Bill Lin still remembers losing in the second NAGF Pro Qualifier, a decade ago. But he’s not that kid anymore and on Friday he finished the job in style, sweeping Sen Zhan 2-0 to clinch the 2024 edition and become North America’s latest professional Go player. Canadian Go Association congratulated him for an “impressive run” in the weeklong tournament, held this year, for the first time, in Canada, at College Andre-Grasset, a school in Montreal where tournament director Jean-Sébastien Lechasseur teaches. Lin only dropped one game, in the semifinals, against Guanyu Song, finishing 9-1 and collecting $2,500 in addition to the pro certification. As runner-up, Zhan won $1,500. Full event overview, including standings and game records here. Check out photos of the tournament on the AGA’s Facebook and X (@theaga) feeds.
- report/photo by Chris Garlock; Friday’s game recorder: Zhongwei Zheng; TD: Jean-Sébastien Lechasseur. EJ team online producer: Jae Donley. Game commentators: The Two Michaels: Michael Chen and Yixian "Michael" Zhou.