American Go E-Journal » Pandanet-AGA City League

Greater Washington has a slim one-point edge over Los Angeles in the the Pandanet-AGA City A League after seven rounds of play. In the B League Toronto has come out with a strong record and is leading the league with San Francisco hot on their heels. Round 8 is set for this Sunday, June 16 at 2p on IGS. In the A League, Los Angeles will play New York City, Greater Washington will play Boston, and Seattle will play Vancouver. With the field so strong at this point, Boston could wind up challenging LA and GW for the top slot. In the B League, Southern California will take on San Francisco in a tough match-up, Massachusetts will play Washington DC’s Team 2 and Toronto will play Montreal. It will be exciting to see if Toronto will gain another win to stay on top of the standings or will there be a tight playoff the last two rounds to determine the winner. Up-to-date standings are available on the Pandanet-AGA City League Page. 

While the east coast has arguably been dominating national tournaments in recent years, LA found a secret weapon in 22-year-old anchor BeomGeun ‘Evan’ Cho 7D. The former Korean insei is 6-0 in the league, and has defeated several former US Open and/or North American Masters champs including Jie Li 7D, Andy Liu 1P, Ziyang Hu 1P and Huiren Yang 1P. And with Daniel Ko and Curtis Tang on tap, the LA team is so solid that if a team cannot beat Cho, then it must beat both Ko and Tang. Team captain Andrew Okun, President of the American Go Association, probably knows how to motivate his team. Meanwhile, with AGA legend Jie Li on board, DC is a legitimate champion candidate. Vancouver’s 2-4 score may be a bit of a surprise, but if they get Ziyang Hu 1P back to the lineup, they are still in the striking range. Boston is 3-0 against three teams with 2 wins, yet win-less against top two teams; it may be time for the team to step out of their “comfort zone”. Seattle has demonstrated the powerful strength of Korean American players, while New York City is also strong, but just has not yet had a good opening. Toronto is leading after beating San Francisco but the DC Team 2 is closely behind, followed by Montreal, Southern CA and Massachusetts.

Jon Boley and Steve Colburn head up the team running the City League, in which teams from North American cities play in a league system on the Pandanet-IGS server in the AGA room. The teams consist of up to five players, out of which three are selected to play in each round.
– report by Steve Colburn and Edward Zhang

Pandanet AGA City League rounds 4 and 5 will be played this Sunday, April 28. Leagues A and B will play their Round 5 games at 2p EST, while Leagues C and D will play their round 4 games starting at 1p EST. Find the pairings on the Pandanet schedule page.

Play continued last weekend in the Pandanet-AGA City League A and B Leagues, as the top players in the country competed in some thrilling games. All three of the A League Board 2 matches last weekend featured exciting ko fights: Eric Lui (Greater Washington) defeated Daniel Ko (LA), Jie Liang (Boston) beat Edward Kim (Seattle 1), and Zhaonian Chen (NYC) defeated Bill Lin (Vancouver). As it stands, Los Angeles defeated Greater Washington 2-1, Boston downed Seattle 1 2-1, and Vancouver BC vs New York City stands at 1-1. Los Angeles is currently leading the league with 6 points followed by Greater Washington and Boston with 4 points each. Play continues with all Leagues on March 31st starting at 1PM EST, when you can watch live on IGS. All up-to-date results can be found on the City League pages.

The second round of the Pandanet AGA City Leaguewill be held this Sunday, February 24. Round 1 winners in the A League were Greater Washington (d. Boston), Los Angeles (d. New York City) and Vancouver (d. Seattle). In B League, winners were Washington DC 1, San Francisco and Toronto. In the
C League, winners were Washington DC 2, Memphis, Chicago and Pittsburgh. D League winners were Quebec, Southern California 2, Kentucky and Brentwood TN. Click here for Sunday’s pairings (check schedules for times for each league): A League; B League; C League; D League.

The first round of the Pandanet-AGA City League starts this Sunday January 27th. Tune in on IGS using the new GoPanda2 client and watch the opening round. Round and game information are posted on the Pandanet site’s right navigation bar to help you keep track of your local and favorite teams.

We will be posting game records once the games have completed as well. Tune in for some great games!

There are just two weeks left to join the new Pandanet-AGA City League.  This new event features year-round regional competitions between teams of players from different North American cities or regions, with a prize pot of $15,000 for the A-League.  Deadline to register is December 20, with the first season set to begin January 1, 2013 and concludes with a final round in Seattle during the 2013 US Go Congress. There are already teams registered from Brentwood TN, Memphis TN, Syracuse NY, Research Triangle NC, Boston, and Southern California.  Additional teams are being formed in DC-NOVA, the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Monica and Vancouver. “Those from other cities and regions in US, Canada, and Mexico and interested in joining should get organized soon,” say League organizers. “We look forward to a full slate of exciting competitions from many teams!”  Click here for more information, rules and registration.  Email questions to cityleague@usgo.org.

Registration is now open for the inaugural season the Pandanet-AGA City League. Fully sponsored and funded by Pandanet, this new online tournament will provide players an opportunity for regional competition. “This is an exciting new opportunity to develop our go community here in the US,” says AGA President Andy Okun. “Thanks to Pandanet for a great competition that will build up the US go community in new ways.” Teams will consist of four players, three of which will play in each round on a rotating basis, and a non-playing team captain. Each team will represent a city or a region. The tournament format will be double round robin, with 10 rounds each season. The top six teams will make up an “A” League and will play a double round-robin with each other throughout the year on the International Go Server (IGS). A final round between the top two teams in the A League will be played at the US Go Congress. Other teams will be placed into a “B” League and possibly a third, “C” League. The top finisher in the B League moves up to the A League after each season, replacing the bottom A League team. Registration for Season 1 closes December 20, 2012 and the first season will begin January 1st on an accelerated schedule, with all following seasons beginning September 1st of each year. In addition to generous cash prizes provided by Pandanet, teams are encouraged to seek their own local sponsors to provide the team with travel, training, game-fees, celebration and community events. “Teams of all strengths are welcomed and encouraged to register!” says tournament director Jon Boley. Click here for tournament information, procedures, and rules.  Click here to register online.