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

Three previous winners of Seattle Go Center tournaments competed in the Spring Tournament, held May 6.  They were Sorin Gherman 6d, who won the 2018 Jin Chen tournament, Kai Fugami 6d, winner of the 2017 Anniversary Tournament, and Yue Zhang 7d, who won the 2016 Anniversary Tournament.  Yue Zhang won the eight person Open Section with a 3-0 record, while the other two players had 2-1 records, along with Zhixiang Lou 5d.

The Handicapped Section had 20 players.  In a change from previous tournaments, there were no bands in the Handicapped Section.  Book and equipment prizes were given to all players who won three games.  They were Zihong Yao 2d, Frank Brown 6k, Xiangnan Chen 7k, and Lucas Lu 9k, who also won the youth prize.

Your reporter also noticed a wide range of game recording techniques.  Some of the strongest players just relied on memory, while other players used paper kifu, laptops, tablets, and video recording with a cell phone.  First photo: Yue Zhang in center of photo.  Photos/report by Brian Allen

Registration is now open for the 45th annual Maryland Open, coming up May 26-27 in Baltimore, MD. The long-running AGA-rated tournament attracts a large and strong field, with prizes in all sections. Five rounds are held over two days, three on Saturday and two on Sunday. First round starts at 11a on Saturday, May 26.

The AGA and CGA have received an invitation to select three North American players to participate in the 16-player World Division of the 2018 Samsung Cup.  The tournament will take place July 3-6 in Korea, selecting a player by single elimination to play in the Samsung Cup’s main tournament round of 32 in early September.  The other players will include four from Europe, one from South America, three from Asia excluding Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan, and four selected from foreign students enrolled in Korean go schools.  The selected players will receive a $1,000 travel subsidy but will be responsible for all their travel costs. Eligibility is limited to amateurs and AGA-certified professionals who also meet the applicable standards of either AGA or CGA.  The players must also be able to stay until the July 6 closing ceremony and, if selected, be willing and able to play in the September main tournament.  Please send your name and details to Andy Okun at president@usgo.org by May 15. 

MGA’s Yu Zhong passes: Yu Zhong (right) passed away May 2 after almost a year fighting with lung cancer. “He is AGA 5 dan and played a lot of Massachusetts Go Association tournaments,” reports Ke Lu. You can find a list of his games here.

Seeking go clock apps: Does anyone have a list of go clock apps for smart phones? “I’d like an app that has sudden death, byoyomi and Canadian overtime, and Fishcher timing,” writes Phil Straus. Email suggestions to journal@usgo.org

World rankings: “Several people have recently asked for a worldwide ranking comparison,” writes Guillermo Molano. “I think that the one found at Sensei’s Library is very accurate.” Bill Saltman adds that while “I can’t speak to the general validity of this chart…I have played on KGS and Pandanet (IGS) and the rank comparison seems valid between those two.  I’m a 6K on KGS (last I checked) and 9K on Pandanet.”