A dozen teams faced off just before Christmas in the New York Youth Team Go Championship, hosted by the New York 
Institute of Go. The five-round event, held December 22-23, was organized by the New York Go Association and held at The New York Institute of Go in Queens, NY.
The Institute’s focus is on popularizing the game, especially among a younger generation of players. This year’s Championship was the second annual competition, providing an opportunity for youth players in the New York City area to meet current students from universities including prominent Ivy League schools.
The teams, with three players each, had players from different regions. The MustWin team (1st table: Cathy Liao, 2nd table: Chenghan Du, 3rd 
table: Jason Long) swept the 2017 Championship, with The Go Ninga Masters taking second and the Dark Go team in third. The World Champions team won the Best Fighter award. Almost of the players have been learning go for just one to two years, and some had met and played in the first team championship in 2016.
“How did you improve so fast since the last Rating Competition” an 18-kyu player asked another player, who’s now 15-kyu. “I must practice go more often now.” The MustWin team’s eight-year-old Chenghan Du said “I have to get up early tomorrow morning to study a pro game before tournament, I promised Mrs. Yin to study at least one game per day.”
Institute founder and lead teacher Stephanie Yin called the Championship “a great opportunity for young players to learn from each other, share experience, and improve in and outside go. The success of consecutive youth tournaments led us to encourage the passion of go to prosper.” Starting this year, New York Go Association will offer scholarships to youth players; stay tuned for details. The New York Go Expo and 2017 Dreamworks School Invitational is free event and will be hold on Feb 17-18, 2018 in New York. The event includes pro activities, free rated games, and etc. Details to follow.
– includes reporting by Stephanie Yin, with help from Aaron Julian; photos by Stephanie Yin
AlphaGo doc live now on Netflix; both go docs coming to Portland
Thursday January 4, 2018
“AlphaGo” — the 2017 documentary about the 2016 showdown between the AlphaGo AI and Lee Sedol, is now streaming on
Netflix. Directed by Greg Kohs with an original score by Academy Award nominee, Hauschka, AlphaGo chronicles a journey from the halls of Oxford, through the backstreets of Bordeaux, past the coding terminals of Google DeepMind in London, and ultimately, to the seven-day tournament in Seoul. As the drama unfolds, more questions emerge: What can artificial intelligence reveal about a 3000-year-old game? What can it teach us about humanity?
Both “AlphaGo” and “The Surrounding Game” — which follows the lives of three young Americans vying to become the first-ever Western professional players — will screen later this month in Portland, OR. The Surrounding Game screens on Jan. 13th at 7:30 and AlphaGo on Jan. 14th at 7:30, both at the Documentary Film Center (corner of NE Williams and Tillamook). “We’re also going to hold a small teaching session at 6PM on the 14th for new players to learn how to play the game. Players can sign up on the 13th for the free teaching session,” reports Peter Freedman.
“We’ll be selling tickets for $8 per night or $14 for both nights,” Freedman adds; email him at pleefreedman1@comcast.net. Raffle tickets will be a dollar and will be sold at the Surrounding Game screening. The raffle drawing will occur at the end of the screening. “We’ll have some popcorn and non-alcoholic beverages for free and beer for sale on both nights.”