“The AGHS is delighted to announce that this year’s annual Young Lions Tournament will take place on consecutive Sundays of November 13 and November 20,” says AGHS Vice President Patrick Zhao, “All 18-and-under (or currently in high school) North American players are welcome to participate!”
Schedule: First round: 12pm EST (9am PST) on November 13 Second round: 2pm EST (11am PST) on November 13 Third round: 12pm EST (9am PST) on November 20 Fourth round: 2pm EST (11am PST) on November 20
The deadline to register is Saturday, November 5, 11:59 pm EST. All rules and regulations can be found here. If you have any questions, please contact the AGHS team at aghsregister@gmail.com. If you would like to be added to the AGHS mailing list, please fill out this form.
Applications are now being accepted for the American Go Foundation(AGF) college scholarship. The program recognizes high school students who have served as important youth organizers and promoters for the go community. To apply, download and complete the application form here. Applicants should describe their accomplishments and volunteer work in a short essay. Letters of recommendation may also be included. Applicants whose enthusiasm and ambition have helped spread go in under-served areas will be given special consideration. Strong players who spend much of their time voluntarily teaching will also be considered, although the award focuses on promoters and organizers who have made substantial contributions during their go career. Applications are due Nov. 16th this year. -Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.
Monitoring of the players through Zoom and their games
Evan Tan 4d swept the North American Youth Open on September 4th, posting a 4-0 perfect score. The third edition of the North American Youth Open (NAYO) was hosted by the New York Go Association and sponsored by the American Go Foundation, and took place online on KGS. The tournament games were monitored through video meeting on Zoom. Sixty youth players of all different levels from across North America participated, ranging in strength from 19k to 6d. Players were split into six divisions based on their rank.
Notably, the results of the 3rd NAYO broke the record of having the most number of tied players, with three players tied for second place in Division C and two players tied for second place in Division E.
“As the situation of the pandemic is getting better, our in-person tournaments will resume very soon,” says NYIF president Stephanie Yin.
Below are the results of all six divisions:
Division A (4d – 6d) 1st Place: Evan Tan 2nd Place: Minhao Shen 3rd Place: Yuqing Zhang
Division B (1k – 2d) 1st Place: Jiayang Su 2nd Place: Daniel Luo 3rd Place: Jenny Li
Division C (4k – 2k) 1st Place: Matthew Wang 2nd Place: Juliet Zhang, Enzo Aozono-Araldi, Chenhui Zhang (tie)
Division D (7k – 5k) 1st Place: Maria Aozono-Araldi 2nd Place: Zoe Tan 3rd Place: Anna Zhou
Division E (10k – 8k) 1st Place: Yiting Liu 2nd Place: Benjamin Lo, Jeremy Wong
Division F (19k – 12k) 1st Place: Christine Guo 2nd Place: Donovan Chen 3rd Place: Jayden Lai
Five Capital Go Club members at the 2022 Go Congress (l-r: Edward Zhang, Xiaodi Huang, Della Tang, head coach Michael Zhou, and Al Tang)
In October last year, nearly 50 AGA players competed online in the 10th Virginia Open via BadukClub‘s tournament platform.
Yi Li 7D (5W-1L), an undergraduate at Duke University and 2021 North Carolina champion, overcame a 3rd-round loss to take 1st place over Zhengbokang Tang 8D (5W-1L) from Colorado by a narrow SOS margin. James Chih-Rong Sun 6D from Canada won the Youth 1st-Place award, and Stephanie Tan 1D from Indiana was the women’s champion.
“Even with the expected errors and no-shows, our TDs worked overtime to maximize the number of games played and perfect the pairings,” stated Co-TD Devin Fraze. “Players seem delighted. With a total of 0 players struggling with technical details and with all games starting automatically. The BadukClub in-page chat helped a few players befriend another and was flooded at the end with many thanks.”
Qingbo Zhang was the co-TD and distributed prizes and certificates. The total prize pool was $560 with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place of the Open Elite division receiving $200, $100, and $50 respectively.
Full winners report:
Division, Prizes, 1st, 2nd, 3rd (and/or 4th)
Open Elite (6-8D) $200/100/50 :Yi Li, Zhengbokang Tang, Chen Zhang, Jimmy Creeks (Jing Guo) Open (4-5D): Qingbo Zhang, Juanshu Lan, Mani Sanford Youth 1D+ James Sun, Juanshu Lan, Al Tang Youth 1-9K Derek Zhou, Massa Jin, Kai Lan Youth 10-20K Chenchen Xiong, Kyle Tang, Lucia Moscola Women’s Stephanie Tan, Angel Zhou, Della Tang, Anna Zhou, (5th Serena Tu, 6th Lucia Moscola, 7th Melody Liu) Expert (1-3D) Al Tang, Stephanie Tan, Evan Tan Proficient (1-4K) Derek Hounong Zhou, Massa Jin, Tai-An Cha Intermediate (5-9K) Jim Sandy, Justin Collier, Della Tang Novice (10-20K) Chenchen Xiong, Kyle Tang, Steven A Zilber
The Capital Go Club also plans to host an in-person tournament in Fairfax Virginia on 11/27/2022, which may feature a hybrid tourney with the California State Championship over the same weekend.
The AGHS is starting the fall season of its Weekly Go Problems on October 9th. Five problems will be sent out every week for participants to solve. Everyone is welcome to participate.
“We want to create a space where players are actively encouraged to practice solving go problems. We know how important consistent practice is and solving problems together is always more fun than going at it alone,” says AGHS Vice President Patrick Zhao.
Please register through this link by October 6th at 11:59 pm PT. Additional information regarding Weekly Go Problems can be found in this document. Any questions or concerns can be sent to aghsregister@gmail.com.
The AGHS is ecstatic to kick off its 2022-2023 year with new officers and to announce the return of its monthly tournament: The AGHS Youth League. The October league will begin on 10/2 and will feature three rounds played over three consecutive weekends (10/2, 10/9, 10/16). Youth players, 18 years old and younger, will have a chance to face off against each other in weekly games. Registration ends on 9/30 at 11:59pm PT.
More information regarding rules and regulations can be found on this document. Register using this form. Any questions or concerns may be sent to aghsregister@gmail.com
Kidsgoserver.com, a new site designed specifically for kids aged 6 to 12, is now live on the web as a beta release. A joint project of the American Go Foundation and the British Go Association, the server is designed to be a totally safe and kid friendly environment that can be used by anyone, and in schools. The site is accessed through a website, and requires no software, and no login. Graphics and animations help kids realize when stones are in atari. Your choice of rocket ships on the home page will take you to a lessons page or a playing page on one of several planets. For now, the lessons are only text, but voice actors will read them in the future. More lessons, as well as go problems, will be coming as well. Kids can play either 9×9 or 13×13 against weak AI bots, as well as against other kids. Chat is limited to preselected phrases so there are no safety concerns. Kids who wish to save their avatar can generate a login code or just pick a new avatar every time they come.
The graphics and characters were all designed by Nick Snyder, a professional animator and artist. The coding is by Akita Noek from OGS, with lessons by Paul Barchilon, and conceptual design by Barchilon and AGF President Terry Benson.
Click here to visit the site, and here to give us feedback on the beta.
American Go Honor Society (AGHS) officer applications are open for the 2022-2023 year. The AGHS is a youth-led organization dedicated to promoting go and directing tournaments for emerging young go players. North American players who are in the 8th-12th grades are eligible and encouraged to apply. The deadline for applications is September 4, 2022 at 11:59pm PDT.
The World Youth Goe Championship, going on now online, includes players representing North America: Jate Greene, Senior player; Kevin Xu, Junior player; Crane Kuo, Junior player, Zifei Gong, Senior player. Greene and Xu are from the U.S., while Kuo and Gong are from Canada. The games are being played on the Tencent Wild Fox server.
“The first Challenger Series is live!” says AGHS Co-President Sophia Wang. “Our North American youth representatives on Team AGHS began their face-off with Team JIGS (a European Go school) this past weekend. Two rounds will be played every weekend between AGHS and JIGS team members. AGHS representatives were selected among the winners of this year’s AGHS tournaments, including Youth League, Girls Who Play Go, and School Team Tournament. The current score is 1-1, with AGHS team member Theo Tuschl taking down the 7th seeded JIGS player but falling to the 6th seeded JIGS player.”
