Congress
opened Saturday night with opening ceremonies that included the
legendary Takemiya Masaki 9P helping break open a cask of sake and an
entertaining brief Japanese play presented by PSU’s Larry Kominz. Egawa
Akio of the Portland Consulat of Japan joined Congress Co-Directors
Peter Freedman and Akane Negishi in welcoming the nearly 500 attendees
– a new Congress attendance record -- to the Portland State University
campus in Portland, Oregon. The weeklong gathering is the biggest event
on the North American calendar and features a number of tournaments –
including the U.S. Open and North American Ing Masters (NAIM) – as well
as lectures and simuls with more than a dozen professionals from the
United States, Japan, China and Korea. Congress coverage this year
includes broadcasting live coverage of the top boards at the U.S. Open,
the NAIM and the Redmond Youth tournaments, all on KGS. photo by Roy
LairdTAKEMIYA ON ING MASTERS: “If you play the move you want to play, you usually lose, and people make fun of you for being so weak,” said Takemiya Masaki 9P. “The ones who
become stronger faster are those who play these moves.” Hundreds turned
out for Sunday night’s live game commentary by the legendary Takemiya (click
here for the game record). In front of rapt audience in the
PSU cafeteria – as well as hundreds more watching online on KGS --
Takemiya analyzed the top-board first round game between defending
champion Mingjiu Jiang 7P and Gus Price 6d at the North American Ing
Masters (NAIM). With his characteristic deep analysis and ready wit,
Takemiya enthralled the crowd who often erupted in appreciative
laughter that echoed through the PSU Student Union. This year’s NAIM
has been expanded to 32 players competing over five rounds this week
for thousands of dollars in prizes. Round 2 will be broadcast live on
KGS on Monday night at 7P PST; Round 3 at 7P PST Tuesday night, Rou
nd 4
Thursday afternoon at 3P PST and the final round Friday at 7P PST. photo
by Brian AllenU.S. OPEN ON TIME & ONLINE: Perhaps the biggest and most welcome news at Sunday morning’s first round of the U.S. Open was that the round started on time at 9:15, allowing over 400 go players from around the world – as well as nearly 500 more watching live on KGS -- to get their week of go off to a timely start. Click here for the Round 1 pairings and here for the results -- and game records – from the top boards. Photos of the top players in the Open and NAIM are also posted online. photo of main playing area by Steve Colburn
will be a
best two out of three between Hugh Zhang, 6d, and Andrew Huang, 5d. The
games will be broadcast daily in the English Game Room on KGS. Junior
Division games are scheduled for 3 pm PST on Sunday, Monday, and
possibly Tuesday; Senior Division games are set for 7 pm Sunday through
Tuesday, Thursday, and possibly Friday. The American Go Foundation
provides $1,000 in cash prizes for the winners, and the Ing Foundation
brings the finalists to the Congress with all expenses paid. “Tune in
to watch the strongest youth in America compete!” urges EJ Youth Editor
Paul Barchilon. Photo: Eleven-year-olds Hugh Zhang, 6d, (l) and Andrew
Huang, 5d, (r) play one-color go in the youth room. Both boys are
finalists for the Redmond Cup. Photo by Paul Barchilon
Leksand,
Sweden, where nearly 700 are competing. Lai “came to fame four years
ago,” reports EJ Special Correspondent Peter Dijkema, “when he finished
second in the World Amateur Go Championships (WAGC), losing to Korea,
but defeating China in the last round.” Close on Lai’s heels at the EGC
are seven top players, including “usual suspects like Hong Seok Ui,
last year’s winner, 2003 winner Hong Seul-ki, other strong Koreans and
Ondrej Silt 6d of Czechia, the only native European in the top
contenders.” As Aleksander Dinerchtein 3P reported in Goama, after the
first three rounds, it was “strongest Asians versus best Europeans:
20-1. Only Catalin Taranu 5P won a game against a Korean 7d." The
strongest go tournament ever held in Europe “turns out to be a
slaughterhouse for our European pro's, who all lost at least two games”
adds Dijkema. Defending European Champion Ilya Shiksin 6d lost two
games as well, while his sister Svetalana Shiksina 3P - who won the
title the year before – has already lost three games. The European Pair
Go Championship drew a record 96 pairs, with the top two continuing to
a dramatic knock-out match with live commentary by Yoon Young-sun 5P
before a large audience. “But even when the game was over, the drama
wasn't, Dijkema reports. ”The players had agreed on the result,
counting by Ing rules. But since Japanese rules were in force, Marc
Stoehr (2k, France) and Kurebayashi Meien (2P, J) won by half a point,
while Daniela Trinks (4d, Germany) and Lee Seung Geun (6d, Korea) took
the silver prize. Another highlight of the first week at the EGC was a
symposium with lectures on go in art and history, with Dr. Erwin
Gerstorfer lecturing on his collection of wood-prints -- some of which
have appeared on the cover of Go World -- while Noguchi Motoki 7d spoke
about go and art in Japan and Peter Shotwell of the U.S. talked about
the history of go in Tibet and China. In a fun side-note, Olli-Pertti
Saira 3k of Finland won all his games in both the main and rapid
tournaments and marked the occasion with a small Champagne party befo
re heading
back to Finland.