. The best players in North America will vie to win for their city and bragging rights for the next year. Join the “AGA City League” and “AGA City League Manual” rooms on Pandanet to watch.

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Two weeks left to register for the Pandanet AGA City League

Monday December 13, 2021

Watching the finals at the 2013 Pandanet City League Finals

The final weeks are upon you to register your team for this year’s Pandanet AGA City League. This year’s players look to be stronger than previous years. Play against the most ambitious players in the continent for bragging rights for your area. Are your local players as strong as those from New York City, Boston, Seattle, or North Corvallis? Check out the updated rules and register for this years event. Teams will be contacted this week with updates. Registration closes December 23rd. Register soon!

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43rd Australian Championship Concludes

Saturday December 11, 2021

The 43rd Australian Championship, which was also the 6th Australian Digital Tournament, came to a close on December 9. The tournament consisted of seven rounds played across seven week-long sessions.  

The overall winner—and 2021 Australian Open Champion—was Daniel Li 6d of Sydney. After defeating Chahine Koleejan in the final round, Daniel won the Championship with a clean sweep of seven victories. 

Laris Du Qing 6d of Sydney placed second in the open division, losing only to Daniel Li.

Steven Cheng 5d of the Gold Coast Go Club placed third in the open division, having lost only to Daniel and Laris. 

The handicap division was divided into two sections, consisting of the strongest 24 players in the upper handicap division (2d to 7k), and 15 players in the lower handicap division (7k to 15k). The upper handicap division started with an extra point to their score. (In a McMahon draw, though, it is possible for an upper division player to face a skilled lower division player.) 

The 2021 Australian Handicap Champion is Peter Simpson 1k of the Perth Go Club, beaten only by Brendan Hennessy 2k out of the Gore Street Irregulars in Melbourne. (“The only Australian club I know of that meets in a pub,” noted Horatio Davis. “Must be something in the beer.”) 

Patrick Liang 1k of the Melbourne Go Club placed second in the upper handicap division, also taken down only by Brendan. 

And the aforementioned Brendan Hennessy 2k of Melbourne placed third in the upper handicap division. 

Victor Phan 9k of Australia won the lower handicap division. Sorn Nawapanich 12k of Melbourne placed second, and Christopher Riding 8k of “just write down New Zealand” placed third.

The full tournament results can be found here.

“With luck, next year’s Australian Championship will be an old-fashioned physical tournament somewhere on the east coast (I think Canberra’s turn?),” said organizer Horatio Davis, General Secretary of the Queensland Go Society. “Whether or not that works out, there will definitely be another Australian Digital, just like this one, and a New Zealand Digital.”

-based on a report by Horatio Davis, editing by Hailey Renner

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NAGF announces Next-Generation exhibition match

Sunday December 5, 2021

The North American Go Federation (NAGF) is hosting exhibition games for North American players. The matches will be between promising young players and professionals. The event details are also available on the NAGF website.

When: 
Saturday December 11th, at 7PM EST (4pm PST)

Where: 
The games will be played online on OGS, and broadcast on the AGA twitch channel.

Players:
Alexander Qi  vs  Mingjiu Jiang (7p)
Kevin Yang  vs  Ryan Li (3p)
Val Lewis  vs  Cathy Li (1p)
Chih Rong (James) Sun  vs  Calvin Sun (1p)

Rules:
30 minutes main time with 3 periods of 40 seconds byo-yomi
Reverse Komi

Commentators:
Hajin Lee and Nick Prince

– Report by Hajin Lee, editing by Derek McGuire

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2022 South Central Go Tournament Online Open for Registration

Wednesday December 1, 2021

The 2022 South Central Go Tournament Online will be held on the KGS go server the Saturday and Sunday before Presidents’ Day (February 19-20, 2022). From 2016 to 2020, the tournament was played live in Dallas. In 2021—and now again in 2022—the pandemic has made it necessary to hold the tournament online. There are no geographic restrictions for who may play, but all participants must be current AGA members (including any players from outside the United States). The best-placed Texas resident in the Open Section will become the 2022 Texas State Champion. The 2021 tournament had 16 Open Section players and 60 Handicap Section players. Players can find more details and register for the 2022 tournament at www.goclubs.org. You can also find the South Central Go Tournament on Facebook. Email Bob Gilman at bobgilman.aga@gmail.com with questions about the tournament.

-report by Bob Gilman, edited by Hailey Renner

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The New York Go Honor Society League Returns

Wednesday December 1, 2021

“After a prolonged break, the New York Go Honor Society (NYGHS) is excited to announce the return of the New York Go league!” says organizer Joshua Wong. The first rounds of the league will begin on December 11th with a registration deadline of December 9th.

The league is two months long and will feature a round-robin style format, with each division having 8-10 players. For more information about the league, you can check out the rules and regulations document.

All players are welcome to register here. Like past iterations of the league, the only prerequisite is to have a rank, either certified by a Go organization, or to have a stable rank on a Go server. “We hope to see you there!” says Wong.

-report by Joshua Wong, edited by Derek McGuire

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