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Aaron Ye achieves Redmond Meijin; Ary Cheng and Matthew Cheng tied in Junior Division

15-year old Aaron Ye 7d (at left) defeated Muzhen (Alan) Ai 7d (right) 2-0 to claim his fifth Redmond Cup title, making him the third Redmond Meijin (following Eric Lui 1p in 2001 and Curtis Tang 8d in 2010). Ai put up a good fight throughout the match, having held a large territorial lead for most of Game 1 until a decisive mistake in the endgame gave Ye the opportunity to just barely reverse the game and win by 1.5. Determined to cement his title in Game 2, Ye played a solid game, establishing an early territorial advantage and holding it until Ai was forced to resign after miscalculating the life and death of one of Ye's groups. Ye has been a dominant force in the Redmond Cup ever since he  started playing in it at the age of 9, winning the Junior Division four times in a row from 2011-2014. While the competition grew tougher once he aged into the Senior Division (13-17), Ye has remained at the top of the North American youth scene. In the Junior Division, 11-year old Ary Cheng 6d came out swinging against 10-year old Matthew Cheng 5d, slaying a dragon in what would be a swift Game 1 victory that took just over an hour and only 139 moves. However, Matthew was not deterred and came back in Game 2, able to kill a large group himself and bring the series to a tie. Ary is trying to win his third consecutive Junior title, but this year could be the most difficult yet. He won both of his previous titles with clean 2-0 sweeps.  The third and deciding game will take place on Thursday, 8/10 at 3 pm PDT and will be broadcast live on KGS, Youtube, and Twitch, with live video commentary by Michael Chen 8d and Lionel Zhang 7d. Missed any of the games? You can watch recordings of the two Senior Division games with video commentary by former Redmond Cup champions and finalists below: Game 1 (commentary by Eric Lui 1p and Julie Burrall 1d) Game 2 (commentary by Gansheng Shi 1p and Ricky Zhao 7d)- Story and photo by AGA Youth Coordinator Justin Teng.