The San Diego Go Club scheduled on Sunday, September 29, at the San Diego Chess Club in Beautiful Balboa Park, two Back-to-School tournaments - one 19x19 and a 13x13 for youth players - plus a pizza party, and professional instruction by Yilun Yang 7P. Over 50 players competed for pumpkins, vintage Go Worlds, and cash.
In the Open, Tyler Oyakawa 6d went 3-0 to win a giant pumpkin and an envelope of money. Taking second, with a 2-1 record, was Michael Zhou 6d. In the handicap section, the top three finishers were James Acres 1k, 3-0 and the brothers Yang, Tony and Kevin, both 1 dan with 2-1 records. In the 5k-19k section, Arunas Rudvalis 6k, Addison Lee 19k, and Aaron Jones 10k, all went 3-0 with Arunas winning the pumpkin after tiebreakers. In the 20k-35k section, Chloe Li 23k, 3-0, George Spellman 22k, 2-1, and Aenaelle Acres 23k (daughter of James), 2-1, beat the rest of the field.
Concurrently, Hai Li 5P ran a 13x13 youth tournament for 16 kids. He was the tournament director, adjudicator, and teacher for the 4-round competition. The boy and girl winners in the 13x13 Open competition were Johnny Wu 35k, and Jolina Jian 24k respectively. Several of Hai Li's 13x13 students graduated to the 19x19 tournament this Sunday and did well.
A free pizza break took place after the two tournaments and then Yilun Yang entertained a standing room only group for 2.5 hours with a clear and concise lecture. Matching funds from the American Go Foundation made it possible to have professional go expertise at this event.
-photos by Henry You
-report by Ted Terpstra
SDGC president Ted Terpstra awards the Open prizes to Tyler Oyakawa
Yilun Yang teaches a standing room only crowd
Addison Lee accepts her award for a 3-0 record