American Go E-Journal » Go News

Gotham Go Group organizer Peter Armenia’s recent email to New York City go players was a model of efficient play, celebrating a club success, promoting an upcoming tournament and urging membership in the AGA.

“Well it’s that time of year again,” Armenia reported in an email with the subject line “The Benefits of Membership.” “It was early October, 2011 that I put out the word that regular weekly Go would be returning to New York City. We have been going strong at the Hungarian Pastry Shop ever since, regularly getting between 12 and 20 players every week. On top of that: We had a very successful first Gotham Go Tournament last January with nearly 60 players; And another coming up in October! Click here to register; And the US Go Congress is coming to NYC next year!

“One thing I did that October is register with the American Go Association as an AGA affiliated club,” Armenia continued. “Not only does this help our club get noticed, it also supports Go in the United States. It only costs $35/year for our club, which I pay out of pocket (small donations from members are certainly welcome but not required). If you are a lapsed member of the AGA I urge you to renew today. If you have never have been a member of the AGA I urge you to take advantage of a special half price offer they have through our chapter. This is a special discount offered through our chapter club (the Gotham Go Group). Note:If you want to get this discount, send me an email and I will email you the discount voucher to use on the AGA website. And remember, to play in the upcoming tournament you need to be a member of the AGA, so join today.”

Other chapters are welcome to adapt this model to help build their own local clubs and the AGA, Armenia tells the E-Journal. “The more each chapter succeeds the more we all succeed,” he says. “It’s important to keep things simple, consistent, and to make coming out to play go easy and enjoyable. Do what you can to make a community around your go club.”
photo: Armenia (right) at the January 2013 Gotham Tournament; photo by John Pinkerton

The Triangle Go Group hosted its 2013 tournament in an autumn outdoor setting at the Umstead State Park in Cary, North Carolina on Sept 21. Following tradition, the 30 participants were treated to a picnic lunch and all the entry fees were returned to the players as prize money. As dusk settled on the final game to be completed, Liqun Liu 7D topped perennial champion Changlong Wu 7D in a showdown for the Open Section championship. The A section (1D-2k) was swept by Seth Cardew, also with a perfect 4-0 record, with Brian Wu 3-1 placing second. In the B section (6-11k) Kerianne Squitire, Andrew Zhang, and Alvin Chen tied with scores of 3-1. Finally section C (14k+) was swept by Justin Zhang 4-0, with Colin Zhang, playing in his first tournament, finishing second with 3-1.
– report/ photo by Charles Alden; photo: photo, tournament winner Liqun Liu (seated, right) faces Jeff Kuang in the third round as Eric Zhang and Frank Salantrie observe.

Yeong Cha (center), an extremely strong player on the TYGEM go server, showed he’s just as comfortable on a real board by winning the third annual Emory Go Tournament player on Saturday, September 21 at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. “Yeong seemed very comfortable with vague, doubtful positions but he would always convert them into a winning position,” reports Tournament Director Jeffery Kerlagon. Emory University, which hosted the tournament for the third consecutive  year, “provides a great tournament game room,” said Kerlagon. “It is truly a grand facility.” Just over two dozen competitors from Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina turned out on a rainy night, and “New faces made this an exciting event,” Kerlagon added.

Winner’s Report: HIGH DAN DIVISION: 1st Place – Yeong Cha ($110); 2nd Place – Eric Kim ($70)
3rd Place – (Oasiny) Zhao ($40); DAN / KYU DIVISION: 1st Place – TIE – Rodney Keaton & Hiroshi Yamane ($40 each); 2nd Place – TIE – Darrell Speck & Adam Chesler ($25 each).
Photo: High Dan Division winners (l-r): Eric Kim, Yeong Cha, Oasiny Zhao; photo by Jeffery Kerlagon