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

Andy Liu 1P took the first Washington Open Baduk Championship with a 5-0 sweep on April 26-27. Displaying his customary sharp and speedy play — rarely using more than half the 60-minute basic time — Liu (right) dominated his opponents, winning most of his games by resignation. The young American pro was characteristically modest, however. When retiree Kang Shin 7D, a powerhouse who won multiple titles in the 1970’s, cheerfully told Liu “You’ll give me a lesson” as they sat down to play in the final round, Liu quietly replied, “We’re all equals here.”   Organizers were pleased with the turnout and the venue at the Korean U.S. Science Cooperation Center in Vienna, VA, as well as the addition of a new major East Coast tournament to the annual go calendar. “We’re especially grateful to Scorpion Sports, the Korean Embassy, the Korea Amateur Baduk Association and all the volunteers and sponsoring organizations who put on this great event,” said AGA President Andy Okun. “Ambassador Suh Daewon’s vision of all the different go communities coming together took a great first step with the successful launch of the Washington Open,” said Allan Abramson, who directed the tournament. “I’m looking forward to many more years of joint efforts with him and KABA.” Todd Heidenreich was the Assistant TD. See below for the winner’s report, link to the crosstab, and the Board 1 game records for rounds 4 & 5.
– photos by Phil Straus (right) and Chris Garlock (left); click here for Straus’ tournament photo album.

Winner’s Report (click here for tournament crosstab):
Open Section (7d+): 1^st: Andy Liu 1P; 2^nd: Michael Chen 7d; 3^rd: Li Siyuan 7d; 4^th: Kevin Huang 7d; 5^th: Changlong Wu 7d.
Dan A (4-6d): 1^st: Bo Huang 5d; nd: Chang S Lee 4d; 3^rd: Justin Ching 5d
Dan B (1-3d): 1^st: Kuo Hung Ton 2d; 2^nd: Julian Erville 1d; 3^rd: Chenchen Luo 2d
Kyu A (1-5k): 1^st: Benjamin Hong 3k; 2^nd: John Q Zhao 3k; 3^rd: Weixin Wang 4k
Kyu B (6-10k): 1^st: Bob Crites 9k; 2^nd: Kyung Up Moon 8k
Kyu C (11-15k): Dierdre Golash 13k; 2^nd: Alvin Chen 11k
Kyu D (16k+): 1^st: Sophia Wang 21k; 2^nd: Alex Kuang 16k

Game Records, Board 1, Rounds 4 & 5
2014.04.27_WOBC-Rd4-B1-Liu-Huang
2014.04.27_WOBC-Rd5-B1-Liu-Shin

Attendance at the Vermont Spring Go Tournament ”was sparse, with just 9 players,” reports organizer Peter Schumer, “but everyone brought their ‘A’ game and made for a fun and exciting day.” The event was held on campus at Middlebury College on Saturday, April 26. Prizes were awarded to the top four finishers plus two “fighting spirit” awards “to those whose results might have seemed disappointing,” adds Schumer.  The top finishers were:  1^st: Milan Mladenovic 7k (3-0); 2^nd: David Felcan 2d (2-1); 3^rd: Daniel Steinbrook 3k (2-1).

Andy Liu 1P (right) leads the first Washington Open Baduk Championship, 3-0 going into the final two rounds in Vienna, VA this weekend. Kevin Huang 7D is also 3-0 so the two are sure to meet on Sunday. Top-board games will be broadcast on KGS starting at 9:30a EST. Other top 2-game winners were Elaine Jiang 6D, Li Siyuan 7D, Zhaonian Chen 7D, Wu Changlong 7D (left in photo), Stephanie Yi and Kang Shin 7D. Click here for standings as of Round 3: Andy Liu 8d-Park In 2D and Liu Jian 2D-Stephen Webb 25k. See below for game records for Board 1 Rounds 1-3. 88 players turned out for the first day of play at the newest major AGA event, co-hosted by the Korean Amateur Baduk Association (KABA) and the American Go Association (AGA), and organized by the NOVA Go Club, the Baltimore Go Club, and the Korean-American Go Association.
2014.04.26_WOBC-Rd1-B1-Siyuan-Yin
2014.04.26_WOBC-Rd2-B1-Changlong-Liu
2014.04.26_WOBC-Rd3-B1-Liu-Chen
– report/photo/game records by Chris Garlock

The first award of the Washington Open Baduk Championship was announced after just one round on the first day of play. Tournament Director Allan Abramson (right) presented retired Ambassador Suh Dae-won of Korea with an award recognizing his work promoting the game of go. Ambassador Suh played a key role bringing the annual Cotsen Open to the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles in recent years (dates were recently confirmed for 2014-2016), facilitated the organizing of the first Washington Open Baduk Championship this weekend in Northern Virginia – where nearly 100 players turned out Saturday — and is now in discussions about an event in Europe. “Bringing together the various go communities in our country has long been a dream of ours and efforts like this show just how far we have come,” said American Go Association president Andy Okun. “I’m very honored to receive this award,” said Ambassador Suh. “The Korean Amateur Baduk Association is committed to developing baduk in the United States. As the world’s largest economy and because of its huge influence worldwide this is a very important place to grow this global game. Thanks to all the organizers of this event for your dedication and hard work to make this event a success.” In addition to Abramson, Keith Arnold of the Baltimore Go Club was recognized, as was Myungwan Kim 9P. Also on hand was Korean Minister for Economic Affairs Gheewhan Kim, who declared himself “Very happy to see so many people playing the game in this country,” adding that “our embassy hopes to see this event continue next year and on into the future.”
– report/photo by Chris Garlock

Attendance is expected to be near 100 at this weekend’s Washington Open Baduk Championship in Northern Virginia, reports organizer Allan Abramson.  Top players so far include Mingming Yin 1P (right), Zhaonian Chen 8d, Charles Choi 7d, James Park 7d, Changlong Wu 7d, Liang Yu 7d, Yuan Zhou 7d, Xinying Elaine Jiang 6d, Josh Lee 6d and Zhiyuan Edward Zhang 6d, “with plenty of players of all strengths ensuring a good field for everyone,” Abramson promises. He’s also planning to ask strong players to volunteer for simuls, “so everyone who wants a simul will get one on Sunday.” Top boards will be broadcast live on KGS; anyone interested in helping record/broadcast can email journal@usgo.org.

Players are competing for a top prize of at least $1,200 and cash prizes for every section. Myungwan Kim 9P and Sohyun Park 3P will give lectures for both dan and kyu players on Saturday night, followed by a rapid tournament, and the professionals will do game reviews and simuls on Sunday afternoon. The tournament will be held at the Korea-U.S. Science Cooperation Center (1952 Gallows Road, Suite 330) in Vienna, VA and is sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, the Korean Cultural Center – DC, and Scorpion Sport Inc. in L.A. It is co-hosted by the Korean Amateur Baduk Association (KABA) and the American Go Association (AGA), and organized by the NOVA Go Club, the Baltimore Go Club, and the Korean-American Go Association. There’s no entry fee but AGA membership is required and lunch is free.

Click here to register. Organizers have negotiated a discounted rate with Extended Stay America (8281 Willow Oaks Corporate Drive, Fairfax VA 22031), 4.5 miles from the playing site; call 703-204-0088 and ask for the NOVA Go Club rate, or email MRD@extendedstay.com.
photo by Chris Garlock
Correction: Mingming Yin’s rank has been updated to 1P (4/27) 

The go booth at the 54th Sakura Mat­suri Street Fes­ti­val on April 12 in Wash­ing­ton D.C. was so popular that organizers quickly went through the more than 200 brochures they brought. The event runs in conjunction with the annual Cherry Blos­som Fes­ti­val in Washington. Teachers — including booth coordinator John Goon, Todd Heidenreich and Benjamin Hong — found themselves teaching multiple students while spectators watched and eagerly awaited their turn at the boards. “For all those who have any Japan­ese cul­tural events in your local area, I def­i­nitely encour­age you all to try and set up a booth like we did,” says Hong. “Because at the end of the day, if there was only one thing I learned from this event, it is that go has a real poten­tial to appeal to all types of peo­ple and can even­tu­ally become a house­hold sta­ple like chess or check­ers if we keep spread­ing the word with out­reach ini­tia­tives like this one.”
– photo courtesy Benjamin Hong; read his complete Sakura Matsuri blog post here

Wang Ma 6d topped a field of 36 players ranging from 20 kyu to 6 dan at the Massachusetts Go Association’s annual Don Wiener Memorial Tournament on April 13 in Somerville MA. “Among the players were a visitor from Scotland, a visiting scholar from China, and contingents from Vermont, Maine, and Western Massachusetts,” reports TD Eva Casey. “An eight year old girl played as did a player in her eight decade.” Casey also extended “thanks to our friends at the Boylston Chess Club for sharing their space.”

Winners Report:
1st Place: Wang Ma 6d (4-0)
2nd Place: Shawn Ligocki 8k (4-0)
3rd Place: Steven Wu 4d (3-1)
photo (l-r): Steven Wu (back to camera), Wang Ma, John Aspinall and David Spitz; photo by Eva Casey. Click here for more photos. 

The second American Collegiate Go Association (ACGA) Spring Go Expo drew over a hundred participants to MIT’s main campus on March 29. After a two-hour round of simuls with Chinese professionals in the morning, the event opened with speeches from Ing Minghao, president of the Ing Chang-Ki Weiqi Education Foundation, Chang Hao 9P, Hua Xueming 7P, and ACGA organizers Michael Fodera and Cole Pruitt. Current undergraduates Tommy Liu (MIT) and Cherry Shen (Wellesley) emceed the event and provided translation for the Chinese delegation throughout.

Highlights of the afternoon included an exposition match between Chang Hao 9P and strong western amateurs Trevor Morris 7d and Will Lockhart 5d, broadcast on KGS with live commentary from Andy Liu 1P and Hua Xueming 7P. The Expo also featured the premiere of ‘Ring Go’, a new go variant where players form a ring organized by rank and play two games each: one with white and one with black, against a weaker and stronger player respectively.

On the heels of the Expo, the ACGA is formalizing its structure as an organization and looking to include all university community members in its growth over the next year. For more information about how to get involved in college Go, how to participate in the Collegiate Go League, or receive go equipment for your university-based club, visit www.college-go.org for more information, or contact acga.organizers@gmail.com
– Cole Pruitt