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

The 2019 U.S. Masters tournament concluded dramatically Friday night as both Nyu Eiko 2p and Zhongfan Jian 7d killed huge groups in their final-round top-board games against Mark Lee 7d and Eric Lui 1p. Those wins gave Eiko the Masters championship and Jian second place. Click here for the Masters crosstab. Both top boards were broadcast live on the AGA’s Twitch stream, attracting 110,000 unique viewers around the world. For U.S. Open results through Round 5 (Round 6 is being played Saturday morning), click here.

Congress Tournament Schedule: Friday 7/19
9:00a: US Open, round 5; US Open Masters Division, round 6
1:00p: Senior Tournament, round 5
3:00p: Women’s Tournament, round 4
9:00p: Self-Paired Tournament ends – get those results turned in!

Women’s Tournament
Yacen Xie 5d, Lenka Dankova 4k, and Hung-Yao Chang 15k are undefeated with one round to go in this year’s Women’s Tournament with three wins each. The multinational field includes players from Japan, the Czech Republic (Dankova), and Mexico – 12-year-old Paola Ortega 10k is part of a team from Mexico sponsored by the AGF.

-photo by Samantha Fede
-report by Karoline Li, Tournaments Bureau Chief

Japanese pro Eiko Nyu 2P is leading the 2019 Masters tournament with a 5-0 record going into the last two rounds on Friday. Eric Lui, Mark Lee and Zhongfan Jian are all 4-1. Rounds 6 and 7 will be broadcast live on OGS and the AGA’s Twitch stream Friday; Round 6 starting at 10a EDT and Round 7 at 8p EDT (and streamed live in the Great Hall), with commentary by Yilun Yang 7p and Jennie Shen 2P, hosted by Julie Burrall 1d, Samantha Fede 5k, Tyler Oyakawa 5d and Nick Sibicki 4d. Complete tourney results posted here. U.S. Open results here.

US Go Congress Tournament Schedule: Thursday 7/18
9:00a: US Open, round 4; US Open Masters Division, round 5
1:00p: Senior Tournament, round 4
3:00p: Women’s Tournament, round 3
7:00p: Pair Go

Crazy Go!
“Crazy Go was its usual laughter and insanity” reports Terry Benson, who directs the “tournament” every year. “Well over 100 congress attendees ‘played,’ but watching was at least as common.” Benson also reports that a new variant was created this year by three of the kids: One Color Knights Move Go (right), played between two players and a third to record the game and referee.

-photos by Terry Benson
-report by Karoline Li, Tournaments Bureau Chief

US Go Congress Tournament Schedule: Wednesday 7/17
9:00a: Die Hard Tournament
That’s all for today, folks!

Senior Tournament
One of the youngest annual Go Congress tournaments, and quickly becoming one of the most popular, is reserved for players 55 and older. Now in its fourth year, the Senior Tournament is a favorite of long-time congress attendees and is directed this year by Eva Casey, herself a returning player and current Tournament Coordinator for the Massachusetts Go Association. “[In the next round] three of the Senior Tournament games will be between 3-0 contestants,” reports Casey. The six undefeated players so far are Frank Brown 5k, Jim Conyngham 4k, Bart Jacob 3k, Paul Magretts 2k, Moon Oh 1d, and David Cho 5d. Tune in for more results as the Senior Tournament progresses!

–photos by Eva Casey
-report by Karoline Li, Tournaments Bureau Chief

And then there were two. Four-game winners, that is. Japanese pro Eiko Nyu notched a comfortable win over Aaron Ye 6d on Board 1 in the fourth round of the 2019 U.S. Masters on Tuesday, while Eric Lui eked out a 1.5 win over Alan Huang. Complete Masters results here, and U.S. Open results here. Check out the video of Mingjiu Jiang’s commentary on the Nyu-Ye game on the AGA Twitch stream here. Round 5 will be broadcast starting at 10a EDT on Thursday.
– report by Chris Garlock, photo by Todd Heidenreich

The 2019 Teacher’s Workshop concluded its third day at this year’s U.S. Go Congress on Tuesday afternoon. Attendees had been taught the Mizuma Method in the previous two sessions, and were given the opportunity to try their newfound teaching skills on actual beginners who had never played go before. “Teaching this way was way more fun than I imagined it could be!” said attendee Terri Schurter. Everyone agreed that this approach was very effective and lots of fun for both teacher and student. Several attendees will receive $200 stipends as first-time attendees of a teacher’s workshop. The AGA is grateful to the Iwamoto North American Foundation for Go for subsidizing this workshop. “Special thanks to Toshifumi Mizuma, Tajiri Yuto and Tomotaka Urasoe for sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with us!” said Mark Rubenstein.

After a several-year hiatus, afternoon soccer has returned! A large group of players ranging in age from kids to adults gathered Monday afternoon to enjoy the beautiful weather and share in some physical competition. “It’s important to exercise the muscles, give the mind a break, and get some fresh air”, says Terry Benson, who provided the equipment.

-photos by Terry Benson
-report by Karoline Li, Tournaments Bureau Chief