Friday September 20, 2019
Applications for the 2019-2020 American Go Honor Society (AGHS) officer team are now open! The American Go Honor Society is an organization driven primarily by high school students to promote go among young players throughout America, hosting tournaments, leagues, and other go events throughout the school year. To apply, please fill out the form here; the application is due 10-5 at 11:59pm PDT.
Friday September 20, 2019
Registration is still open for the 8th Virginia Open/1st Virginia State Championship Qualifier on September 28th. Residency in Virginia is required to qualify to be Virginia State Champion, but all are welcome to participate in the Virginia Open (AGA membership required). The field for the open division is shaping up to be strong with numerous 5 dan-7 dan players, including Maryland-based AGA pro Eric Lui 1p. Registration for the other side events happening concurrently as part of the Washington Go Festival are still open as well. Fairfax County Cable TV will also be providing media coverage of the event as part of a TV program on Chinese culture. “We are excited to crown our first Virginia State Go Champion, Virginia Youth Go Champion, and Virginia Women’s Go Champion and encourage all Go enthusiasts to join us! All registered AGA members will receive a free Go book courtesy of Hinoki Press,” reports event organizer Edward Zhang.
Wednesday September 18, 2019
The San Diego Go Club kicked off its fall program of professional go lectures and tournaments with a presentation by Chinese pro Hai Li 5P in Balboa Park. It was the first in a monthly series of eight go lectures by Yilun Yang 7P and Hai Li 5P. Each pro will give four lectures – one per lecturer per month. The lectures are free to all and sponsored by the American Go Foundation and the San Diego Go Club.
The SDGC will also sponsor two free tournaments the morning of Sunday, September 29: a 13×13 youth tournament and a 19×19 tournament for everyone else. AGA membership is required to play in both. At 2:00 p.m. the same day Yilun Yang will give his first lecture of the fall. Free pizza will be served at 1:15 p.m., between the tournaments and the lecture.
All of the above events will be located at the San Diego Chess Club in Balboa Park. More information and registration can be found at
https://www.goclubs.org.
-report and photos by Ted Terpstra
Monday September 16, 2019
Fresh from his win at the top section of the US Open in Madison WI, Frederick Bao 5d (on the right) went 4-0 to win the 5d-6d section in an overall field of 34. Second place went to Justin Teng 6d (on the left) with a 3-1 record.
Other three and four game winners were: Fengqi (David) Wen 1k 4-0, Sarah Crites 4k 3-1, Kurt Guynn 6k 3-1, John Gipson 6k 3-1, Ian LeBlanc 7k 4-0, and Tonya Perez-Lopez 17k 3-1. All winners received NGC t-shirts. Upcoming events at the NGC include a return of Pair Go/Paella night on 9/27, and the popular Pumpkin Classic Tournament on 10/26.
–report and photo by Gurujeet Khalsa
Friday September 13, 2019
On August 31st, the Davis/Sacramento Go Club held its Fall Quarterly. There were 14 players, “Which was the largest field in some time,” reports Willard Haynes. Four of the players were playing in their first AGA event. The winner of Division 1 was Jeff Newmiller 2k with a 3-1 record. David Baran 7k won Division 2 with a perfect 4-0 result.
– Nate Eagle
Thursday September 12, 2019
Registration for Season 9 (2019-2020) of the Collegiate Go League is now open. Colleges and universities across North America with at least three interested student players can form a team to compete online against other schools. Matches are 3 vs 3 and will take place every two weeks in the Collegiate Go League room on the KGS Go Server. There will be 5 rounds in the Fall and 5 rounds in the Spring, which culminate in a championship playoffs for the top schools in April to crown the CGL champion. See if your school has what it takes to defeat perennial powerhouse UCLA, last season’s defending champion.
Registration will close on October 6th for schools who wish to be paired in the first round, which will be on October 12th. However, if you miss the registration deadline and still wish to participate, you can still register at any time and be paired starting in the following round. For more details about the CGL, please read the Rules.
Wednesday September 11, 2019
Pandanet is holding the 18th World Students Go Oza Championship from February 17-21, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan, where sixteen students from around the world will gather to determine the world’s top student player.
To select the finalists, there will be an online preliminary round on Pandanet; check out the tournament page for details. University/college students under the age of 30 are eligible to participate in the preliminary round (note that students living in China, Korea, Japan and Chinese Taipei cannot participate in the prelim). Application deadline is October 20.
Pandanet covers airfare, hotel and meals. For any other questions, email Chika Mochizuki and The All-Japan Students GO Association.
Tuesday September 10, 2019
31 young players came out to the New York Institute of Go in Little Neck, NY to compete in the 1st U20 Eastern Youth Go Open on August 31st. The tournament was sponsored by the NYIG and organized by NYIG President Stephanie Yin 1p as part of an initiative to create more opportunities for youth to have face-to-face tournament play. In order to be eligible to play in this tournament, players had to be at least 10 kyu or stronger, which Yin hopes will encourage newer players to improve their playing level. Players came from as far as Chicago and Maryland to play in the tournament, which featured over $1,500 of prizes. In the open section, Willis Huang 6d from New Jersey went undefeated to be crowned the undisputed champion. In a rare turn of events, the other four players in that section defeated each other in a circle, creating an unbreakable tie for second. In the other divisions, Shuhui Lin 2d, Chase Lin 1k, and Xinyu Chen 6k demonstrated their prowess with undefeated 4-0 records.
The NYIG plans for this tournament to be an annual event, and looks forward to more young players competing in the future. Additional tournaments and events for both youth and adult players are also in the works, so stay tuned for future announcements.
Winner’s list:
Division A (Open)
1st: Willis Huang 6d
2nd (4-way tie): Alex Qi 4d, Sophia Wang 4d, Frederick Bao 5d, Minzhi Wang 5d
Division B
1st: Shuhui Lin 2d
2nd: Jiayang Su 1d
3rd: Niel Ni 1d
Division C
1st: Chase Lin 1k
2nd: Samantha Soo 4k
3rd (tie): Marcos Yang 1k and Jerry Ju 3k
Division D
1st: Xinyu Chen 6k
2nd: Jonathan Chen 9k
3rd: Crystal Yihan Pang 8k
-Report and Photos by Justin Teng
Saturday August 31, 2019
Want to help make the AGA’s website an even more useful resource for Go players worldwide? Join our website content team! Team members will review the existing pages to determine what needs updating, work with experienced team members to make the changes, and implement updates going forward. No html experience is necessary; a keen eye for detail and commitment to the global Go community is a must. The AGA is looking for other volunteers for the organization, as well. Some of these include AGA Treasurer, Services Coordinators, and Application Developers. Our full list of positions can be found on the Get Involved! page on the sidebar. Those interested in any of these opportunities can email volunteer@usgo.org for more information.
Thursday August 29, 2019
If you’re a male Go player born before December 31, 1969 or a female player born before December 31, 1989, the 13th Kim In Kuksu International Baduk Championship could be just the ticket! The tournament is set for October 25-28 and all you have to do is get yourself to Gangjin-gun, Jeollanam-do, South Korea and the Korea Baduk Association will cover your room and board, ground transportation in Korea and sightseeing costs for the participants during the period of the event. AGA president Andy Okun has been there before and calls it “an amazing Go trip and culinary delight; not to be missed!” For details and to register, email assam1023@nate.com