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

Defending champion Evan Cho 7D held onto his title last weekend at the Dado 2014 SoCal Go Championship. Nearly 60 players attended the Orange County championship on a beautiful sunny weekend in Southern California. Players came from as far as Arizona and a large contingent came from the San Francisco Bay Area. The Open section consisted of 14 strong players 6d-7d and above, including Cho. “Thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Dado (大道) Cultural Exchange Association, the tournament enjoyed an excellent venue, refreshments and substantial cash prizes,” reported Steve Burrall. Kevin Chao directed. photo: (l-r): Aaron Ye, Andrew Lu, Danny Ko, Kevin Hong, Evan Cho, Kevin Chao (in background) and Jay Zheng, president of the Dado Assosociation.
Winner’s Report:
Open Section: Champion Evan Cho 7D; 2nd: Kevin Hong 7D; 3rd: Danny Ko 7D; 4th: Andrew Lu 7D; 5th: Aaron Ye 6D.
Dan handicap: 1st: Wensheng Wang 4D; 2nd: April Ye 1D; 3rd: Steve Burrall 3D; 4th: Alex Lee 1D; 5th: Wai-to Char 1D.
Upper Kyu Handicap: 1st: Hendrick Rommeswinkel 3K; 2nd: Ted Terpstra 5K; 3rd: Preston Hutchins 2K
Mid Kyu Handicap: 1st: Ben Matthews 7K; 2nd: Jerry Lu 8K; 3rd: Susanna Pfeffer 10K
Low Kyu Handicap: 1st: Daniel Su 15K; 2nd: Chris Lin 13K; 3rd: Scott Nichols 12K

Taking advantage of a break in the recent winter weather, twenty-six players turned out for the NOVA Chinese Lunar New Year tournament on Saturday, February 15 at George Mason Law School in Arlington VA. “The tournament results were a bit unusual, as all first place players had perfect records!” reports organizer Allan Abramson. The Lunar New Year beginner’s 13×13 tournament also attracted eight players. “Congratulations to all the beginners who participated: the future of US go!” said Abramson. photo: Beginner’s Tournament players, with Ching-Sung Chin (right); click here for more photos.  
Winner’s Report:
First: Daniel Chou, 6D, 4-0; Hsiao Hsiung, 1K, and Mohan Sud, 3K, both tied at 4-0; Joey Phoon, 5K, 4-0; and Mulan Liu, 16K, 4-0; Second: Zhiyuan Zhang, 6D, 3-1; Tevis Tsai, 9K, 2-2; and Sean Lin, 25K, 3-1
Lunar New Year Beginner’s 13×13 Tournament: First: Ethan Tung, 6-0 and Justin Wang, 6-0; Second: Eric Chang, 4-2; Third: Frank Chang, 3-3 and Minche Lee, 3-3

When the Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg, Maryland sponsored a Chi­nese New Year cel­e­bra­tion recently, local player Benjamin Hong volunteered to teach go, saying “how could you have a Chi­nese New Year cel­e­bra­tion with­out go?” Organizers set up a large 9×9 demo board, a 13×13 and a 19×19 board, as well as mul­ti­ple begin­ner boards for new players. “My big cus­tomer of the day was a lit­tle girl who was about 5,” Hong writes on his blog. “We played a cou­ple games of first cap­ture that went well, and it seemed like she had fun.” A num­ber of inter­ested peo­ple stop by to play and ask ques­tions, and Hong says the suc­cessful event “def­i­nitely got me think­ing about doing more things like this in the future.” Photo by Stephanie  

Robert A. McCallister, one of the key go organizers in the U.S. in the late 1950’s and 60s, died Feb 5 in Winchester, VA at 92. A long time New Jersey organizer, McCallister also served the American Go Association in just about every official capacity, from American Go Journal (AGJ) editor to membership secretary, ratings head and president. “He was part of the first wave of US go after WW II with publication of the American Go Journal and a set of rules for commercial go sets like the one my parents found in Brentanos Bookstore in the Bergen Mall in Paramus NJ,” says former AGA president Terry Benson. McCallister served as AGA Secretary starting in 1957, as well as AGJ staff, and headed AGA publications from 1959 to 1962, editing the AGJ from 1957-1962. He served as president of the AGA in 1961 and 1962, was in charge of membership from 1965 to ’66, then headed ratings with Robert Ryder in 1967, when he drafted a go rating system and, with Richard Dolen, developed a procedure for holding telephone matches that was used for national championships and international friendship matches. “He was a fixture at the New Jersey Open and remained an active player into the early ’80s,” Benson says. “A quick review of the AGJ during his reign features a nice article by him called ‘My Trip to Japan’ in Vol. 7, No 3 May 1959,” adds Keith Arnold. “He was over for business for five months, coincidentally in the same building that held the Nihon Kiin. He was 3 kyu at the time, and played Segoe Kensaku, Takagawa Kaku and Karigane The game record of the Takagawa game is provided. There is also a photo of him, along with Iwamoto, Karl Davis Robinson and Edward Lasker during Iwamoto’s New York visit.” Benson adds “Thinking of the 55th New Jersey Open coming up on March 1st brings back memories of the fixtures at that tournament: Bob, Harry Gonshor, Bob Ryder and Takao Matsuda. The torch bearers from that era are now all gone.”
photo: McCallister playing Harry Gonshor in 1977; photo by Terry Benson

Myungwan Kim 9P (left) has opened his own go school, the American Go Institute in the city of Arcadia east of Los Angeles. Kim tells the EJ the Institute offers comprehensive and specialized training programs for kids to approach go and is dedicated to helping and developing kids’ potential. “With expert instruction and a proven training methodology, the Institute provides a true foundation for future success,” Kim said. Kim moved to the US in 2008 to promote go at the behest of the Korea Baduk Association and has been instrumental in starting the AGA’s professional certification program. For the stronger players, the Institute’s methodology involves a great deal of deep reading practice and life and death work in keeping with the latest techniques used in Asian go schools, as well as face-to-face play and review. Beginners are also welcome. In addition to Kim, top level former insei Evan Cho (right) is teaching at the Institute. For more information, call 626-538-4286 or e-mail americangoinstitute@gmail.com.

The Twin Cities Go Club Winter Open tournament was held last Saturday, February 8, on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis, MN. Thirty four players participated in a three-round McMahon tournament. “Additional players showed up throughout the day and enjoyed casual games in our social room but did not participate in the tournament,” reports Aaron Broege. Bongkyun Moon 4D won all three of his games to place first in the tournament. Bo Hessburg 3k and Xiaoyu Wang 2k also won all three of their games. Prizes were awarded for first place and for individuals who won all three of their games. “There was also a raffle for prizes including books donated by club members, gift cards to the coffee shops where we regularly meet, an AGA membership, and a game review session for kyu players with stronger members of the club,” Broege says. “We welcomed some new faces at the tournament and added four new AGA memberships that day to push our club totals to over 30 active AGA members. We are looking forward to our quarterly AGA ratings tournament in April.”
photo: Bongkyun Moon 4D (left) playing Yanqing Sun 2D; photo courtesy Aaron Broege