31 young players came out to the New York Institute of Go in Little Neck, NY to compete in the 1st U20 Eastern Youth Go Open on August 31st. The tournament was sponsored by the NYIG and organized by NYIG President Stephanie Yin 1p as part of an initiative to create more opportunities for youth to have face-to-face tournament play. In order to be eligible to play in this tournament, players had to be at least 10 kyu or stronger, which Yin hopes will encourage newer players to improve their playing level. Players came from as far as Chicago and Maryland to play in the tournament, which featured over $1,500 of prizes. In the open section, Willis Huang 6d from New Jersey went undefeated to be crowned the undisputed champion. In a rare turn of events, the other four players in that section defeated each other in a circle, creating an unbreakable tie for second. In the other divisions, Shuhui Lin 2d, Chase Lin 1k, and Xinyu Chen 6k demonstrated their prowess with undefeated 4-0 records.
The NYIG plans for this tournament to be an annual event, and looks forward to more young players competing in the future. Additional tournaments and events for both youth and adult players are also in the works, so stay tuned for future announcements.