American Go E-Journal » Go News

This year’s U.S. Go Congress organizers are – for the first time – accepting contributions to support the attendance of professional go players. “Show your appreciation for the professionals who attend Congress by donating to support their attendance and hard work!” urge 2011 Congress Directors Andrew Jackson and Lisa Scott. Those who donate $2500 or more will receive two tickets to attend the Pro Dinner, as well as a complimentary lesson with an attending professional. Donations may also be made by a group of people; anyone who donates at least $200 will receive a mention in the 2011 US Go Congress Handbook. Targeted donations can also be made towards the support of specific attending professionals. For complete details, email andrew.jackson@gocongress.org
photo: Japanese pro Ryo Maeda 6P at the 2010 U.S. Go Congress; photo by Jake Edge

Feijun (Frank) Luo 5d (r) topped a record field of 38 players who turned out for the February 5 Year of the Rabbit Go Tournament in Atlanta, GA. Players aged seven to over sixty competed over four round in three divisions. The tournament was held in the new office building of the Atlanta Contemporary Chinese Academy (ACCA), with Zhiqiang Liu, Board Chairman of the ACCA welcoming all go players to the event. Liu praised go as “the most interesting and intellectually challenging board game” and encouraged further collaboration among the Atlanta Go Club, Atlanta Chinese Go Association and ACCA. The one-day, four-round tournament generated a number of intense games, including the championship game in Division I (4d-5d) between Feijun (Frank) Luo 5d and Geng (Eric) Wang 5d, who each won a go tournament championship in Atlanta in 2010.  Luo managed to defeat Wang by just 2.5 points after playing catch-up for most of the game.  Yongming (Michael) Zhuang secured the Division II (3d-4d) championship after winning all 4 rounds.  Jicheng (Kevin) Tang, Likang Xu, Xiaodong Sun, and Fengli Cao tied in the second place.  In Division III (1d and below), Kun Chen and Alex Hartsell both captured a championship title, and Brandon Zhou and Kyle Cavin had a tie for second place. Notably, four youth players — Kun Chen 14, Zhangzheng Xu 14, Peiyu Tang 13, and Brandon Zhou 7 – performed well at the tournament, and Zhou, the youngest player, is now a 4k player after learning go just 7 months ago. Local organizers plan to host more tournaments in Atlanta in the future, and welcome all players, “regardless of their levels.”

Young Kwon National Online Tournament winner Zhanbo Sun 2P (l) is something of a mystery man to the North American go community, never having appeared previously in an AGA tournament. The 24-year-old Sun hails from Daqing in Heilongjiang Province, which borders Jilin in the south, Inner Mongolia to the west, and Russia to the north and east. Sun began playing go when he was six years old and became a professional in 2000. He has trained with Wenyao Piao 9P, who’s currently ranked 12th in China, and Jiaxi Tuo 6P, who’s ranked 7th. He captained Tsinghua University’s go team from 2005 to 2009 and is now a Ph.D. candidate in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY, majoring in Transportation Engineering. Sun’s hobbies include music and snooker. His favorite thing about go is “Its complexity,” and his advice to amateurs who want to get stronger is simple: “Respect your opponents.” To the relief – or disappointment — of other top North American players, Sun tells the EJ that due to time conflicts he’s unlikely to enter more North American tourneys at this point.

The American Go Association has issued it’s annual call for self-nominations to be guest officials abroad for the AGA, President Allan Abramson announced today. “Each year a few opportunities arise to send people overseas as guest officials,” said Abramson. “An open call for people to nominate themselves is the fair way to go.” Nominations should be sent to president@usgo.org, with a short statement of the contributions to U.S go that would merit selection as a guest official. The deadline this year is Sunday, February 27.

Zhanbo Sun 2P (r) defeated 2010 North America Ing Master champion Huiren Yang 1P last Saturday, February 5 to win the first Young Kwon National Online Tournament (YNOT). Click here for current standings and Round 5 results. “The number of technical issues regarding webcam, Skype or KGS dramatically decreased as over 100 players got more familiar with online tournament through YKNOT,” reports Co-Director Zhiyuan ‘Edward’ Zhang, noting that “online TD’s received few requests for assistance during the second weekend.” Nearly $3,000 in cash prizes is being awarded in YKNOT by former US Open champion Young Kwon 7d from New York. The Hankuk-kiwon (Korean Baduk Association), in coordination of Myungwan Kim 9P, is also awarding three dan-level certificates to winners in the 1-2k, 1-3d and 6d division. “Quite a few new AGA members enjoyed the online tournament, and have inquired and expressed excitement about the upcoming US Go Congress in Santa Barbara, CA,” adds Zhang.

This week’s edition of the American Go E-Journal, which normally would have been published Tuesday (2/8) morning, was delayed due to technical problems beyond our control. We expect it to appear Wednesday (2/9) morning and apologize for any inconvenience to our readers.
– Chris Garlock, Managing Editor