American Go E-Journal » Youth

Northwestern University in Illinois offered a new course on go last semester. The course was designed to help students build number sense, understand math concepts, and practice mathematical thinking, and was offered through the Center for Talent Development. The course evolved from a joint research project set up in November, 2015, by Xinming Guo, founder of Go and Math Academy, and David Uttal, a professor of Psychology and Education at Northwestern University. Guo has been advocating go for years, integrating the game as a math manipulative in the classroom. Each year thousands of students in Chicago and its suburbs have opportunities to make their first contact with go. After a demonstration of go and its connections to math education, Professor Uttal suggested Guo develop a course on go and math for the CTD program at Northwestern University. The new course was offered to students for the first time this past fall.

Professor Uttal leads a research laboratory of undergraduate, graduate students, and post-docs investigating spatial cognition and STEM (Science Technology, Engineering and Math) education. With the help of Professor Uttal and his lab, the research now focuses not only on go and elementary math education, but also on go and spatial thinking. The project team is comprised of Professor Uttal, his doctoral student Yanning Yu, and Guo. “Once we have more research results, we are hopeful that a link can be established between go and fundamental cognitive skills of human beings,” says Guo.

“The course and research have generated rich data so far. Doctoral student Yu and another research assistant, who recorded the entire 8-week course, have made many surprising discoveries after just a preliminary analysis,” says Guo. Deeper analysis is continuing and will provide more supporting materials for the 2nd phase of the research. “Go is a gold mine for future researches, no, a diamond mine,” said Professor Uttal.

Guo shared his vision of bringing go to every school in his keynote speech at the US Go Congress in 2015. He continues to develop elementary go and math curricula to help students build solid math foundations, and also runs professional development seminars for teachers. “I hope that our research on the relationship between go and math can also make contributions to the history of go in the whole world,” said Guo. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.  Photo by Xinming Guo: Professor Uttal (l) and Xinming Guo (r) with the Northwestern CTD Catalog, fall 2016, which lists their go course under the math category.

The second split of the Collegiate Go League (CGL) begins today. The CGL is a competitive league for college go clubs, now running for its sixth season. Fifteen universities from across the US and Canada are competing in the CGL’s regular season with 10 rounds and playoffs in April to determine the champion.

After 5 rounds of competition, University of Maryland-College Park leads the A League, while Lafayette College leads the B League. Among the fierce competitors are former stars of the North American youth scene, such as Yunxuan Li 7d for Cornell University, Lionel Zhang 6d for UCLA, and Calvin Sun 1p for UC Berkeley.

“Tune in on KGS to see your favorite players face off!” says Justin Teng. Click here for schedules and details.

Registration for the 2017 North American Kyu Championship (NAKC) closes on January 29th. Kyu players that are under the age of 18 and members of either the AGA, CGA, Gimnasio de Go, or MGA are eligible to compete across 5 divisions down to double-digit kyu in Junior (under 13) or Senior (under 18) sections for beautiful crystal trophies. In addition, players who participate in all 4 rounds are eligible for either a $200 scholarship to the 2017 US Go Congress in San Diego, CA, or a $400 to the 2017 AGA Summer Go Camp, courtesy of the American Go Foundation. The tournament will be held on KGS on February 4th; for official rules and format, click here. To register, click here.

Tony Tang 7d won the Open Division in the Young Lions Tourney with a perfect 4-0 record in a field of 6 high dan players.  Held by the American Go Honor Society, the Young Lions is open to North American youth in high school, or younger. “I would like to thank the AGHS for holding the tournament,” said Tang, “everyone I  played in this tournament was pretty strong, I almost lost some of my games. Fortunately, I came back in the end. It was fun and a good experience.”  Bingyun Wang 5d, who lost only to Tang, took second in the Open Division. “This year’s tournament was a huge success,” adds AGHS Promotion Head Albert Yen.  “The  phenomenal turnout of 52 players, 13 of whom were dan players, yielded an impressive 5 divisions this year.”  Top four finishers in each bracket will be receiving prizes including cash, trophies, and AGHS t-shirts. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.  Photo by Tony Tang. Winner’s Report: Open Division (4d+): Tony Tang; Division A (3k-3d): Eden Chen; Division B (9k-4k): Darwin Kim; Division C (12k-9k): Alana Noehrenberg; Division D (30-13k): Jerry Qui. For full results click here.

The third annual North American Kyu Championships (NAKC) will be held on February 4th this year on KGS. This one-day, 4-round tournament is open to all kyu-level players under the age of 18 from the United States, Canada, or Mexico. The best Junior (under 13) and Senior (under 18) players in each of five divisions will be able to win a fabulous crystal trophy, and the winners of the top division will also be granted entry into the prestigious Redmond Cup, which is traditionally open only to dan-level players. All players who compete in every round of the NAKC will also be eligible to receive either a $400 scholarship to the AGA Summer Go Camp, or a $200 scholarship to the 2017 US Go Congress, courtesy of the American Go Foundation. The deadline to register for the NAKC is January 29th; click here to register and here for the official Rules and Format. For dan players, registration for the 2017 Redmond cup will open in mid to late February.

The AGA and the American Asia Culture Exchange Association have announced a new youth tournament to take place Jan. 21 in Los Angeles. The one-day, four-round event is being sponsored by AACEA and its founder, California go enthusiast Jingwei Zheng, and supported by The Korea Daily newspaper. Children and teen-agers aged 17 and younger on the date of the tournament may play in the rated event. Prizes, including trophies, will be awarded in up to four rank divisions, along with other special prizes such as youngest player; it expected about 30 kids will attend. Please pre-register by sending an e-mail to tournament director Yixian Zhou at yixian_zhou@hotmail.com. The event will go from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 10am to 6pm at the Korea Daily Education Center, 690 Wilshire Place, Los Angeles.