American Go E-Journal

North American Online League Season 2 sign-ups open; March 14 deadline!

Tuesday March 7, 2023

Sign-up is now open for the second season of the North American Online League (NAOL). NAOL is an online league funded by the North American Go Federation in collaboration with the American, Canadian, and Mexican go associations. It is intended to be a primary driver of an online rating connected to your go association ID.

Click here to sign up for the League; sign ups end March 14th, and pairings will be posted March 15th. Anyone with an active American, Canadian, or Mexican go association member is eligible to play in the NAOL, and you do not have to live in one of these countries to be a member of their go associations.

The league runs for five weeks. On March 15th, participants will have their pairings for all five weeks, and can choose to play them at the recommended start time or contact opponents to reschedule. Tuesday night 8pm Eastern time is the standard scheduled time to play. The MGA hosts a Zoom meeting during Tuesday nights, so you can reach out to the other players of the league. Wednesday night 6:00 pm – 10:45 pm eastern, a certain number of games, played on time, will be reviewed. Games will be played on OGS with a 45 min byo-yomi 3 x 30 second timer, no handicap, AGA rules.

To register sign up here; questions refer to the FAQ. OGS page; Discord. Email: naol@usgo.org

2023 Chicago Open adds Saturday-only breakfast plan and carpool support

Tuesday March 7, 2023

Registration for the 2023 Chicago Open on May 27-28 in Evanston, Illinois, has started, with eight out-of-state players already registered, including five high-dan players. See the Who’s Coming List to view the current registrants. Co-organizers Cheuk To Tsui and Albert Yen expect a high turnout. 

“The Chicago tournaments have seen steady growth, and we hope to see this trend continue,” Tsui said. “Our goal is to make the 2023 Chicago Open a mainstay event on the calendar.”

Register before May 6 to seize the early bird discounts, customized name tags, and limited Evanston Holiday Inn discounts. Groups are encouraged to register together for both days of the tournament to be eligible for the club discounts: Groups of 5-6: $3 off per person; Groups of 7-8: $5 off per person; Groups of 9+: $7 off per person.

New updates have been made to the registration form to support travelers. Firstly, the Chicago Open now offers an optional $10 breakfast plan for Saturday on top of the pre-existing lunch plans and Saturday dinner. Secondly, registrants may indicate on the registration form if they need help finding a roommate or carpool to have their contact added to the public Open Room/Carpool Spreadsheet. The registrants are responsible for contacting others on the spreadsheet to arrange room sharing and carpooling. Feel free to send questions or concerns to Evanston Go Club President Mark Rubenstein at 
mark@evanstongoclub.org.

Lastly, the Chicago Open organization team welcomes AGHS website manager Jamie Tang, who is grateful for the support of the co-organizers. “We’re very excited that Jamie has joined the Chicago Open organization team,” Yen said. “She has been invaluable in heading our outreach efforts, being responsible for everything from E-Journal reports to club contact.”

Haoran Wang crowned NY State Champion; Ninghan Duan takes home $1,200 grand prize with 1st place overall

Tuesday March 7, 2023

Championship Division 1st-6th places (left to right)

The New York Institute of Go’s new Manhattan location celebrated its grand opening the weekend of February 24-26 with over 100 players from around the country. To mark the occasion, Will Lockhart, director of the Surrounding Game documentary, donated a treasured ING board to the center. Players were also treated to some passionate Hikaru No Go karaoke, sung by Edward Zhang in honor of the many years of Japanese support for the community.

Saturday night’s activities consisted of Crazy Go, hosted of course by Terry Benson, half a dozen tables of PairGo organized by Devin Fraze, and lots of drinks and snacks. In addition, they celebrated four youth birthdays with song and cake.

The tournament featured 44 youth players, with awards being split by youth and adults into a total of 10 award sections. The top three youth players in each section were awarded trophies with places 4-6 receiving a certificate. Adults in each section were awarded $100, $75, and $50 in order of place, with the top division earning far more.

Championship Division 1st-6th places (left to right in the above photo):

  1. Ninghan Duan (FL)
  2. Michael Chen (PA)
  3. Tianhao Li (NJ)
  4. Xiaodi Huang (MA)
  5. Haoran Wang (NY State Champion)
  6. Alan Huang (NY)

Apparently the final Board 1 game was decided by half a point. Duan’s endgame skill got him a comeback and $1,200 prize, making it perhaps is the most expensive point in 2023 even in Manhattan’s standard.

  • reported by Devin Fraze; click here to see more photos.

No Fooling; Gotham Go Group teams up with NYU Game Center

Tuesday March 7, 2023

The Gotham Go Group of New York City has teamed up with the New York University Game Center to host the next Gotham Go Tournament on Saturday, April 1. The tournament will be held in NYU’s Brooklyn location. “A relationship between the Gotham Go Group and the NYU Game Center is a natural fit” says local organizer Peter Armenia, who only recently discovered the center’s existence. Frank Lantz, an expert on games, is one of the center’s founders and is a go player himself; you may have seen him interviewed in The Surrounding Game movie. 

The first Gotham Go Tournament was held 10 years ago in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This year’s tournament, known for the large strong field of players, tasty treats, generous and unique prizes, is expected to be the largest yet.

The tournament will be held on Saturday, April 1st at the NYU Game Center, 370 Jay Street in downtown Brooklyn. 

Upcoming Go Events: Urbandale, San Francisco

Monday March 6, 2023

March 11: Urbandale, IA
Central Iowa Go Tournament
Jacob Upland jaupland@gmail.com 319-412-4621

March 18: San Francisco, CA
Spring Tournament and Dojo Anniversary
Matthew Barcus matt@sfgo.club 415-316-2953

Get the latest go events information.

Categories: Calendar,Main Page
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Osaka Go Camp

Friday March 3, 2023

Ryo Maeda 6p, who has attended the US Go Congress for the past 19 years, reports that the Kansai Kiin will be organizing the 8th Osaka Go Camp June 25- July 13. “During the camp, we have league games in the mornings and full teaching programs in the afternoons by professional players every day,” says Maeda. The teaching programs will be in English. “On holidays, we will also organize some day trips to places like downtown Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and a two-day trip to Himeji and Kobe, attending an official tournament in Himeji and sightseeing includes Hmeji castle and Kobe. I promise that everyone can improve quite a lot through the Camp and the Congress and will have a lot of fun; We are looking forward to seeing you in Osaka!”

Categories: Japan,Main Page
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Maryland Open set for Memorial Day weekend

Friday March 3, 2023

“We are back!” says longtime Maryland Open organizer Keith Arnold. The 47th Maryland Open will take place Memorial Day Weekend, May 27 and May 28 at the same great location in Catonsville. “Details and Registration coming soon!” Arnold promises.

Juanshu Lan 6D repeats as Texas State champ

Sunday February 26, 2023

Juanshu Lan 6D topped a 53-player field to repeat as the Texas State Champion for 2023 at the 5-round South Central Go Tournament held in Dallas on February 18/19th. Lan had won the title in 2022 when the tournament was held on-line due to COVID restrictions.

Left: Open Section TD Bart Jacob with Juanshu Lan, Open Section winner and Texas State Champion; (top right) Play in progress at the tournament; (bottom right) Texas State Championship trophy

Lan, just 11 years old, claimed the title after winning a tightly contested final round with Sungjun Lee 5D who also entered that round with a 4-0 record. There were a total of 17 players in the Open section ranging from 3D to 6D.  The top three finishers all with a record of 4-1 were: Juanshu Lan (1st), Sungjun Lee (2nd) and Jake Game (3rd).

In the Handicap Section thirty-six players competed, divided into three bands. Strengths ranged all the way from one dan to twenty kyu. Yinglai Xia was the top finisher in the top band followed by Alan Yin.

There were nine players age 13 and younger – three in the Open Section and six in the Handicap Section. There were ten players from outside Texas. 

Yellow Mountain Imports donated prizes for the tournament, and players received books as door prizes from the recent distribution of Yutopian go books close-out inventory.

Bob Gilman, Organizer, 2023 South Central Go Tournament

Go Photo: Phil vs Phil

Wednesday February 22, 2023

EJ photographer Phil Straus sometimes has trouble finding an opponent. Here’s his solution.

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Thousands of go books are on the way

Tuesday February 21, 2023

by Terry Benson, AGF President

Thousands of books from the Yutopian donation of 32,000 go books are now on their way to AGA chapters and programs around the country. A team of volunteers led by myself and ex-AGA president Andy Okun sent out 62 shipments last week. With luck the heavy boxes will survive and arrive, a belated Valentine’s Day gift for go lovers. 

Orders were fulfilled as best as possible; the actual inventory turned out to be wildly different from the printed request form chapters used. A half dozen titles simply weren’t there and others were available in tiny quantities. Some titles with few copies were not on the inventory at all and were included for those who asked for one of each. It was a painstaking process which took almost five days to finish, wrapping up at 5pm last Wednesday.

The team that literally put their backs into the effort included Ted Terpstra and Arunas Rudvalis (up from San Diego) plus Los Angeles go community locals Aaron Murg, Christopher Hsing, Brent Russell, Diego Villafuerte, Joe Cecile, Russell Bernhardt, and Andy’s wife, Julia Blanchard, along with Andy and me. Moving boxes, opening boxes, picking books, filling boxes, sealing boxes and cleaning up was a real labor of love. Paul Barchilon (AGF VP) and Kathryn Taylor (AGF fulfillment) pitched in with advice and long-distance labeling. The detailed chapter orders were well-managed by Bob Gilman over the last couple of months. 

This undertaking enabled the AGA and AGF to distribute or save for future distribution about a third of the cache of nearly 450 boxes of books, and the AGF has 50 “Library Sets” as seed collections. While not quite free (chapters use their points), hopefully everyone will enjoy the books and appreciate the work involved in getting them. If recipients have any problems, please contact terrybenson@nyc.rr.com and we will see what is possible.