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).

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.