American Go E-Journal » Go News

Top N.A. & Euro Youth Play Sunday in 3rd Transatlantic Youth Match

Monday April 11, 2011

Top youth players from North America will square off against their European counterparts this Sunday in the third Transatlantic Youth Match, which will be held April 17 on KGS at 11am and 2pm. “Come out and support the North American side, featuring past Redmond Cup champions and US/Canadian representatives to the WYGC, as they take on the European youth,” urges organizer Lawrence Ku.

Sunday’s line-up:

1500 GMT (8a PST/11a EST)
Ali Jabarin vs. Bill Lin; Mihai Serban vs. Jianing Gan; Alexander Vashurov vs. Peter Zhang; Roman Ruzhanskyj vs. Andrew Lu
Vladyslav Verteletsky vs. Aaron Ye; Stepan Popov vs. Oliver Wolf

1800 GMT (11a PST/2p EST)
Thomas Debarre vs. Ryan Li; Pavol Lisy vs. Gansheng Shi; Mateusz Surma vs. Ricky Zhao
Vanessa Wong vs. Hugh Zhang; Lukas Podpera vs. Daniel Goureau

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

2011 US Go Congress Registration Soaring

Monday April 11, 2011

With four months to go, early online registration has already boosted sign-up for this year’s US Go Congress in Santa Barbara, CA — July 30-August 7 — to over 150 people. “Although I’m extremely pleased with registration and the personal attention that we have been able to give to attendees thus far,” Congress Co-Director Lisa Scott told the E-Journal, “I’m still encouraging people to sign up early, since when attendance climbs above 500, we’ll be able to start giving more discounts to all attendees.”

Categories: U.S. Go Congress,U.S./North America

SmartGo Books Released for iPad & iPhone

Monday April 11, 2011

Calling it the “dawn of a new era,” SmartGo has just released SmartGo Books for the iPad and iPhone. The new format enables users to read go books on an iPad, replay moves directly within diagrams, and zoom diagrams to see the context. “With comments and long figures broken into logical sequences, this is the way go books were meant to be read,” says SmartGo author Anders Kierulf. SmartGo Books’ launch includes eight books by four publishers, with more in the works. The SmartGo Books app contains a free chapter for each book, which can also be read on your iPhone or iPod touch. The following books are available now: Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game by Cho Chikun 9 dan ($3.99); Double Digit Kyu Games by Neil Moffatt ($4.99); Basic Techniques of Go by Haruyama 9 dan and Nagahara 6 dan ($8.99); Understanding Pro Games by Yuan Zhou ($4.99); Go Seigen’s Ten-Game Matches by John Fairbairn ($4.99); Catching Scent of Victory by O Rissei 9 dan ($9.99); The Way of Creating a Thick and Strong Game by Naoki Hane 9 dan ($8.99) and Breakthrough Attacking Power Yamashita-Style by Keigo Yamashita 9 dan ($8.99). “SmartGo Books offers the full content of the print edition, with a better reading experience, at a reduced price,” Kierulf adds.

Categories: Tools: books, software & hardware,U.S./North America

Strong Youth Showing at Orlando Tournament

Monday April 11, 2011

Nearly a quarter of the players at the recent Orlando Go Tournament were aged 16 or under, providing “much-appreciated energy and enthusiasm to the event, and more often than not some pretty tough competition as well,” reports Paul Wiegand. Kurt Lin 5d topped the five-round, two-day tournament – the 5th annual — held April 2-3 on the campus of the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Miki Hirama 1k took first in the Lower Kyu division, Shannon Jones 5k topped the Middle Kyu Division and 10 year-old Heather Crawford 16k won first place in the Upper Kyu Division. A total of 13 prizes were awarded, donated by Yellow Mountain Imports and Slate & Shell.
Winner’s Report: Dan division (1d and up): 1st: Kurt Lin 5d; 2nd: Karsten Henckell 5d; 3rd: Joshua Lee 5d. Lower Kyu Division (1k – 4k): 1st: Miki Hirama 1k; 2nd: Stephen Barberi 1k; 3rd: Efrain Davila 2k. Middle Kyu Division (5k – 10k): 1st: Shannon Jones 5k; 2nd: Jonathan Sarry 5k; 3rd: Jason Ruiz 5k; Upper Kyu Division (11k – 30k) 1st: 10 year-old Heather Crawford 16k followed quite closely by Austin Diehl 11k (2nd) and Guan Lim 29k (3rd). In addition to the placement awards, Ghianyra Forestal 30k took an award for perseverance and fighting spirit. photo at right by Kristle Luna

Categories: U.S./North America

Sawka Tops Davis/Sacramento Tourney

Monday April 11, 2011

Greg Sawka 3d topped the March 26 Davis/Sacramento Quarterly tournament in Sacramento, CA. In second place, also with three wins, was Jeff Horn 1d, with Steven Burrall 5d in third.

Categories: U.S./North America

UK Tourney Updates: Chong Han Edges Out Kay & Wong in British Open, Second Matthew Wins Arundel

Monday April 11, 2011

Chong Han Edges Out Kay & Wong in British Open: Chong Han 5d (Loughborough) won the April 8-10 British Open, the British Go Congress’ main tournament, beating out Andrew Kay and Vanessa Wong on a SOS tie break. The Swindon Go Club hosted this year’s Congress in the historic town of Malmesbury, and many players took advantage of the early summer weather to visit the Abbey and Abbey House Gardens. Andrew Kay did not go away empty-handed, having won the Friday Evening British Lightning tournament. Additional prizes were awarded to the four players in the Congress’ two “perfect games” resulting in jigo. Click here for full results and here for the original report.

Second Matthew Wins Arundel: Matthew won Arundel again this year. Matthew Cocke 5d (Epsom) was the best of the 26 players in the March 27 UK tournament, taking the first previously won by Matthew Macfadyen. Winning all three games were Michael Webster 1k (London) and Adan Mordcovich 5k (Wanstead). All those on two wins received prizes including runner-up Francis Roads 3d (Wansted). After the event many players went on to enjoy the evening of a sunny day in the Black Rabbit. Click here for full results.
– reported by Tony Atkins

Categories: Europe

School Teams Tourney Draws 50 Teams

Monday April 11, 2011

Mandarin Language and Culture School from California took top honors in the 10th annual North American School Team Tournament. Organized by the American Go Honor Society (AGHS), the tournament was held on KGS over the weekends of March 5 and March 12. More than 50 teams and about 190 players from America, Mexico, and Canada signed up for the largest national youth team tournament, with over $3,000 in prizes provided by the AGF and AGA. Justin Teng, one of the nine officials and a tournament participant, said, “People were pretty excited and pumped up. They were in quite a competitive spirit, encouraging and rallying their teammates while battling against other schools.” More AGHS tournaments, including the Doubles Tournament for Pair Go, are in the works. AGHS Presidents Jack Ye and Jasmine Yan directed the tournament – many thanks to Meredith Leu, Joshua Wu, Ryan Ngoy, Viral Kotecha, Rebecca Cheng, Eric Chen, Tommy Liu, Justin Teng, and Tim McCaffrey for their invaluable assistance!

Winner’s Report: Varsity: 1st: Mandarin Language and Culture School, 2nd: Richard Montgomery High School, 3rd: SV Chinese School; Junior Varsity: 1st: Richard Montgomery High School, 2nd: Bellaire High School, 3rd: Mission San Jose High; Intermediate: 1st: Klein Oak High School, 2nd: Betcher Home School, 3rd: Escuela de Arte ‘Pipiolo; Novice: 1st: Jasper High School, 2nd: Manlius Pebble Hill School, 3rd: Richard Montgomery High School. -Special to the E-J by Jasmine Yan, AGHS Co-President. Photos: Mandarin Language Team, with advisor, top; Richard Montgomery Team, with advisor, bottom.

Categories: U.S./North America,Youth

Park Younghun Wins 12th Maxim Cup

Monday April 11, 2011

On April 7 2011, Park Younghun 9P won the 12th Maxim Cup, beating Lee Changho 9P by half a point in the second match. Park won the first match several weeks ago (March 21), and with two wins he took the best of three title.

Two masters of endgame

Both Lee and Park are famous for their accurate counting and endgame skills. Go fans used to say that if Park and Lee played and the winning margin was half a point, the winner would be Lee. However, now people say that if the winning margin is half a point, the winner will be Park.

In November last year Park also won the Korean Myeongin (Korea’s equivalent of the Japanese Meijin).

The Maxim Cup

The Maxim Cup is a rapid Korean domestic tournament for 9 dan players only. This year, the tournament was held on the beautiful Jeju Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is popular with tourists.

Stone Babushkas?

Lee was accompanied by his wife and, prior to the match, revealed that the couple were very happy and plan on having two or three children. Given that Lee’s nickname as a Go player is “Stone Buddha”, perhaps the little ones could be called the “Stone Babushkas”? Before you ask, there was no mention of whether the children would learn Go.

After the match, a reporter asked Lee how he felt about losing his dominance of the baduk world after more than two decades. Lee was non-plussed, and replied that he did not mind as long as he could still play a good and interesting game.

– Jingning; based on her original report at Go Game Guru, which includes more pictures and game records.

Categories: World

Tags: Lee Changho, Maxim Cup, Park Younghun

Park Jieun Wins Jeongganjang Cup

Monday April 4, 2011

In a much anticipated match between two of the strongest women go players in the world, Park Jieun 9P defeated Rui Naiwei 9P by resignation in the final round of the 9th Jeongganjang Cup on March 28. Rui was the favorite going into the final game, defeating all three of her challengers in the previous rounds. In the end it came down to the last two remaining players from China and Korea and Team Korea prevailed, pulling out a remarkable victory in this historic tournament.
– JustPlayGo; edited by Jake Edge

Categories: World

NOVA Cherry Blossom Raises $702 for Japan Relief

Monday April 4, 2011

The annual NOVA Cherry Blossom tournament on April 2 raised $702 for disaster relief for Japan, “which will be split into equal donations to the Kansai Kiin and Pandanet relief funds,” reports organizer Allan Abramson. Fifty-nine players participated in the NOVA Cherry Blossom tournament, with Daniel Chou 6d topping the field. “This was our first Cherry Blossom in the new George Mason University Founder’s Hall, now that the beautiful Sumner School in DC (longtime Cherry Blossom tourney site) closes on weekends,” Abramson added.

Winner’s Report: First Place: Daniel Chou 6d, 4-0; Hal Small 3d, 3-1; Liu Hong Chun 1d, 4-0; Jacob Lewellen 2k, 4-0; Kevin Chin 3k, 3-1; Baifu Li 5k, 3-1; Caleb Vickers 8k, 4-1; Julian Erville 11k, 4-0; Chris Tolley 15k, 4-0 and Adam Chambers 15k, 4-0 (tie); and Robert Burdsal 17k, 3-1.
Second Place: Jing Guo 7d, 3-1; Keiju Takehara 3d, 2-1; Gary Li 1d, 2-2; Kelsey Dyer 2k, 3-1 and Xiaojing Du 2k, 3-1 (tie); Yukino Takehara 3k, 3-1; Raymond Yeh 6k, 3-1 and Joey Phoon 6k, 3-1 and Michael Lash 6k, 3-1 (tie); Joseph Lee 7k, 3-1 and Gurujeet Khalsa 8k, 3-1 (tie); and Tristan Tran 15k, 3-1

Categories: U.S./North America

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