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

Mark Rubenstein and Bob Barber are preparing to do their second presentation about go at PechaKucha. Pecha-wha? 

Perennial champion Eric Zhang won the North Carolina Annual Spring tournament on Sunday, April 22nd, topping a field of 38. “It was a beautiful sunny day on the UNC campus in Chapel Hill,” reports organizer Bob Bacon, “and after four rounds of intense competition the following winners were noted: in the top band, Eric Zhang won all of his games; second place was a tie between Brian Wu and Suyoung Yoon. Band 2 was won by Tao Ma with another 4-0 record; Paul Celmer placed second. There was a 3 way tie for first place in Band 3, with Eric Tillberg, Harrison Pedigo and Tom Roncoli each achieving a 3-1 record. Raul Crisan won all 4 of his games to lead the pack in Band 4, with Justin Su and Ganning Xu placing second. Band 5 was handily won by Ajay Dheeraj, with another perfect 4-0 record; Annie Yuan and John Schollenberger tied for second, and Sophia Yang was 3rd.

The local go community was encouraged by the many first- and second-time tournament participants. The tournament was attended by many supportive parents “and one special guest, local Professional Ying Shen 2P,” Bacon says. “Ying Shen 2P offered suggestions and encouragement to many of the participants, and her presence was greatly appreciated.” Jeff Kuang was the Tournament Director. Lunch was provided onsite by the Triangle Go Group. The site was arranged by the Cary Go Club.
photos by Bob Bacon

Twenty-nine players — including the TD who played two out of four games to maintain parity — participated in the Massachusetts Go Association’s 2018 Don Wiener Memorial Tournament on April 15 at  the Boylston Chess Club in Cambridge MA. Players ranged from eight to octogenarian. Strengths ranged from 20 kyu to 5 dan.  Four women played.  First and second place cash prizes were combined and divided equally between  YiLin Xu 5 dan (left), and James Peters, 5 kyu (right), both of whom went 4-0. Third place was awarded to Micah Feldman, 3 dan (middle),  “by our software which sorts the 3-1 winners by how well their opponents fared,” reports TD Eva Casey.

Stephanie Yin and Ryan Li have just launched NYIG_Go, the New York Institute of Go’s YouTube Channel. “The channel will feature videos of the rules of the game, common mistakes, fuseki strategy and more,” says Yin. They also hope to offer daily life and death problems as well. “Over many years teaching at the annual US Go Congress, the most common question Ryan and I received from players at our lectures was ‘How am I able to get to dan level?’” Yin, a professional go player and president/founder of the New York Go Association tells the EJ. “And our answer is always simple: Do two problems every day and I will see you all at the dan-level lecture.”

The Penn Go Society will host the first annual Pennsylvania State Go Championship on Saturday, April 28th and Sunday, April 29th, 2018. Part of the AGA’s new state championships, the event features five rounds spanning two days, with both handicap and open divisions, and over $1000 in prizes. For more information, check out the PGS website.

Pre-registration is required to participate in the tournament. “Due to security reasons, the building requires us to provide a guestlist ahead of time, or YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED inside,” emphasizes Gina Shi. The deadline for registration is April 24th. To register, click here  and complete the registration form. For details, email tournaments@penngosociety.org