The Ing Foundation is hosting the 2017 International Collegiate Go Tournament, to be held at Panyapiwat Institute of 
Management, Bangkok, Thailand, this summer. The event starts on July 7th and will finish on the 13th. This event is open to any current, future, or recently graduated college (both undergraduate and graduate) student, who will or has attended school in the year 2017. All costs related to room, board, tours, and travel during the event will be covered by the Ing foundation. The student is responsible for getting to and from the tournament site(both international and domestic travel costs), and for any personal expenses such as souvenirs, and entertainment during the course of the trip. Click here for complete details.
– Michael Fodera
American Go E-Journal
2017 International Collegiate Go Tournament set for Thailand
Monday February 13, 2017
2017 dates set for Maeda’s Osaka Go Camp and Japan Go Congress
Monday February 13, 2017
Ryo Maeda’s annual Osaka Go Camp will be held June 25th to July 13th in Osaka, Japan. This year’s camp will have new 
content, says Maeda, a 6-dan pro from the Kansai-Kiin who’s been a regular attendee at the US Go Congress for the past 17 years. “We have league games in the mornings and full teaching programs in the afternoons by professional players every day, ” he says. 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 Kyoto, Friendship Tournament with Kyoto Go players and sightseeing.”
The second Japan Go Congress will be held July 14th to July 17th in nearby Takarazuka City, so camp participants can participate in both, if they want.
Register by the end of February and receive a 5,000-yen discount (only available for those who participate in the Osaka Go Camp for the full term).
“I promise that everyone can improve quite a lot through the Camp and the Congress and will have a lot of fun!” adds Maeda.
European Go Congress Early Bird rates good thru 2/15
Monday February 13, 2017
Early bird rates for this year’s European Go Congress apply until February 15. “This year it does not clash with the US 
Congress, so you can actually enjoy both!” says Michael Marz, President of the German Go Federation. The EGC will be held in Oberhof, Germany July 22-August 6; check out a brief video here. Marz also reports that the makers of ‘Go — The Surrounding Game’ will show their movie in the EGC Cinema as a European premiere.
Ilya Shikshin wins European Professional Go Championship
Sunday February 12, 2017
Six European professionals fought for the title of a European Professional Go Champion February 8-10th in Saint-
Petersburg, Russia. In the end, Ilya Shikshin (Russia, 1p) won the second European Professional Go Championship. Shikshin currently holds both European Champion titles (Open and Professional). In second was Mateusz Surma (Poland, 1p), while Pavol Lisy (Slovakia, 1p) was third. Fourth through sixth places were Alexandre Dinerchtein (Russia, 3p Korea), Ali Jabarin (Israel, 1p) and Artem Kachanovskyi (Ukraine, 1p). Click here for Marika Dubiel’s detailed report, which includes round-by-round reports, photos and game records.
photo: Ilya Shikshin (left) getting a bird’s eye view of his game with Mateusz Surma (right); photo by Mikhail Krylov
South Central Go Tournament update
Sunday February 12, 2017
As the South Central Go Tournament draws near (February 18-19, Plano, TX – Dallas area) things look promising for a 
good event, reports Bob Gilman. “As of February 6, there are 31 players registered — 6 Open Section, ranging from 7d to 3d, and 25 Handicap Section, ranging from 1k to 21k,” says Gilman. Players from eight states have registered: AR (4), CA (1), CO (1), KY (2), MO (1), NM (3), UT (1), and TX (18). “Additionally, there are 22 players who have said they will probably attend or would like to attend but are not sure.” There will be three rounds played each day. On-line registration remains open through February 15. It will also be possible to register at the door.
This is an AGA rated tournament which means players will need to be current AGA members to compete. If you decide to come, you can check your AGA membership status, find out about the different types of membership, and join or renew on-line here.
There is more information about the tournament and a registration link on Facebook.
Stephen Hu wins 25th annual Jujo Jiang Goe tournament
Tuesday February 7, 2017
Stephen Hu topped the 25th annual Jujo Jiang Goe Tournament last weekend. Sponsored by Ing’s Go Foundation of 
California, the tournament was held on February 4 and 5th at the Kabuki Hotel in San Francisco. Donna Casey presented Jujo Jiang with a Certificate of Honor from Mayor Ed Lee of San Francisco for 25 years of service to American go players.
Stephen Hu won the open section with a perfect score of five wins. $3000 in prizes were handed out across five divisions: Open, Dan, Expert, Intermediate and Novice. Non-cash prizes were also given to each player who played all five rounds without a victory.
Results by section:
Open: 1st: Stephen Hu; 2nd: Yuefeng Zhang; 3rd: Ary Cheng; 4th: Yufei Hu
Dan: 1st: Linden Chiu; 2nd: James Chiu; 3rd: Steven Burrall; 4th: Jason Won
Expert: 1st: Hojin Lee; 2nd: Jay Chan; 3rd: Nan Zhong; 4th: K Kim
Intermediate: 1st: Chao Zhang; 2nd: Tai-An Cha; 3rd: Elwin Li; 4th: Yunyen Jin
Novice: 1st: David Baran; 2nd: Dahlin Casey; 3rd: Nathan Bouscal; 4th: Bruce Bailey
photos (clockwise, from top left): Various attendees with Jujo and MingJiu; tournament playing area; Elwyn Berlekamp, Karoline Burrall, Steve Burrall; Jujo, Donna Casey, C.O. Armistad; Open Winner Stephen Hu; photos by Ernest Brown
Instant replay saves the day in Evanston
Tuesday February 7, 2017
The Evanston Go Club hosted its Winter Wonderland tournament on Saturday, Feb 4. Turnout was excellent, with 34 players
attending, ranging in rank from 5d to 20k
“Special thanks go to Xinming Simon Guo for catching a counting error that changed the result of a game,” said TD Mark Rubenstein. Guo, the 2015 AGF Teacher of the Year and founder of the Go And Math Academy in Chicago, was video-ing the counting stage of the games. He planned to use the videos in his classes to demonstrate math concepts in the game of go.
One of the games ended with black winning by half a point. However, after the result had been entered by the TD, Guo was reviewing the 
video and noticed that there were seven black stones lined up on a row that was only six points long. “One of those stones didn’t belong there, it should have been put inside black’s territory. This is the first time I have ever seen a game result overturned based on an instant replay!” said Rubenstein.
Winners were: Na (Nicole) Pan 5d: 3-1, Daniel Puzan 2d: 5-0, William Torres Amesty 3k: 4-0, Scott Gerson 8k: 4-0, Crystal Lin 14k: 4-0, and a prize for most games played to David Rohde with 8 games. “Thanks to Yellow Mountain for providing awesome prizes!” says Rubenstein.
The Power Report (3 of 3): Yo to challenge for Judan; Meijin League; Honinbo League
Monday February 6, 2017
by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Yo to challenge for Judan: The first semifinal in the 55th Judan tournament was held on December 26. Imamura Toshiya 9P (B) beat Hane Naoki 9P by resig. The second was held on January 9. Yo Seiki (Yu Zhengqi in Pinyin) (W) beat Yamashita Keigo 9P by 1.5 points. This was a lucky win for Yo (right). When the micro-endgame started, Yamashita was half a point ahead, but he played an invalid ko threat that cost him a point and a move. This meant that the final to decide the challenger was an all-Kansai Ki-in affair for only the second time in the history of this tournament (the first time was Sonoda Yuichi vs. Yuki Satoshi in the 27th Judan). The play-off was held on January 26 and the result couldn’t have been closer. After 317 moves, Yo edged Imamura by half a point. This gives Yo another crack at an Iyama-held title. The first game will be played on March 7.
Meijin League: The first league games of the new year were played on January 11.
Yamashita Keigo 9P (W) beat Sakai Hideyuki 8P by resig.; Cho U 9P (W) beat Hane Naoki 9P by resig.
(January 19) Murakawa Daisuke 8P (W) beat Yo Seiki 7P by resig.
(January 26). Iyama Yuta (W) beat Ko Iso 8P by resig. This game was decided in 104 moves. There’s little doubt that Iyama is the overwhelming
favorite in the league, though he shares the lead after two rounds with Murakawa.
Honinbo League: The last game of 2016 didn’t make our previous report. On December 22, Ko Iso 8P (B) beat Cho U 9P by resig. On January 11, two games were played. Motoki Katsuya 7P (B) beat Mitani Tetsuya 7P by resig.; Ko Iso 8P (B) beat
Yuki Satoshi 9P by resig. On January 19, Yamashita Keigo 9P (B) beat Hane Naoki 9P by resig. Hane’s loss meant there was now no undefeated player in the league. On 3-1, Hane shares the lead with Motoki and Ko Iso. On January 26, Takao Shinji Meijin finally picked up his first win in the fourth round when, taking white, he beat Cho U 9P by resig. Cho is now 2-2.
Promotion
To 7-dan: Kuwamoto Shinpei (120 wins, as of Dec. 23)
The Power Report (2 of 3): Xie starts well in Women’s Kisei, Nyu catches up; Cho U wins 900th game
Sunday February 5, 2017
by John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal
Xie starts well in Women’s Kisei, Nyu catches up: The first game of the 20th Docomo Cup Women’s Kisei title match, a best-of-three, was played at the Hotel Sunrise Garden in Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture on January 19. This year the 
challenger is the 17-year-old Nyu Eiko (left). A disciple of Michael Redmond, who is her mother’s brother-in-law, she became a professional at the Nagoya branch of the Nihon Ki-in last year. Nyu quickly showed promise and has already represented Japan several times in team tournaments. In the opening game of the title match, Xie Yimin (White, at right), the defending champion, showed the benefit of greater experience and forced a resignation after 154 moves. However, Nyu fought back in the second game, played in the Ryusei Studio in the basement of the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo on January 30. Taking white, Nyu forced a resignation after 186 moves. The fate of the title will be decided on February 6.
Cho U wins 900th game: Cho U (right) has become the 25th Nihon Ki-in player to reach the benchmark of 900 wins. In a game in Preliminary C of the 43rd Gosei tournament, played on January 19, Cho (black) beat Kim En 4P by resig. This took his record to 900 wins, 388 losses, 2 jigo, and 1 no-result. At 36 years 11 month, Cho is the youngest player to win 900 games (putting Yamashita Keigo, at 37 years two months, into 2nd place); at 22 years nine months, he is the 2nd fastest (top is Yamashita at 22 years seven months); his winning percentage of 69.9 is the 2nd highest (top is Takao with 70%).
Tomorrow: Yo to challenge for Judan; Honinbo League; Meijin League
New Jersey Open canceled
Saturday February 4, 2017
This year’s New Jersey Open has been canceled, and will be discontinued indefinitely. One of the longest-running go 
tournaments in the U.S., the NJO — usually held in mid-February — had seen increased turnout in recent years, but ran into organizational problems this year. Princeton University, the longtime site of the tournament, “will not approve the event now unless it is entirely run by students,” says Tournament Director Rick Mott, “and we don’t have enough active students available to pull that off this year.” Another issue was Princeton’s ban on cash prizes. “We’re looking for other regional tournament activities to fill the gap,” says Co-Director Paul Matthews. Meanwhile, East Coast go players can mark their calendars for the nearby Philadelphia Spring Open tournament on March 12.
At the 2016 NJO; photo by Chris Garlock