American Go E-Journal » Go News

Redmond to Provide Live Commentaries on World Mind Sports Games

Friday December 7, 2012

Michael Redmond 9P will provide live commentaries on the SportsAccord World Mind Sports Games, scheduled for December 12-19. The live broadcasts will take place on the following YouTube channel. The go section of the daily coverage will be anchored by Chris Garlock of the American Go E-Journal, with Redmond providing live commentaries on the matches.

Here’s the schedule of the go section of the live broadcasts:

• 12 December: 15:30 – 17:00 local time; 7:30 – 09:00 GMT
• 13 December: 17:00 – 18:00 local time; 9:00 – 10:00 GMT
• 14 December: 16:30 – 17:15 local time; 8:30 – 09:15 GMT
• 15 December: 16:15 – 17:00 local time; 8:15 – 09:00 GMT
• 16 December: 17:00 – 18:00 and 20:00~ local time; 9:00 – 10:00 and 12:00~ GMT
• 18 December: 17:00 – 18:00 local time; 9:00 – 10:00 GMT

The full schedule of broadcasts is available here.

Categories: SportAccord World Mind Games,World

Sun Bests Irvington in Portland

Thursday December 6, 2012

Sun Montesorri School beat Irvington Elementary School in a five person, three round, two team match, 11 wins to 4, on Sunday, Dec. 2nd. Peter Freedman and Fritz Balwit, Irvington and Sun Montesorri’s coaches, respectively, co-directed the tournament. Irvington School Chess and Go Club Parent Coordinator Jessica Nesseler-Cass transported four of the Irvington players, and Ellis’ mom contributed a loaf of banana bread. Leading the way for Sun Montesorri with three wins was Amos, with Holden and Hansen winning twice. Rakan, Hikaru, and Tessa played in a tournament for the first time. Rakan and Hikaru are both brand new to the game, and Tessa just began playing this summer. Hikaru’s dad is very into Manga, which is where Hikaru found Hikaru no Go and wanted to learn the game. The venue was Mt. Tabor Church’s Taborspace, where the church generously lets us play for free on Sunday afternoons. Full results: Round 1: Amos b. McCaleb, Hansen b. Ellis, Holden b Noah, Niko l. to Sam, Dylan b. Rakan (1st player is Montesorri, 2nd, Irvington; Round 2: Amos b. Ellis, Hansen b. McCaleb, Holden b. Sam, Nick b Noah, Hikaru (YES! A local Go player named Hikaru!) b. Rakan; Round 3: Holden l. to McCaleb, Dylan l. to Ellis, Hansen l. to Tessa, Amos b. Sam, Niko b. Hikaru. -Tourney report by Peter Freedman

Categories: U.S./North America,Youth

Pandanet-AGA City League Registration Deadline 12/20

Thursday December 6, 2012

There are just two weeks left to join the new Pandanet-AGA City League. This new event features year-round regional competitions between teams of players from different North American cities or regions, with a prize pot of $15,000 for the A-League. Deadline to register is December 20, with the first season set to begin January 1, 2013 and concludes with a final round in Seattle during the 2013 US Go Congress. There are already teams registered from Brentwood TN, Memphis TN, Syracuse NY, Research Triangle NC, Boston, and Southern California. Additional teams are being formed in DC-NOVA, the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Monica and Vancouver. “Those from other cities and regions in US, Canada, and Mexico and interested in joining should get organized soon,” say League organizers. “We look forward to a full slate of exciting competitions from many teams!” Click here for more information, rules and registration. Email questions to cityleague@usgo.org.

Categories: Pandanet-AGA City League,U.S./North America

Missingham Named Go Ambassador at World Mind Games

Thursday December 6, 2012

Joanne “Jiajia” Missingham (r) has been named Go Ambassador at the upcoming SportAccord World Mind Games, which begin next week in Beijing, China. Other ambassadors include Hou Yifan (chess), Sjoert Brink (bridge), Chan Chun Kit (Xiangqi) and Alexey Chizhov (draughts). Missingham will also participate in the North American Go Convention next February.

Currently training in Taiwan, Missingham 6P was the runner-up at the first Bingsheng Cup Women’s World Championship in 2010. Her ranking in Taiwan Go Association has risen rapidly, putting her within striking range of top male Taiwanese players. Next year Missingham will be the only Taiwanese female playing in the Chinese Women’s A League, arguably the world’s top women’s go league. Missingham, born in Australia, lived in California for several years before moving to China in 2008 to study go, and joined the Taiwan Qiyuan in 2010. She’s also known as an artistic performer, especially in music and calligraphy; click here for a video of her recent lute solo. Also famous for her philanthropy and battles against sexism, in 2011 she led a tremendous charity effort for Japan after the Fukushima earthquake and she led a protest against unfair rules on female players’ tournament fees in a tournament in Taiwan.

Missingham will return to the U.S. and teach go in both New York/New Jersey and Washington DC during the North American Go Convention (NAGC) February 8-17, 2013. The NAGC website has been updated to clarify tournament schedule and locations, and information is also available in Chinese and Korean. While the two open championship tournaments, as well as the Pair Go and Blitz championship are all in the weekends of Feb. 9-10 and Feb 16-17, there are also rated games and teaching activities during weekday evenings 2/8, 2/12-2/15.

The NAGC organizing committee has been joined by two ‘veteran’ U.S. Go Congress tournament directors, Sam Zimmerman and Christopher Sira. Pre-register before 12/25 to avoid the upcoming 10% price increase.
– reported by Edward Zhang; photo: Missingham at the 2010 Bingsheng

Categories: U.S./North America,World

Free Teaching Workshop with Yang Yu Chia Dec. 15

Wednesday December 5, 2012

Yang Yu Chia, general secretary of the Ing Chang Ki Goe Foundation, will introduce his innovative method of teaching go to children and beginners on Saturday Dec. 15, 2012 at the American Ing Goe Center in Menlo Park, CA. Yang has years of experience with teaching kids, and organizes and supervises the World Youth Go Championships every year. The seminar is free and open to anyone teaching or interested in teaching go, and begins at 2:00 pm. The American Ing Goe Center is at 887 Oak Grove Avenue in Menlo Park, CA.

Categories: U.S./North America,Youth

US Youth Championship Jan. 19

Tuesday December 4, 2012

The United States Youth Go Championships will be held Saturday, January 19th, on KGS. The tourney will determine National Dan, Single Digit Kyu (SDK), and Double Digit Kyu (DDK) Champions. The winners will receive trophies, and prizes will be awarded in the following brackets: 5-7 dan 1-4 dan, 1-4 kyu, 5-9 kyu, 10-15 kyu, 16-20 kyu, 21-25 kyu, 26 -30 kyu (depending on number of registrants). The qualifiers will use several formats for pairing, and all dan level youth will compete in an open section. The top four eligible youth will then move on to a double elimination final held on January 20th, and continuing the following weekend. Contestants will also be entered into a pool to receive partial scholarships to either the AGA Summer Youth Go Camp, or the US Go Congress, courtesy of the AGF, 16 Scholarships will be awarded.

The Junior Division is for youth under 12, the Senior Division is for youth under 16 as of August 15, 2013. Only US Citizens under 16 may enter the finals, youth who are under 18 may compete in the qualifiers and kyu brackets, and so may residents who are not citizens. To register, e-mail youth@usgo.org with your name, AGA #, date of birth, AGA rating, KGS ID, and citizenship. You may enter at a rank higher than your official AGA rank, but may not enter at a lower one. The registration deadline is Sunday, January 13th. For more info, see the USYGC page. -Paul Barchilon E-J Youth Editor. Photo: USYGC Sr. Division Champion Calvin Sun 7d, (at left) competing against Alexandru-Petre Pitrop, of Romaniam at the 2012 World Youth Go Championships, in Luoyang, China. Photo by Abby Zhang.

Categories: Europe,U.S./North America,World,Youth

Kevin Zhou 5D Tops Chi Tourney

Monday December 3, 2012

Basking in the spring-like weather, 29 go players battled all day at the December 1 Entertainment for Menschen tournament in Chicago, IL. “It was so nice out that Shanthanu Bhardwaj 8k bicycled 37 miles to get there,” reports TD Bob Barber. Until Saturday, Zihang Yin had been undefeated in AGA play, and despite finally losing a game, the 8-year old Yin “was gracious enough to invite us all to join him at Legoland,” Barber says. “After some discussion, we opted for pizza and beer.”

Winner’s Report: 1st Place Dan: ZHOU, Kevin, 5d (front right, in white shirt); 1st Place High Kyu: RUBENSTEIN, Mark, 4k; 1st Place Mid Kyu: BOYLAND, Peter, 7k; 1st Place Low Kyu: TORRES, Tim, 15k. photo by Mark Rubenstein; click here to see more tourney photos.

Categories: U.S./North America

China Holds Slight Edge in Nongshim Cup

Monday December 3, 2012

In the knockout battle of the 14th Nongshim Cup, the second round — held November 26-30 — saw all of the remaining Japanese players eliminated, leaving the two remaining Korean players and three Chinese rivals to battle it out for the title.

The two players left for Korea are Choi Cheolhan 9P (left) and 19-year-old sensation Park Junghwan 9P, while China still has Jiang Weije 9P, Xie He 9P, and Chen Yaoye 9P – providing just the kinds of matchups China wants going into the final. Chen is 9-1 all time against Choi and Xie also holds a winning record against him. In general, the solid, patient style of play favored by the two Chinese pros performs well against the Korean fighting style of Choi and Park.

It was a topsy-turvy second round, where Lee Hobum 3P (who stopped Tan Xiao’s 3-win streak in the first round) lost to Japan’s Fujita Akihiko 3P. Fujita, however, lost to China’s Wang Xi 9P in his next game. Wang went on to defeat Kim Jiseok and Anzai Nobuaki before losing to Korea’s Choi Cheolhan 9P.

Choi snuffed out Japan’s last hope by defeating their final player – Murakawa Daisuke 7P. The final round will begin February 26, 2013

The Nongshim Cup is a team event between China, Japan and Korea. The sponsor, Nongshim, is a Korean instant noodles company. The tournament uses a win and continue format, which is common in these team events. Korea has dominated this event, winning it 10 times. In contrast, China has won the tournament twice and Japan only once.

Adapted from a report on Go Game Guru; click here for game records and more information. Edited by Ben Williams

Categories: World

New SportAccord World Mind Games Website Launched

Thursday November 29, 2012

The SportAccord World Mind Games website has a new and updated design, with a number of useful options to improve user’s experience. Visitors can access the latest news about the upcoming event, results, schedule, players’ biographies, and photos, and the website will also have an option to be read in two languages; English or Chinese. During the event – which runs December 12-19 in Beijing — live broadcast coverage will be available through the website as well. The SportAccord World Mind Games are a multi-sports event which highlights the value of mind sports, including go, bridge, draughts, and Chinese chess, featuring the world’s best players delivering top-level performances and creating “new valuable experiences based on intelligence, strategy and exercise of mind,” says SportAccord, the umbrella organisation for 107 international sports federations and organisations.

Categories: SportAccord World Mind Games,World

EuroGoTV Update November 27-23

Thursday November 29, 2012

Coventry 2012: The Coventry, played on 11/24 in Warwick University, United Kingdom, was won by Andrew Simons 3d, in second was Siu Fung Cheung 4d and third was Francis Roads 1d… Hungarian Championship Final: The Hungarian Championship Final, played 11/24-25 in Budapest, Hungary, was won by Csaba Mero 6d, second was Pal Balogh 6d and third place was Dominik Boviz 2d… Lithuanian Go Championship 2012: The Lithuanian Go championship 2012, played from 11/23-25 in Vilnius, Lithuania, was won by Giedrius Tumelis 2d, second place was Andrius Petrauskas 3d and third was Paulius Almintas 1d… Go Baron Qualification: The Go Baron Qualification, played from 11/23-25 in Praha, Czech Republic, was won by Ondrej Silt 6d, second was Jan Hora 6d and third was Jan Simara 6d… Turniej w Warsztacie: The Turniej w Warsztacie, played on 11/25 in Warszawa, Poland, was won by Bartosz Klimczak 3k, in second was Pawel Fraczak 4k and third was Jan Fraczak 5k… Welticke Wins Berliner Kranich: Despite losing in Round 3, German Youth Champion Jonas Welticke 4d (at left) won the 2012 Berliner Kranich, played from 11/24-25 in Berlin, Germany; in second was Bernd Schuetze 4d and third was Johannes Obenaus 5d (see EuroGoTV for sgfs)…Berliner Meisterschaft/Endrunde: The Berliner Meisterschaft/Endrunde, played on 11/23 in Berlin, Germany, was won by Johannes Obenaus 5d, second was Ronny Treysse 3d… Russian Championship, Final: The Russian Championship Final, played from 11/21-25 in Sankt-Peterburg, Russia, was won by Ilja Shikshin 7d, in second was Dmitriji Surin 6d and third was Alexandr Dinerstein 7d… Welticke Wins Berliner Kranich: Despite losing in Round 3, German Youth Champion Jonas Welticke 4d won the 2012 Berliner Kranich (sgfs of all games available at EuroGoTV)… Berlin Championship 2012 Final: Johannes Obenaus 5d (at right) successfully defended his title against Ronny TreyBe 3d on 11/23. Obenaus was the first to enter byo-yomi, but was winning on the board when TreyBe lost on time. Both video and sgf of the match can be found on EuroGoTV.
– adapted from EuroGoTV, which includes winner reports, crosstabs, game records and photos. Edited by Taylor Litteral

Categories: Europe

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