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US Go Congress Tournament Schedule: Wednesday 7/17
9:00a: Die Hard Tournament
That’s all for today, folks!

Senior Tournament
One of the youngest annual Go Congress tournaments, and quickly becoming one of the most popular, is reserved for players 55 and older. Now in its fourth year, the Senior Tournament is a favorite of long-time congress attendees and is directed this year by Eva Casey, herself a returning player and current Tournament Coordinator for the Massachusetts Go Association. “[In the next round] three of the Senior Tournament games will be between 3-0 contestants,” reports Casey. The six undefeated players so far are Frank Brown 5k, Jim Conyngham 4k, Bart Jacob 3k, Paul Magretts 2k, Moon Oh 1d, and David Cho 5d. Tune in for more results as the Senior Tournament progresses!

–photos by Eva Casey
-report by Karoline Li, Tournaments Bureau Chief

And then there were two. Four-game winners, that is. Japanese pro Eiko Nyu notched a comfortable win over Aaron Ye 6d on Board 1 in the fourth round of the 2019 U.S. Masters on Tuesday, while Eric Lui eked out a 1.5 win over Alan Huang. Complete Masters results here, and U.S. Open results here. Check out the video of Mingjiu Jiang’s commentary on the Nyu-Ye game on the AGA Twitch stream here. Round 5 will be broadcast starting at 10a EDT on Thursday.
– report by Chris Garlock, photo by Todd Heidenreich

The 2019 Teacher’s Workshop concluded its third day at this year’s U.S. Go Congress on Tuesday afternoon. Attendees had been taught the Mizuma Method in the previous two sessions, and were given the opportunity to try their newfound teaching skills on actual beginners who had never played go before. “Teaching this way was way more fun than I imagined it could be!” said attendee Terri Schurter. Everyone agreed that this approach was very effective and lots of fun for both teacher and student. Several attendees will receive $200 stipends as first-time attendees of a teacher’s workshop. The AGA is grateful to the Iwamoto North American Foundation for Go for subsidizing this workshop. “Special thanks to Toshifumi Mizuma, Tajiri Yuto and Tomotaka Urasoe for sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with us!” said Mark Rubenstein.

After a several-year hiatus, afternoon soccer has returned! A large group of players ranging in age from kids to adults gathered Monday afternoon to enjoy the beautiful weather and share in some physical competition. “It’s important to exercise the muscles, give the mind a break, and get some fresh air”, says Terry Benson, who provided the equipment.

-photos by Terry Benson
-report by Karoline Li, Tournaments Bureau Chief

Yongfei Ge 7d, who beat Mark Lee Sunday night in the U.S. Masters tournament, fell to Eric Lui 1P on Monday morning on Board 1. That leaves just Lui, Aaron Ye 7d and Japanese pro Nyu Eiko as the only undefeated players so far. The Round 3 game drew another huge Twitch audience, averaging over 9,300 viewers and generating 140,000 unique views. Ryan Li 1p again provided the commentary, hosted by E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock. Stephen Hu produced the stream. Round 4 will be broadcast Tuesday morning starting at 10a EDT on the AGA Twitch stream. Latest Masters results are posted here; latest U.S. Open ratings are posted here.
– photo by Todd Heidenreich

Age: 28

Lives in: Sun Prairie, Wisconsin

Home Club: Madison Go Club

Years playing go: Since freshman year of high school

Favorite thing about go: “Moments of inspiration, complicated problems. Sometimes I’m very lucky and I can think out a 40 move sequence and my opponent acts exactly how I want them to and I somehow kill a whole group and change the entire board from being even to 100 points in my favor.” This is Adam’s first Go Congress.
– Samantha Fede

US Go Congress Tournament Schedule: Monday 7/15
9:00a: US Open, round 2; US Open Masters Division, round 3
1:00p: Senior Tournament, round 2
3:00p: Women’s Tournament, round 2
7:00p: 13×13 Tournament

Lightning Tournament
Over 60 players filled the main playing area Sunday night and stones flew from bowls to the board with lightning speed, players raced the clocks and fought to make it to the endgame with enough time to play with a semblance of reason. Expect a new rule next year from TD Keith Arnold: “If both clocks are out you both lose!” Playoffs will continue throughout the week.
Table winners: Taiga Takahashi 25k Tanya Perez Lopez 18k Brad Caber 13k, Ken Schatten 7k, Teus Tsai 6k, Billy Maier 3k, Ben Gunby 2k, Jerry Jaffe 1d, Cong Chen 1d, Daichi Takahashi 5d, Tyler Oyakawa 5d, Shixing Li 5d.

-report by Karoline Li, Tournaments Bureau Chief; photo by Chris Garlock

In a dramatic game that drew over 90,000 views on the AGA’s Twitch stream — and an average of over 7,400 viewers — Yongfei Ge (left) edged out Mark Lee by 1.5 points in Round 2 of the Masters Tournament at the 2019 U.S. Go Congress on Sunday night. Lee, whose U.S. tournament record is 75-5, was heavily favored in the championship, and had come from behind to win his first-round game against Jeremy Chiu. But he got in trouble again in his game against Ge, with a floating eyeless group that seemed to have nowhere to run. Lee fought back steadily, saving half the group and catching up slowly but surely, however, Ge kept the pressure on just as steadily and in the end Lee came up just short. Ryan Li 1P, who provided the game commentary with host Julie Burrall, said that Lee’s upset opens up the field, potentially making this year’s Masters one of the most interesting yet. Round 3 is Monday at 10a EDT, with live commentary on the AGA’s Twitch stream.
2-0 winners: Eric Lui, Yongfei Ge, Aaron Ye, An Chen and Nyu Eiko.
– report/photos by Chris Garlock