If a battlefield seems like an appropriate place to play go, the students from the Atlanta Contemporary Chinese Academy and Ruby Bridge Chinese Academy were certainly in the right place on December 19, when teacher Feijun (Frank) Luo 7d gathered them at the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park to celebrate Christmas and New Year.
Despite what Luo described as “a ruthless cold wind,” the intrepid students played go in the park’s Visitor Center’s pavilion and seemed energized rather than intimidated by the chilly weather, as they focused on midgame battles fueled by “a great variety of foods.”
After their games, the students went on to hike Kennesaw Mountain. According to the National Park Service, “the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain was some of the heaviest fighting throughout the entire Atlanta Campaign…The strategy and tactics used there…led to the final outcome of the Civil War.” The go students supported each other during their hike to the summit, where Luo congratulated them as “fearless” students for turning out to play go and to hike the mountain in the chilly weather and encouraged them to stay physically and mentally active during the pandemic.
The students are Leo Huang, Ryan Huang, Melody Lian, Tegan Lian, Patrick Lv, Gavin Situ, Austin Situ, Amy Tierolf, Andrea Wang, Israel Wang, Lucas Wang, Orianna Wang, Jiayue Wu, Aaron Xie, Jiaming Zou, and Jiayi Zou.
What’s your favorite image of go? The Seattle Go Center is looking to print some posters for the large windows downstairs and is open to community suggestions. Perhaps you have a favorite game, or you’ve seen an interesting problem somewhere, or maybe a go-related piece of art? What about an interesting board position such as the rare hanezeki or “moonshine life”? Even comics or memes are welcome.
If you have something you’d like to share, email derek@seattlego.org with “poster” in the subject line.
The Gotham Go Group is sponsoring a 4-round AGA-rated tournament in Flushing, New York on Saturday January 22nd, 2022. “Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, this will be a VACCINATED ONLY event with masks optional,” says organizer Peter Armenia. “You MUST show proof of vaccination to enter and play. Space is limited to 90 players so register early.”
There will be cash prizes in all sections and an open section for strong dan-level players. AGA membership is required to register and play; to join or renew your membership click here. To register for the tournament and pay the $35 application fee, click here. Full refunds are available should you need to cancel. To see who’s already registered, click here.
Joel Kenny (4D) is the Tournament Director; Assistant TD is Jino (Steven) Choung (1k).
Watching the finals at the 2013 Pandanet City League Finals
The final weeks are upon you to register your team for this year’s Pandanet AGA City League. This year’s players look to be stronger than previous years. Play against the most ambitious players in the continent for bragging rights for your area. Are your local players as strong as those from New York City, Boston, Seattle, or North Corvallis? Check out the updated rules and register for this years event. Teams will be contacted this week with updates. Registration closes December 23rd. Register soon!
The 43rd Australian Championship, which was also the 6th Australian Digital Tournament, came to a close on December 9. The tournament consisted of seven rounds played across seven week-long sessions.
The overall winner—and 2021 Australian Open Champion—was Daniel Li 6d of Sydney. After defeating Chahine Koleejan in the final round, Daniel won the Championship with a clean sweep of seven victories.
Laris Du Qing 6d of Sydney placed second in the open division, losing only to Daniel Li.
Steven Cheng 5d of the Gold Coast Go Club placed third in the open division, having lost only to Daniel and Laris.
The handicap division was divided into two sections, consisting of the strongest 24 players in the upper handicap division (2d to 7k), and 15 players in the lower handicap division (7k to 15k). The upper handicap division started with an extra point to their score. (In a McMahon draw, though, it is possible for an upper division player to face a skilled lower division player.)
The 2021 Australian Handicap Champion is Peter Simpson 1k of the Perth Go Club, beaten only by Brendan Hennessy 2k out of the Gore Street Irregulars in Melbourne. (“The only Australian club I know of that meets in a pub,” noted Horatio Davis. “Must be something in the beer.”)
Patrick Liang 1k of the Melbourne Go Club placed second in the upper handicap division, also taken down only by Brendan.
And the aforementioned Brendan Hennessy 2k of Melbourne placed third in the upper handicap division.
Victor Phan 9k of Australia won the lower handicap division. Sorn Nawapanich 12k of Melbourne placed second, and Christopher Riding 8k of “just write down New Zealand” placed third.
“With luck, next year’s Australian Championship will be an old-fashioned physical tournament somewhere on the east coast (I think Canberra’s turn?),” said organizer Horatio Davis, General Secretary of the Queensland Go Society. “Whether or not that works out, there will definitely be another Australian Digital, just like this one, and a New Zealand Digital.”
-based on a report by Horatio Davis, editing by Hailey Renner
Rounds 5-9 of the 23rd Nongshim Cup were played November 26-30. The Nongshim is a team tournament with teams of five players each for China, Japan, and Korea. Iyama Yuta 9P showed up early to play as Japan’s third player after Shibano Toramaru 9p and Kyo Kagen 9P had been eliminated. Michael Redmond 9P will do a live commentary on Iyama’s 9th-round game against Korea’s Shin Minjun 9P on his YouTube channel on Sunday, December 12 at 7p EST. “After a well-researched opening, Shin Minjun reduced Iyama’s moyo with a brilliant sequence that will be one of the main focuses of my commentary,” says Redmond. “The game ended in a spectacular fight in which a big dragon died.” – Chris Garlock
Kevin Yang (7d, SDGC) went 5-0 to sweep the top boards at the 2021 King Cup California State Go Championship, held at the San Diego Chess Club in Balboa Park over Thanksgiving weekend. Shuaiheng Tao (7d, Dublin CA) and Kevin Meiqing Huang (5d, Yorba Linda) took second and third place with 3-2 records. AGA members are invited to challenge the new California State Champion: throughout the pandemic, Yang has been accepting challenges to play on Tuesday nights on KGS in the San Diego Go Club room at 7 pm PST. Games are 30-minute/player (even or handicap), and are reviewed immediately afterwards by the participants.
2021 King Cup – U16 13×13 California State Go Champions
Competition in the King Cup Handicap section
2021 King Cup – California State Go Champion: (l-r): Ted Terpstra, former SDGC president; Kevin Yang, CA Champion; Henry You, VP-SDGC; King Bi, tournament sponsor
2021 – King Cup – California State Go tournament winners
photos by Hai Li and Jaiying Wei
In the King Cup Open, six of the ten players tied for second place with 3-2 records. Trophy winners were determined by Go Clubs Online tiebreakers. Besides Tao and Huang, the others tying for second place in the King Cup Open were Shang Zhou (7d, SDGC), Yixian Zhou (6d, Corona), 2020 California State Go Champion Bo Luan (6d, Santa Barbara), and King Bi (4d, SDGC).
Over the course of the weekend, more than 70 go players from all over California participated in one of the four King Cup – California Go Championship tournaments, which included the State Championship (with both Open and Handicap sections), the U16 Girls Championship, the U16 Boys Championship, and the U16 13×13 Championship. This was the fourth State Go Championship weekend hosted by the San Diego Go Club.
Complete round-by-round results for all tournaments are available on Go Clubs Online on the ‘Results’ page found under the ‘Tournaments’ menu.
In the King Cup Handicap Sections, first place winners were: Division I: Jaewoo Go Park (1k, San Jose) Division 2: Arunas Rudvalis (6k, SDGC) Division 3: Jiaying Wei (9k, SDGC)
King Cup – 2021 California State U16 Girls Go Championship winner: Angelina Zhao (4k, Irvine) King Cup – 2021 California State U16 Boys Go Championship winner: Zhenxuan Liu (1d, SDGC) King Cup – 2021 California State U16 13×13 Go Championship winner: Anna Zhou (9k, SDGC)
Special recognition trophies were given to Hai Li 5P, for being the tournament director in the three U16 tournaments, and Donovan Chen for being the youngest player in the U16 tournaments (6-years-old). He beat out another 6-year-old, Zoe Tan, by a few days.
All four tournaments were sponsored by a generous gift to the San Diego Go Club by King Bi. Rubio’s Coastal Grill provided gift certificates to its restaurants for all the youth players and their parents
Here are all the trophy winners from the four King Cup – California Go Championship go tournaments, November 27 & 28, 2021:
King Cup – 2021 California State Open Go Championship 1st Place – Kevin Yang (7.3d, San Diego) 2nd Place – Shuaiheng Tao (7.1d, Dublin CA) 3rd Place – Kevin Meiqing Huang (5.9d, Yorba Linda)
King Cup – 2021 California State Handicap Go Championship Handicap: Division I: 1st Place – Jaewoo Go Park (1.0k, San Jose) Handicap: Division I: 2nd Place – Patrick Lu (1.1d, Cerritos) Handicap: Division I: 3rd Place – Andy Shunwei Zhou (1.3d, Corona) Handicap: Division II: 1st Place – Arunas Rudvalis (6.2k, Oceanside) Handicap: Division II: 2nd Place – Enrique Garcia (3.1k, San Diego) Handicap: Division II: 3rd Place – David Baran (6.4k, Beverly Hills) Handicap: Division III : 1st Place – Jiaying Wei (9.3k, San Diego) Handicap: Division III: 2nd Place – Nick Liddington (10.3k, Escondido) Handicap: Division III: 3rd Place – Lucia Moscola (10.1k, San Diego)
King Cup – 2021 California State U16 13×13 Go Championship Handicap: 1st Place – Anna Zhou (9.5k, Corona) Handicap: 2nd Place – Angel Shunying Zhou (4.9k, Corona) Handicap: 3rd Place – Xiaomei Sunny Sun (6.7k, 欧文)
King Cup – 2021 California State U16 Girls Go Championship Handicap: 1st Place – Angelina Zhao (4.4k, Irvine) Handicap: 2nd Place – Xiaomei Sunny Sun (6.7k, 欧文) Handicap: 3rd Place – Abigail Wanyu Chen (5.8 k, Yorba Linda)
King Cup – 2021 California State U16 Boys Go Championship Handicap: 1st Place – Zhenxuan Liu (1.7d, Irvine ) Handicap: 2nd Place – Jason He (3.5d, Cupertino) Handicap: 3rd Place – Tom Liu (5.5k, Irvine)
photos by Hai Li and Jaiying Wei; report by Ted Terpstra, former SDGC president; editing by Kyle Fenimore.
AlphaGo vs AlphaGo Game 52 Redmond commentary screenshot
Tune in on the AGA’s Twitch channel this Friday, December 10 at 7p ET for another AlphaGo vs AlphaGo live commentary by Michael Redmond 9P, hosted by E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock. “I’ve gone through all of Redmond’s AG vs AG game reviews in the last few months and this one is one of the most wild,” said Chris Davis about the last AG-AG game (#52), “Very exciting.” Added Steve Carson, “Thanks Michael and Chris for bringing us this commentary. Otherwise it would just be a bewildering sequence of moves that made no sense.” NOTE: Here’s an updated link for Redmond’s 2022 go calendar (autographed).
by John Power, Japan correspondent for the E-Journal
NOTE:There has been quite a lot of action in international go over the past month or two. This report is an attempt to catch up.
Nongshin: Iyama
Nongshin: Iyama
Japanese team in the Nie Weiping Cup: (L-R) Fukuoka Kotaro, Yamashita, Takemiya, Kono Rin, Aoki
LG Cup: Ichiriki loses
Nongshin: Iyama
Nong Shim Cup: honors shared in first round Each of the participating countries have picked up a win in the opening round of the 23rd Nong Shim Spicy Noodles Cup even though only four games were played, so the honors were shared more or less evenly. This round was held on the net in mid-October. The only surprise so far is that in Game 4 Korea fielded its second highest-ranked player. Just for the record, game conditions are: one hour per player, followed by one-minute byo-yomi. The second round, which consists of five games, started on November 26 (report follows soon). Details of the first round follow.
Game 1 (Oct. 11). Weon Seoung-jin 9P (Korea) (B) beat Shibano Toramaru 9P (Jap an) by resig. Game 2 (Oct. 12). Li Weiqing 9P (China) (W) beat Weon by resig. Game 3 (Oct. 13). Kyo Kagen (Xu Jiayuan) 9P (Japan) (B) beat Li by resig. Game 4 (Oct. 14). Park Junghwan 9P (Korea) (W) beat Kyo by resig.
Park wins his first Samsung Cup The 26th Samsung Cup World Baduk Masters was held on the net with 32 players competing. The tournament started on October 20 and was completed by November 2. It climaxed in an all-Korean final, with Shin Jinseo playing Park Junghwan. Shin is rated no. 1 in the world, and Park no. 3 (Ke Jie is no. 2). Recently, Park has done badly against Shin; in all games played to date, Shin leads 25-20. More ominously, in multi-game matches, like this final, Shin has overwhelmed Park 14-0. When Shin won the first game convincingly, most fans would have written off Park’s chances. However, he fought back tenaciously, taking the next two games and winning this title for the first time. This is his fifth international title, the others being the Fujitsu Cup (2011), the LG Cup (2018), the MLily Cup (2018), and the Chunlan Cup (2019). For Shin, this was his second successive loss in the Samsung final (the winner last year was Ke Jie). First prize is 300,000,000 won (about $251,000). Japan had four players taking part. Two of them, Kyo Kagen and Yamashita Keigo, were the Japanese seeds; Onishi Ryuhei won the Japanese qualifying tournament and Yamashiro Hiroshi won the Japanese qualifying tournament for senior players. Tournament conditions: two hours per player, followed by byo-yomi of 60 seconds x 5. First prize is 300,000,000 won (about $250,000). Below are selected results from Round One and full results thereafter.
Round 1 (Oct. 20, 21). Yamashita Keigo 9P (Japan) (W) beat Cho Seunga 4P by resig.; Lee Changseok 8P (Korea) (W) beat Onishi Ryuhei 7P (Japan); Han Seongjoo 8P (Korea) (B) beat Yamashiro Hiroshi 9P (Japan) by resig.; Fan Yuting 9P (China) beat Kyo Kagen 9P (Japan) by resig.; Kim Jiseok 9P (Korea) (W) beat Ke Jie 9P (China) by half a point; Park Junghwan 9P (Korea) (W) beat Li Weiqing 9P (China) by resig.; Shin Jinseo 9P (Korea) (W) beat Xie Erhao 9P (China) by resig.; Zhao Chenyu 8P (China) beat Lee Changho 9P (Korea) by resig.
Round 2 (Oct. 22, 23). Han (B) beat Dang Yifei 9P (China) by resig.; Lee Donghoon 9P (Korea) (W) beats Xie Ke 9P (China) by resig.; Park (W) beat Mi Yuting 9P (China) by 1.5; Lee (W) beat Peng Liyao 8P (China) by 0.5; Zhao (W) beat Ya mashita by resig.; Shin (W) beat Fan by resig.; Lian Xiao 9P (China) (W) beat An Seungjun 9P (Korea) by 0.5; Yang Dingxin 9P (China) (B) beat Kim by resig.
Round 3 (Oct. 25, 26). Yang (W) beat Lee Changseok by resig.; Shin (W) beat Han by resig.; Zhao (B) beat Lee Donghoon by resig.; Park (W) beat Lian by 2.5.
Semifinals (Oct. 27, 28). Park (W) beat Zhao by resig.; Shin (B) beat Yang by resig.
Final Game 1 (Nov. 1). Shin (B) by resig. Game 2 (Nov. 2). Park (B) by resig. Game 3 (Nov. 3). Park (W) by resig.
Japan wins three-way team tournament Japan scored its first international victory for a while in the “2021 3rd China-Japan-Korea Nie Weiping Cup Weiqi Masters.” This is an unusual tournament in more than one respect. It is fought between five-player teams from the a bove countries; these teams are made up (judging by the Japanese team) of celebrated players from the past, present, and future, and include one female player. The Japanese players were Takemiya Masaki 9P, who turned 70 on Jan. 1 this year, Yamashita Keigo 9P, Kono Rin 9P, Ms. Aoki Kikuyo 8P, and Fukuoka Kotaro 2P (aged 15, he represents the future in my formulation). The Chinese team was made up of Nie Weiping 9P (as far as I know, the first time a player has com peted in a named in his honor), Chang Hao 9P, Gu Li 9P, Zhang Xuan 8P (the wife of Chang Hao), and Tu Xiaoyu 6P 6P (Tu won the Chinese King of the News Stars title and took second place in this year’s Globis Cup). Members of the Chinese team were: Cho Hunhyun 9P, Lee Changho 9P, Cho Hanseung 9P, Ms. Lee Changen (“en” is just a guess) 3P, and Mun Minjong 4P. Japan beat at China 3-2 and came second. In his own tournament, Nie was unable to pick up a win. Full results follow.
Round 1 (Oct. 30). Japan v. China Takemiya (B) beat Nie by resig. Yamashita (W) beat Chang by half a point. Kono (B) lost to Gu by half a point. Aoki (B) beat Zhang by resig. Fukuoka (W) beat Tu by half a point.
Round 2 (Oct. 31). Japan v. Korea Takemiya (W) beat Cho HH by 4.5. Yamashita (W) beat Lee CH by resig. Kono (B) lost to Cho HS by 4.5. Aoki (W) beat Ms. Lee by 8.5. Fukuoka (W) beat Mun by resig.
Round 3 (Nov. 1). Korea vs. China Cho (B) beat Nie by resig. Lee CH (B) beat Chang by resig. Cho HS (B) beat Gu by resig. Ms. Lee (W) lost to Zhang by resig. Mun (W) lost to Tu by resig.
Ichiriki eliminated from LG Cup After a gap of a little over five months, the quarterfinals and semifinals of the 26th LG Cup were played on the net on November 7‾10. Unfortunately for Japanese fans, Ichiriki Ryo 8P was eliminated. Results follow.
Quarterfinals (Nov. 7 & 8) Shin Jinseo 9P (Korea) (B) beat Ichiriki Ryo 9P (Japan) by resig.; Yang Dingxin 9P (China) (W) beat Shin Minjun 9P (Korea) by resig.; Ke Jie 9P (China) (W) beat Park Junghwan 9P (Korea) by resig.; Mi Yuting 9P (China) (W) beat Byun Sa ngil 9P (Korea) by resig.
Semifinals (Nov. 9 & 10). Yang (W) beat Mi by resig.; Shin (W) beat Ke by resig.
Yang Dingxin vs. Shin Jinseo: The best-of-three final will be played on February 7, 9, and, if necessary, 10.
Nong Shim Cup: Iyama dominates second round The second round of the 23rd Cup was held in the last five days of November. At the end of the first round, Korea had surprised fans by fielding its number two player, Park Junghwan. In an interview, the Korea team captain, Mok Jinseok 9P, revealed that the reason for this was that in recent years Korea had done badly in the middle round, falling behind China and putting too much pressure on their final player or players in the final round. The strategy seemed to work at first, when Park won the final game of the first round (see above), but then he was eliminated in the next game when he lost to Fan Tingyu of China. Fan was another player fielded a little earlier than expected. He has been a hero for China in recent years, twice winning seven games in a row (18th and 20th Cups). Japan seemed to follow a similar strategy, fielding its top player Iyama Yuta next. This turned out to be a good decision, as Iyama was in excellent form. He won the remaining four games in this round, Japan’s best-ever winning streak in this tournament. Results follow.
Game 5 (Nov. 26). Fan Tingyu 9P (China) (B) beat Park by resig. Game 6 (Nov. 27). Iyama Yuta 9P (Japan) (W) beat Fan by resig. Game 7 (Nov. 28). Iyama (W) beat Byun Sangil 9P (Korea) by resig. Game 8 (Nov. 29). Iyama (W) beat Lin Qincheng 9P (China) by resig. Game 9 (Nov. 30). Iyama (B) beat Shin Minjun 9P (Korea) by resig.
The final round starts on February 21. Iyama will play Mi Yuting 9P of China. (A team has to inform the organizers who will be its next player before the preceding game is concluded.) After Mi, China’s last player is Ke Jie. Korea is down to its last player, Shin Jinseo; any one of these three is quite capable of winning the tournament single-handed. Japan still has Yo Seiki and Ichiriki Ryo.
