News

Mr. Komatsu, 3 Dan Professional, March 9 – March 12

Mr. Daiki Komatsu, 3 Dan professional Go player of the Nihon Ki-in, has been visiting Seattle! Here is his profile page.

  • March 9 – Mr. Komatsu lectured at Nick Sibicky’s “Double Digit Kyu” class!
  • March 10 – Mr. Komatsu played simultaneous games, defeating seven challengers at once. Pizza for participants was provided courtesy of the AGA Chapter Rewards program.
  • March 11 – Mr. Komatsu visited the Uwajimaya weekly Go outreach meetup that Go Center volunteers have facilitated for many years.
  • March 12 – Mr. Komatsu will visit the Couth Buzzard weekly Go outreach meetup.

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 novel coronavirus outbreak, two school visits had to be canceled.

Daiki Komatsu faces multiple opponents.
Daiki Komatsu 3 Dan battles multiple Go players.
Mr. Komatsu engaged 7 players simultaneously

— Mike M.

Strong Japanese Player Coming to Seattle Feb. 29 – Mar. 3

The Seattle Go community is fortunate to have frequent strong visitors, teaching and competing at the Go Center. A good example — Feb. 29 – March 3, 小野慎吾 (Ono Shingo) will be here.

Mr. Ono is a strong Japanese amateur and friend of Chris Scribner’s. He’s ranked as a Japanese amateur 7 dan, but in tournaments he plays at a 12d rating.  He’s not an accredited pro, but his strength is close to pro 1 dan.  Chris listed a few of Mr. Ono’s achievements from his profile page:

  • Won the central Japan Meiyo Honinbou (amateur) tournament 7 times in a row
  • Won the amateur Ryusei (national) tournament in 2015
  • As a senior in college, won the national Jikketsu tournament (a tournament for college students)
  • In his third year of middle school, won the national boy’s and girl’s tournament
  • He’s also placed highly in many amateur tournaments. Recently he placed in the top 16 for the national amateur Honinbou tournament
Go player in black faces multiple opponents

Mr. Ono has generously offered to play simultaneous games, with up to 4 players at a time.

Go players consider their boards.

He also will be competing in the monthly AGA ratings tournament on March 1, which is an outstanding opportunity for a up-and-coming dan level players!

Further, he’s interested in getting together with other strong players.  If you’re interested, please email and I’ll pass it along to Chris and Mr. Ono.

— Mike M.
Updated with photos, 2020-03-12