Thursday August 9, 2012
Top right: dancing to bluegrass music at the Wednesday night Live Bluegrass and Dessert event; bottom right: playing 
“Big Brother” go with Chinese professionals; middle bottom: playing in the Midnight Madness Tournament; bottom left: enjoying music at the Wednesday night Live Bluegrass and Dessert event; middle left: playing poker; top left: practicing for the Pair Go tournament; middle: playing go and picnicking atop High Windy Mountain. photos by Phil Straus, Chris Garlock & Steve Colburn.
Wednesday August 8, 2012
Amy Su 4d and Ge Liu 6d won the top table of Youth Adult Pair Go at the US Go Congress on Tuesday afternoon. Su is the daughter of Feng Yun 9P, and looks like she is becoming a strong player in her own right. Thirty-two players competed in the event this year, which included a few male/male pairs as well. The event often serves as a warm up for the regular Pair Go tourney on Thursday night, where pairs will compete for the right to represent the US at the World Pair Go Championships. Youth Adult Pair Go is one of many events in the Youth Room, which features daily prize tourneys. Thursday’s events are relay Go and a 13×13 tourney, the Youth Team Tourney will be on Friday. Congress youth attendance has been increasing steadily, and 100 kids and teens are attending this year – almost a full quarter of registrations. Other Pair Go winers included: Kelsey Dyer 1d and Sam Zimmerman 5k; Melissa Zhang 1d and Jeff Horn 1d; Peter Zhang 5d and Julie Burrall 6k; Ethan Frank 6k and William Xu 4k; Jia Jia 7k and Winston Jen 8k, Erandi Lozano 15k and Phillip Brix 6k. Story/photo: Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photo: Sathya Anand 2k attributes the divine move to his partner Kalinda Fraser 8k, their opponents Ethan Frank 6k (front) and William Xu 4k (rear) were nonplussed and went on to win the game.
Tuesday August 7, 2012
U.S. Open Round 3 Results: Zi Yang Hu, Andy Liu and Ge Liu head up the list of undefeated players in the U.S. Open 
after three rounds, setting up some tough match-ups later in the week when the Open continues after the traditional Day Off on Wednesday. Click here for all results — and top-board game records – through Round 3. Click here for Shirley Lin 1P’s commentary on the Round 3, Board 1 game between Zi Yang Hu and Pengwang Song.
NAIM Final: Andy Liu vs. Zi Yang Hu
New American pro Andy Liu will face Zi Yang Hu on Friday night in the final round of the 2012 North American Ing Masters (NAIM). The game will be broadcast live on KGS with pro commentary and video streaming. Click here for latest NAIM game results and pro game commentaries, including Yilun Yang’s commentaries on Round 2 Boards 1 and 2. photo: Yang commenting Monday night; photo by Chris Garlock
Strong Players Open Final: Stephanie Yin vs. Beomgeun Cho
Mingming “Stephanie” Yin plays Beomgeun Cho in the Strong Players Open (SPO) final, which will be broadcast live on KGS.
Frankel & Horn Leading in Self Paired Tourney: David Frankel is leading in four categories in the Self Paired Tournament, with Jeffrey Horn leading in three. Latest standings: Champion: David Frankel; Dedicated: Kelsey Dyer; Faithful: Yoshitomo Nakata; Giant Killer: David Frankel; Grasshopper: David Frankel; Hurricane: David Frankel; Kyu Killer: Horn, Jeffrey; Optimist: John Redford; Philanthropist: Kelsey Dyer; Sensei Jeffrey Horn; Straight Shooter: Jeffrey Horn. Click here for latest standings.
Midnight Madness: Andrew Lu 6d and Edward Lane 19k, both undefeated, lead after the first three rounds.
– Andy Olsen
Twice As Much Fun: “Ever wish you had another brain to play go?” asks Todd Heidenreich. “Join us for Pair Go this Thursday and bring a friend!” Two dozen male-female pairs have already signed up to compete in the 2012 US Pair Go Championship, which starts at 7P in the Main Playing Space. “In a week of great events, this is one of the most fun,” promises Heidenreich. Sign up in the Blue Ridge Center Lobby by 11pm Wednesday night to avoid having to wait on the alternates list. 2011 Pair Go photo by Steve Colburn 
Kirschner Tapped to Complete Castanza’s Term on AGA Board: In a very short special meeting on August 7th, the board selected Chris Kirschner (at right in photo) to fill the seat left vacant by Gordon Castanza’s resignation. Kirschner, runner-up in the recent election, will serve the remaining 13 months of the term. According to the bylaws, the board is obligated to select a replacement within 30 days should the number of directors drop below seven. photo by Chris Garlock
Correction: The email address for details on the 2012 Osaka go camp (Maeda Organizing 2013 Go Camp in Osaka 8/6 EJ) is Osaka.go.2013@gmail.com
Tuesday August 7, 2012
Despite professional-level trash-talking – “Yeah, yeah, you got that wrong, didn’t you? But then you had so little time to think” – Keith Arnold won just one of his 20 games in the Keith Arnold Kyu-Killer Challenge Tuesday afternoon. “It was 
harder than I thought,” Arnold admitted to the E-Journal Tuesday night as he played multi-color go at Crazy Go with his daughter Melanie and friends. “I’d have been happy to win five games, but I didn’t expect to win only one. I do think, however, that some of those ranks were a bit suspect,”Arnold said, beaten but unbowed. photos by Phil Straus (left) & Chris Garlock (right)
Tuesday August 7, 2012
Jianing Gan 7d and Aaron Ye 5d swept their divisions in the 2012 Redmond Cup. Fifteen-year-old Jianing Gan 7d, from Canada, placed first in the Cup’s online qualifiers and proved unstoppable, with a perfect record. His opponent in the finals at the US Go Congress was defending champion Calvin Sun, 7d, age 15, who has won the Redmond three times. Both boys also competed in the AGA Tygem professional tourney, last week, and Gan proved exceptionally strong, placing third in the event. His opponent, and new American pro, Ganshing Shi 1P provides commentary on the exciting final match in the game record below. In the Redmond Junior Division ten-year-olds Aaron Ye 5d and Austen Liao 2d duked it out. Ye, who is also the reigning US Youth Champion in the under-12 division, played solidly in both rounds, winning by convincing double-digit margins. Liao, competing in the Redmond for the first time, did his best, but was overwhelmed by the defending champion. -Report/photo by Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photo: Jianing Gan 7d (l) vs. Calvin Sun 7d (r).
Tuesday August 7, 2012
Dan: Brandon Zhou 2d; Andrew Zalesak 1d; Peter Zhang 3d; Willis Huang 1d; Amy Su 4d
Kyu: Sathiya Anand 2k; John Redford 7k; Justin Cheng 4k; Alvin Chen 12k; Philip Brix 6k; Alex Kuang 22k; Zihang Yin 3k; Jerry Lu 10k. TD: Keith Arnold
– Lee Huynh; photos/collage by Chris Garlock
Monday August 6, 2012
Tournament Results: Latest results – and top-board game records – in the U.S. Open; North American Ing Masters 
and the Strong Players Open are posted online. NEW! Watch the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat with our live video streaming of Board 1 games at the U.S. Open (9a daily) and NAIM (7p daily), available online at eurogotv.com.
Game Commentaries: Live game commentaries are broadcast daily on KGS at 9a EST (US Open) and 7p (NAIM/SPO); top boards are also commented at those times by professionals attending the Congress. NEW: Live pro commentary on top NAIM and SPO games is also being simulcast on KGS from the BRC lobby each night starting about 7:30p. Pro commentaries (including Yilun Yang’s commentary on the Andy Liu-Kevin Huang NAIM game Monday night) are also posted online.
CA Leads in State Team Tournament: California, fielding two teams, led the new Wisonet Cup State Team Go 
Tournament after the first round Sunday. Other states in the tournament include New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia and New York, with Maryland having to withdraw after not being able to fill out their team roster.
13×13 Table Winners: Dan: Ned Phipps, Evan Zen, Hildegard Puttkammer, Willis Huang. Kyu: Julian Erville, Eric Backus, Kalinda Fraser, Jerry Lu/Bryan Ten/Elmer Martinez-Rivas (3-way tie), Zongren Huang. Playoffs are set for Tuesday night.
– TD Jim Hlavka
photos by Chris Garlock
Monday August 6, 2012
Hotta Yumi, author of the award winning Hikaru no Go manga, delighted kids and teens in the Youth Room at the U.S. 
Go Congress on Monday. The second annual Hikaru no Go Trivia Contest was a huge success, with Hotta (seated) serving as the official judge. Fifteen kids competed in teams of three, trying to answer questions that were so difficult even Hotta was often stumped. Reigning Hikaru trivia champion Bijan Saniee (standing, far right, in photo below) led his team to victory, once again showing his profound knowledge of the most obscure bits of detail from the popular manga. Ten-year-old Austin Liao (at far left in photo at right) gave him a run for his money though, popping his hand up repeatedly, and correctly answering some of the most challenging questions of the afternoon. 
After Team Bijan secured their victory, Hotta Yumi signed autographs and took photos with fans. Winston Jen (at left in photo at left), who donated 1,000 sets of the manga to the AGA, competed on a team as well. A special moment came when Hotta presented Jen with a thank-you gift , an original hand-drawn picture of Sai and Hikaru, dedicated to Jen by name, and signed by both Hotta and Hikaru artist Takeshi Obata. Test your own Hikaru knowledge with this HNG Quiz with some of the questions from the contest: A: Who drank his coffee black, even when he was in middle school? B: Who was Isumi’s roommate in China? C: What is Akira’s mother named? D: How is Hikaru able to take the Insei test, even though he missed the deadline? E: On what day does Sai disappear, and how can you tell? Click here and you could be a winner!
– Paul Barchilon, Youth Editor; photos by Chris Garlock
Monday August 6, 2012
Photos by EJ photographer Phil Straus. Top left: EJ game recorder Richard Dolen; Top right: longtime Congress attendee Ken Koester (second from right) and fellow Lightning Tournament players await instructions from TD Keith 
Arnold; Bottom right: KGS Admin Akane Negishi shows off her go-themed earrings and nails; Bottom left: Triple-threat Tournament Director Karoline Burrall (TD for the U.S. Open, North American Ing Masters and Strong Players Open).
Sunday August 5, 2012
Tournament Reports
U.S. Open: Canadian players played a leading role in some top-board upsets at the 2012 U.S. Open, which got underway Sunday morning at the Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, NC. Newly-minted U.S. pro Gansheng Shi of Canada lost to Canadian Go Association President James Sedgwick, while defending U.S. Open champion Yongfei Ge lost to Bill Lin; both are also Canadians. For complete Round 1 results from the Open, NAIM and SPO, as well as top-board game records, are available on the tournament crosstab. Click here for crosstabs and game records for NAIM and the SPO. Top-board Open games are being broadcast live daily on KGS from 9a-12p (EST); NAIM and SPO games are from 7-10p.
photo: birds-eye view of the U.S. Open main playing area; photo by Chris Garlock
Win a Free Private Pro Lesson!: Find the best fuseki – the first 8 moves — on this USA-shaped go board and win a 
private one-hour lesson at the Go Congress with one of the professionals in attendance. “Beware the quirky border points,” warns Congress Co-Director Paul Celmer. “In general, if a stone can cover more than one point it’s considered one point.” Printouts of the board grid will be available at the Congress Help Desk. Mark white moves with a number and black moves with a number in a circle. The winner will be determined by a panel of Congress pros. Deadline for entries is Thursday at noon. Include your name and email and deliver your completed entry to the Congress Help Desk.
Sign Up for U.S. Pair Go Championships: The U.S. Pair Go Championships will be held Thursday evening. Sign-up sheets will be posted in the BRC lobby to enter your Male-Female partnerships. “Entry deadline is 11:00pm Wednesday night!” says TD Todd Heidenreich. Anyone signing up after the deadline will be placed on the Alternates List and paired into the tournament if possible.
9×9 Table Winners: Sathya Anand 2k; Erik Backus 4k; William Xu 5k; Kalinda Fraser 8k; Aaron Otero 13k; Edward Lane 22k; Justin Ching 3d; Louie Liu 2d; Gabriella Su 1d.
– Lee Huynh