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

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.

Ten players from across the state met at the Aldea Community Center in Santa Fe, NM on November 3 to compete in the 2018 New Mexico State Go Championship. In the three-round Open Section, four players vied to be champion in a round-robin. With even games, expectations were high that the strongest player, Steve Uhl (1.2d), would dispatch the other hopeful kyu players with ease. But Billy Maier (3.2k) from Albuquerque, the next strongest player, had other ideas, winning all his games to become Champion.

“We were pleased to present him with his personal trophy and award him the State Championship trophy,” reports TD
Robert Cordingley. “Billy is expected to defend his title next year.” In the Handicap Section, up-and-coming Kyle Fenimore (9k) from White Rock, NM won all his games to take first place, beating Stewart Kane, who placed second and Bob Gilman, who took third place.  “Our thanks go to local go player Lewis Geer and the AGA for their generous sponsorship of this tournament,” Cordingley added.
photos: (right) Maier (at left) and Uhl; (left) TD Robert Cordingley presents Billy Maier with his trophy.

The New York Institute of Go’s (NYIG) official YouTube channel (NYIG_Go) recently achieved a significant milestone, reaching the 1,000 subscribers mark. “I was surprised by how quickly the numbers are climbing, since our videos are so short and simple,” says Stephanie Yin 1p, NYIG president. “Our goal is to present the English-speaking go community with kick-start knowledge on all aspects of the game,” added Ryan Li 1p. Current active series on the channel include “Mistakes of the Month” and “Joseki Lessons.” “Stay tuned for the weekly uploads!” Yin said. 

Feifan Jia 5D took top honors at the 4th Lake Erie Go Tournament,  held November 18 on the campus of Lake Erie College.  Twenty players competed in the four round, handicap tournament, and player ranks ranged from 5d to 25k. The tournament was co-directed by Soren Jaffe and Catherine Swank.

Dan division (2kyu and up) winners:
1st place: Feifan Jia 5D
2nd place: Soren Jaffe 5D
3rd place: Devin Fraze 2K

Kyu division (3kyu and below) winners:
1st place: Joe Kaplan 6K
2nd place: Ian Hogan 7K
3rd place: Manny Jauregi 14K

photos: (right) Tournament director Soren Jaffe (left) with Kyu division winner Joe Kaplan; (Left) Tournament director Catherine Swank (left) with Dan division winner Feifan Jia.

The 2018 New York Youth Go Open was hosted on November 17 at the New York Institute of Go in Little Neck, NY. The Institute’s first youth AGA-rated face to face tournament with both trophies and cash prizes attracted 45 young players from the minimum age of 4  to 10th graders. Eleven-year-old Sophie Lin 2d won the top division with a four-game winning streak.

“We will continue working harder to hold more tournaments, and encourage and provide more opportunity to young players in New York!” said Institute president Stephanie Yin 1p. Every year, the New York Go Association and New York Institute of Go holds anywhere from 5-10 tournaments, with at least five of them youth competitions. Stephanie Yin has now taught nearly 400 youth players in New York, steadily growing the community of young go players. Click here for more on the Institute, including local tournaments, the Institute’s go club, and their YouTube channel.

Winner’s Report
Open Division (2dan-7kyu, No handicap): Sophie Lin, Chase Lin, Boyang Liu
Kyu Division: 8kyu-17kyu
Senior Division (grades 6-10): Brandon Zhu; Lillian Wu; David Wu
Junior Division (grades 3-5): Jack Zhang; Alex Fan-Cui; Gary Ning
Kyu Division: 18kyu-26kyu
Senior Division (grades 6-10): Alan Yang; Joyce Shen; Darian Pan
Junior Division (grades 3-5): Fangyi Yu; Fangwu Yu; Ava Gao
Elementary Division (K- grade 2): George Ning; Chenxi Du; Daniel Deng

by Keith Arnold

I loved Charles French.  That is a term I do not throw around much, but I loved Charles French,who passed away, age 90 on November 13.  All of us, who can remember the time before a stroke severely limited his tournament, workshop and Congress attendance, will recall him fondly.

Charley found go as a chess player fairly early in his life, but never truly got to play until he found the AGA in his retirement. His enthusiasm for the game was perhaps the greatest I have ever witnessed, and he played with a glee that would rival any child.

He also played at a pace rivaled only by a glacier.  His determination and concentration were amazing and he played with deliberate joy, outlasting if not outplaying you.  Indeed, his motionless pose before the go board became a thing of legend, immortalized by me in my poem “Charley at the Ban.”

He was an inveterate tournament goer and congress attendee.  Charley ran a go club from his home in Pennsylvania for many years and, with skills from his work as Treasurer of  the Philadelphia Gas Works, he patiently sorted out some long neglected tax issues for the AGA back in the 1990s. He was a favorite student of Jujo Jiang, who unfailingly asked about him long after he stopped holding his Cleveland Workshops.  He reached 2 kyu, a respectable achievement for a man who started playing in retirement. The AGA database shows 522 games and 108 tournaments, but many of his games were too early for the database to capture.

Charley was a wonderful man, a gentleman of the last century in every good way, and perhaps a few of the bad, that term implies.  He was unfailingly courteous, polite, generous and kind. He loved family and children and above all a good joke and a laugh. Charley also appreciated women, a handsome man, he enjoyed attention, and yes,  to be waited upon, but was always thankful and full of praise for the efforts of others.

Probably because he loved my wife, we spent many, many July weekends at his home on the Jersey Shore.  These were truly some of the favorite times of my life, well fed and taken care of by his wife Addie, and the only price of admission endless games (and with Charley games were endless)  in the sun on the deck. And “Uncle Charley’s” delight and joy in the arrival of our daughter is something I will always remember and appreciate.

stalwart opponent
always, now forever, I
await your next move

An undefeated Michael Chen 8D took top honors in the Gotham Go Tournament on November 10 in New York City. Tournament Director David Gleckle directed his first tournament with his assistants Ying and Sichen, and organizer Peter Armenia extended special “Thanks to my wife Gretchen for managing all the food and drinks.”

Results:

Open Division:
1: Michael Chen (undefeated) 8d
2: Peixuan Wang 8d
3: Jing Guo 6d

Dan Division:
1: Patrick Zhao 3d
2: Alexander Qi 2d
3: Niel Ni 1d

1-4k Division:
1: Jino Chang 2k
3: Ted Lin 2k
3: Jason Chimon 1k

5-9k Division:
1: Andy Segal 5k
2: Luke Kuo 9k
3: Jeffrey Losapio 5k

DDK Division:
1: Alex Fan-cui 10k
2: Zhiyong Huang 15k
3: Ashley Qi 15k

And winning the drawing for the special Manhattan Go Board was Patrick Zhao.