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U.S. Go Congress Recap/Preview: Matthew Hu Repeats as NAMT Champ; Cong Li Wins SPO

Matthew Hu Repeats as NAMT Champ; Cong Li Wins SPO: Matthew Hu 1P (left) repeated as North American Masters Tournament champion Friday night, defeating Stephanie Yin 1P as hundreds watched at the U.S. Go Congress and online on KGS.

 The main playing area was packed as Takemiya Masaki 9P and Myungwan Kim 9P provided detailed live commentary on the top boards in both the Masters and the Strong Player's Open. Cong Li 3P (right) won the SPO, defeating Yuhan Zhang 7d. The board the NAMT final was played on -- a 2-inch kaya table board donated by Yutopian and signed by Takemiya, Kim and both players -- will be auctioned off at the banquet Saturday night to benefit the American Go Foundation. Final results — and game records — are here: NAMT; SPO. Click here for the NAMT commentary and SPO commentary; Frank Fukuda translated for Takemiya and the E-Journal's Solomon Smilack transcribed both commentaries.

Yuhan Zhang One Win Away From U.S. Open Championship: Yuhan Zhang's (right) fifth straight win in the U.S. Open -- he defeated Peilun Li in Friday morning's round -- makes him the odds-on favorite for this year's U.S. Open champion. However, hot on his heels are Zi Yang Hu, Beomgeun Cho, Mengchen Zhang  and Calvin Sun, all 4-1 going into Saturday's final round. Latest results — and game records — are here: U.S. Open.

Self-Paired Tourney Update: With 17 games played, Jeff Horn 1d is in the lead for the Dedicated, the player who plays the most games, as well as for the Kyu Killer, the dan player who wins the most games against kyu players, and the Hurricane, for the player who records the greatest number of wins. David Frankel (left) is far ahead in the race for the Dan Killer, the kyu player who wins the most games against dan players. Horn is also leading in the Sensei, for the player who plays the most games against weaker players (also known as the "Teacher" award). With a 6-1 win-loss record, Steffen Kurz is leading the race for Champion -- the player who records the greatest excess of wins over losses --in the Self-paired Tournament. Kurz is also leading in the Grasshopper, the player whose rating increases the most during the tournament. Competition is stiff for the Faithful, the player with the smallest rating change, with John Kalb, J.D. Anders, Joshua Guarino, Deborah Niedermeyer and Yoshitomo Nakata all neck-and-neck at 0.0 ratings changes. Click here for complete current standings. Jim Levenick is the Tournament Director. photo by Chris Garlock
Game Commentaries: Mingjiu Jiang 9P comments on the US Open Round 5 Board 1 game between Yuhan Zhang 7d and Peilun Li 7d.  Wei Chen 3P comments on the US Open Round 4 Board 1 game between Yuhan Zhang 7d and Calvin Sun 7d. 
Watch for commentaries this morning on KGS by Huiren Yang and Stephanie Yin, starting around 10a PST.