Monday August 5, 2013
Monday’s Snapshots: center: Lightning Go Tournament (Chris Garlock); top right: Yang Yi 6P lectures on the san-ren-sei opening (Peter Mooyman); middle
right: in the Youth Room (Phil Straus); bottom right: top boards being broadcast in the main playing area; bottom left: Maeda Ryo 6P lecture (Straus); middle left: at the Teacher’s Workshop; top left: Ozdal Barkan with shirt & sign (Straus). Got Congress photos? Email ’em to us at journal@usgo.org
Click here for Phil Straus’ complete album.
Monday August 5, 2013
Today’s tournaments in the Youth Room at the US Go Congress included 9×9 and 13×13 tournaments, run by Fritz Balwit, and a little impromptu frisbee go on the ten foot by ten foot 9×9 board as well. Table winners in the 9×9 were: Willis Huang 3d, Job Betcher 2d, Julie Burrall 4k, Bryan Tan 8k, and Bob Liu 13k; 13×13 table winners were Justin Ching 4d, Daniel Puzan 1k, and Eric Liu 5k. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor; photo by Phil Straus
Monday August 5, 2013
Tournament Recap: Top players get two bites at the competitive apple at the U.S. Go Congress, playing in both the U.S. Open in the morning and then in either the North American Masters Tournament (NAMT) or the Strong Players Open (SPO). In an upset win, Jianing Gan 7D forced a resignation by Andy Liu 
1P in yesterday’s first-round action at the U.S Open (USO), but Liu — who conducted a simul in the afternoon (right) — notched a decisive win against Yuan Zhou 7D in the evening round of the NAMT. In other top-board USO action, Canadian pro Zi Yang Hu 1P beat Tianyu (Bill) Li, Chinese pro Cong Li 3P lost to Yuhan Zhang 7D and Beomgeun Cho (9.2 AGA) defeated Andrew Lu (7.5 AGA). In other NAMT top results, Hugh Zhang 7D scored an upset against Yongfei Ge 8D, Zi Yang Hu 1P defeated Jianing Gan 7D and Andy Liu 1P beat Yuan Zhou 7D. In the SPO, Cong Li defeated James Sedgwick 7D of Canada, while Beomgeun Cho beat Andrew Lu and Juyong Koh 7D defeated Maojie Xia 6D. Track results — and check out game records, where available — of each round here: U.S. Open; NAMT; SPO. For Congress tourney crosstabs going back to 2008, click here. photo by Chris Garlock
Today’s online live coverage of Round 2 of the U.S. Open begins at 9a (PST) on KGS (look for the USGO accounts); professional commentary by Myungwan Kim 9P and Cathy Li 1P begins at 10a. Our coverage of the second round in the North American Ing Masters and Strong Players Open begins at 7p.
Seen & Heard: A top player in the US Open was late to his game because he was found trying to get into the wrong room, which turned out to be a locked storage closet, not the playing room.
Attention Congress Attendees: Exercise sharpens your mind: pick-up tennis and soccer games are at 4p this afternoon: see the signs outside the main playing area for details. Don’t forget to send us your Congress reports, sightings and photos. Got something all Congress attendees should know? Email it to us at journal@usgo.org!
Correction: This report has been corrected to reflect Chinese pro Cong Li 3P’s loss to Yuhan Zhang 7D in the US Open; our original report said that Li won.
Monday August 5, 2013
Sunday’s snapshots: top right: Yilun Yang 7P lectures (by Phil Straus); 
middle & bottom right: strong players review their games (Chris Garlock); bottom left: Cathy Li 1P plays in a simul (Peter Mooyman); top left: the main playing area during the US Open (Phil Straus).
Plus: Click here for Phil Straus’ complete album of the day.
Sunday August 4, 2013
Jianing Gan 7d and Aaron Ye 6d both won their first round matches in the Redmond Cup Finals at the US Go Congress Sunday afternoon. Gan, who is from Canada, was undefeated in the qualifiers, and is the defending champion in the Senior Division of the Redmond (under 18). His opponent Andrew Lu 6d is the current US Youth Champion, and lost only to Gan in the qualifiers. Lu was out for a win, and played strongly throughout today’s match, but ran into time trouble and ultimately had to resign. In the Junior Division (under 12) defending champion Aaron Ye, age 11, faced off against Canadian David Lu 6d, also 11. Lu is new to the Redmond, entering for the first time this year, and was undefeated in the qualifiers. Ye lost only to Lu, and was out for revenge in the finals. Lu stumbled early in the game, when Ye killed a large group in the corner, but kept up his resolve and created tremendous complications for Ye throughout the rest of the game, which hinged on a ko that almost turned the tide. Ye played steadily throughout though, and ultimately won by a large margin. The game was broadcast live on KGS, and drew 150 observers. Round two will be broadcast on Tuesday at 3pm PT, in the AGA Tournaments Room.
In the Youth Room at the Go Congress, today’s event was a lightning tournament, with ten minutes per player. 32 kids and teens played in the match, and table winners won $10 gift certificates to Congress go vendors. Shirley Lin 3P and Andy Liu 1P also held simuls. Justin Teng 6d won at the top lightning table, which included some of the strongest young players at congress. Jimmy Yang 5d, April Ye 1k, Yukino Takehara 2k, Austen Cao 9k, and Anson Hu won the other tables. Tomorrow’s events will be 9×9 and 13×13 tourneys, and professionals Myungwan Kim 9p and Mingjiu Jiang 7P will also hold simuls. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photos: top left: Andrew Lu 6d (l) vs. Jianing Gan 7d (r), photo by Phil Straus; bottom right: Youth Lightning Tourney, photo by Paul Barchilon.
Sunday August 4, 2013
What do these three guys have in common, besides the game of go? Send your 
guesses to journal@usgo.org.
photo by Gurujeet Khalsa
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
Sunday August 4, 2013
Online live coverage of top boards at the U.S. Open begins at 9a (PST) on KGS (look for the USGO accounts); professional commentary begins at 10a (PST). Redmond Cup coverage on KGS will begin at 3p (PST) (USGO accounts). Our coverage of the North American Ing Masters and Strong Players Open begins at 7p (PST). Track results of each round here: U.S. Open; NAMT; SPO.
Other highlights of the Congress today are the Youth Lightning tournament, pro lectures, simuls and game reviews, as well as the launch of the new Teacher’s Workshop. We hope to file reports on some of these during the day on the website; let us know if there’s anything in particular you’re interested in.
Attention Congress Attendees: Send your own Congress reports, sightings and photos to us at journal@usgo.org; we’ll publish the best. Also, reminder that you must sign up for Wednesday Day Off trips today (see sign-up sheets in the registration area). Got something all Congress attendees should know? Email it to us at journal@usgo.org!
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
With the U.S. Go Congress happening just an hour’s drive away in Tacoma, the Seattle Go Center is preparing for special events before and after the Congress. Professional Ryo Maeda will be visiting the Go Center before the Congress, on Aug. 1 and 2, while Masaki Takemiya 9p and Chihiro Chujo 1p will be giving lectures and playing simultaneous games Aug. 12-15 after the Congress. The calendar on the Go Center website has the details.
The Seattle Go Center will be closed during most of Go Congress, but it will be open on Tuesday, Aug 6, from 3 – 10 p.m. “Tuesdays are our biggest day, so it’s always great time for visitors to drop by; everybody can find a game, from beginners to 6 dan players,” reports Manager Brian Allen. Photo: Brian Allen washing the Go Center sign. Photo by Luke Allen.