“Applications for the 2020-2021 American Go Honor Society (AGHS) officer team are now open,” says Vice President of Operations Melissa Cao, “The American Go Honor Society is an organization driven primarily by high school students to promote go among young players throughout America. Tournaments, leagues, and other go events catered towards youth are hosted throughout the school year by the AGHS.”
To apply, please fill out the form here The application deadline is Monday, August 31st at 11:59pm PDT.
Frank and his daughter Alice promoting go at a local school.
Frank Luo has been chosen as the AGF Teacher of the Year. The traditional prize, of a free trip to congress, will have to be delayed until next year but the AGF wanted to celebrate Luo’s accomplishments now. Luo will give a talk on the AGA’s Twitch channel on Sunday, Aug. 2 at 4 pm EDT.
“I am so honored to receive the 2020 AGF Teacher of the Year Award,” writes Luo. “Thank you all, especially our parents for supporting their kids playing this educational board game.
“Just like many other go teachers, I started teaching with a desire to connect with my own kids by playing go. Over time, it became a way to share this fascinating game with other families in the local community of Mason, Ohio. In the winter of 2007, I took over an enrichment activity that a few kids, including my own son, had enjoyed greatly. Time flies, it has been more than 12 years now and our go program has had dozens of students since then. With the help of other parents, volunteers, and Huaxia Chinese school in Mason, Ohio, our program has expanded from one class with four students to two classes in the winter of 2019. Now, we have several different levels of groups of young go players active all year round. 2020 has been a year with much uncertainty, so we moved all classes online. We not only have one hour of instruction time, but we also have three playing times each week using Zoom where kids play games and can also socialize with each other. Playing time also serves as a reminder to play go regularly. We teach, we learn, we play with each other, and we play with friends from other parts of the country and other parts of the world.
“We have had all kinds of go activities in the past, including meetups at the libraries, go pizza parties, online team challenge matches, and annual local tournaments that attract players from other cities in Ohio and neighboring states. We organize our students to participate in all AGA/AGHS activities including the School Team Tournament (we always have more than one team), NAKC, Young Lion’s Cup and AGA Youth Go Camp. Our students have performed very well in these activities and received many medals and trophies. We compete with players across the United State and it is fun.
“Several years ago, with the help of my friend and go parent, Tong, we started publishing stories in our community’s newsletter and we started to gain recognition in locally. We also began introducing go to local elementary schools and universities with game nights and many other activities. Many local kids have gotten to know this fascinating board game as a result.
“I try to integrate independent thinking, math concepts, sport spirit, culture, and language elements into my lessons. I hope playing go becomes part of our young kids’ life when they grow up, enjoying the ebb and flow of the game and life. Teaching go has also enriched my own life. Every teaching moment and every event challenges me to do better so our kids can do better as well. We have been thinking about creating a grade level online tournament for double digit kyu players and we are looking for other go teachers who are interested in this idea.
“I appreciate the AGF and the AGA’s commitment to go and look forward to working together to promote go in the future,” said Luo. -Paul Barchilon, EJ Youth Editor.Photo by Frank Luo.
The China Shenyang Dongqi Go School faced off against the California Go Association (Li Hai Go School) in a one-round friendship team match on July 10th. Held on the Xinbo Go server, 14 youth players from each team competed against each other, with the first board broadcast on Yikeweiqi. The match concluded in a 13-1 victory for the China Shenyang Dongqi Go School, with Seowoo Wang 5d managing to score the California Go Association team’s sole win against Jin Xitong 5d on the first board.
“The goal of this friendship match was to overcome the difficulties during the pandemic through Go,” said organizer Li Hai 5P. He believes that through these kinds of international friendship matches, young players will significantly improve. Li Hai plans to organize more events in the future and hopes that more youth players will be able to participate.
Nominations for the American Go Foundation’s Teacher of the Year award are due by June 15th. The award is usually presented each year at the U.S. Go Congress. Although congress has unfortunately been canceled due to Covid-19, the AGF Board decided to still honor a teacher this year, and to simply delay the prize until next year’s congress. The winner will receive an all expenses paid trip to the 2021 US Go Congress in Cleveland. To be eligible a teacher must be a member of the AGA and have been teaching go to children for at least one hour a week for two years – prior to March of this year. The award is now open to other kinds of teachers as well, including online efforts. Click here for more information. If you would like to nominate someone for this award, including yourself, email mail@agfgo.org. Nominations are due by June 15th and should include a description of the teacher’s activities, how long they have been teaching, and how many students attended their program. – Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor. Photo: Screen shots from 2019 Teacher of the Year Nick Sibicky‘s popular Go Lectures on Youtube.
BadukPop has added several improvements in its latest update, including the ability to play against artificial intelligence. The popular go problem app, developed by Hajin Lee 4P and Dan Maas, works on both Android and iOS. The interface was designed to be fun for all ages, including kids, and now features 7 humorous AI characters you can play against. The weakest is Bobby – perfect for people who have just learned to play. Next up is Kevin whose “mind wanders off into deep space – and so do his go moves.” As players work their way up, the AI gets much stronger. “I love playing against Cora,” says Lee “she’s my new rival – I have about a 50/50 win rate against her, and it’s really fun to have a quick game with her now and then.” At the top is Max “a powerful AI that plays at human professional level.”
The app only supports games on 9×9 for now, but 13×13 and 19×19 are coming soon says Maas. A new section of lessons has been added as well. Designed as short sequences to teach new players, you can go from learning the rules to mastering basic corner and side positions. Like everything in BadukPop, the lessons are designed to be quick so one can learn something in just a few minutes, but build deep knowledge over time. Lee goes over the new features on her Youtube channel here. The app is free, but has in app purchases for extra features. Download from the Apple or Android stores, or from BadukPop’s website here. -Paul Barchilon, EJ Youth Editor
“The 2020 AGHS School Team Tournament has concluded,” reports Promotion Head Sophia Wang, “Twenty-two teams competed in four rounds. Each round consisted of three games between two teams, and the team that won two or more games won the round. In Division 1, the New York Institute of Go Team 1 took first place after winning all four rounds. The New York Institute of Go Team 3 came in second, and the Feng Yun Go School Team A came in third. The team from CNY Chinese School won Division 2, going undefeated. In second place was the team representing Russellville High School, and in third was the Saint Ann’s School. All players and substitutes who competed in each of their rounds will receive a T-shirt participation prize, and the top three teams in each division will also be awarded trophies.” – Lionel Zhang, EJ Youth Correspondant
“All are welcome to participate in the AGHS’s weekly go problems program,” says Promotion Head Sophia Wang, “In addition to playing games, practicing go problems is critical to improving reading and practicing new skills. A Google form with a go problem will be sent via email every Sunday with different problems for each level (beginner, intermediate, and advanced).” Sign up for the email list here by April 18, 2020 11:59 pm PT to have a chance at earning points towards prizes.
“Registration for the 2020 AGHS School Team Tournament is now open through March 31st, ” says Promotion Head Sophia Wang, “All participants must be North American residents in grades K-12 and attend the same school as their teammates. Each team has 3 players, with no more than 5 teams per institution. A total of four rounds will be held on two Sundays—April 5th and 12th—at 10am and 1pm PST each day. Players of all four rounds will receive a participation prize, and the top teams in each division will receive cash and trophies.”
Registration for the 27th Redmond Cup and 3rd AGA Girls Cup will be closing soon on March 11th and March 18th respectively. Competitors must be residing in the US, Canada, or Mexico and be members of their respective national Go association. The Redmond Cup is restricted to players under 18 with an accredited rank of 1 dan or stronger, while the AGA Girls Cup is restricted to females under 16 with an accredited rank of 10 kyu or stronger. The two finalists in the AGA Girls Cup and the Junior (12 and under) and Senior (13-17) divisions of the Redmond Cup will be invited to the 2020 US Go Congress with all reasonable expenses paid for by the American Go Foundation to play in a best-of-three match. All other participants who complete either preliminary tournament will be eligible for a $200 scholarship to the 2020 US Go Congress.
The Redmond Cup will begin on March 15th with preliminary matches played online through early-mid June. The AGA Girls Cup will follow a similar schedule starting on March 22nd. Players eligible for both tournaments may participate in them simultaneously. Interested players can read more about the Redmond Cup rules here and register here. Likewise, players can read more about the AGA Girls Cup rules here and register here.
Jiayang Su 1k and Andrew Kim 2k topped the 85-player field at the 7th North American Kyu Championships on February 1st held on the KGS Go Server. Su (Junior champion) and Kim (Senior champion) will both have the opportunity to test their strength against stronger opposition in the Redmond Cup starting later this month. Nearly 80% of the field was made up of Junior Division players (12 and under) and international representation was strong with 18 players from Mexico and 5 players from Canada. Final tournament results including all division winners and the crosstab can be found here. Each winner received a crystal trophy engraved with his or her name, and all participants who participated in each round are eligible for a $200 scholarship to the 2020 US Go Congress in Estes Park, Colorado.
Special thanks to Jeremy Chiu and Andrew Zhang for helping to direct the tournament, as well as Zhongfan Jian and Stephanie Yin from the New York Institute of Go and Sid Avila from the Mexican Go Association for helping the tournament run in a timely fashion. – Justin Teng, AGA Youth Coordinator
