American Go E-Journal

Yuan Zhou 7d won the 2018 DC Fall Open, held on September 8 at the National Go Center in Washington, DC. The 4-round tournament was one of a series of events held at the NGC featuring Michael Redmond 9P, thanks to the support of the Nihon Ki-In and the Iwamoto North America Foundation. On Friday, Redmond visited Great Falls and Fox Mill Elementary Schools, Japanese language immersion elementary schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, to students to go and its culture and to share his story about becoming a professional player. Friday night he and E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock did an AlphaGo game commentary at the NGC and then on Saturday the two inaugurated the brand-new NGC E-Journal broadcast center with live commentaries on Twitch from the top board at the Fall Open (click here to check them out), watched by viewers around the world. Redmond will review game records at 11a Sunday at a special brunch on Sunday morning (register here; email sgf game records to journal@usgo.org).

With Michael Redmond 9P’s visit to the National Go Center less than a week away, preparations for a dedicated broadcast room at the NGC reached a fever pitch last weekend. After live Twitch broadcasts at the recent US Go Congress attracted audiences of over 12,000, E-Journal broadcast team members Nathan Epstein, Joel Cahalan and Jeff Fitzgerald – who worked with director Stephen Hu — enlisted the E-Journal and the NGC to see if a year-round home could be found for the E-Journal’s broadcasting efforts. “We really upped our broadcasting capabilities at the Congress,” Epstein said. “Having a dedicated space will allow us to continue to develop that outreach capability.” Executive Director Gurujeet Khalsa added that “The National Go Center is excited to support this outreach by the E-Journal and the AGA,” with the donated space at the Center.

This Saturday’s tournament at the NGC will mark the launch of the new E-Journal broadcast facility, as Redmond teams up with EJ Managing Editor Chris Garlock for live-streaming game commentary on the tournament top board. “We are absolutely thrilled that Michael Redmond – who was here last year when we opened the National Go Center – is returning to help us launch this exciting new venture,” said Khalsa. “We deeply appreciate the ongoing support by the Nihon Ki-In and the Iwamoto North America Foundation, who are sponsoring this visit by Redmond.”

Pre-register for the 4-round AGA-rated tournament here and get a 20% discount on the registration fee. “With fun prizes including cash prizes in the top section and Michael and Chris commenting, it should be a great event,” said Khalsa.

“Special thanks to the team that spent so much of last weekend making this broadcast room a reality,” Khalsa added.

photos: (right) Khalsa and Garlock test out new EJ broadcast facility; (left) Epstein, Garlock and Cahalan framing ceiling supports for cameras and lights; photos by Epstein (right) and Gurujeet Khalsa

On August 11, about 40 go players gathered in Mason, Ohio, for the 4th annual Cincy/Tri-state go tournament.  The tournament’s impact reached beyond Ohio and neighboring states like Kentucky and Indiana, as passionate go players traveled from Wisconsin and Tennessee to the south-western corner of Ohio.

Local resident Ning Shao won the tournament champion by defeating Shawn Ray 4D from Tennessee. “This is the first time in the past four years that a local go player won the title,” reports local organizer Frank Luo. Since no youth played in the dan level open division, Shawn Ray also won a trophy. In order to encourage participation, trophies have always been awarded to both adult and youth winners in each division in the 4-year history of this tournament. Other winners of the tournament include: Matthew Qiu (9K, youth division B), a Mason Middle School student; Wilson Parks (6K, Division B) from Middle Tennessee Go Club; Kyler Huang (18K, Division C) a UC Berkeley student and Cincinnati resident; and Manny Jauregui (18K, youth Division C) from Cleveland, Ohio.

During the main 4-round tournament, a fun-mini-game tournament was also held in the middle of the day, attracting seven local young players. Both William Xiang (9 years old) and Ethan Tu (10 Years old) achieved four wins. Although no trophy was awarded for winners, every kids left with a medal and a go-themed T-shirt designed by Claire Meng, a local high school student.

photos courtesy Frank Luo

In the final round of the Tianfu Cup Preliminary, Friday night on KGS, Mingjiu Jiang 7P defeated Andy Liu 1P to be the second North American representative. Jiang will join Eric Lui 1P the end of next month in China for the first Tianfu Cup. “Thanks to all the participants who have played this week,” said  Tianfu Cup Preliminary Tournament Director Jeff Shaevel: Dalhoon Ahn 9P, Feng Yun 9P, Ming-jiu Jiang 7P, Andy Liu 1P, Eric Lui 1P, Huiren Yang 1P, Ryan Li 1P, and Stephanie Yin 1P.

Click here for the crosstab, including game records.