May 3, 2009

UMD Go Club Officers, 2009-2010

UM Go Club officers were elected on April 29 for the 2009-2010 academic year.
Next year's leadership will be:
President
Jamie Salts
Vice President
Matt Zamora
Secretary
Steve Guth
Treasurer
Andrew Chang

Apr 17, 2009

2009 John Groesch Memorial

The 2009 John Groesch Memorial was held on April 11. 20 players participated. Eric Lui was the winner (again), with three points. He was defeated in the last round by Todd Blatt (with 8 stones handicap). Second prize went given to Todd Blatt on tiebreaks; Andrew Hubbard, Ryan Goldenberg and Justin Teng had the same 2 point score. The first kyu section (2 kyu and below) was won by UM Go club President Jamie Salts (3 points), who was undefeated (he had one bye). The second kyu section (20 kyu and below) was won by Jessica Huang (w ith 2 points). The third kyu section (25 kyu and below) was won by Sean Huang on tiebreaks over Leo Huang (both with three points).



Sean Huang vs. Leo Huang

Leo Huang (left) vs. Sean Huang (right)

The John Groesch Memorial prize for the best performance by a player under the age of 20 who is new to tournament go (defined by less than two years of tournament play) was won by Jessie Chen (18 kyu) with 3 points.







2009 John Groesch Memorial prize winner Jessie Chen (left), considers her move against David Reed as Barbara Huang (right) looks on.



Todd Blatt looks happy with the second place prize of hand-made ceramic go bowls.
A theme of youth go permeated this tournament. Consider the following:
1) 10 players (half of the field) came together from New York. They are cousins on their spring break, all 14 years old or younger: Jessie Chen, Barbara Huang, Daren Huang, Diana Huang, Jessica Huang, Joanne Huang, Leo Huang Sean Huang, Sophia Huang and Shirley Liu. Unfortunately, they played most of their games against each other.
2) Local high school student Gikuyu ("Kenny") Nderitu entered his AGA tournament as a one dan! He has been coming the University of Maryland Go club and is a fixture in our room on KGS.
3) UM club president Jamie Salts, the 2008 John Groesch prize winner, went undefeated.
4) Only three of the 20 players in this tournament were older than 25.
5) 7 of the top 8 players (2 kyu through 8 dan) are affiliated with either the UM College Park Go Club or the UM Baltimore County Go Club.

Feb 24, 2009

Our big event of the semester is:

*The John Groesch Memorial tournament*
http://chapters.usgo.org/umd/Spring.html

*When*: Saturday, April 11th

*Where*: The Benjamin Banneker Room at the Stamp Student Union

*Cost*: $20 for adults. $10 for youth under 12. This tournament requires AGA
membership. You can apply for AGA membership using the link below:

http://www.usgo.org/org/application.html

AGA membership costs $30 a year for adults and $10 a year for youth 22 and
under. We are an official AGA chapter, so we can offer a $15 per year
membership for the first two years if you sign up through our club. This is
only for players who have never had an AGA membership before. If you want
this discounted rate, please fill out the promotional application form
attached and bring it to a club meeting (as soon as possible so we have
time to mail your application in).

*Prizes*: There'll be a $100 grand prize for the open section (anyone is
free to enter), a $50 prize for the best performing player under 20 that is
new to tournament go, as well as a pair of custom made go bowls and some
books for the handicap divisions.

*Registration*: Preregistration is not required, but if you know you're
coming, please let us know! It would help a lot.

Please send an email to go@outfoxing.com to let us know that you're coming
(or if you've changed your mind). Do this as soon as you know you're coming
and/or as soon as you've changed your mind.

The information we need is:

- Name
- AGA number
- rank at which you plan to enter

We'll be relaying our top board on KGS. We'll need a scribe for the
tournament. If you'd like to volunteer for the position, please let us know.
Tournament information is tentative and may be subject to change. Please
visit our tournament page for up-to-date information on the event.


Even if you are not sure if you want to play, we welcome spectators. :)
Please come even just to watch.

Feb 20, 2009

Election Results

The election results are in. The winner is Jamie Salts.

Please welcome our new president by coming to our weekly meetings on Wednesday at HJ Patterson 1216 at 7PM and Friday at Stamp Student Union Food Court by the Baltimore Room at 4PM.

Feb 2, 2009

Club elections Feb. 11

Go club elections will be held Wed., Feb. 11, at the regular meeting, at 8 p.m..
We will be filling the position of president, which has become vacant.
All University of Maryland student members who come to the meeting in 1216 HJP will be eligible to vote.

Jan 21, 2009

Meetings over the next few weeks

We will resume Wednesday night meetings (7-11 p.m.) in 1216 HJ Patterson Hall on Feb. 4.
Tonight, Jan. 21, and next week (Jan. 28) we will meet in the Union, at the usual Friday location, near the food court (above the food co-op). On Jan. 21, we will start at 6 because the Union closes at 9. Jamie has volunteered to be there to bring the sets from the office.

Jan 7, 2009

Winter break schedule

The University of Maryland Go Club will continue to meet over winter break. We will meet in HJ Patterson as usual (7 pm in room 1216) on Wednesday night, tonight (Jan. 7) and next week (Jan. 14). We will meet on Jan. 21 and 28 as well, but the location is to be determined.