American Go E-Journal » U.S./North America

The West Michigan Go Club and popular go streamer Daniel ML is hosting the W MI Go 2022 Spring Tournament & MI State Championship at Out Of The Box in Grand Rapids, MI on Saturday, May 21 starting at 10a EDT.  

This event features an AGA Handicap Go tournament open to all players and a single-elimination MI State Championship open to Dan level players. All games follow the AGA ruleset. MI State Championship games are 45 minutes main time and 5x30s byo-yomi. Handicap Tournament games are 30 minutes main time with 3x30s byo-yomi.

For the Handicap Tournament, prizes will be awarded for each of 3 segments: Double-digit Kyu, Single-digit Kyu and Dan level players. For each segment, 1st place is awarded $60, 2nd place is awarded $40 and 3rd place is awarded $20.

For the MI State Championship a cash prize and trophy will be awarded to the winner. Prizes will also be awarded to 2nd & 3rd place. A 3rd place tie-breaking round will be held after the semi-final. 1st place is awarded $120 and a trophy, 2nd place is awarded $80 and 3rd place is awarded $60.

Early Registration: $18 ends May 7^th; Standard Registration: $22 ends May 18^th; Late/Same-Day Registration: $28 (HC Tournament Only).

To register or for more information sign up here.

Registration for the Evanston Go Club’s 2022 Chicago Open – coming up May 14 — has skyrocketed in the past week, with over 60 players signed up already. “This makes it the largest tournament we’ve ever held… and it hasn’t even started yet!” says club president Mark Rubenstein.

The tournament, which will be held Saturday May 14 at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Evanston, will feature the standard self-paired Main section, a new Open section for players 5 dan and up, and a free beginner’s section with lessons offered by 2015’s Teacher of the Year, Simon Guo.

“We’ve been working hard to make this the best tournament we’ve ever had.” says organizer Albert Yen. “We already have 14 players who are 5 dan or stronger, which makes the Open section very competitive! And the top boards will be broadcast on the AGA Twitch channel.”

And for the first time ever, the club will be selling its Ing boards at the tournament. “These are the nice, thick boards that we’ve used for many years, and we’re making them available to attendees.” says Rubenstein.

Due to the extraordinary turnout, Rubenstein and Yen are encouraging everyone to sign up early to ensure that they have enough seats in the venue. “The Early-Bird pricing and custom name tag deadline has passed, but there is still room… for now!” says Rubenstein.

For more information and registration details, visit chicagobaduk.com.

Four American Go Association (AGA)  Board of Director seats are in play for the At-Large, Eastern, Western, and Central regions. The current terms of office expire this September. If you know of someone who you believe would offer guidance and service to the AGA, consider making a nomination. Nominations, including self-nominations, may be made by full members for the regional seat in which the member resides. At-Large nominations may be made from any region. All nominations must be received by June 15, 2022. Nominations and questions must be emailed to elections@usgo.org. Click here for complete election information and qualifications.
– Arnold Eudell

More than 40 competitors turned out last Saturday for the San Francisco Go Club (SFGC) Cherry Blossom Tournament, held at the club’s recently opened dojo during the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco’s Japantown. Player skill levels ranged from 30 kyu up to 6 dan and three rounds of games were played, with over $400 awarded in cash prizes across three divisions.

Jason He 3D came in first place of Division 1, taking home a $150 cash prize and a spot against Hajin Lee 4P at the club’s upcoming simul game event on April 23. Chao Xie 6D came in second place and James Lou 4D came in third place.

In Division 2, Lucas Orr 5k came in first place, Jun Wu 1D was second place, and Sharif Naas 6k was third place.

And, in Division 3, Youchen Zhao 8k was first place, Shuoyuan He 18k was second place, and Christine Guo 20k was third place.

Reported by Matthew Barcus, SFGC Vice President

A workshop on “How to Play and Teach Go/Weiqi” will be held this Saturday in San Diego, CA. Xinming Guo, an Illinois licensed math teacher and founder of the Go and Math Academy, will lead the workshop (Register here).  Guo and Professor Xiuwen Wu from National Louis University will be visiting San Diego where Professor Wu will present on Go and Math at the American Educational Research Association conference. Guo was named national “Teacher of the Year” by the American Go Foundation in 2015.

By Ze-Li Dou

My friend and colleague Scott Nollet is a long-time donor to the American Go Foundation. In our email exchanges in March the topic came up, and below are the relevant passages from Scott.

“Once Covid hit, I stopped getting requests to contribute to the American Go Foundation and wondered if the organization might have folded. But now I got a request in December, and they said that they simply had had lower needs (I imagine because the Go tournaments were done over Zoom). It’s pretty nice that they didn’t ask for money when they didn’t need it! 

“I give quite a bit to charities, and the usual practice is that once $500 is given, immediately $600 is asked for next. So the AGF behavior was a pleasant surprise. I gave them double my usual donation.”

I am fortunate enough to have been supported by the AGF before. It is heartening that it has distinguished itself among the many organizations that depend on donor support—I am glad to add that the honesty is paying off, too! The leaders of AGF deserve praise from all go players. Bravo!