Monday morning saw the launch of the 240-player strong U.S. Open in the main playing area of the U.S. Go Congress, while nearby in the Strong Players Room, top players met in Round 2 of the N.A. Masters Tournament. A new development this year is that while the top three NAMT boards are being broadcast by live onsite game recorders, additional top boards are being broadcast by remote game recorders viewing livestreams of the games on a private YouTube channel, enabling the game commentators to review more games. Commenters so far have been Inseong Hwang 8D, hosted by Devin Fraze, and Stephanie Yin 1P, hosted by Michael Fodera. Update: The NAMT crosstab has now been posted!
The E-Journal teams plans to expand coverage to include selected U.S. Open games on Tuesday: anyone interested in having their games included in the live Twitch broadcast should email journal@usgo.org; note that you must be able to record your game (in real time) on OGS. – report/photo by Chris Garlock
Eighty four players competed in this year’s Lightning event at the U.S. Go Congress, “with an unusual number of players dominating their tables,” reports TD Keith Arnold. Table winners were: Lambert Li 6 dan (undefeated); Kevin Huang 6 dan (undefeated); James Sedgwick 6 dan; Al Tang 2 dan (undefeated); Feng Li 2 dan; Stephanie Tan 1 dan; Benjamin Gundy 1 kyu (undefeated); Daniel Lou 2kyu; Austin Robinson 4 kyu (undefeated); Luke Belyeu 4 kyu (undefeated); Brad Rose 6 kyu; Regina Kim 10 kyu (undefeated); Lee Belyeu 13 kyu (undefeated); Hayden Fung 20 kyu (undefeated). Playoffs will be held this week.
Special thanks to Cat Mai for keeping the clocks running on time. photos by Chris Garlock
by Daniela Trinks, Korea correspondent for the E-Journal
First Half of 2022 Stats
A statistical summary of the results of the first half of this year was announced. Shin Jinseo was crowned Korea’s number one Go player as he topped several categories: the most wins, the highest winning percentage, the most consecutive wins, and the highest gross income. The only category he didn’t top was the number of games played. The breakdown of the stats is as follows:
Most wins
Shin Jinseo led this category with 49 wins, followed by Kang Dongyoon (43 wins). Placed third were Park Jeonghwan 9p, and Kim Eunji 3p (15-year-old female player) with 40 wins each.
Table: Top 10 players with most number of wins (as of June 2022).
Highest winning rate
Shin Jinseo 9p produced an impressive winning rate of nearly 90%, followed by Shim Jaeik 5p (85.7%) and Kim Myunghoon 9p (76.3%). Only players who played at least 18 games were included in this table. The only female player on the list is Kim Chaeyoung 7p whose winning rate of 70% earned her a joint 9th place.
Table: Top 10 winning rates of players with at least 18 games played (as of June 2022).
Winning streak
The list of the longest winning streak is topped by Shin Jinseo with 18 wins, followed by senior player Yoo Changhyuk 9p (17) and Kang Dongyoon 9p (16).
Table. Top 5 players with longest winning streak (as of June 2022).
Top earners
Not surprisingly, Shin Jinseo 9p also earned the highest prize money, which was more than USD 600,000 in the first half of this year. Second-placed Park Jeonghwan earned USD 250,000, which is less than half of Shin’s total sum. The top female player, Choi Jeong, earned USD 80,000, ranking her 7th on the list of top earners.
Table. Top 10 players with highest prize money (as of June 2022).
Most games played
The list of most games was topped by Won Seongjin 9p with 60 games, followed by Kim Eunji 3p with 59 games, and Kang Dongyoon with 58 games. Shin Jinseo 9p ranked fourth on the list because he was seeded in most of the tournaments and therefore did not play the qualifiers.
Table. Top 10 players who played most games in 2022 (as of June 2022).
Monthly Korean ranking
The table below shows the top ten players in Korea by month. There was no change in the top 3 ranks throughout the six months with Shin Jinseo, Park Jeonghwan, and Byun Sangil ranking 1-3 respectively.
Table. Top 10 players in the Korean ranking list from January to June 2022.
Title winners
The table below lists the title winners of Korean and international Go tournaments. Both Shin Jinseo and Park Jeonghwan won two competitions each. The last column shows the result of the title match.
Table. Title winners of Korean and international Go tournaments as of June 2022. All except the indicated players are from South Korea.
“There’s still time to donate go equipment or services to the AGF Auction,” reports Solomon Smilack. “The event runs for one week alongside the US Go Congress, and is a great way to support an amazing cause.” The auction, which benefits the American Go Foundation, is online, so you don’t need to be present at the Go Congress to donate, or to bid.
Donors who have stepped up so far include Roy Laird, who has donated five “Instant Go Libraries,” which includes dozens of new and out-of-print books up for grabs in each set, most in excellent condition and some even signed by their authors. The team at Store.Baduk.Club have donated a new kaya floor board, as well as a refurbished set of Slate & Shell stones with premium bowls. This gear will have historic value, too, as it will be used during the final round of the 2022 North American Masters Tournament. The team at GoMagic.org have donated ten Gold Memberships to their online Go-Learning platform. From Inseong Hwang, five Spectator Memberships to his online school and Yunguseng Dojang. And Bill Phillips has donated “an amazing quilt made from sixteen T-shirts of past US Go Congresses!”
Bidders can register any time, but Smilack says “it is best to register in advance so that you aren’t rushing at the last minute to enter your bids.” This year’s winners will have the additional checkout options of Apple Pay or Google Pay.
The 2022 U.S. Go Congress – the first in-person event since 2019 – got underway on Saturday as hundreds of go players from across the country made the trek to The YMCA of the Rockies playing site in Estes Park, Colorado. Despite the additional challenge of having to covid test all attendees, the registration process went smoothly. While the vast majority of attendees tested negative, several did test positive, underlining the need to observe the Congress masking rules to protect everyone’s safety, organizers told the E-Journal.
With the U.S. Open not beginning until Monday morning, many players used the extra day to take in the scenic opportunities offered by the site amid the Rocky Mountains, while others participated in the ever-popular Self-Paired Tournament, which began at 5p on Saturday. Also on Saturday was the first round in the Redmond Cup for youth players, and on Sunday afternoon the top players met in the first round of the U.S. Masters.
Once again this year, the E-Journal is providing extensive coverage of the Go Congress: follow us on Twitter and for live game coverage, check out our Twitch channel, where we’ll broadcast games from the U.S. Masters and the U.S. Open (starting each morning at 9a Mountain Time), with commentary by professional go players as well as popular go streamers and strong amateurs. And of course we’ll be posting reports on our website and in the EJ. Another great option this year is to get the YAPP app, which has its own social stream, where Congress participants are posting photos and updates.
Sarah Andersen is an American cartoonist and illustrator, and the author of the webcomic Sarah’s Scribbles. Thanks to Phil Straus for passing this along.
On July 7-8 the seventh game of the Hon’inbo title match happened between Rin Kaihō Meijin and Ishida Yoshio Hon’inbo. We see a smiling Ishida in close up, and again in the game photo surveying his 2.5 point win. (Game record: Hon’inbo Game 7.)
The NHK television network sponsored an afternoon of go for foreigners at the Nihon Ki’in on July 16. Forty beginners participated in the lessons, led by Stuart Dowsey, ably assisted by Mark Hall. Honorary Hon’inbo Takagawa Shukaku (pictured with Dowsey) welcomed the group to a very successful event.
At the same time, on July 16-17 Fujisawa Shūkō continued his rear guard action against the attack of the younger generation, in the Meijin League. His victory (pictured) over Ishida Hon’inbo gave him the right to challenge Rin Meijin. (Game record: Meijin League Fujisawa vs. Ishida.) For our younger readers, the strange item in the corner of the playing room is a television set.
On July 23, the world patron of go, Iwamoto Kaoru left Japan for a tour of Europe. On the left, he is pictured with Kodama Sachiko 2d (later Honda Sachiko) in the center. Look for details of the trip in coming months.
In what could only in hindsight be called foreshadowing, the final of the 4th New Faces Tournament was televised on July 24. In a match up that will truly become monotonous in these reports if I live long enough, Kobayashi Kōichi 6d defeated Cho Chikun 5d. (Game record: New Faces Final Game.)
We close this month sadly, and looking back instead of forward. On July 26 1972, Segoe Kensaku, Honorary 9d, passed at age 83. He was simply a giant of go in the early part of the 20th Century. Central to the founding of the Nihon Ki’in, he became for decades its elder statesman. In the West, one of the founding books of English go literature was his essential Go Proverbs Illustrated and we can see him smiling at us from the back of its slipcover. Unlike Kitani Minoru, he had few formal disciples, but they were unmatched in terms of quality. His first was Hashimoto Utarō 9d, who won many titles, and founded the Kansai Ki’in. He was central to bringing his second, Go Seigen, to Japan, and little need be said about his accomplishments. Cho Hunhyun who dominated the Korean Go World for decades was the third.
Segoe’s most dramatic episode centered on his efforts to keep go alive during wartime Japan. By 1945, the Nihon Ki’in building had been destroyed, and Segoe had left Tokyo for the safety of his home in Itsukaichi, nestled in the hills ten kilometers from the center of the city of Hiroshima. There he managed to get the contestants in the Hon’inbo Title match together, and the first game was won by Iwamoto, over his pupil Hashimoto. The match was forced out of the city for safety reasons and the second game was played near his home in Itsukaichi. After two days, Hashimoto had managed a small lead, and on the morning of the third day, August 6, they had just finished wiping off the board, when they paused for an air raid warning. It ceased, and the moves from the previous days play were repeated, while the group noticed a lone plane circling the city in the distance. Soon there was a flash, and then a blast which rocked the room. It took an hour to clean up the room and play resumed. As the game ended, a few hours later, dying refugees from Hiroshima began to wander into the hills. Among them were Segoe’s son and his nephew, both of whom would shortly die.
Much of what we know of this event comes from the victor of the game, Hashimoto Utarō. In 1989 I was honored to attend the opening ceremony of the Kisei title in New York City, a match between Takemiya Masaki and Kobayashi Kōichi. But for me, the highlight were the brief remarks of the victor of the Atom Bomb Game, Hashimoto. I cannot specifically recall his translated words, but I will never forget the gentle grace, faith in humanity and love of go, he expressed – sharing his feelings of being in the United States, while filled with the memories of the past. For me, that is the legacy of the man, who made that game, and that grace, possible.
Photos from Go Review and by Keith Arnold, special thanks to John Fairbairn and T. Mark Hall for their “Go in Wartime Japan” chapter from The Go Companion
The AGF Charity Auction, set to begin on July 30th, in tandem with the 38th US Go Congress in Estes Park, CO, is open to everyone on the internet this year, not just the Congress attendees.
If you’re interested in donating an item or service to this auction – which benefits the American Go Foundation’s work of connecting kids with quality go instruction, books, equipment, scholarships, and more, CLICK HERE for details on how to do so.
“If you’re a teacher with lesson packages, a player with a library of books, or even someone with a package of gift cards, money orders, negotiable securities, or anything else, please consider donating!” says Solomon Smilack. Already donated items included a kaya goban, go lesson packs, and go libraries.
The National Go Center had a surprise visit recently from Lucas Neirynck, the current champion of France and Belgium, honeymooning with his bride Sophie. Two other new visitors were Anh Nguyen and Charles Tintera who stopped by on a ‘Go Tour’ fresh from visiting the Nashville, Triangle, and NOVA Go Clubs. Their final stop will be the US Go Congress in Colorado.
“A great evening of go all around with the newlyweds sent on their way with the coveted NGC t-shirt,” says NGC Executive Director Gurujeet Khalsa.
Charles and Anh made it on to their next destination visiting Devin Fraze and Baduk House in Columbus, Ohio, shown here playing in a simul against Eric Yoder.
photo (top right): Left to right: Charles Tintera, Richard Duan, Anh Nguyen playing Lucas Neirynck, James Pinkerton, and Gurujeet Khalsa. photos by Sophie Neirynck & Devin Fraze
photo: 9th Daeju Cup winner Kim Hyemin 9p (left) and runner-up Lee Minjin 8p. Courtesy of Han Changkyu/Hangame
by Daniela Trinks, Korea correspondent for the E-Journal
Kim Hyemin wins 9th Daeju Cup
The Daeju Cup is a national senior tournament limited to male players above 50 and female players above 30 years. The 9th edition ended this year with an all-female final between Kim Hyemin 9p and Lee Minjin 8p. Both players are well known to be best friends, yet the final turned out to be a long intense battle. Kim Hyemin who was due to give birth to her second child ten days later, showed outstanding fighting spirit and won the 2-hour match after 226 moves. She took home 15M KRW ($11,600), while Lee Minjin won 5 Million KRW ($3,900).
Shin Jinseo’s LG Cup Victory NFT
In May, a limited edition of Non-fungible tokens (NFT) was issued to commemorate Shin Jinseo’s victory in the LG Cup earlier this year. In total, 361 NFTs were offered for sale on OpenSea. Lee Kyungho was the Korean artist in charge of transforming Shin Jinseo’s kifu into digital artwork. The first game of the finals was a dramatic comeback victory in which the A.I. had predicted a 1% winning rate for Shin at one point.
Number of KBA professionals reaches 400
The 57th women’s pro qualifiers took place in Seoul, and in the end, Ko Yunseo (18), Kim Heesoo (17), and Lee Nakyung (13) placed first to third respectively and became pro. With this, the total number of professional players affiliated with the Korea Baduk Association (KBA) increased to 400 (322 male, 78 female). Including retired and deceased professionals, the total adds up to 502. Since the founding of the KBA in 1945, the number of professional players has exceeded 100 in 1990, 200 in 2005, and 300 in 2015. In the past, becoming a pro was limited to two persons per year. However, with time this number has increased to 20 because the pathway to becoming a pro has expanded to include things like female qualifiers, country-side qualifiers, young talent qualifiers, and amateur results in international pro championships. However, this approach has raised a few eyebrows because most tournaments are won by the top 10 players, leaving a majority of the pros with no source of income. Therefore, most of them resort to teaching, broadcasting, coaching, refereeing, or publishing to make ends meet.
51st National Junior Sports Festival
The Go event of the 51st National Youth Sports Festival was held from May 28th to 29th in Gumi. It was organized by the Korea Sports Council and the Korea Baduk Association, with sponsorship from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Education, and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation and hosted by the Gyeongsangbuk province. 17,889 participants from 17 cities and provinces across the country took part in 36 different sport events, 201 of them were Go players who competed in four divisions in single-elimination tournaments: male U16, female U16, male U13 and female U13. All the matches were 3-player team games. The time limit was 30 minutes, followed by 3 periods of 30 seconds byoyomi. The third place was not determined, so the losers of both semi-finals received a bronze medal each. In addition to the team medal winners, best player awards were given in each division.
Table: Final standings of the Go event of the 51st National Youth Sports Festival.
Shin Jinseo wins Sawpalcosanol League
Shin Minjun (left) and Shin Jinseo at the prize ceremony of the Sawpalcosanol Best Player Competition. Courtesy of Kim Sookwang/Cyberoro
The Sawpalcosanol Best Player Competition is a new league tournament which began in 2020 and named after one of the sponsor’s (Infobell) products. Besides the line-up of top players, the relatively long time limit is quite unique in Korea: each player had a basic time of 2 hours, and 3 periods of 30 seconds.
In the first edition, the top eight players in Korea contested. Shin Jinseo (6:1) and Park Jeonghwan (5:2) topped the league to meet again in the best-of-5 final, which Shin swept 3:0. In the second edition, there were qualifiers to determine four players, who joined four seeded players and a wild card to compete in the league. Park Jeonghwan swept the league 8:0 to become the title challenger. Shin Jinseo managed to defend his title narrowly by 3:2.
The third edition saw Shin Minjun and Byun Sangil finishing the league 7:1, followed by Park Jeonghwan, Kang Dongyoon, and the wild card Lee Changseok with a 5:3 result. In the title match, Shin Jinseo won against challenger Shin Minjun 3:1 to retain his crown, making him the winner of all three editions of the Sawpalcosanol League. The winner’s purse was 70M KRW ($54,000), and the runner-up received 20M KRW ($15,500).
Table. 3rd Sawpalcosanol Best-of-5 title match
Yoo Changhyuk wins 3rd Shinan International Senior Championship
2021 & 2022 Winner Yoo Changhyuk 9p (left) and runner-up O Meien 9p. Courtesy of Han Changkyu/Hangame.
The “1004 Islands Shinan Senior Baduk Championship” was played online this year. The Korean players travelled to the sponsor’s province Shinan, whereas the foreign participants played from their respective countries. While the first edition held in 2019 included team and individual competitions, after a break the championship returned in 2021 as a solely individual competition. The participation is limited to players above 50, however, this year each country was allowed to send one player above 45 (Lee Changho, Chang Hao, Takao Shinji) but none of them made it to the semi-finals. As you can see in the list below, the majority of participants are living Go legends who won domestic and international titles in their prime.
South Korea: Cho Hoonhyun, Seo Bongsoo, Yoo Changhyuk, Lee Changho, Choi Kyubyeong, Kim Soojang, Kim Chanwoo, Kim Yeonghwan
Japan: Kobayashi Koichi, Takao Shinji, Takemiya Masaki, O Meien, O Rissei
China: Yu Bin, Chang Hao, Cao Dayuan
The results of all three editions are shown in the table. Despite the new rule for the U50 wild cards, this year’s title match saw the same finalists as last year, and Yoo Changhyuk 9p managed to win the title two times in a row. He received 30M KRW ($23,300), while O Meien 9p got 15M KRW ($11,600).
Table: Results of the Shinan International Senior Go Championships 2019-2022.
Chinese dominate at World A.I. Go Championship
From June 18th to 20th, the 1st Gangwon Province World A.I. Go Championship took place in a hybrid format: 18 A.I. programs competed online, while about 100 human Go fans took part in face-to-face side events. This new international competition was organized by the Korean Baduk Association and sponsored by the Gangwon Province and Pyeongchang County. Among the 18 A.I. programs, 11 were from China, four from Japan, two from Korea, and one from Australia. Four Chinese programs advanced to the semi-finals, and YILEGO defeated ChaoRanGo 2:1 to win the title and prize money of 20M KRW ($15,500). The runner-up received 10M KRW ($7,800), and the joint third-placed WUWEIGo and DaPangGo took home 5M KRW ($3,900) each. More information on the championship results and A.I. developers can be found here.
17th Korean Prime Minister’s Cup announced
After two years of online competitions, the 17th edition of the Korean Prime Minister’s Cup (KPMC) will return face-to-face. It will be held from September 24th to 30th in South Korea’s six-largest city, Gwangju. Meanwhile, the Korean representative was chosen in a k.o.-tournament among 90 players. Kim Jeongseon, who ranks second in the Korean amateur list, will represent Korea.
