We hosted the 4th annual WA State Championship tournament at the Seattle Go Center.  It was a happy reunion for many folks and fun to see some new faces too.  A few folks came from out of state, and it was nice to meet them.  Everyone had lots of fun and took a break from the emergency rain conditions sweeping western WA State recently.  We had 16 participants over two days.

We’ve had four state champions, and no one has held the title more than once yet.  This year Kenny Jin, 6d, won by winning all five rounds.  There was an exciting finish when Michael Wanek lost by only one point, but Kenny kept a clean win of the title.  Second place was Zhihong Yao, 3d, and in third place was Michael Wanek, 4d.

Bryan Walsh won all five rounds in the handicap division, and Woody Lai took the youth prize for most won games by someone under 18 years old.  

Thanks to the American Go Association for supporting state championships, and thanks to the American Go Foundation for supporting youth events.

it’s been a while since our last pair go game, so as we slip into this winter season why not enjoy some silly fun with some pair go.

This will be the original form of pair Go without gender requirements, no fees, but also no banquet license or cake or donuts … just the fun and goofiness of pair Go.  This is a pure fun event, and it is great to bring life partners, significant others, beginners, etc., to make Go accessible and fun to them.

We would love to see 32 or 40 (or more) folks show up and join in for fun.  You can bring a pair partner, ask someone during registration time, or we can make pairs from singletons.  Pair Go works best with multiples of 8, so that each table with two boards can have two games, with round 2 being composed of winners playing winners, and there being a winning team for the table who win both games.  We can work with multiples of 4 if need be.  PLEASE come and play!!!

Event time is 29 NOV, Sat — registration 1-2pm, round 1 is 2-3:30, and round 2 is roughly 3:30-5:00.  There will be 40 min of main time with no byo yomi.

I like to thank our volunteers and the Geek Girl Con event organizers. Geek Girl Con is an event we did several years ago and we were able to return and host at table where we were able to teach 70 new people the game of Go. This wouldn’t been possible without the hard work of the event organizers for help setting us up and getting us badges. And even more, the hard work of our volunteers.

Because of you, we have been able to increase the number events that we are hosting this year, and with your support, we aim to find more events to spread the game of Go. So from the bottom of my heart, Thank You to any volunteer that has help us out with any event this year.