By Karoline Li, M.S. LIS, Archivist, American Go Association
I know from historical EJ posts that Jeff Shaevel (who passed away on Friday Sept. 13, 2024, 10/11/24 EJ) was directing both local and national tournaments as early as the 2003 Go Congress and likely before. He served on the Board of Directors in the Central Region for a time, I believe beginning in 2004, though I don't have specific dates of service.
Jeff was a wonderful tournament director, and the go-to TD for serious national tournaments for a time. He directed the first American professional qualification tournaments starting with the AGA-TygemGo Pro Finals in 2012, and served as the AGA National Tournament Coordinator after I did, again I'm not sure of the date range but it at least included 2017 and 2020. In that capacity, he represented the AGA when we accompanied Ryan Li 4P to the top 16 of the MLILY Cup in Tongling City, China in 2017.
I had so much respect for Jeff, as a person and as a TD. I remember meeting him when I was just a kid at Go Congresses, and thinking that he was so funny and nice. As I grew up and started directing tournaments myself, he was my biggest role model as a TD. He had a calm, rational way of dealing with conflict and making sure that the rules and expectations of everyone participating were clear. He wielded his power as a TD with good humor and an incredible sense of fairness.
We spent a lot of time together at various Go Congresses and on the MLILY trip with Ryan, and he was such a wonderful person to be around. I remember on one of the free days on the trip we were exploring Tongling and it happened to be his birthday, and one of the stores we wandered into had "Happy Birthday" in balloons up on the wall, and we couldn't help but mark the occasion; here’s that photo, along with a few others of him that I took on that trip. He will be missed.