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The Seattle Go Center hosted its 6th annual Pair Go Tournament on December 8, 2018. Thirty go players teamed up in pairs, and each table had four teams, with Round 1 winners facing each other in Round 2 to determine the table winner.

Between rounds, the players enjoyed punch and gourmet desserts — cakes from a local bakery, with berries and hand-whipped cream. Pair Go stalwart Bill Thompson organized and officiated, and Ann Thompson once again used her doll collection and the Go Center’s miniature floor goban to create an arresting poster to publicize the event.

Lee Hajin, professional 4 dan, and her partner Dan Maas defeated popular Go Center lecturer Nick Sibicky and his partner Sonny Cho, in Round 1 (right). Sibicky reviewed the game during a subsequent DDK lecture at the Go Center.  Lee and Maas lost to Seattle Go Center Board of Directors members Lee Anne Bowie and Bill Chiles in Round 2.

Final results:
Table 1 – Lee Anne Bowie, 4k and Bill Chiles, 3k
Table 2 – Xiangnan Chen, 3k and Brian Dai, 7k
Table 3 – Monique Nickerson, 15k and Rick Campbell, 14k
Table 4 – Ann Thompson, 18k and Bill Thompson, 13k

Photos by Catherine Ozols Photography

A field of 20 came in out of the cold to compete in the Winter Warmer tournament at the National Go Center on December 8. Justin Teng 6D was the overall winner with a 3-1 record. All 4-0 and 3-1 winners received the coveted US Go Congress mug with a colonial design from this year’s Congress in Williamsburg, VA. Other winners were: Shane Tellier 1D, Nathan Epstein 1D, Anderson Barreal 7K, John Christensen(4-0!) 10K, Jonathon Barlow 10K, Janus Chidester 14K.
– Gurujeet Khalsa

The Syracuse Go Club’s annual self-pair tournament on December 1 had 32 players, “its best turnout ever,” reports organizer
Richard Moseson. Twenty students participated, ranging in strength from beginner (eight students from the CNY Chinese School who played their first rated games), to quite strong (local high school senior Zhengbokang “Tony” Tang 8d and two 5d Cornell University students). Out of town players came from all directions (Ithaca, Utica, Rochester, and Oswego).

“Wonderful refreshments were furnished by many of the local players, allowing those who came for the whole day to play on without needing to run out for lunch, and at the end of the day everyone was able to select a new go book or other go-related-prize to take home,” says Moseson.

An undefeated Calvin Sun 1p topped a field of 45 players to win the first annual California State Go Championship on November 24-25. The two-day, 5-round event was sponsored by the San Diego Go Club and held amid the beautiful surroundings of the San Diego Chess Club in Balboa Park. Players came from as far as the San Francisco Bay area to compete for the title.

Sun not only won the title of 2018 California Go Champion and collected a cash award and an individual trophy but will be the first to have his name engraved on a permanent state go champion plaque. Following him in the Open Section were Yi Wang (6-dan 2018 San Diego Champion) and Yufei Jin 6-dan.

“It was a special treat when American Go Association President Andy Okun, was present to help award the prizes to the winners,” reports organizer Ted Terpstra, president of the San Diego Go Club.

Other Section winners were:

Dan Section: 1st Dan Alvira 3-dan; 2nd Zhihong He 3.3-dan; 3rd Seowoo Wang 2.6-dan
Single-Digit Kyu Section: 1st Paul Margetts 2.4-kyu; 2nd Warren T Andrews 6.7-kyu; 3rd Kevin Charles Yang 7-kyu
Double-Digit Kyu Section: 1st Lucia Moscola 17.9-kyu; 2nd Wade Michael Smith 10.5-kyu; 3rd Alexander Niema Moshiri 11.5 Kyu

In conjunction with the California State Go Championship, a 5-round, 13×13 California Go Championship was held on Sunday, also at the SD Chess Club. Competing were 32 players many of whom were from the Hai Li Go School. All players earned a playing certificate with their rating as well as a medal with the logo of the San Diego Go Club on one side and the logo of the California Go Association on the other. Hai Li, a Chinese pro who has recently moved to Southern California, was the tournament director for the 13×13 tournament. He is also the president of the California Go Association which rated the 13×13 tournament.

2018 Girl’s State California Go Champion: Angelina Zhao (4-1)
2018 Boy’s California State Go Champion: Kai Yi; who was the only 5-0 player.

“With almost 80 go players competing, the 2018 California Go Championship was a huge success,” said Terpstra. To encourage participation, the San Diego Go Club paid all entry fees and cash prizes out of the profits from the 2017 U.S. Go Congress, which it hosted.

photos: (top right, l-r): Okun, Sun and Terpstra; (bottom right) 13×13 players; photos by Bochen Li and Henry You

Correction: Calvin Sun’s rank has been updated to 1p; the AGA’s top amateur rank is 7d.