Qiu Jun 9P (right, in light shirt) and Li Qincheng 1p evened their Chang Qi Cup semifinal matches Sunday, defeating Tuo Jiaxi 9P (left, below right) and Lian Xiao 7P, respectively, to force third-game deciders on Monday (these should be broadcast live on KGS, starting at 9:30a EST). Once again the two younger players, Li and Lian — who are good friends as well as fierce competitors — finished first, with Li winning by resignation not long after the lunch break, while the Qiu-Tuo game again went the distance, a 7-hour, 231-move marathon that drew nearly 300 spellbound viewers on KGS. There were also professional game commentaries broadcast on the AGA’s YouTube channel, which are available for review. Here are links to the four Round 1 and 2 game records: (coming; you can also find them on KGS; look under ChangQi1 and ChangQi2)

In the inaugural American Chang Qi amateur tournament, Seo Joon Jung (right in photo above left) prevailed over Evan Cho in a dramatic final round Sunday afternoon, with Cho taking second place. Other top winners and a complete cross tab will be published later this week.

“This was a wonderful event that showed off the Ing Foundation’s commitment to go in North America, the strength of the North American go community and the vibrant go life here in Boston,” said American Go Association President Andy Okun.

This pro matches were played live at the Student Organization Center at Hilles, Harvard University, in Cambridge, MA, and were sponsored by the American Collegiate Go Association and the Shanghai Ing-Changki Weiqi Education Foundation in conjunction with the Chinese Chang Qi Cup and the American Go Association. The Changqi Cup is one of China’s most generously sponsored tournaments, with a winner’s prize of about $70,000 USD. It’s jointly hosted by the Chinese Go Association and the Shanghai Branch of the Ing Foundation. The tournament first started in 2004 in memory of Ing Chang-ki.

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The third game of the 40th Meijin title match was held at the Tokiwa Hotel in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture on September 24 and 25. Playing white, Iyama Yuta Meijin beat Takao Shinji Tengen by resignation after 148 moves. Iyama now needs just one more win to defend his title. Eighty moves were played on the first day, and Takao commented: “I spoiled it on the first day.” Actually, however, according to Go Weekly, he did not play any moves that could clearly be labeled as dubious. Rather, as Takao indicated after the game, he had regrets about some of his moves, as in retrospect he didn’t feel that they were the best attacking moves. Thanks to his skill at settling weak groups, Iyama seems to have gained a slight edge. On the second day, Iyama drew further ahead. In the end, Takao had to play unreasonably, and Iyama wrapped up the game by attacking and bringing down a large group. The fourth game will be played on October 5 and 6. The pressure on Takao has increased; he will want to avoid a repeat of his 0-4 loss to Iyama in the 35th Meijin title match. This, by the way, is Iyama’s 13th successive win. He is now fourth on the list of most games won. He probably has more games left this year than most of his rivals, so he should move up a place or two.
– John Power

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An artificial intelligence machine called Giraffe that has taught itself to play chess by evaluating positions much more like humans and in an entirely different way to conventional chess engines may well be the future of AI, according to a recent report in the MIT Technology Review. “Straight out of the box, the new machine plays at the same level as the best conventional chess engines, many of which have been fine-tuned over many years,” the report says. The technology behind the new machine — developed by Matthew Lai (left) at Imperial College London –is a neural network that consists of several layers of nodes that are connected in a way that change as the system is trained. “Lai says it should be straightforward to apply the same approach to other games,” the report concludes. “One that stands out is the traditional Chinese game of Go, where humans still hold an impressive advantage over their silicon competitors. Perhaps Lai could have a crack at that next.”
Thanks to Fred D. Baldwin for passing this along.

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The Chang Qi Cup Round 2 semifinal games are underway now and being broadcast live on KGS and YouTube. Qiu Jun 9P and Li Qincheng 1p are battling to force deciding matches; both lost their first-round matches yesterday, to Tuo Jiaxi 9P and Lian Xiao 7P, respectively.

The matches are being played live at the Student Organization Center at Hilles, Harvard University, in Cambridge, MA. Area go players are welcome to stop by and check out the action, including the Chang Qi amateur tournament also underway, sponsored by the American Collegiate Go Association and the Shanghai Ing-Changki Weiqi Education Foundation in conjunction with the Chinese Chang Qi Cup and the American Go Association.
– Chris Garlock

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In a nice bit of timing, the semi-finals of China’s Chang Qi Cup were held on US soil on Saturday, the day after Chinese President Xi Jinping capped his first U.S. visit with a meeting with President Obama and a black-tie state dinner at the White House. Four of the world’s strongest go players competed for the coveted title; Qiu Jun 9P, Lian Xiao 7P, Li Qincheng 1P and Tuo Jiaxi 9P. Lian Xiao 7P, playing black, won his game against Li Qincheng in 161 moves, shortly after the lunch break. One of the rising stars of the go world, Lian is ranked #11 in China (as of March 2015), has already won several domestic titles and continues to climb the rankings. This would be the biggest title of his career so far. Just after 4pm, Tuo Jiaxi 9P, playing white, edged out Qiu Jun 9P by a single point — the game is scored with Ing counting — in a 241-move nail-biter that had the more than 200 KGS viewers on the edge of their collective seats wondering who would triumph. Tuo Jiaxi is one of the top players in China. He won the 2014 LG Cup, has reached several quarter- and semifinals, and was ranked #1 in the country for a while back in 2013. He won this tournament in 2010, and should be one of the favorites this year to win the Chang Qi Cup. Tuo is #6 in the world, while Qiu is #23, according to Remi Coulom’s GoRatings.org. “It was a very close game for a long time,” Tuo told the EJ after the game, “but as a professional I’m used to playing long games so it was no problem.” He and Qiu know each other’s games so well that Tuo said he planned no special preparation, “just rest and relaxation.”

The semifinals are a best-of-three series, so the players will meet again on Sunday, September 27; the games will be broadcast live on KGS (starting at 9:30a EST) with commentary on the AGA’s YouTube channel. Depending on the results, there may be final round(s) on Monday.

The semifinals were held in Cambridge, MA at Harvard’s Student Organization Center at Hilles, sponsored by the American Collegiate Go Association (ACGA), the Shanghai Ing-Changki Weiqi Education Foundation and the American Go Association (AGA), which also hosted the inaugural American Chang Qi Tournament, drawing over 200 go fans to both play and watch on a gorgeous sunny fall day.
The Changqi Cup is one of China’s most generously sponsored tournaments, with a winner’s prize of about $70,000 USD. It’s jointly hosted by the Chinese Go Association and the Shanghai Branch of the Ing Foundation. The tournament first started in 2004 in memory of Ing Chang-ki.
– report/photos/collage by Chris Garlock; translation assistance by Cheng Hao; tech support by Steve Colburn

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East Coast go players — especially those in the Boston area — are counting down the hours to this weekend’s first American Chang Qi tournament. The tournament is being held September 26-27 in conjunction with the semi-finals of the 2015 Chang Qi Cup, at which four top pros from China will compete for a berth in the Chang Qi Cup finals. The weekend promises a go bonanza for both players and observers, who will be able to compete in the amateur tournament as well as watch the pro games; for those who can’t make it in-person, there will be full coverage of the entire weekend’s events on the AGA’s live broadcast channel (starting at 9a EST on Saturday), on KGS and in the E-Journal.  Online registration (free) is continuing, but there will be on-site registration from 8:30 to 9:30 on Saturday. Visit the ACGA’s website for more details.

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The 2nd World Students Pair Go Championship is coming up in December, and the United States is searching for a male and female representative through a pair go qualifying tournament.

The online pair go qualifying tournament will be held this weekend with a possible extension to Monday if needed. The winners of the qualifiers will get 50 percent of the round-trip airfare cost, and the meals will be covered from Friday evening to Tuesday morning. The championship will be held in Tokyo, Japan from December 4th to the 8th, and this will be a 4-round Swiss system with a 45 minute sudden death time limit.

To be eligible for the tournament and the championship, you must have been an AGA member for at least one year, an amateur player,  an undergraduate or graduate student of a University/College, under the age of 30, a US citizen, and you must have lived in the US for at least six years in the last twelve years

Interested players should email cherry.shen@usgo.org with their names, KGS ID, and best method of contact as soon as possible as we need to select a representative by October 1st. Please email even if you don’t have an immediate partner. – Austin Freeman. Photo from World Amatelur Pair Go Website.

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The Triangle Go Group of central North Carolina hosted the 15th Triangle Memorial Tournament at its traditional outdoor setting in Umstead State Park in Cary NC on September 19.  The sensation of this year’s tournament was 18-year-old Andy Zalesak 2D, who defeated the top four rated players to capture Section A, his second 4-0 sweep of a North Carolina tournament this year.  Sharing second place at 3-1 were Dalan Robertson and John Moore.  Other section winners were Kerianne Squitire and Bob Bacon, 3-1 in Section B (6-7k); Vincent DiMattia, Alvin Chen, and Dale Blann, all 3-1 in Section C (9-11k); and Alex Kuang 16k with a perfect 4-0 in Section D.

Following tradition, lunch was provided for the players and all entry fees, plus an additional donation from the club, were returned to the players in prizes.  The tournament honors the memory of two Duke mathematics professors, Joe Shoenfield and Richard Scoville, who for decades played go daily at lunchtime and were mainstays in creating a go tradition in central North Carolina.
– Charles Alden; photo: Andy Zalesak (right) vs. Dalan Robertson at the Triangle Memorial Tournament; photo by Bob Bacon

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Age: 21
Years playing go: 7
Lives in: Richfield, Minnesota
Home Club: Twin Cities Go Club

“Before I started playing go, I was constantly bullied and abused. Once I discovered Hikaru No Go, I have not looked back. Since I started playing go my life has changed. I play not only to better myself as a human being but to communicate with others who do not speak my language. It is because of go I now have friends from all over the world: China, Japan, Korea and Mexico, just to name a few. I play go because it saved my life. I play go because it lets me be me.”

Why do you play? Tell us in 100 words or less your favorite thing about the game of go, include your name, age, how long you’ve played go, where you live and your home go club, and email to journal@usgo.org. Be sure to include a current photo!

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