November 27, 2022 — Drawing seventy of the nation’s finest young Go players, the Young Lions Go Competition, held online on November 12 and 19, 2023, marked the first major AGHS event of the 2023-24 school year, with Yihao Man 4D emerging victorious.
The tournament was a huge success. Seventy players with strengths ranging from 25K to 6D competed in the Young Lions Tournament. Players were organized in nine divisions, with the winners in these divisions being Yihao Man 4D, Dash Zhang 1D, Chenhui Zhang 3K, Matthew Wang 5K, Brett Li 7K, Matthew Qi 12K, Albert Ye 13K, Noah Wu 18K, and Max Wu 24K.
The competitiveness of the tournament and the strength of the players were apparent from the very beginning.
“It was a great experience,” said Chenhui Zhang 3K, who championed Division B with a 3-1 record. “Every game went pretty close, and I felt surprised when I realized I was winning my division since I had already lost one round.”
Alex Lin 3K echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that the event went pretty smoothly. He won his first three matches but made a critical mistake in his last game against Della Tang 5K, ultimately placing runner-up in Division B.
The success of the tournament relied on the hard work of the AGHS tournament team, consisting of Grace Chen, Jake Kim, and Tony Yang, and led by Co-Vice President Kevin Yang and Head Tournament Director Steve Zhang. Their responsibilities included responding to emails, making pairings, recording results, and answering questions throughout the tournament.
The Young Lions Go Competition was the second one that Chaparral High School sophomore Tony Yang directed for the AGHS. He emphasized the role of communication in his role as the Tournament Director.
“We had issues like miscounting games and rescheduling, but all were solved via communication,” Yang said.
In addition to the hard work of the AGHS, President Jamie Tang emphasized how the event was made possible by contributors from outside the AGHS. The American Go Federation (AGF) generously funded tournament expenses, with AGF Vice President Paul Barchilon and AGHS mentor Andrew Zhang, who provided helpful advice and support. See the AGF website here.
The support of the online service Baduk Club proved crucial to the streaming efforts of the AGHS. American Go Association board member and Baduk Club founder Devin Fraze along with Eva-Dee Beech were responsible for the technical backend. They coordinated commentary provided by Nate Morse 5D (TelegraphGo) and the Twitch backdrop designed by Design Manager Kylie Xu, the youngest member of the AGHS officer team.
“We are honored to collaborate with the AGHS to bring your stream vision to life and that is something we are looking to do with others as well,” Fraze said.
Baduk Club’s efforts were highly successful in generating publicity for the tournament, with the original livestream garnering over 300 views (see the re-uploads here).
The AGHS has launched renewed outreach efforts, with Media Marketing Manager Julia Zhang creating official accounts on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Xiaohongshu. The AGHS also recognized the lack of online communities geared for the under-18 Go community and created a Discord server (see the link here) and a WeChat group. The AGHS hopes to keep the Discord server a family-friendly space and has implemented several moderation strategies to this effect.
Finally, the AGHS has released a Youth of the Month initiative to recognize under-18 Go players who have “devoted significant time and effort to promote Go in their communities.” See the nomination form here.
The AGHS looks forward to planning more tournaments and events to engage with the Go community. Interested volunteers can reach out to aghsscholarship@gmail.com.
About AGHS
The American Go Honor Society (AGHS) strives to provide a supportive environment to develop Go skills, confidence, and self-growth regardless of age, gender, or location. We strive to empower a new generation of American Go players to stand alongside powerhouses of Asian nations in Go. Learn more at https://aghs.us/.