This Week’s Go Calendar: Montreal, Seattle, Columbus, Portland

February 21: Montreal, Canada
36th Winter Cup
Jean-Sébastien Lechasseur goaqjg@gmail.com 514-278-5502

February 21-22: Seattle, WA
Yilun Yang Workshop
Brian Allen manager@seattlego.org 206-632-1122 206-545-1424

February 22: Columbus, OH
2015 Chinese Festival Tournament
Tim Kington timkington@gmail.com 614-560-1708
Evan Hale silverumbro@gmail.com

February 22: Portland, OR
Sunday Chess and Go Tournament
Peter Freedman pleefreedman1@comcast.net 503-242-4203

Get the latest go events information.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/17GIcCC

Redmond Cup Registration Opens

IMG_3470The 22nd annual Redmond Cup will begin in April, and registration is due by March 15th. Preliminary games will be played online and the four finalists will be invited to the 2015 US Go Congress to play the final games. There are two divisions in the Cup; the Junior league for kids 12 and under, and the Senior league for 17 and under. Competitors in both leagues must have an AGA or CGA rank of  1 dan or higher.    The Junior league has been expanded to include 12 year olds, and both leagues now require a dan rating (kyu players can compete in the North American Kyu Championships instead).  Players who complete the tournament will be eligible for $400 scholarships to the AGA Go Camp, or $200 scholarships to the US Go Congress, on a first come first served basis, courtesy of the AGF. Competitors from Mexico are also invited to the event. The participants must be members of the American Go Association or the Canadian Go Association and either residents of the U.S., Canada or Mexico, or citizens of the United States living anywhere in the world, provided that they are also members of the AGA.  For more information on the event, read the rules document here. To register click here. –Story and photo by Paul Barchilon, E-J Youth Editor.  Photo: Bill Lin 7d (l) vs. Jianing Gan 7d (r), in the foreground, while the Jr. League players compete in the background, at the 2014 US Go Congress in New York..

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1A41CdL

Breaking International Title Drought, Park Junghwan Wins LG Cup

Park Junghwan 9p has defeated Kim Jiseok 9p to win the 19th LG Cup 2-1. This was Park’s first LG Cup title, and only his second international 2015.02.12_Park-Junghwan-19th-LG-Cup-300x448title since winning the 24th Fujitsu Cup in 2011. Though Park is currently ranked #1 in the world according to the rating system used by the Korean Baduk Association, in recent years many go fans doubted his ranking, because Park hadn’t won any international titles since 2011. The LG Cup final was held on February 9, 10 and 12 in Gangneung, Gangwon-do, Korea.
– based on Youngil An’s longer report on Go Game Guru

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1B2bF60

Go Spotting: SyFy’s “12 Monkeys”

SyFy’s “12 Monkeys”: The latest episode of SyFy’s “12 Monkeys” is titled “Atari.” “A character describes a dire post-apocalyptic predicament as 2015.02.12_12monkeysposterbeing ‘in atari,’” reports Steve Berthiaume. “The character describes go (and)  how he used to play it.” Adds Jeffrey McLellan, “He and his friend are in rather desperate straits and he tells his friend that they are in atari. They only have one more move or they are finished.  ‘Being in atari is bad.’” Click here to watch the episode.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1B2bGHf

Go Tournament in Havana in April Welcomes US Participants

“The Academia Cubana de Go is organizing a tournament in Havana at the beginning of April and is encouraging US players who want to compete to come,” Bob Gilman writes. “Under President Obama’s new Cuba policies, travel restrictions for US citizens going to Cuba have been liberalized.” Write bobgilman.aga@gmail.com if you want more information about this tournament and travel possibilities.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1A07pkA

Your Move/Readers Write: Canada’s WAGC Player TBA; Gambian Go Stamp; Hikaru Cosplay in LA

Canada’s WAGC Player TBA: “The AGA web page says ‘North America will be represented by Danny Ko’ (at the WAGC), but of course Canada also sends a player,” James Sedgwick writes. “Who Canada will send is still up in the air, as our selected rep Ryan Li is no longer eligible due to his now pr2015.02.12_gambia-stampo status.” 

Gambian Go Stamp: “This picture of a stamp, I think it might be from Gambia, was sent to me by my friends at the Beijing Go Club,” writes Gordon Castanza.

2015.02.12_S-Davis-Hikaru2Hikaru Cosplay in LA: This year at Anime Los Angeles, held January 9-11, Samantha Davis cosplayed Hikaru from Hikaru no Go.  “My friend Kazuki Deng cosplayed Sai (and) we had a little impromptu photo shoot in the hotel lobby.” photo by Cecilia Nguyen.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1A07m8s

Ho and Cheng Top Youth Kyu Tourney

Crystal-trophyBrandon Ho 2k, age 13, and Matthew Cheng 2k, age 8, won the top division of the North American Kyu Championships, held Feb. 7th, on KGS.  41 kids and teens, including 8 from Mexico, and one from Canada, joined in the event.  First place winners, in all brackets down to 25 kyu, will be receiving engraved crystal trophies, in both Junior (under 13) and Senior (under 18) brackets, and everyone who entered becomes eligible for AGF scholarships to either the AGA Go Camp, or the US Go Congress. Dan players will get their chance to shine in the upcoming Redmond Cup, which will open registration later this week.  For full tournament results click here. – Paul Barchilon, AGA Youth Editor

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/17cobU4

This Week’s Go Calendar: Phoenix, San Francisco, Berkeley

February 14: Phoenix, AZ
2015 Phoenix Chinese Week Go (Weiqi) Open
Quan Li qb081449@gmail.com 602-326-7556
Bill Gundberg bill@azgoclub.org 480-429-300

February 14: San Francisco, CA
Jujo Jiang Goe Tournament
Ernest Brown indagoe49@yahoo.com 415-606-7641
Michael Bull bull@lmi.net 510-220-0760

February 15: Berkeley, CA
Coupon Go
Elwyn Berlekamp berlek@gmail.com 415-606-7641
Len Sosnoski ls1@2xtreme.net

Get the latest go events information.

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1734Kx2

Your Move/Readers Write: Cambodian Go Wanted; Suggestions?

Cambodian Go Wanted: “One of San Diego go club’s members is now in Cambodia, and would like to find other go players there,” writes Ted Terpstra. “I have arranged to play him on KGS, but as we all know, sitting across the board from an opponent is much more fun.” Send your Cambodian go tips to us at journal@usgo.org.

Suggestions? “Looking through the extensive collection of documentaries available on HULU I noticed the movie ‘Word Wars’ about competitive Scrabble players, but saw nothing about our game,” writes David Matson. “It reminded me of the many times that I and others have written to the AGA E-Journal when we notice productive techniques used by communities  similar to the AGA for raising funds and/or public awareness.  Is there a person working with the AGA or the E-Journal to whom these little suggestions should be directed?  If not, perhaps someone on the E-Journal staff who subscribes to Chess Life, for example, might like to occasionally push the AGA into implementing an adapted version of what they feel are the most promising of the many ideas that these other communities find to be successful.”
The AGA always welcomes suggestions on how to promote and publicize go throughout the United States. Send yours to suggestions@usgo.org, keeping in mind that the AGA is an all-volunteer organization, and won’t be able to respond to every email. Ideas that are easy to implement and/or which you are prepared to lead or coordinate are more likely to succeed. 

via American Go E-Journal http://ift.tt/1DMrxY7