On Mar. 22, Kevin Yang 5d was crowned the champion of the inaugural AGHS Championship Tournament, defeating Ryan Huang 2d.
Kevin is thirteen years old and currently resides in Millburn, New Jersey, although he was born in Orlando, Florida. In fact, when he was 5, he moved to Shenzhen, China, where he was first introduced to Go. “I appreciate [it], because if I didn’t [move] I wouldn’t even know what Go is now,” Kevin said. He only moved back to the US last year.
He first learned Go at the Zhen Pu Go Association in Shenzhen, having been encouraged to pick up the game by his mother. It was so long ago, Kevin said, that “I didn’t even have the consciousness of what I was doing when I first went into the class.” He continued, “there’s not a lot of memory of my first time associating with Go.”
Nevertheless, Kevin soon fell in love with the game, and made it his goal to reach 5 dan in the Chinese Go Association (Zhongguo Qiyuan). However, after he reached this goal, he still wanted more, and now has his goal “to get good results in every tournament I play, and even become a pro of the US.”
On his path towards professional status, Kevin has demonstrated his commitment and excellence in Go. Among other accomplishments, last year he championed the lower division of the prestigious Redmond Cup.
When Kevin heard about the AGHS Championship Tournament, he immediately signed up, since he thought it would be a good test for his skills. Initially, he did not expect to advance far into the tournament, and named Leo Tan as a specific opponent that he was scared of playing beforehand. However, Kevin lucked out, as Tan “had been beaten before I had a chance to play with him.” Kevin ultimately cruised through the tournament and won the title of AGHS Champion.
Kevin enjoys Go and plans to continue far into the future. In addition to the beauty of the game itself, and the enjoyment it brings, he cited the Go community as one of his favorite parts of playing the game. “Being able to play games with other people is what I like most about Go,” he said. “I feel accepted in the area of Go.”