Undefeated after the first two rounds on Thursday, Bill Lin 1P is leading the 2025 North American
Pro Tournament. The rest of the players – Yoonyoung Kim 8P, Ryan Li 4P, Henry Yu 2P and Michael Chen 1P -- split their games, with the exception of Alex Qi 1P, who was 0-2.
Results, standings and game records are all posted here. YouTube livestreams for both Round 1 (which includes a 30-minute review of the games by Yixian Zhou 6D, hosted by Chris Garlock) and Round 2 have been posted, as well as Zhou ‘s 1-hour recap of the Round 2 games. As noted by both viewers and Zhou, every one of the six games was of a very high calibre and made for exciting viewing.
Round 3 starts at 10a Friday at the National Go Center, with Round 4 scheduled for 4p; both will be livestreamed on the AGA’s YouTube and Twitch channels. Yixian Zhou will recap at 1p and Michael Redmond 9P will do the Friday night recap from 8-9p (ET).
Former AGA president Andy Okun spoke movingly about the significance of the North American Pro Tournament as the culmination of years of hard work by many in the Go community to create and grow the field of North American professional Go players. “The importance of having a tournament just for our professionals cannot be underestimated,” Okun said. It creates the opportunity not only to recognize “the undisputed North American champion, and also to have a lot of the very best games played by players who have given a huge chunk of their lives to this game.”
-photos: (clockwise from top left) Ryan Li 4P vs Henry Yu 2P; Alex Qi 1P vs Yoonyoung Kim 8P; Bill Lin 1P vs Michael Chen 1P. Report/photos/collage by Chris Garlock/American Go E-Journal