American Go E-Journal » U.S. Go Congress

Amy Wang and Justin Ching (at left) won the Pair Go Tournament Thursday night, earning themselves a trip to the International Amateur Pair Go Championship this Fall in Tokyo. They defeated April Ye and Willis Huang (at right) in the first round and beat Wan Chen and Dae Hyuk (Daniel) Ko in the second round. Todd Heidenreich directed, Yuan Zhou assisted, with support by Pair Go Coordinator Rachel Small. The Round 1 game between Wan Chen/Daniel Ko and Julie Burrall/Lionel Zhang and the final round between Chen/Ko and Wang-Ching were broadcast live on Pandanet by the E-Journal’s Dennis Wheeler.

“Try to give your students the bigger concept of the game, not small ideas and techniques,” urged Takemiya Masaki 9P Thursday afternoon at a Teachers’ Workshop lecture at the U.S. Go Congress. “It’s very important to keep them enthusiastic about the game.” Takemiya, who had just arrived at the Congress Thursday morning, explained how his father taught him go and then turned over his training to a professional when Takemiya had learned everything his father had to teach him. “My teacher never praised me and that was smart, I think,” Takemiya said. He added that “Teaching is challenging, but sometimes maybe the problem is with the teachers, not the students.” The Teacher’s Workshop is new this year, and has attracted nearly 50 participants, who have been meeting each day to learn new teaching techniques from professionals like Lee Dahye 4P, who has taught Korean soldiers, students and multicultural youth, and is co-author of “Falling in Love with Baduk.” Takemiya said that “technique and tactics are where most players and teachers start but there’s so much more to the game.” Patting his heart, he said “It’s about how you look at the game, how you love it. This is the most important thing. It’s the key to opening the door to go further ahead.” One thing professionals and amateurs have in common, Takemiya said, “is that we both have only one life to live, so we must all make it count!”
– report by Chris Garlock, photo by Phil Straus

Early Tuesday night was slow at the Seattle Go Center, with only about 20 players, since so many members were at the U.S. Go Congress in nearby Tacoma.   But then a meeting organized by Dae-won Suh, President of the Asian Go Federation, and former Korean Ambassador to the U.N., doubled the attendance, as Suh met with the leadership of the Center, including president Lee Anne Bowie, and local Korean players.  Also attending from the U.S. Go Congress were three Korean professional players, and KBA General Manager Jong-Ryeol Kim.  A reporter from the Korea Times, and staff from the Seattle Korean Consulate also attended.

While no specific events were scheduled at the meeting, Mr. Suh strongly encouraged the group to plan medium-sized events in the future that attract players from all backgrounds, according to local organizer Sonny (Sung-Chul) Cho.   Mr. Suh seemed pleased with the diversity in the Board and in the  membership of the Seattle Go Center.  After the meeting, an official photo was taken, and the group broke into lively discussions of  teaching methods, go equipment, and trips to Korea.  Story and photos by Brian Allen. Top photo: Local business leader Seok-Dong Kang greets Dae-won Suh.  Bottom: Pros Hyunghwan Kim, Dahye Lee,  Myungwan Kim and Go Center organizer/teacher Sonny Cho. 

Tuesday night is Crazy Go night at the U.S. Go Congress, and the main playing area was filled with players trying out variations, including 3D Go (top right); Galactic Go (middle right); 4-color go (bottom right); Joker Go (bottom left); Rengo Kriegspiel (middle left) and Hex Go (top left). photos by Chris Garlock, except for 4-color go, by Phil Straus
Click here for Phil Straus’ complete photo album of the day. 

Tadaaki Jagawa has built a very successful career selling cars around the world. Now the Toyota executive is hoping to apply some of the same principles to making the game of go more popular around the world. Jagawa, Vice-Chairman of the Nihon-Kiin’s Board of Directors, is visiting the U.S. Go Congress this week. “I think it’s very important to meet the U.S. go community in person,” Jagawa told the E-Journal on Tuesday, in an interview translated by Frank Fukuda of the Seattle Go Center. “The Nihon Ki-in is in critical condition and really needed people with management skills,” Jagawa said. “It’s my goal that our professional go players be able to play go as much as possible, instead of spending their time managing the Ni-hon Ki-in.” As Vice-President of Toyota, Jagawa has been responsible for opening most of the company’s overseas factories in the U.S. Europe, Africa and the Mideast. As a manager used to being on the ground, Jagawa — who joined the Nihon Kiin leadership team in 2012” — says that a visit to the U.S. was “Number one, most important” to underline and explore the Ki-in’s commitment to supporting go in the United States. The immediate idea is for the Ki-in to send a stream of young professionals to the United States to teach and lecture as part of the AGA’s continuing outreach programs in places like the Seattle Go Center. Discussions with the AGA and local organizers are underway about a location on the East Coast. “It’s going to be very important to the success of this plan that ghe Nihon Ki-in be in more regular and frequent official contact with the AGA,” Jagawa said, obliquely alluding to the now-resolved tensions over the future of the Seattle and New York Go Centers. The hope is to have the plan for a new East Coast go center in place by March, 2014. Discussions are also underway with the European go community — and in fact, the other Nihon Ki-in vice chairman, Mr. Yamashiro, is visiting the European Go Congress this week — but the timeline there is expected to be somewhat longer. “Building the base is key to success,” Jagawa said. “You must sell the product through the base. In this case the product is go, which is very different than, say, a car, but perhaps there are some similarities after all.” Localizing is important, he stressed. Toyota became a global success in part by localizing its vehicles for each market. Applying this to go, Jagawa suggested, means adapting the Nihon Ki-in’s support to whatever makes the most sense in each community, rather than trying to impose a “one size fits all” model. “It must be fit to the needs of the people,” he said. Asked what his favorite thing is about the game of go, Jagawa chuckled. “Sometimes, in seeking the truth on the board, however deep you go, you can’t see the bottom. That’s very attractive.” Clearly, this is a man who relishes a challenge, wherever he finds it.
– report/photos by Chris Garlock: top left: Jagawa plays at the Go Congress; bottom right: Thomas Hsiang and Frank Fukuda present Jagawa with a 2013 U.S. Go Congress t-shirt.

Tournament Recap: It was an exciting morning at the U.S. Open on Tuesday. The games on both top boards — both being broadcast live on KGS and drawing a crowd in the playing room as well — were half-pointers, and TD Karoline Burrall and other officials were called in to help adjudicate the scoring in the Board 1 game between the undefeated Zi Yang (Matthew) Hu 1P  and Yuhan Zhang 7d because of a question about how to count points in seki. Zhang got the win, snapping an impressive winning streak in the U.S. Open by Hu that goes back to 2011. Hu was back in form in his Masters tournament Round 3 game Tuesday night, handily defeating Jie Liang, while Stephanie Yin dispatched Hugh Zhang and Andy Liu 1P notched his second 2013 NAMT win by defeating Justin Teng. In the Strong Player’s Open, Cong Li continued his run by beating Ho Son, as did Yuhan Zhang, winning against Juyong Koh, and Beomgeun Cho, defeating Andrew Huang. Latest results — and game records — are here: U.S. Open; NAMT; SPO.

Pro Game Commentaries: Two more pro commentaries today: Yilun Yang 7P on the Masters Round 2, Board 1 game between Calvin Sun 7d and Zi Yang (Matthew) Hu 1P and Shirley Lin 1P on the U.S. Open Round 3, Board 1 game between Hu and Yuhan Zhang 7d. – photo: Lin (left) and Yang (right) with EJ Managing Editor Chris Garlock; photo by Todd Heidenreich

Wednesday Schedule: While most Congress attendees will be off exploring the Seattle area today on the traditional day off, many will stay for the 4-round Die Hard, which is also expected to attract local players who can just come for the day. Players must register by 8:30a in order to play in the first round, which starts at 9a; pre-registrants must check in by 8:45. The tournament will be played in the main playing area.

Madness Declining at Congress: Attendance is down at the Midnight Madness tournament “due to campus-wide outbreak of board gaming, poker, and 7 am tennis,” reports TD Martin Lebl. Just six players turned out Monday night, but “as always, games are available nightly,” Lebl promised. photo by Martin Lebl

Seen & Heard: “If white gets all four coasts, black should resign,” said Paul Barchilon when he came across Vincent Ma 2d and Jeffrey Zhang 2d playing on this go board in the shape of the United States, created by Frank Salantrie. Ma won, 126-60. photo by Paul Barchilon

Online Coverage: There will be no live broadcasts Wednesday; our coverage of top boards at the U.S. Open resumes at 9a (PST) Thursday on KGS (look for the USGO accounts); professional commentary by Myungwan Kim 9P and Chujo Chihiro 1P begins at 10a. Redmond Cup coverage on KGS will begin at 3p. Our live coverage of the North American Ing Masters and Strong Players Open begins at 7p. Results — and game records — are here: U.S. Open; NAMT; SPO.

Tournament Recap: In the second round of the North American Masters Tournament Monday night at the U.S. Go Congress, Zi Yang Hu defeated Calvin Sun on Board 1, while Jie Liang (left in photo)  handed Andy Liu 1P (right) his second defeat in the NAMT and Mingming Yin beat Tianyu Lin. In the Strong Players Open, Li Cong beat Peilun Li on Board 1, while Yuhan Zhang defeated Beomgeun Cho and Juyong Koh won against Albert Yen. Click here for full results — and game records — of each round: U.S. Open; NAMT; SPO. photo by Phil Straus

Pro Game Commentaries: We’ve got three pro game commentaries so far: Jennie Shen 2P on the U.S. Open Round 1 game Sunday between Zi Yang (Matthew) Hu and Tianyu [Bill] Lin; Cathy Li 1P on the U.S. Open Round 2 game Monday between Zi Yang Hu and Jianing Gan, and a special bonus: Myungwan Kim 9P’s (left) commentary on the Pandanet-AGA City League A-League final between Beumgeon (Evan) Cho and Jie Li, which was played last Saturday. photo by Chris Garlock

Midnight Madness Welcomes Hardcore Players: “Join the ranks of the truly hard core go players where the go never ends,” urges Midnight Madness TD Martin Lebl. “Five tables of midnight fun and madness daily in the main playing hall.” Just show up between 11:30 and 11:50 to sign up for the round each day; pairings after 11:55, with games starting at midnight.

Online live coverage of top boards at the U.S. Open begins at 9a (PST) on KGS (look for the USGO accounts), and Board 1 will also be simulcast on IGS; professional commentary by Yilun Yang 7P and Shirley Lin 1P begins at 10a. Redmond Cup coverage on KGS will begin at 3p. Our live coverage of the North American Ing Masters and Strong Players Open begins at 7p. Results — and game records — are here: U.S. Open; NAMT; SPO.

Lightning Go Table Winners: Jeremy Chiu 6d, Jimmy Yang 5d, Sammy Zhang 4d, Linden Chiu 3d, Daniel Liu 3d, Chenchen Luu 2d, Daniel Puzan 1k, Yukino Takehara 2k, Yuku Sakurai 3k, Devin Fraze 4k, Eric Liu 5k, Austin Cao 9k, Maxwell Chen 16k. 76 players participated; Keith Arnold was the TD, of course. photo by Chris Garlock

Go Quiz Answer: Greg, Gary and Garrett share more than the initial “G”; their last name is Smith (though none are related).

Correction: Yuhan Zhang defeated Cong Li 3p in the first round of the U.S. Open; we mistakenly reported that Li won.