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Member’s Edition: Albert Yen vs Yongfei Ge

Commentary by Albert Yen

Game Editor: Gordon Fraser

Published in the September 20, 2022 edition of the American Go Journal

This game is from Round 5 of the 2022 Master’s Tournament. Albert Yen employed a successful sacrifice strategy that turned the game around, leaving his opponent with no chance at a comeback.

Download SGF File

The AGHS is starting the fall season of its Weekly Go Problems on October 9th. Five problems will be sent out every week for participants to solve. Everyone is welcome to participate.

“We want to create a space where players are actively encouraged to practice solving go problems. We know how important consistent practice is and solving problems together is always more fun than going at it alone,” says AGHS Vice President Patrick Zhao.

Please register through this link by October 6th at 11:59 pm PT.
Additional information regarding Weekly Go Problems can be found in this document.
Any questions or concerns can be sent to aghsregsiter@gmail.com.

By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

Sumire wins 3rd Discovery Cup 

The Discovery Cup is an unofficial tournament for players 18 and under and 2-dan and under, including insei. Eight players who have won their way through a preliminary compete in a three-round league. The two players on 2-0 meet in what is virtually a “final” inside the third round. The format is the same as the NHK Cup: players have 30 seconds per move plus ten minutes thinking time to be used in one-minute units. First prize is ¥200,000 ($13,956, at $1 = ¥143.3). The tournament was founded by the late Ogino Shoji, who owned an art gallery on the Ginza. His family is continuing the sponsorship after his death.

The main tournament was played on August 11, which happened to be Nakamura Sumire’s off day in the Chinese Women’s B League (see previous item)—she was certainly keeping busy. After two rounds, the players on 2-0 were Sumire and last year’s winner, Miura Taro 2-dan. Taking white, Sumire won by resignation after 172 moves. Sumire: “I’m happy: winning this tournament was one of my goals.” (Results of all three games are given below in “Sumire’s progress.)

Shin Jinseo wins Kuksu Mountains

The 8th Kuksu Mountains International Baduk Championship, a Korean-sponsored international tournament, was held from August 13 to 15, with the 16 participants playing on the net. The tournament was dominated by Korean players, with seven of the quarterfinalists and all the semifinalists being from Korea. In the final, Shin Jinseo 9-dan beat Byan Sangil 9-dan, winning his fourth big international title. 

The time allowance is 30 minutes per player plus 40-second byo-yomi x 3. First prize is 75 million won ($52,891, at $1 = 1418 won). Below are the results (in most cases, full details are not available to me).

Round One (Aug. 13). Park Junghwan 9-dan (Korea) (B) beat Ichiriki Ryo 9-dan (Japan) by resig.; Kim Jiseok 9-dan (Korea) beat Iyama Yuta 9-dan (Japan) by half a point; Shin Minjun 9-dan (Korea) (B) beat Kyo Kagen 9-dan (Japan) by resig.; Shin Jinseo 9-dan (Korea) beat Mi Yuting 9-dan (China); Zhao Zhenyu 9-dan (China) beat Kim Myeonghun 9-dan (Korea); Weon Seongjin 9-dan (Korea) beat Lai Junfu 7-dan (Ch. Taipei); Kang Dongyun 9-dan (Korea) beat Wang Yuanjun 7-dan (Ch. Taipei); Byan Sangil 9-dan (Korea) beat Ding Hao 9-dan (China).

Round Two (Aug. 13). Shin Jinseo beat Kim; Park beat Zhao; Weon beat Kang; Byan beat Shin Minjun.

Semifinals (Aug. 14). Shin Jinseo beat Park; Byan beat Weon.

Final (Aug. 15). Shin Jinseo 9-dan (Korea) (W) beat Byan Sangil 9-dan (Korea) on time. 

New record set for youngest player

Nakamura Sumire, who became 1-dan at the age of exactly ten, has lost her record as the youngest professional ever in Japan. In April this year, the Kansai Ki-in announced that it had set up a system, the Special Induction System for Young Players, to enable talented young players to debut at a younger age in professional play in the belief that this will speed up their development. It is similar to the system under which Nakamura Sumire was chosen at the Nihon Ki-in; in her case, the system has been a resounding success. At a press conference held on August 17, the Kansai Ki-in announced that Fujita Reo, aged nine years four months, would become a professional 1-dan as of September 1. Fujita has set a new world record for the youngest professional. Previously, Cho Hunhyun of Korea and Chang Hao of China had shared the record at nine years seven months. 

Fujita was born in Osaka on April 25, 2013. At the age of four, he became addicted to the game of Othello. One day, when he was four years ten months old, his mother took him downtown to find an Othello club but couldn’t (not surprising, because they don’t exist, as far as I know), so she took him to a go club instead, since it looked similar to Othello. Reo was immediately fascinated by the game and started playing it all day long. The manager of the go club commented that he made amateur shodan in ten months. He started attending classes for children and playing in youth tournaments. When he was six, he won the Osaka qualifying tournament for lower-grade elementary-school pupils for the Children’s Kisei tournament, but couldn’t play in the all-Japan tournament because kindergarten pupils were not eligible. From June in first grade to April in third grade, he enrolled as an insei at the Kansai Headquarters of the Nihon Ki-in. In 2021, he had the second-best results; apparently, from second grade he would occasionally play even games with low-ranked professionals and won some of them. (By the way, the Kansai Ki-in, which had some claim on Nakamura Sumire, cooperated with the Nihon Ki-in in her appointment as a pro; on this occasion, the Nihon Ki-in returned the courtesy.)

When Reo heard about the new Kansai Ki-in system, he sent in an application. He had to submit game records for vetting and play a game on black (no komi) with Seto Taiki 8-dan. Seto won the game by six points, but the Kansai Ki-in concluded he was strong enough to play as a pro. At the press conference, he commented that his ambition was to become the world’s top player. He said that his goal was to beat Shin Jinseo and that he wanted to play Iyama Yuta.

Nakamura Sumire’s reaction: “I’m astonished! I look forward to being able to play him!”

Japanese Wikipedia has some stories about Reo. He has a phenomenal memory: when he was one, he memorized all the stations in the Osaka train network (that’s at least 123 stations); when he was four, he memorized the 47 Japanese prefectures in order of size. He became a disciple of Hoshikawa Takumi 5-dan at the Kansai Ki-in. At first, he played him on the handicap of black without komi; in January this year, he played his first game on even and won it. Their results on even are 50-50. Hoshikawa: “The main feature of his go is his destructive power, based on reading. His opening is also strong; I find myself under pressure all the time.” His teacher at the go club commented: “I was often surprised by how he perfectly memorized long and complicated life -and-death sequences.”

Incidentally, Reo is the youngest male professional in Japan; he lowered the record set by Cho Chikun, who became 1-dan at 11 years nine months in 1968.

On September 2, Reo played a game to commemorate his becoming a pro. Taking black (no komi) against Yo Seiki 8-dan, he lost by resig. after 160 moves. He played a little too aggressively, creating weak groups.

Tomorrow:  Seats filled in the new Honinbo League; Shibano takes lead in Meijin title match; China dominates 4th Nie Weiping tournament

October 1: Vicksburg, MI
Vicksburg (Michigan) Open Go Tournament
David Richter davidandrewrichter@gmail.com 269-716-5368
Claudio Mendoza claudiom07@gmail.com 269-370-8465

Get the latest go events information.

l-r: Seo Hyo-seok, Gurujeet Khalsa & Terry Benson

Seo Hyo-seok has a vision of further globalizing the game of go, and it starts on a 9×9 board. Seo Hyo-seok, president of the Korea Baduk Federation, met with the presidents of the American Go Association and the American Go Foundation, Gurujeet Khalsa and Terry Benson, during a recent visit to the United States.

A six-dan Baduk (Go) player, Dr. Seo has had a distinguished career running the Pyunkang Korean Medicine Hospital, and June 26th was designated ‘Dr. Seo Hyo-seok Day’ by the New York State Assembly to honor his achievements in promoting Asian healing techniques in the U.S. His recent visit included a lecture tour on natural methods to treat COPD while also meeting with go clubs and organizations. 

Dr. Seo assumed the presidency of the KBF in March of this year; the KBF administers the Korea Prime Minister’s Cup, attended this year by American representative Xinyu Tu. Dr. Seo discussed a wide range of topics with Khalsa and Benson centering on ways that the respective organizations can cooperate on the vision of globalization of go, including via “Easy Go” on a 9×9 board.

After his lecture in New York City, Dr. Seo presented a generous contribution to the American Go Association. “We were happy to establish a good relationship with the new KBF President,” says Khalsa, “and look forward to cooperating in the promotion of go.”

Michael Zhou poses for a photo with his family at the 2022 Go Congress

Michael Zhou has been named head coach of the  Capital Go Club. In his new role, Coach Zhou will mentor club members and assist in organizing future club events and workshops such as an upcoming in-person tournament in Virginia on November 26. .

“Coach Zhou has been a very strong player on the North American go scene, and has won several tournaments in California,” says club organizer Edward Zhang 7D. “He is very kind and patient with young players and mentored a lot of rising youth stars including Alex Qi 1P and Blake Kang 6D. In his lessons, Coach Zhou always stresses ethics, integrity, and manners, seeking to provide valuable life lessons for teens.”

By John Power, Japan Correspondent for the E-Journal

Sumire stars in the Chinese Women’s B League

The much-delayed 2021 edition of the Chinese Women’s B League Team tournament was held in Fuzhou City in Fujian Province from August 9 to 16. The three-player teams represent different areas of China, and a match was played every day, with just the third day off as a rest day. Two players from Japan, Nyu Eiko 4-dan and Nakamura Sumire 2-dan, took part, playing their games on the net. Nyu, who was on a Hubei team, made a bad start, losing her first three games, but she recovered to win the next three. She lost her final game, however, so she ended up with a minus record of 3-4. In contrast, Sumire had an excellent tournament, playing on a Fujian team and scoring 5-2 and helping her team to win promotion into the A League. Both served as captains of their teams, but I am afraid I do not know how to render the team names in English. Sumire’s best performance was in the last game; the match was tied 1-1, so her result would decide whether her team went up or not. Sumire demonstrated a good understanding of the Chinese rules, in which victory goes to the player with more stones surviving on the board. She worked out that if she played the “natural” move according to the Japanese rules, she would lose, so she tried to find a sequence that secured a half-point victory by the Chinese rules. Actually, her opponent, Kim Dayong of Korea, made a mistake, so Sumire won by half a point. Playing the way she did gave her opponent the opportunity to make this mistake. Ko Reibun 7-dan, who was acting as referee at the Japanese site, commented: “You can only call this a miracle.”

Korea does well in Go Seigen Cup

The opening rounds of the 5th Go Seigen Cup World Women’s Go Championship were held from July 30 to August 1. This is a Chinese-sponsored tournament with a top prize of 500,000 yuan (about $70,220, at $1 = 7.12 yuan). Sixteen players start out in the first round, then eight seeded players join the winners in the second round.

The tournament was a triumph for Korea, which secured three of the semifinal places. The fourth went to a Chinese representative. Japan had three players taking part, but only Ueno Asami picked up a win. In the second round, she beat Zhou Hongyyu 6-dan, one of China’s top players. Results to date are given below. The semifinals are scheduled for November 30. It was interesting to see Wu Yiming, who turns 16 on Nov. 22, again representing her country in an international tournament. In the not too distant future, she might become the world’s top woman player. Also, Hei Jiajia (aka Joanne Missingham) seemed to be in good form, just missing out on a semifinal seat. 

Round One (July 30). Wu Yiming 4-dan (China) (B) beat Nyu Eiko 4-dan (Japan) by 7.5 points; Li Xiaoxi 2-dan (China) (W) beat Nakamura Sumire 2-dan (Japan) by resig.; Hei Jiajia 7-dan (Ch. Taipei) (W) beat Rui Naiwei 9-dan (China) by resig.; Feng Yun 9-dan (North America) (W) beat Dina Burdakova, am. 5-dan, (Russia) by half a point; Zhou Hongyu 6-dan (W) beat Kim Eunji 3-dan (Korea) by 10.5 points; Suzuki Ayumi 7-dan (Japan) (W) beat Virzhinia Shalneva, am. 3-dan, (Russia) by resig.; Lu Yuhua 4-dan (Ch. Taipei) (B) beat Wang Yubo 4-dan (China) by resig.; Cho Seunga 5-dan (Korea) (B) beat Yin Mingming (Stephanie Yin, North America) by resig.

Round Two (July 31). Kim Jaeyoung 7-dan (Korea) (B) beat Wu by 1.5 points; Wang Chenxing 5-dan (China) (W) beat Cho by resig.; Lu Minquan 6-dan (China) (B) beat Suzuki by resig.; Hei (B) beat Yu Zhiying 7-dan (China) by 2.5 points; Lu Yuhua (W) beat Li He 5-dan (China) by half a point; Ueno (B) beat Zhou by resig.; Choi Jeong 9-dan (Korea) (B) beat Li by resig.; Oh Yujin 9-dan (Korea) (B) beat Feng by resig.

Quarterfinals (August 1). Oh (W) beat Lu Minquan by resig.; Kim (W) beat Hei by half a point; Choi (W) beat Ueno by resig.; Wang (B) beat Lu Yuhua by resig. 

Semifinal pairings (Nov. 30). Oh v. Choi, Kim v. Wang

Iyama starts badly in Chinese A Team League

The first round of the Chinese A Team League was held from August 3 to 11. There are 16 teams in this league; teams are made up of four players, but each team actually has a pool of five or six players to call upon. They announce their team just before a match. In the second round, the top eight teams will vie for supremacy, while the bottom eight will compete to avoid relegation to the B League. Iyama Yuta represented the Zhejiang Zheshang Securities team in Match 5 (the 8th) and Match 7 (the 10th). In the first game, Iyama (B) lost to Dang Yifei 9-dan, who was playing for the Zhengdu Agricultural & Commercial Bank; he resigned after 180 moves. Dang is a top player and won the 21st LG Cup. In the second game, Iyama was paired against Rong Yi of the Shenbo Dragon Flower team. Iyama had white and resigned after 141 moves. Actually, he had the lead for most of the game but made some errors in the latter stage of the game. 

Iyama’s team finished 8th. He is hoping to get a chance to redeem himself in the second round, but first, he has to be picked to play . . .

Tomorrow: Sumire wins 3rd Discovery Cup; Shin Jinseo wins Kuksu Mountains; New record set for youngest player

By Keith L. Arnold, hka, with Patrick Bannister

The month began with the 3rd International Tournament taking place in New York on September 2. Unfortunately, we cannot recover any further details on this fun team event.

On September 3-4 the Hawai’i Ki’in celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a visit from the Great Kitani, his wife, his daughter Reiko, as well as Ishida Yoshio, Takemiya Masaki and Haruyama Isamu. More than 40 were in attendance.

Also this month the Argentine Championship was won by a Mr. Hara, over 100 players participated.

Beginning on September 5-6 the Meijin Title continued. Rin Meijin won Game 3, and Game 4 on September 14-15 putting challenger Fujisawa Shūkō‘s back to the wall. But in Game 5, Shūkō extended the match on September 26-27. (Game records: Game 3, Game 4, Game 5).

On September 9th, Katō Masao defeated defending champion Sakata Eio in the first round of the 20th NHK Championship. (Game record available here.)

Finally, Stuart Dowsey reported extensively on the Japanese Tour of America (the term used advisedly because it included visits to Canada). The month started in New York on September 1 and then went to Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Northfield, Edmonton and Seattle (the West Coast swing will be covered in our next column). The tour group consisted of Dowsey, Okubō Ichigen 9d and Nagahara Yoshiaki 6d (who wrote several the early Ishi Press books and attended one U.S. Go Congress). The New York Go Club was located on West 10th St. in the basement of the Marshall Chess Club. Mitsuo Horiguchi was the long standing President of the club which was open daily. Dowsey praises Vice President John Stephenson for various initiatives regarding membership and teaching. More evidence of Stephenson’s efforts are contained in the “Go Digest” pictured, which covered the visit by the two professionals. Brief mentions were made of Robert Ryder’s Bell Lab Go Club, Bill Mann’s Massachusetts Go Association, Walter Reitman‘s work at in Ann Arbor on computers and go, with James Kerwin on his team and Craig Hutchinson teaching go to cadets at West Point. Of particular interest to your correspondent was the visit to Baltimore, where Bob Gross knew of only two other players in town and a few others in Annapolis. But when over 300 people turned out for the two day visit, the pros left behind a thriving Gilbert W. Rosenthal Memorial Go Club, which, at least started out with 70 people turning out to sessions at Johns Hopkins. It seems current President and your author needs to work on increasing membership…

Dowsey reports that activity in Canada was centered on Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton but activity was increasing, from one club 5 years ago to at least 13, and the recent formation of the Canadian Go Association led by first President John Williams. Dowsey estimated the Japanese tour addressed 600 players in Canada.

Overall, the group visited 19 clubs and 17 universities and reached 4,500 people, over half of whom were taught how to play. We would love to hear from anyone who learned the game from this very successful effort.

[See image gallery at www.usgo.org]

Photos from GoReview, game records from SmartGoOne

July 13th Albert Yen (r) simul

The Evanston Go Club is holding an online fundraiser simul event on OGS with Albert Yen 8d on Saturday, October 15. Yen is the winner of the 2022 Midwest Open and Chicago Open.

The event on the 15th will include two sessions of 3-person simuls, at 1 pm and 2:30 pm Central Time; each session will last 90 minutes, which includes time for a post-game review. 

“Our previous simul event filled up quickly, and we had to turn people down,” says Mark Rubenstein, president of the Evanston Go Club. “The simul is a great event to bring players together and a unique opportunity to interact with top players like Albert. The proceeds will help us offer bigger and better tournaments for the whole go community.”

“This time, since we are holding the event online, we will broadcast the whole event for people to enjoy at home,” says Yen. “Jeremiah Donley 6d, 2022 US Masters player and popular instructor for the Columbus Go Club, will be giving live commentary on the AGA stream.”

Players who are interested in playing Albert can secure their slot by contacting him at albertyen33@gmail.com. A donation of $30 to the Evanston Go Club is requested. All proceeds go towards special prizes, equipment, and professional commentary/review for tournaments hosted by the club.

photos: top: Pengyu Guo (with trophy); lower right: group photo with, from left, Chen Zhang, 2nd place open section; Pengyu Guo, North Carolina State Champion; Jeff Kuang, Tournament Director, Bob Bacon, organizer, and Thomas Bitonti, assistant; lower left (from left): Justin Blank, Eric Lin, Paul Celmer, Chen Yuan, Yihui Shao, and Pengyu Guo;

With three top players tied at three wins and one loss each, SMS scores were used to declare Pengyu Guo the new North Carolina State Champion last weekend. “First place in the open section was deemed to be Edward Zhang, with Chen Zhang securing second place honors,” reports organizer Bob Bacon.   Some thirty go enthusiasts gathered on September 17 at Umstead Park in Raleigh, NC for the North Carolina Championship and 21st Annual Memorial Tournament. “The weather was ideal and spirits were jovial as familiar and new friends competed for trophies and cash prizes,” Bacon told the EJ.

Section A (2 to 3 Dan) also had 3 ties at the top, and SMS scores determined 1st place honors for Suyoung Yoon, with Nianci Gan in 2nd place.  Section B (all 1 Dan) was clearly won by Xiaoping Wu, who posted a perfect record of 4-0.  Second place was taken home by Florida visitor Dakota Krafick.  The winner of section C (1-3 Kyu) was Tao Mao with an impressive 3-1 score, with second place going to Paul Celmer.  6 to 9 Kyu comprised section D, which was handily won by Justin Su, who posted the only other perfect 4-0 record of the day. Ben Parrot was named for second, although later review suggests that Yihui Shao earned that position. Section E (10-12 Kyu) had multiple ties, with the winner, Sky Wang, determined by SMS scores.  Neal Siekierski was awarded second place.

“A magnificent lunch was prepared and presented by Arlene Bridges with assistance from Russell Herman and the tournament was smoothly run by Tournament Director Jeff Kuang,” Bacon reports.

This is a game between 5 kyu players. In this lesson I’d like to emphasize how to make a moyo. I also point out common amateur mistakes in this opening and how you should think of a global strategy.

Former insei Kazunari Furuyama 8d is a longtime contributor to the American Go E-Journal. Visit his newly improved website at kazsensei.com.

Download SGF File

The San Francisco Go Club held its “Respect for the Aged Tournament” this past Saturday, September 17. Attendees competed over three rounds for cash prizes, BadukPop subscriptions, certificates, and honors. Lunch from Andersen Bakery was included with admission. Tournament results were as follows:

Division 1: 1st: Peixuan Wang 8D; 2nd: Linden Chiu 4D; 3rd: David Liao 2D

Division 2: 1st: Alexander Lo; 2nd: Lena Lee; 3rd: Guy Moreau

Division 3: 1st: Edmund Hsiao; 2nd: Roger Schrag; 3rd: Benjamin Lo

“The SF Go Club thanks all those who attended and contributed to the success of the tournament,” says club president Matthew Barcus. Click here for a video clip from the tournament.

The AGHS is ecstatic to kick off its 2022-2023 year with new officers and to announce the return of its monthly tournament: The AGHS Youth League. The October league will begin on 10/2 and will feature three rounds played over three consecutive weekends (10/2, 10/9, 10/16). Youth players, 18 years old and younger, will have a chance to face off against each other in weekly games. Registration ends on 9/30 at 11:59pm PT.

More information regarding rules and regulations can be found on this document.
Register using this form.
Any questions or concerns may be sent to aghsregister@gmail.com

First 3 places in the tournament (includes all 4 and 5 game winners of top section), l-r:
Yuxiao Wang (2nd place, 4-1), Xinyu Tu (1st place, 5-0), Trevor Morris (TD), Hao Li (3rd place, 4-1)

Xinyu Tu took first place at the 2022 New England Open over the Labor Day weekend, winning all five rounds. See below for the complete winner’s list.

“We had players from each of the six New England states, except for New Hampshire,” reports organizer Trevor Morris  “Next year, we’ll be recruiting heavily from New Hampshire!”  In order to incentivize New England players, “next year we’ll have a special prize for the top finisher from each of the six New England states,” said Morris.

With over $3,000 in cash and prizes, the 2022 New England Open tripled the advertised $1,000 prize pool. Prize sponsors, in order of the value of their donations, included ZBaduk, OGS, BenKyo Baduk, GoMagic, Battle Standard (physical location, hosting the Central CT Go Club), New York Go Institute, BadukPop, AYD, Yilun Yang, SmartGo, Shawn’s Go Group, baduk.club, AwesomeBaduk, Chris Sagner, and Guo Juan’s Internet Go School. Click here for links to all of the sponsors and a detailed description of their donations. 

“A special thanks to Sunstein LLP, an intellectual property law first, for sponsoring breakfast, which included, importantly, bottomless coffee, on the second day,” said Morris. “The breakfast was very popular, and would not have been possible without their generous support.”

Morris also thanked Chris Sanger, “not only for donating lessons to the prize pool but also for offering to be the odd player out.  Thanks to him, no one had to take a forced bye.  In the rounds that he did not play (most of them!), he was super-helpful pitching in on logistics.” The E-Journal’s Eva Dee Beech made streaming of the final round possible, training Morris on how to set up cell phones to stream live, and then providing the off-site live transcription to KGS for the top two boards.  She also arranged for TelegraphGo to provide live commentary on Twitch.

Winner’s Report

Open section winners: Xinyu Tu (1st place, 5-0); Yuxiao Wang(2nd place, 4-1); Hao Li (3rd place, 4-1).

Four-game winners, all of whom earned a new rank, per their new official AGA ratings:

Hughes de Saxce (1 kyu) [now 1 dan]; Andrew Hall (1 dan) [now 2 dan]; David Fang (3 kyu entry rank; official rank: 5 kyu) [now 2 kyu]; Laura Wu (7 kyu) [now 6 kyu].

“An unexpected shout-out to the Feng Yun Go School,” adds Morris. Three of her young students were a real pleasure to have at the tournament, and they each gained more than 2 points in their official AGA ratings: Zhihan William Huang: 19kyu -> 8kyu; Zhiyong Huang: 10kyu -> 4kyu; David Fang: 5kyu -> 2kyu.

4 Game Winners, not in open section (l-r): Hughes de Saxce (1 kyu), Andrew Hall (1 dan), David Fang (3 kyu, in front), Trevor Morris (TD), Laura Wu (7 kyu)

“Finally, we’d like to recognize the nine players who competed for the first time in an AGA tournament,” says Morris. “That’s a full 18% of the entire pool.  We look forward to seeing you all at the next one!” Hao Li, Yuxiao Wang, Jiayi Chen, Wei Chen, Patrick Blackstone, Philippe Lessard, Sophia Mears, Zeyi Tong, Martha Marteney.

The full tournament cross-grid and photos are available on the website.

Prize Coordinator: Michael Scudder (+ wife Lyda); Tournament Director: Trevor Morris (+ partner Martha Marteney). Photos by Chi-Hse Teng.

The National Go Center’s 2022 Back-to-School Tournament – 9/24/2022 is next Saturday and  Pair Go/Paella Night – 9/23/2022 is on the previous Friday evening. “If you are planning to come to either of these events, please preregister asap so we can know how many are coming,” says NGC Executive Director Gurujeet Khalsa. “Looking forward to seeing many of you at either or both!”

Another upcoming big event coming up is the Toronto Go Spectacular to be held December 28-30 in Toronto, Canada. Pre-registration is open now with an early-bird discount until the end of September.

The Santa Monica Go Club’s annual “(de-caf) Coffee Cup” tournament is back after a two year hiatus. The in-person tournament will be held this coming Saturday, September, 24th, at the UnUrban coffee shop in Santa Monica (3301 Pico Blvd , S M. 90405). Registration is available at goclubs.org. Any additional questions, email Brent Russell at the SMGC Google Group (all info is provided on the goclubs.org site). “We look forward to seeing you there!”                             

Black group races death, and must do something in White’s corner.

Yilun Yang 7P is one of the most popular go teachers in the US. You can reach him at yly_go@yahoo.com.

Download SGF File

To attack White, Black must take advantage of the inside stone.

Yilun Yang 7P is one of the most popular go teachers in the US. You can reach him at yly_go@yahoo.com.

Download SGF File

The premium events at the Toronto Go Spectacular December 28-30 are the invitational events, say organizers. “But for many of us, ‘we just want to play some go!’ Don’t worry, we’ve got this taken care of!” says CGA president James Sedgwick. Thursday December 29th & Friday December 30th will see a 6-round Swiss-McMahon tournament, for players Beginner-7D.  In fact, even professionals ineligible for the North American Championship are welcome to participate.

Adult players 10K-25K can consider their preferred choice between the novice tournament and open tournament.  “A potential downside to the open tournament is you may wind up with some large handicap games,” says Sedgwick. “The novice tournament will give you the opportunity to compete against many players near your level, and also is less of a time commitment.  However you should anticipate playing many/most of your games against 6-12 year old children if you choose to compete in the novice event.” 

Organizers are expecting a large field of 150 players, with prizes commensurate for a major event like this. “First prize should be 1000-1500 CAD, comparable to the largest prizes at past Canadian open championships,” Sedgwick tells the EJ. “Large, but still a big step down from what the professionals have the chance to earn!” Trophies and so on will be available to players at all levels.

Discounted early bird registration is available until September 30th. For those who insist on waiting until the last moment late registrations will be accepted until Christmas. Refunds are available without question until December (minus the Eventbrite processing fees); after December, refunds are at the discretion of the organizers.

Accommodation options are now finalized; organizers have arranged a discount, but rates are not fixed, and they can be expected to rise through the fall. Check out all the details and order your tickets on the event page.  Email torontogospectacular@gmail.com for more info, or ask questions on the Facebook event.

September 17: Cary, NC
Triangle Memorial and North Carolina State Championship
Paul Celmer pcelmer@earthlink.net 919-610-0927

September 17: San Francisco, CA
Respect for the Aged Go Tournament
Matthew Barcus matt@sfgo.club 415-316-2953

September 25: San Diego, CA
2022 U16 Boys and U16 Girls California Go Championship
San Diego End-of-Summer Go Tournament
Ted Terpstra ted.terpstra@gmail.com 619-384-3454
Enrique Garcia enrique.jrgarcia711@gmail.com

Get the latest go events information.