News

Lightning Tournament May 24th

This May 24th, we are hosting another Lightning tournament from 2pm to 6pm.  This is a casual, lots-of-fun handicap tournament with fast time control (1 min main time with 5x10second byouyomi).  They say lightning Go is about instinct, not reading, so abandon the intensity of reading for more cutting and crashing and burning and laughter.  There will be 5 rounds with an estimated 20-30 min per game.

I look forward to seeing you there and lets us start the year with some lighting fast games.

Looking for Volunteers for U-District Street Fair

We are returning to the U-District Street Fair (May 17th-18th). This is a large outdoor event where we teach hundreds of people the game of Go. I am looking for 6-8 Volunteers to help with teaching people and 2-4 people help with setup and take down. We do need to bring our own tables so an extra set of hands are very welcome.

Outside of the set up, this event tends to be very fun and easy going. there are lots of booths and even some live music to enjoy with the festivities.

If you can help out with either teaching or setup/takedown, Please let me at programs@seattlego.org . If you are curious about the event or have question, I am also happy to try to answer any questions as best I can.

A Great Cherry Blossom and Sakura Con

Thanks to all our volunteers this year that help out at this years Cherry Blossom Festival and Sakura Con. Despite last year being good, we did even better at both events this years with more people attending and positive feedback, for that I’m very grateful to you all.

Also Congrats to our 13×13 Handicap Tournament winners with Thomas Gehrt (first place and center), Nick C (second place and left) and Anthony To (third place and right).

Spring Tournament Results

Thanks for all that made it out for this Spring Tournament, and a Special Congrats to our winners.

Open First: Harrison Dow

Open Second: Kenny Jin

Handicap: Thomas Gehrt

 Upcoming Spring Tournament April 6th

We are glad to announce our upcoming Spring Tournament this April 6th (first sunday of the month).  We will have both and open (all even games) and handicap tournament. The open being our 4-8 strongest players facing off in even game for prize money of $100 for first place and $75 for second. The handicap tournament will have $50 prize for strongest band winner of 3 games, and $20 for the lower band winner of 3 games.  There is a youth prize of $20 to the youth winner of 3 games or the youth who won the most games.

Registration:

9:00am-9:45am (an hour earlier than monthly ratings)

The Entrance fees:

$20 for non-voting members

$10 for voting members

$10 for youth under 18 (entrance fees will be paid by the AGF)

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR AGA MEMBERSHIP IS UP TO DATE AHEAD OF TIME.  If you are not an AGA member when we pair the first round, you cannot play.

We will also order pizza if participants want.  It costs $15, and we will order 4 slices per person.

Maeda Sensei Pro Workshop — 15-16 MAR

We are hosting a Maeda Sensei workshop, 15-16 MAR.  His workshop was quite popular last year.  Admission is $30 per day for non-voting members (or $50 for both days) and $20 per day voting members (lifetime or annual).  Saturday, 15 MAR, SGC is closed to people not taking the class.

ROUGH SCHEDULE:

 * Saturday, 15 MAR 1:00pm start — doors open for registration and playing Go at noon.

    The start time is a little soft since we will be coming directly from the airport.

 * Saturday — probably lecture, game review, and possibly simuls

 * Saturday 6pm-ish — class ends for the day

 * Sunday  10am — class resumes with mixture of lecture, game reviews, simuls

 * Sunday 12pm — lunch break (usual $15 for 4 slices of pizza option)

 * Sunday 1:00-5pm-ish — final workshop session

MAEDA SENSEI BACKGROUND

Maeda Sensei is a 6p from the Kansai Ki-in Japanese professional organization.  He is very popular at the Go Congresses for many fun and entertaining lectures.  He has attended the Go Congress almost every year for the past 20+ years.  He usually stops in Seattle on his way to or from the Congress.

Maeda Sensei created and runs the Osaka Go Summer Camp that is very popular.  It runs every JUL/AUG for 3 weeks, ending in the Japanese Go Congress that Maeda created in the image of our Go Congress.  He also runs the Osaka International Online School — weekly serious games with ~30 min reviews and 2x/mo private teaching game with a pro.

Korean 9d Pro Workshop — 22-23 FEB

Korean 9d pro Lee Dong-hoon (became pro at 14 and by 19 years old was 9d and one of the strongest pros in recent years) will give a workshop 22-23 FEB.  We have very strong amateurs (one was insei) translating with one of our regular members as backup translator.

Saturday and Sunday will start at 10am, have a lunch break 12-1pm, and end each day around 5pm.  Doors will open on Saturday at 9am for registration.  Please arrive BEFORE 10am and settle payment before the workshop begins as respect for the pro.

The cost will be $40 for non-voting members and $30 for voting members (annual or lifetime membership).  We will do the usual pizza order each day for those who do not want to bring their lunch ($15/day for 4 slices of a large 10-cut pie).

Email Programs@seattlego.org for more information.

Lightning Tournament Jan 25th

This January 25th, we are hosting another Lightning tournament from 2pm to 6pm.  This is a casual, lots-of-fun handicap tournament with fast time control (1 min main time with 5x10second byo yomi).  They say lightning Go is about instinct, not reading, so abandon the intensity of reading for more cutting and crashing and burning and laughter.  There will be 5 rounds with an estimated 20-30 min per game.

SGC Closures for Holidays

 Seattle Go Center will be closed Tue 24 DEC, Sat 28 DEC, and Tue 31 DEC for the holidays.

3rd Annual WA State Championship

Seattle AGA Chapter hosted the WA State Championship at the Seattle Go Center.  There were 26 attendees, smaller than last year, but a good competition with several strong players participating and many intense games.  As always, it was a fun and festive atmosphere with serious interesting games .  We held five rounds and gave cash prizes to first, second, and third places in the open tournament as well as high band handicapped tournament, low band, and a kids prize to the person under 18 who won the most games.

A special congratulation our winners (from left to right), for first place, Difei Pan, for second place, Zhuoran Zhang, for third place, Kenny Jin, and the high band and youth prizes go to Woody.