The annual New York Youth Open (NYYO) will take place on Saturday, August 7, 2021 in the KGS AGA Tournament Room. The NYYO is a one-day, 4-round open Go tournament for all players under the age of 18. The tournament will begin with a short opening ceremony online at 11:30 – 11:45 AM EDT on Saturday, August 7, 2021. There is no rank requirement to enter.
The top three players in each division (based on rank) will receive certificates and trophies. For registration, schedule, and rules, tournament video requirements, please visit the website. Registration will close on August 4, 2021. Interested players can also join other young fighters preparing for the tournament at the NYIG summer Go camp.
Are you registered for the 2021 e-Go Congress? Registration ends today, July 15th, at 5pm EST. Head on over to https://www.gocongress.org and register today! A week long of go events awaits you!
Congratulations to all of the players for this year’s Pandanet AGA City League. Each of these teams fought hard in their games to win their leagues. The top two leagues are very tough with the strongest players in the US and Canada. The other two leagues are no slouches either. All of those players battled their many opponents to find out the strongest team across many cities.
The AGA City League Finals will take place on July 23rd at 8pm EST/5pm PST on Pandanet in the AGA City League room. These games will be played between New York City, the reigning champs, and Canwa Vancouver 1. Based on their last matchup this will be an exciting series of games. They will be reviewed starting at 9pm on the AGA Twitch channel with Michael Redmond 9p and Chris Garlock. Make sure to tune in to watch these games and reviews!
Congratulate your cities teams on their winning performances this year:
A League 1/2 – Watch on July 23rd! 3 – Greater Washington 4 – Toronto 5 – Chicago
B League 1 – Boston 2 – Seattle 1 3 – Los Angeles 4 – Chicago 2
C League 1 – Seattle 2 2 – Canwa Vancouver 3 3 – Washington DC 2
D League 1 – North Corvalis 2 – New Mexico 3 – New York City 4
Children laughing, stones clacking, and general excitement returned to the Boulder Public Library in Colorado as the Boulder Kids and Teens Go Club had their first in-person meeting in over a year on Sunday, July 11th. Seventeen kids and about the same number of adults attended. The club moved online for the duration of the pandemic, but it was very hard to teach beginners both how to play and how to use the software at the same time, “it’s much, much, easier in person”, said club co-founder Dave Weiss. Also missing online was any ability to find new players, and the club has always relied on curious passersby in the Children’s Department to reach new kids. “The children’s area is a really important community hub,” said Children’s Library Specialist Ruth Smith, adding that she loved seeing all the families return to the library. Now in its 17th year, the club was forced to celebrate both its 16th and 17th year anniversaries online. Weiss bought two cakes and ice cream to mark the return to in-person play.
The club sent out a press release to mark their return, and the Boulder Daily Camera sent a reporter. The club was on the front page the next day, the article can be seen here.
Boulder County is 78% vaccinated, and many parts of the city are closing in on 90% vaccinated. State and county health officials all felt safe resuming much of normal life after the pandemic shut down so much. Colorado policy is now that masks are optional, and recommended only for unvaccinated people. As the vaccines are only available for ages 12 and up, most club attendees were still masked. Library staff all decided to wear masks as well, so the kids didn’t feel singled out. Kids did take their masks off to enjoy cake and ice cream, but most were masked for the bulk of their visit. -Story and photo by club co-founder Paul Barchilon
After a year’s hiatus, the San Diego Go Club has resumed meeting weekly for in-person play. Because the meeting place for the last 20-years, Twigg’s Coffee House, still is not open in the evenings, SDGC has moved its weekly games to
At Ease Games 8990 Miramar Road Suite #150 San Diego, CA 92126
Eleven club members showed up Thursday July 1st, with ratings from 7d to double-digit-kyu. All participants were given a back-issue of Go World. All Go players are welcome and free lessons are offered.
The SDGC is wrapping up its fourth online go tournament necessitated by the pandemic: the 2021 California Rengo Championship. Ten teams competed: five in the Open and five in the Handicap Section with a round robin competition in each section.
Team-Zhang – Quingbo Zhang 5d and Zhiyuan Zhang 5d, both from Virgini – went undefeated in the Open. Lucia Moscola 8k and Ted Terpstra 5k, both from San Diego, remain undefeated in the Handicap Section, with one game to go.
Do you have extra Go Equipment? Consider donating an item to this charity auction for the American Go Foundation! We are looking for gear, lesson vouchers, art, or even direct donations. Our goal is to raise $5000 for this non-profit.
The e-Go Congress starts this weekend! With registration still open and 436 registered players, including 352 players for the e-Go Open, 120 players for the daytime Blitz tournament, and 60 players for the Double-Digit Kyu Tournament, this year’s congress is turning out to be one of the most popular ever! Haven’t registered yet, or want to change your registration? Check out the e-Go Congress website!
Not sure if you can make it to the e-Go Congress this year? Fortunately, no travel is involved, so you can feel free to register for one event or every event! Thee-Go Open is designed for people who are only available over the weekend, while the Blitz Tournament is accessible to US players available during the day, as well as overseas players who may not be able to attend events during the US evening. The Double-Digit Kyu Tournament is a chance for developing players to meet each other and get in some good competition that might be hard to find elsewhere, while the Pair Go Tournament is a chance to enjoy a rengo game with a friend (mixed gender pairs expected). We also have a 9×9 Tournament on the first evening (July 17), and a Tsumego Challenge
Are you looking to do more than just play go? Check out our online store for merchandise including t-shirts, hoodies, and tote bags, as well as special go-themed socks and all our goodies from last year! This year we are also continuing the tradition of the Bob High Memorial Song and Poetry Contest with a deadline of Monday, July 19. Interested in doing something artistic, but you aren’t much of a word person? We have a new Picture a Go Player contest, with a deadline of Friday, July 23. This contest is open to all players of any age, and includes nifty prizes for the winners, such as your design on a Congress t-shirt!
Looking to give back to the Go Community? This year the AGF is going above and beyond with the 2021 E-Congress AGF Fundraiser. The auction currently includes an 18cm floor board accompanied by agate and onyx stones, but look for more auction items to appear soon!
You can also keep up to date with all of the e-Go Congress happenings by watching our Twitch stream [link needed], including a broadcast of the Pandanet AGA City League Finals on Friday, July 23 at 8pm EDT.
Due to a technical glitch, one of the candidates for the Western Region board election was missed. The candidates for this position are incumbent Chris Kirschner (recently AGA Board Member 2012-present, AGA VP of Planning) and Chris Saenz (AGA Board member 2018-2020). New ballots will be distributed soon, and the western region election will close on Sunday, August 1, 2021.
The elections for the Central Region and Eastern Region, in which Devin Fraze (AGA Board member 2018-present) and Dan Ritter (AGA Board member 2018-present) both run unopposed, will still close on Saturday, July 17, 2021.
“Wow, it’s been a while! Welcome back,” Nyarlah commented on the latest Michael Redmond AlphaGo game commentary; Part 1 was published last week. “It’s been too long AGA!” agreed Clay Tin. Some commenters noted the unusually long pre-game chat as Redmond and host Chris Garlock caught up on news from the previous 8 months; note that the game commentary starts at 22:56.
Part 2 of the AlphaGo-AlphaGo Game 50 commentary will be published at 6p ET tonight. The game series was published by Deepmind after AlphaGo’s victory over world champion Ke Jie 9p in May 2017. The video was produced by Eva-Dee Beech, Chris Garlock and Stephen Hu.
The 2021 eGo Congress will feature a brand new challenge designed to encourage players to participate in problem solving and improve their reading skills. Leon Chen 4p’s Tsumego Challenge was created and will be presented by Leon Chen 4P and Stephen Hu, and consists of 40 tsumego (life-and-death problems) of varying difficulty, generally ranked from easiest to most difficult. The problems are divided into five levels, with one puzzle of each level posted per day spanning over the course of the eight days of the congress. Participants have most of the day to work on the puzzles, submit their answers and (optionally) provide a brief justification of their thought processes. Solutions will be posted every evening during the live broadcasts on the official AGA Twitch channel, and the best challengers will be rewarded with free copies of Leon Chen 4p’s original tsumego collections, Spindrift and Planet.
AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo with Michael Redmond 9p: Game 50 (Part 2)
Friday July 9, 2021
“Wow, it’s been a while! Welcome back,” Nyarlah commented on the latest Michael Redmond AlphaGo game commentary; Part 1 was published last week. “It’s been too long AGA!” agreed Clay Tin. Some commenters noted the unusually long pre-game chat as Redmond and host Chris Garlock caught up on news from the previous 8 months; note that the game commentary starts at 22:56.
Part 2 of the AlphaGo-AlphaGo Game 50 commentary will be published at 6p ET tonight. The game series was published by Deepmind after AlphaGo’s victory over world champion Ke Jie 9p in May 2017. The video was produced by Eva-Dee Beech, Chris Garlock and Stephen Hu.
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