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

The American Go E-Journal’s comprehensive coverage of the recently-concluded annual U.S. Go Congress has become such a part of the fabric of the event that the extraordinary amount of work that goes into broadcasting dozens of top games, commentaries, reports and photos is now routine and taken for granted. Our work is highly visible, while the workers themselves are largely invisible. Which is how we want it: the focus should always be on the players and the game we all love so deeply. Click here for pro game commentaries (scroll down to Game Review) and here for final results in the NAIM, US Open and Strong Player’s Open.

So it’s a real honor and pleasure for me to recognize here those individuals who contributed so much of their time, effort and talent to help bring this year’s U.S. Go Congress – as well as the first-ever Tygem Pro Tournament immediately preceding the Congress – to our global audience.

First and foremost, deepest thanks, gratitude and kudos to the crack core team of Todd Heidenreich (E-Journal/Broadcast Coordinator), Steve Colburn (EJ IT/Website Coordinator/Video Feed) and Dennis Wheeler (EJ Broadcast Room Manager), without whom our coverage could not happen. They’re talented, dedicated, fun to hang out with, and they love bacon, too.

Our lovely and unflappable KGS Admin team of Akane Negishi and Dan Short was joined this year by Mr. KGS himself, the inimitable William Shubert; we enjoyed having Bill on board and look forward to seeing some great new tweaks to the system soon!

Karoline Burrall, the fierce but fun-loving TD for the US Open, NAIM and SPO, was a full partner with the EJ team, this year enabling us to post pairings sometimes as early as the night before, a great service for players as well as for the EJ team. Karoline was ably assisted by Assistant TDs Steve Burrall and Bob Bacon.

Our game recording team was a wonderful mix of experienced hands, including the amazing Richard Dolen, indispensable Gordon Castanza and, doing double-duty, KGS admin Dan Short. Other returning recorders were Andrew Jackson who did wonderful work on Board 1, Myron Souris (moonlighting from his usual job as EJ Games Editor) and Dave Weimer. Newbies Patrick Allen, Calvin Clark, Pete Gousious, Greg Pongracz and Marshall Quander fit right into the team, especially Allen, who handled a couple of extraordinarily long games with aplomb.

Todd Blatt was better than ever as our nimble-fingered Game Commentary Broadcaster, transcribing pro game commentaries live at the speed of light, and EJ photographer Phil Straus always managed to get an even better shot than we asked for.

EJ Youth Editor Paul Barchilon managed our youth coverage while also running numerous youth events at the Congress; aspiring young go journalists should be sure to volunteer to help out next year. Better yet, get started now by emailing Paul c/o journal@usgo.org Paul’s EJ Youth Game Recording team included Justin Teng, Tom Bahun, and Yunxuan Li.

Last but definitely not least are our Honorary EJ Team Members, 2012 Congress Directors Paul Celmer and Peter Armenia, who not only pulled together a memorable and fun Congress, but who made sure that the EJ team had whatever we needed to bring the Congress to you.

Thanks again to each and every one of these terrific volunteers. And if you’re interested in being on the team next year in Seattle, just drop us a note at journal@usgo.org!

– Chris Garlock, EJ/Broadcast Managing Editor
photo by Phil Straus & Lisa Garlock

Congress Tournament Winners: In addition to winning the North American Ing Masters, Matthew Hu (right) won the 2012 U.S. Open at the recent U.S. Go Congress, collecting a set of jade stones and bowls donated by the Confucius Institute of Raleigh, North Carolina in addition to his cash prize and trophy. Evan Cho won the Strong Players Open. Click here for a PDF of the prize-winners in all the Congress tournaments, including North American Ing Masters, Strong Players Open, Pair Go, US Open, Continuous Self-Paired Tournament, Wednesday Die Hard Tournament, Midnight Madness, Wisonet Cup State Team Go Tournament, Michael Redmond Cup, Youth Team, Youth Room Tournaments, 9×9 Tournament, 13×13 Tournament, Crazy Go, Lightning Go. Click here for pro game commentaries (scroll down to Game Review) and here for final results in the NAIM, US Open and Strong Player’s Open. Also, click here for an album of Congress photos, posted by Co-Director Peter Armenia.

Congress Credits: “Putting on a Go Congress is a monumental effort,” says 2012 U.S. Go Congress Co-Directors Peter Armenia and Paul Celmer (below, right, with Congress Registrar Arlene Bridges; Armenia is at left). “It is even more of a challenge with an unpaid, volunteer staff. Every staff member running around during the recent Go Congress was working hard for the love of the game and as a service to the go community. Many had defined roles, but some simply dove in where they saw a problem or need. And this year besides the Congress, we had the challenge of adding the Pro Certification Tournament, International Go Symposium, and Youth Go Camp. Supporting these events is a complex and stressful task, and we could not have done it without a highly skilled, energetic, and dedicated team.” One of the most inspiring moments for Celmer came at the very end of the Congress, when one of the Blue Ridge Assembly maintenance staff came up in his truck. “He came out of his truck, shook my hand, and thanked me because one of our staff had taught his ten-year-old son the game,” says Celmer.

There are also a few commemorative USA-shaped half-inch thick plywood go boards still available for sale, $40 dollars plus shipping, as well as the puzzle coasters with Congress logo, $15 dollars plus shipping. Email paul@gocongress12.org if you are interested. If you would like to purchase a replica of the large USA shaped board that the two pros played on, contact Frank Salantrie (standing, in photo below right) at fesalantrie@nc.rr.com.

“We want to thank the following volunteers, as well as all those that have helped this Congress and who have helped spread the game we love,” say Celmer and Armenia.

2012 U.S. Go Congress Staff/Volunteers: John Aiken, Charles Alden, Keith Arnold, Bob Bacon, Paul Barchilon, Jared Beck, Terry Benson, Dale Blann, Todd Blatt, Adam Bridges, Arlene Bridges, Karoline Burrall, Steve Burrall, Tony Cha, Owen Chen, Steve Coburn, Rich Crandall, Judy Debel, Vincent DiMattia, Richard Dolen, Chris Garlock, Cynthia Gaty, Nader Goubran, Julie Greenberg, Josh Guarino, Todd Heidenreich, Russell Herman, Jim Hlvaka, Chris Kirchner, Jeff Kuang, Jim Levenick, I-han Lui, Steve Mabe, Andy Olsen, Frank Salantrie, Dan Scheck, Peter St. John, Dennis Wheeler, Sam Zimmerman.
– photos by Phil Straus

In a dramatic game that saw the lead change hands several times 14-year-old Zi Yang (Matthew) Hu 1P (at right) prevailed over brand-new U.S. professional Zhi Yuan (Andy) Liu 1P in the North American Ing Masters (NAIM) tournament final round Friday night. Hu had also defeated Liu in the 5th round of the U.S. Open Friday morning, his 5-0 record giving him a virtual lock on winning the Open, which has one more round on Saturday. Liu had a winning position coming out of the middle game, according to game commentator Yilun Yang 7P,  but allowed Hu to start a ko that wound up erasing Liu’s lead and he resigned shortly afterwards. Click here for the game commentary (scroll down to Game Review). Click here for latest results in the NAIM, US Open and Strong Player’s Open.

“Andy played really well today,” Hu said after the game, “I think maybe I was just a little more lucky.” Liu said that the games showed that “The difference between an amateur and a professional is staying calm no matter how complicated the game gets. I have a lot to learn from Matthew.”

After the game, the board Hu and Liu played on — a 2-inch kaya board donated by Yutopian — was auctioned off to benefit the American Go Foundation, with E-Journal Broadcast Coordinator Todd Heidenreich’s $600 bid winning both the board — which had been signed by both players as well as game commentors Yilun Yang 7P, Mingjiu Jiang 7P and Maeda Ryo 6P — and two unique bowls created especially for the event by Todd Blatt of MakerBot using his replicator.

Women’s Tournament: Amanda Miller 9k and Caroline Scheck 16k were both 3-0 going into the final round on Friday.
– reported by Lee Huynh

NAIM/SPO PLAYER PHOTOS POSTED: Photos are now posted of the players in the North American ING Masters and the Strong Players Open. Plus, in the crosstabs for the US Open,  NAIM and Strong Player’s Open, hovering over the result shows who a player’s opponent was. “It’s a small change, but it makes viewing the crosstabs a thousand times more pleasant,” says an EJ reader.
 – reports by Chris Garlock: photos by Phil Straus (top right) and Steve Colburn (bottom left); photo (l-r): AGF President Terry Benson, E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock, EJ Simulcast Manager Todd Blatt; Matthew Hu 1P, Todd Heidenreich, Andy Liu 1P, Yilun Yang 7P, Maeda Ryo 7P.

Kelsey Dyer 1D (right) and Yuan Zhou 7D (left) won the 2012 U.S. Pair Go Championships Thursday night at the U.S. Go Congress. They defeated Yukino Takehara 2k and Justin Ching 3D in the first round and then beat Amy Su 4D and Lionel Zhang 6D to clinch the title. They’ll represent the United States later this year at the World Pair Go Championships in Tokyo, Japan. Su and Zhang took second; in third were April Ye 1k and Kevin Huang 7d and in fourth place were Yukino Takehara 2k and Justin Ching 3d. Todd Heidenreich directed, with Assistant TD Jesy Feliccia and special assistance by Dennis Wheeler and Steve Colburn.
– photo by Chris Garlock

Call it our very own Go Olympics. Top-seeded Zi Yang Hu (below right) and #2 seed Andy Liu (below left), already scheduled to play for the 2012 North American Ing Masters (NAIM) title tonight — 7p on KGS, with live commentary by Mingjiu Jiang 9P (top right) and Yilun Yang 7P (top left) — are 4-0 in the U.S. Open and thus likely to be paired in this morning’s 5th round action, which will be broadcast on KGS starting at 9:30a (EST) with live professional commentary. Mingming “Stephanie” Yin will play Beomgeun Cho in the Strong Players Open (SPO) final, which will be broadcast live on KGS starting at 7P. Other 4-0 winners in the Open are Jeremy Chiu, Aaron Ye, Yunxuan Li, Forest Song, Frank Salantrie, Linden Chiu, Jared Beck, Willis Huang, Vivek Chavda, April Ye, Raymond Jiang, Zihang Yin, Jason Preuss, Theodore B. Terpstra, Elliot Stern, Amanda Miller, Bryan Tan, Caroline Scheck, Edward James Lane and Zongren Huang. Click here for latest results in the US Open,  NAIM and Strong Player’s Open.

Andrew Lu Sweeps Congress Die Hard Tournament: Nearly a quarter of the Congress attendees — 93 players — participated in the Die Hard tournament instead of taking the day off Wednesday. Andrew Lu swept all his games, going 4-0 in the top section to win the tournament. The other 4-0 players were: Sun Daqiang 2D, E-Journal Tournaments reporter Lee Huynh 1D, Anand Sathya 2K, Yin Zihang 3K, and Rohde David 5K.
– Andy Olsen, TD; photo: Lee Huynh (r) and friends study life and death problems Thursday night.

California1 Leads Wisonet Team Tourney: The California1 team led the Wisonet Cup State Team Go Tournament after the third round, with 3 major points. California II and Virginia were tied with 2 major points each, but California II’s minor score of 17 was ahead of Virginia’s 6. The winning team (most wins over losses) in each head-to-head match gets one major score point, and also earns minor score points based on the win-loss record for the team overall. The rest of the scores: New Jersey 1 major, 12 minor, New York no major, 8 minor, and North Carolina no major, 5 minor.

Fraser & Huang Win 13×13: Kalinda Fraser 8k won the 13×13 Kyu Division and Willis Huang 1D won the Dan Division on Tuesday night.
– Jim Hlavka, TD

Top right: spiral go; middle right: Galactic Go; Bottom Right: 4-color Go; Bottom left: Blind Go; Middle left: TD Terry Benson being interviewed by The Surrounding Game documentary crew; Top left: 3-color Go.
all photos by Phil Straus except Terry Benson and Blind Go by Chris Garlock