American Go E-Journal » Go News

Undaunted by autumnal rain, over two dozen players hunkered down for the 2012 Portland(Oregon) Go Tournament last weekend. The event, including a 7-round handicap tournament and a 5-round open, was held on the picturesque campus of Lewis & Clark College on October 20-22. A startling number of iPads were present, used to record games through Anders Kierulf’s “SmartGo Kifu” app.

Two father-son pairs competed: John and John Sajo and Guozhong and Ethan Zhuang. The younger brother of Vincent Zhuang, Ethan was one of two six-year-olds debuting at this tournament; the other was Maxwell Chen. Maxwell won the youth prize, racking up five wins despite having to miss one round to attend a birthday party.

Four strong players played in the open. Guozhong Zhuang came out on top, winning four rounds. In the handicap bands, the winners were: Dan: John A. Sajo (1st), Glenn Peters (2nd), Louie Liu (3rd); Single-digit kyu: George Schmitten (1st; at left in photo), Jeffrey Kleiss (2nd), Robert O’Malley (3rd); Double-digit kyu: Maxwell Chen (1st), Fillard Spring-Rhyne (2nd), Patrick Easley (3rd).

Thanks to Yellow Mountain Imports for offering a generous discount on prizes. GoClubsOnline was used for pairing and other tournament management tasks.
– Peter Drake, Tournament Director. Photo: George Schmitten (l) plays Masaya Tsukamoto; photo by Peter Drake.

John Kerpan 1d took first place in the Massachusetts Go Association’s Fall Tournament on October 14 in Boston, MA. Kerpan topped a field of 30 players. In second place was Mark Nahabedian 13k and in third was Chia Chan 5k; all three players were 4-0. Eva Casey directed. Photo courtesy Eva Casey.

“We want more!” was the demand after last year’s Portland (Oregon) Go Tournament. With that in mind, tournament director Peter Drake is working to cram even more go into this year’s tournament, coming up October 20-21. First, there will be an open division for strong players. “So far four people have signed up for the open,” Drake reports, Solomon Choe (AGA 5.9d), Robert Tirak (6.0d), Guozhong Zhuang (6.4d), and Nicholas Jhirad (6.4d). Second, the number of games in the main handicapped tournament has been increased from five to seven. This means that players will get in more games in two days than in the week-long US Open. “What the heck,” Drake said, “You’re not getting any work done that weekend anyway.” The event will take place at Lewis & Clark College, a hotbed of computer go research that Drake says “is recognized as the second most beautiful campus in the country.” Registrations are still pouring in, but this tournament typically draws several dozen players. Click here for full details. photo: at the 2011 Portland tournament

The BadukTV free trial offer has just been extended to AGA Life Members, reports AGA president Andy Okun. Any interested Life Member should email him at president@usgo.org for details. Meanwhile, the limited number of free one-month trial subscriptions to BadukTV — a $50 value – are going fast; join or rejoin the American Go Association this month to take advantage of the offer. BadukTV is the new online video service from GoGameGuru (GGG), featuring a live 24-video feed from BadukTV in Korea and a growing archive of English translations. AGA members also get the Member’s Edition of the American Go E-Journal, which includes game commentaries. Click here  to find out more about AGA membership or BadukTV.

The Capital Go Club (CGC) is hosting a workshop with Chinese pro Yang Shuang 2P (at left) this Saturday, October 13 in Fairfax, VA. Space is limited; click here to reserve your seat. Yang won 5th place in the Women’s World Go Championship in 1993, and in recent years has been focusing on teaching. A former go coach in the Nie Weiping Go Dojo in Beijing, Yang has trained many strong players who take the pro test in China. She’s also lectured at the European and U.S. go congresses, anchored go programs on TV in China and taught in Singapore. “A lot of students love her teaching games because she plays as even games without using aggressive trick moves, so that students can use their own tactics instead of being harassed by abnormal tricks,” says organizer Edward Zhang. Click here to pre-registerand see who’s coming. The fee for teaching game and game review is $24.50 for a half-day, $44 for the whole day and $5 for lecture only, with all proceeds benefiting the CGC . The Capital Go Club will also run an AGA-rated tournament Saturday with prizes, and players who travel more than 40 miles will receive a $5 travel subsidy. UPDATE: the location for the morning session has just been confirmed: 8200 Greensboro Drive, Suite 900, McLean VA (free parking). For latest info click here. photo: Yang Shuang at the October 5 GWGC demo game and analysis; photo by Edward Zhang

The Greater Washington Go Club hosted “great turnout and an exciting game” on October 5 when Chinese professional Yang Shuang 2P played a 3-stone exhibition game with Josh Lee. “Josh was leading for most of the game, but then faltered in the endgame when a ko and seki developed, and lost on time,” reports GWGC President Haskell Small. “As it turns out, he would have won by a few points even with the seki. Jie Li 7D also attended the event, joining Ms. Yang in the analysis. “In the analysis, Jie commented that Ms. Yang’s play was too slow, not harsh enough, but Ms. Yang stated she was consciously playing as if it was an even game, not trying too hard,” says Small. Click here for a couple of video clips.
– photos by Edward Zhang; collage by Chris Garlock