Tuesday October 22, 2013
The second year of the Pandanet-AGA City League kicks off this weekend on IGS. Play will start for all of the leagues at 3pm on Saturday, October 28th. “We have 17 teams for this season and play should be very exciting,” says Tournament Director Steve Colburn. “Watch some of the best players in the country vie off against each other.” Play will take place in the AGA City League Room; watch for more information on the Pandanet site.
Tuesday October 8, 2013
“The Pandanet City League is looking for a few more teams,” reports TD Steve Colburn. “We are looking for some more teams for this season to fill our roster.” Talk to your club members soon – deadline is October 12 — and sign up for the Pandanet AGA City League. There are openings in all of the leagues. Email Colburn at steve.colburn@usgo.org for more info or to register. League Managers are wanted as well; email the TD to inquire.
Saturday September 28, 2013
Tuesday September 3, 2013
Preparations have begun for the second season of the Pandanet-AGA City
League, with the first round set for Saturday, September 28. “This will be a full season with one round per month from September 2013 to June 2014,” says Karoline Li. Organizers are also looking for volunteers to help run the league. The new season’s schedule, rules and regulations will be updated on the Pandanet-AGA City League website. “The D League, in which teams have the largest range of strengths from kyu to dan players, will be a handicap league this season so as to make the games more enjoyable for all players,” adds (name). Any new teams looking to join the leagues must email team information to cityleague@usgo.org by September 15. Entry of teams into individual leagues will be handled on a case-by-case basis; while it may be possible for strong new teams to be placed into the higher leagues, no new teams will be placed directly into the A league. In order to enter the A league, a team must advance from the B league. If existing teams have any changes to make between seasons, email cityleague@usgo.org. “The AGA is looking for volunteers to assist!” says Steve Colburn. “We need league managers to provide support for each individual league of six teams.” Anyone interested in helping out should email cityleague@usgo.org.
photo: 2013 League champions Team Los Angeles with TD Jon Boley (left) and AGA Tournament Coordinator Karoline Burrall (r); photo by Phil Straus
Sunday August 4, 2013
Team Los Angeles won the Pandanet-AGA City League A-League finals Saturday at the U.S. Congress in Tacoma, WA, defeating the Washington team 2-1 in hard-fought games (click
here for game records). Beumgeon (Evan) Cho defeated Jie Li on Board 1, while Seung Hyun (Kevin) Hong beat Yuan Zhou on Board 3 in the afternoon games, broadcast live on Pandanet. Eric Lui, playing via Pandanet from Seoul Korea, where he’s playing in the Samsung Cup preliminaries for the AGA, scored DC’s only win by defeating Dae Hyuk (Daniel) Ko. Andy Okun captained the LA team. “We’re tremendously pleased with the results of our first year of the Pandanet AGA City League,” League Project Co-Manager Jon Boley reported to Congress attendees Saturday night at a brief awards ceremony. Twenty eight teams competed in four leagues: LA won the A League, Toronto won the B League, Chicago won in C League, and Brentwood, TN won the D League. Karoline Burrall was the League Manager, Steve Colburn was the League webmaster and support was provided by Andy Okun and Thomas Hsiang. The EJ’s Andrew Jackson and Dennis Wheeler recorded the Board 1 and Board 3 games. photo (l-r): Jon Boley, Evan Cho, Andy Okun, Daniel Ko, Steve Colburn, Kevin Hong and Karoline Burrall; photo by Phil Straus
Saturday August 3, 2013
Hundreds of go players are converging on Pacific Lutheran University in Takoma, WA today as the 29th annual U.S. Go Congress gets underway. Here are some snapshots by EJ photographer Phil Straus: top right: Yuan Zhou plays
Seung Hyun Hong in the Pandanet-AGA City League Finals on Saturday afternoon; bottom right: early arrivals waste no time getting on the board; bottom left: Congress Registrar Judy Debel prepares early Saturday for the onslaught of go players from around the world; top left: E-Journal staffers Todd Heidenreich (right) and Steve Colburn prep for the EJ’s Congress coverage.
– photos by Phil Straus; collage by Chris Garlock
Plus: Click here Phil Straus’ complete album of the day.
Friday August 2, 2013
Team Los Angeles, captained by Andy Okun, will play Team Washington DC, led by I-han Lui, in the inaugural Pandanet 
AGA City League finals this Saturday at the U.S. Go Congress in Tacoma, WA.
Schedule: Saturday, August 3, 3:00 p.m. (PST): Beumgeon Cho vs Jie Li on Board 1 and Seung Hyun Hong vs Yuan Zhou on Board 3; at 8:30 p.m. (PST) Dae Hyuk (Daniel) Ko vs Eric Lui (Eric Lui is in Seoul Korea to play in the Samsung Cup preliminaries as a representative of the AGA. Due to this special circumstance, organizers, working with Myung-wan Kim 9P, arranged for a monitor for Eric and a place for him to play in Seoul at the KBA in Pro Room A). All games will be broadcast on IGS: Board 1 on on AGACL1; Board 2 (Daniel Ko vs Eric Lui) will be played directly against each other online; Board 3 will be broadcast on AGACL2.
Player Notes:
Team Los Angeles
Beungeum Cho was undefeated in League play with a score of 10-0. Started playing Baduk at the age of 8. When he was 13 he turned serious and attempted to become a professional Korean Baduk player. At the age of 18 he had to choose between becoming an Yeonguseng (Insei) at KBA and going to University. He decided to study English in school with an eye towards teaching Baduk internationally. He is now in Los Angeles teaching Baduk with Kim Myung-wan 9p.
Dae Hyuk Ko learned Baduk at the age of 5 from his parents. He started actively playing at the age of 15. In 1998 he moved to the US to study English and go to college. In 2006, he joined the AGA and started playing in AGA Tournaments. His wins include the 2008 Korea Times Myung-In Championship in Los Angelese, 2009 Samsung North Americca qualifier, and 2010 the Cotsen Open in Los Angeles. Three time winner of the Santa Monica Cup.
Seung Hyun Hong is substituting for Curtis Tang who was unable to make the finals. Seung Hyun starting playing Baduk at the age of 6 from his father a 10 kyu. In middle school, he was a Yeonguseng at KBA for one year. In 2006 he came in third place in the US Open. Seung Hyun is now focusing on teaching his daughter to play Baduk. She is 2 years old.
Team Washington DC
Jie Li has represented the United States nearly a dozen times in top international invitational championships, and has won 11 North American titles, 7 U.S. national titles, and 13 regional titles. Though not holding a professional certificate, he is one of the strongest go players in the United States, playing at an equal level with many American professionals and has earned the all-time-most North American and US titles combined.
Yuan Zhou 7D was born in Tianjin, China. His father taught him to play go at the age of six and he was twice invited to represent Tianjin in the All China Go Prodigy Cup. In 1989 Zhou immigrated to the USA, joined the American Go Association (AGA) and became a US citizen. Zhou was the president of the University of Maryland Go club, from which he earned a BS in Electrical Engineering, and became increasingly involved in AGA events, winning many go tournaments, including 30 U.S. go titles and has represented USA in international tournaments many times (WAGC, Korea Prime Minister Cup, World Pair Go Championship, etc). Zhou was also elected to be the AGA board of directors in 2005. Zhou is also a popular author, teacher and lecturer; he lives in Germantown, Maryland.
Eric Lui achieved amateur one dan at the age of 6, representing the US internationally in Seoul, Korea a year later. To date, he has had about a dozen international representations to the World Youth Go Championship, WAGC, Korean Prime Minister Cup, World Student Go Oza, Pair Go, and the Samsung. Eric holds Japanese go in high esteem, citing Kobayashi Satoru and Takemiya Masaki among his favorite players. He also has great admiration for Ma Xiaochun and Yoo Changhyuk.
Tuesday July 16, 2013
It’s East Coast versus West Coast as Greater Washington is set to battle Los Angeles in the first-ever 2013 Pandanet-AGA City League finals. The two are the top finishers in the A League and will face off in the finals at the upcoming US Go Congress. Vancouver finished third, Seattle was fourth, in fifth place was Boston and New York finished in sixth. Click here for details. The rest of the leagues are expected to be completed by the end of the month.
Friday July 12, 2013
The 10th, and for most teams, final round is scheduled for this Sunday, July 14 on Pandanet IGS. At the conclusion of this round, the top two teams in the A League will be invited to play one final playoff round to take place in person at the 2013 US Go Congress on Saturday afternoon, August 2. LA currently has a a slight lead over Boston and Washington, DC in the latest standings. Click here for schedule and results of previous rounds.
– Karoline Burrall
Saturday June 22, 2013
New York plays Boston Sunday afternoon in Round 7 of the AGA Pandanet City League’s A League. All games on June 23 will be played in the AGA City League room on Pandanet (IGS), starting at 9a EST. The line-up: 9a (EST): Board 3: Qian, Yingzhi New York [delight] vs Xie, Guochen Boston [guochen]; 2p (EST): Board 1: Liu, Zhi Yuan (Andy) 1p New York [cloudnotes] vs Yang, Huiren 1p Boston [hyang12]; 2p: Board 2: Liang, Jie Boston [gust] vs Chen, ZhaoNian (Michael) New York.