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

The fourth running of the South Central Go Tournament will be held Presidents’ Day weekend — February 16 and 17 — in Dallas Texas. There will be Open and Handicap Sections. Prior events have drawn around 40 players and from several states. Prizes will be awarded in both the Open and Handicap Sections, and the Texas resident who finishes best in the Open Section will become the 2019 Texas State Champion.

Players can register for the tournament on-line; updated information  is available on Facebook, where there’s also a registration button. Send questions about the Texas State Championship to Bart Jacob at bart.jacob@gmail.com. Send general questions about the tournament to bobgilman.aga@gmail.com
photo: at the 2017 tournament

Eight kyu Joseph Chaves went 4-0 to win the Massachusetts Go Association’s annual Winter Handicap Tournament on January 6. A total of 18 players ranging from 6 dan to 13 kyu competed in the tournament at the Boylston Chess Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Chaves earned $50 for his first-place finish; tied for second place the following 3-1 players won $10 apiece: YiLin Xu 6d, Benjamin Gunby 3k, Eric Reid 4k, Josh Greene 12k and Albert Brox 13k.
– report/photo by Eva Casey, Tournament Director and Tournament Coordinator of the Massachusetts Go Association. Click here  to see more photos. 
photo: Joseph Chaves and Benjamin Gundy, both 3-0, face off in Round 4

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.