American Go E-Journal » Youth

The San Diego Go Club has expanded its go educational program to include the Sejong School which teaches Korean language, Korean culture, math, coding and Baduk (Go) on Saturdays and Sundays. Three members of the SDGC – Arunas Rudvalis, Les Lanphear III, and Ted Terpstra – have regularly taught Go at the school on Saturday afternoons since last summer. The American Go Foundation has provided some equipment to the Sejong School through its schools’ program providing free classroom starter sets.

The winter session just ended with an in-house Go tournament for the students. A few of the students also played in the 2019 California State Go Championship in December. By next year, hopefully, many more students will be playing in San Diego Go tournaments.

photo by Soo Yoon
report by Ted Terpstra

“The AGHS is hosting its Youth Go League which will start in February 2020,” says Promotion Head Sophia Wang, “Because playing games is crucial to improving quickly, the league offers young go players an opportunity to play more serious online games.”

There will be 4-5 rounds each month, paired by divisions using a ladder system such that players face others of similar strength. All youth ages 18 and under from the US, Canada, and Mexico are invited to participate in these friendly yet competitive matches. Prizes will be awarded. The registration deadline is 11:59 PM PST on January 26, 2020.

For rules and regulations, click here.
For registration, click here.

“Over 70 players from across North America competed intensely in the AGHS’s annual Young Lions Tournament, which took place over the past month,” says AGHS Promotion Head Sophia Wang, “There was impressive participation, including several high-dan competitors and many new players joining the Go community.” Frederick Bao, who won first place at the 2019 US Open as well as multiple recent tournaments, emerged victorious as the champion of the 2019 Young Lions Tournament after being undefeated in the highly competitive open division. Zhixiang Lou followed closely as second place and Ruihan Cao took third.

Winners’ Report: Open Division 1st: Frederick Bao, 2nd: Zhixiang Lou, 3rd: Ruihan Cao; Division A 1st: Toranosuke Ozawa, 2nd: Sophie Lin, 3rd: Chase Lin; Division B 1st: Steve Zhang, 2nd: Kyle Fenimore, 3rd: Samantha Soo; Division C 1st: Jason Yang, 2nd: Stephanie Tan, 3rd: Juanshu Lan; Division D 1st: Zhiyong Huang, 2nd: Joshua Wong, 3rd: Allen Tan; Division E 1st: Shinyan Hu, 2nd: Christina Wang, 3rd: Ethan Tu; Division F 1st: Zhihan William Huang, 2nd: Noah Carrafa, 3rd: Enzo Aozono-Araldi -Lionel Zhang, EJ Youth Correspondant

Registration is now open for the annual suite of AGA-run youth tournaments, including the 7th North American Kyu Championships (NAKC), the 27th Redmond Cup, and the 3rd AGA Girls Cup. For all three tournaments, competitors must reside in North America and be a member of the his or her country’s national Go organization.

The year kicks off on February 1st with the 7th North American Kyu Championships, which is a four-round, one-day tournament on the KGS Go Server for North American kyu players under the age of 18. Top junior (under 13) and senior (13-17) players in each of five rank divisions can win personalized crystal trophies, and the junior and senior champions of the top division will be invited to play in the Redmond Cup, which traditionally requires one to have a dan-level rank to compete. Players who complete all rounds of the NAKC will also be eligible for a $200 scholarship to the 2020 US Go Congress (USGC) in Estes Park, Colorado, courtesy of the American Go Foundation. Registration for the NAKC closes on January 26th, and interested competitors can read about the rules and additional details here.

The 27th Redmond Cup and 3rd AGA Girls Cup are premier tournaments for North American youth under 18 and females under 16 respectively. Players must have an accredited rank of 1-dan or higher to participate in the Redmond Cup, and an accredited rank of 10-kyu or higher to participate in the AGA Girls Cup. The Redmond Cup features both a Junior (under 13) and a Senior (13-17) division, while the AGA Girls Cup will feature one division. Both tournaments are online preliminaries to determine two finalists in each division who will be invited to play in a best-of-three match at the 2020 US Go Congress. The American Go Foundation will cover all reasonable expenses for the finalists of both tournaments to travel to and compete at the 2020 USGC. Players who complete all rounds of either tournament will also be eligible for a $200 scholarship to the 2020 USGC. Registration for the Redmond Cup will close on March 11th, with competition starting on March 15th. Registration for the AGA Girls Cup will close on March 18th, with competition starting on March 22nd. Interested competitors can read about the rules for the Redmond Cup here and rules for the AGA Girls Cup here. – Story and photos by Justin Teng, AGA Youth Coordinator

“The American Go Honor Society is hosting its annual Young Lions Tournament, ” says Promotion Head Sophia Wang, “All go players under age 18 of any rank are welcome. It is a great tournament where youth players can compete against others from the United States, Canada, and Mexico for prizes. There is a total prize pool of $600 in cash, trophies, and other awards.”

For registration, click here.
For detailed rules, click here.

Applications for the 2019-2020 American Go Honor Society (AGHS) officer team are now open! The American Go Honor Society is an organization driven primarily by high school students to promote go among young players throughout America, hosting tournaments, leagues, and other go events throughout the school year. To apply, please fill out the form here; the application is due 10-5 at 11:59pm PDT. 

31 young players came out to the New York Institute of Go in Little Neck, NY to compete in the 1st U20 Eastern Youth Go Open on August 31st. The tournament was sponsored by the NYIG and organized by NYIG President Stephanie Yin 1p as part of an initiative to create more opportunities for youth to have face-to-face tournament play. In order to be eligible to play in this tournament, players had to be at least 10 kyu or stronger, which Yin hopes will encourage newer players to improve their playing level. Players came from as far as Chicago and Maryland to play in the tournament, which featured over $1,500 of prizes. In the open section, Willis Huang 6d from New Jersey went undefeated to be crowned the undisputed champion. In a rare turn of events, the other four players in that section defeated each other in a circle, creating an unbreakable tie for second. In the other divisions, Shuhui Lin 2d, Chase Lin 1k, and Xinyu Chen 6k demonstrated their prowess with undefeated 4-0 records.

The NYIG plans for this tournament to be an annual event, and looks forward to more young players competing in the future. Additional tournaments and events for both youth and adult players are also in the works, so stay tuned for future announcements.

Winner’s list:

Division A (Open)
1st: Willis Huang 6d
2nd (4-way tie): Alex Qi 4d, Sophia Wang 4d, Frederick Bao 5d, Minzhi Wang 5d

Division B
1st: Shuhui Lin 2d
2nd: Jiayang Su 1d
3rd: Niel Ni 1d

Division C
1st: Chase Lin 1k
2nd: Samantha Soo 4k
3rd (tie): Marcos Yang 1k and Jerry Ju 3k

Division D
1st: Xinyu Chen 6k
2nd: Jonathan Chen 9k
3rd: Crystal Yihan Pang 8k

-Report and Photos by Justin Teng