Art and Sport from Capital Go

Player of the Year: Alexander Qi 3P wins USA first-ever world championship!

(Blog/Story) (AGA E-Journal Report)

Summary

1. January-July 2025 US players in world championships
2. World amateur strength trends & comparison in the past 20 years (WAGC data)
3. 2026 Potential USA representatives

1.

February

23rd World Students GO OZA Championship (Tokyo, JP)

Fuzhi (Alvin) Huang (Link)

Nanyang Cup World Amateur Weiqi Invitational (Singapore)

Jeremy Chiu (Link)

March

World Amateur SENKO Cup (Tokyo, JP)

Seowoo Wang (Link)

April

Beihai Xinyi Cup World Weiqi Open (China)

Alexander Qi 3P (l) and Michael Chen 2P (r) (Link)

May

45th World Amateur Go Championship (Canada)

Alan Huang (Link)

June

6th Shin-An 6th World Baduk Championship (S. Korea)

Mingjiu Jiang 7P (left)

(KBA News) (Outline) (SGF, vs Lee Changho 9P)

July

11th Quzhou Lanke Cup (China)

Mingjiu Jiang 7P (left) (Link)

9th World Collegiate Weiqi Championship （Singapore)

Xinyi (Cindy) Qian (r) and Alvin Huang (Link)

2. World Amateur Strength Trends & Comparison in the Past 20 Years (WAGC Data)

UPenn's intelligent graduate student Leshan Feng 7D and I reviewed World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC) standing data from 2005-2009 and 2018-2023 for fun facts.

• 26th WAGC: year 2005;
• 30th: 2009;
• 39th: 2018;
• 43rd: 2023. (2020 not held. 2022 online so data not shown)

Leshan did most of the analysis work.

USA final standings comparison over the 13-year span.

2018~2023 Top 30 Countries/Regions Standings Data

Most improved countries over the 13-year span.

Regional Average Standings Comparison, 2018~2023

Red: USA and Canada

Among the top 30 countries Europe has 46.7%. The WAGC provides an international "feast" to about 30 European players annually.

Green: North America

Blue: Europe

Purple: Latin America

Red: others.

3. 2026 Potential USA Representatives (Amateurs)

Based on AGA Int'l Points System Tracker (Usually 2025 reps won't go again in 2026)

• Justin Teng
• Michael Zhou
• Eric Yoder
• Paige Lemaster
• Kevin Yang
• Joel Kenny
• Yinli Wang and Edward Zhang (Pair Go)

Photo Credit: eweiqi.com, Fox Weiqi, Yike, AGA, Edward Zhang.