Under the banner of the North American Go Federation (NAGF) a new online league is launching in January. North American Online League (NAOL) playwill be a benefit open to American and Canadian members of the AGA or CGA. The league is built upon the successful models that have been run by the Massachusetts Go Association (MGA) and the CGA. “We are thrilled to offer a new venue for passionate go players of the AGA and CGA to play competitive games without traveling,” says NAGF Executive Director Hajin Lee.
The NAOL will run two-month seasons with five weekly games in each season played in round-robin groups of six. Milan Mladenovic, who currently runs the MGA league, will be the Director of the NAOL. Games will be played on OGS and integrated with the AGA and CGA membership systems through Leago, a league management software system developed under a grant from the Iwamoto North American Foundation (INAF). “The NAOL coming into existence is sure to be the start of a great year for the go community,” says Akita Noek of OGS. “The OGS team is proud to be part of it and look forward to the many seasons to come!”
“We are very happy with the partnership and support received from OGS and Leago to make this happen” says AGA President Gurujeet Khalsa. “It will also allow us to give our members an online rating to parallel the one from face-to-face games.” CGA President James Sedgwick adds that “We’re very pleased to be joining our American friends to create a joint league with a larger player base, modernized playing infrastructure, and important additions like commentaries from high level players”.
The initial January-February season will be a beta version while testing and refining the software interfaces. It will be limited to 96 players with priority given to current CGA and MGA league members. To join the wait list to be added to the initial season, send an email to naol@usgo.org with your name, location and either AGA or CGA membership ID. The March-April season will be open to all current members.