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2013 World Amateur Go Championship at a Glance: Reports & Game Commentaries

From the first arrival in Japan of top amateur go players from 62 countries through eight rounds of competition -- topped by Korea’s Hyunjae Choi 6D -- and ending with a visit to the tsunami-stricken South Sanriku, the American Go E-Journal -- in cooperation with Ranka Online -- provided comprehensive coverage of the 34th annual World Amateur Go Championship, held September 1-5 in Sendai. Click here for full final results; here for selected game records and here for the player roster. See below for a handy clickable index to our daily reports and 19 game commentaries, as well as a Ranka/EJ team photo. Photos by John Pinkerton except as noted. 

Reports WAGC Daily Recap (Final): Wednesday, September 4Ranka Online WAGC Highlights: Wednesday, September 4 WAGC Daily Recap: Tuesday, September 3Ranka Online WAGC Highlights: Tuesday, September 3WAGC Daily Recap: Monday, September 2Ranka Online WAGC Highlights: Monday, September 2WAGC Daily Recap: Sunday, September 1Ranka Online WAGC Highlights: Sunday, September 1 WAGC Round 1 Games & An Interview with Alexandr Bukh of KazakhstanThe Traveling Go Board: The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, Two Years LaterWAGC Venue Exposes Go to Public EyeAdvice from Top Amateurs on How to Get StrongerInternational Go Federation Celebrates Successful YearPlayers Arrive at 34th World Amateur Go ChampionshipEJ & Ranka Coverage of 34th WAGC To Start 9/1

Game Commentaries (by Michael Redmond 9P) 
Round 1: Canada-KazakhstanRound 1: US-Phillipines In these first-round games, very strong players make short work of their weaker opponents.
Round 2: Finland-Colombia Round 2: Israel-Argentina Round 2: US-Korea Curtis Tang was one of the brilliant young Redmond Cup participants, winning five times to become one of only two players to earn the title of Redmond Meijin...
Round 3: Brazil-Belgium  In this game, though Black makes no major errors, by move 72, White has established a clear lead; here’s how…
Round 3: Hungary-China Hungary’s Csaba Mero handles a challenge well and gets a fairly severe attack going on Yuging Hu of China, but... 
Round 3: Indonesia-Austria This game features an unorthodox opening by Black that actually works fairly well up to a point.  
Round 4: Korea-NetherlandsRound 4: Russia-China A fast but thin move early on by White sets off a cascading series of fierce battles in which the attack changes hands several times. 

Round 5: Japan-ChinaBlack wins every ko fight in this game, but the cost is too high...
Round 5: Korea-Canada Black doesn’t make any major mistakes in this undramatic game, yet White slowly but surely pulls ahead, building up an insurmountable lead...   
Round 5: US-Singapore
Round 6: China-Korea This game is all about yose. The game is very close at move 101, when the endgame begins, and goes on for the next 150 moves...
Round 6: Japan-Russia Kikou punishes an early overplay by Shikshin, but then slowly loses his advantage with slack moves and then falters in the endgame...  
Round 7: Korea-Russia Black trades a large side for a center moyo but when White skillfully erases most of the moyo, Black’s position turns out to be too thin and things get steadily worse…
Round 7: China-Canada After an even opening, White misses two chances to maintain the balance of territory and allows Black to get an unassailable lead... 
Round 8: Taipei-China An unnecessary peep that turns out not to be sente gives Yuqing Hu 8D (China) a chance attack and suddenly Shin-Wei Lin 7D (Taipei) is in deep trouble...
Round 8: Ukraine-Korea When White tries for a bigger territory, his move is just a bit too greedy, and Black immediately punishes it… 

The Ranka-E-Journal Team (l-r): James Davies, Toshiko Ito, Ivan Vigano, John Richardson, Chris Garlock, Michael Redmond 9P, John Pinkerton, Yuki Shigeno. 
photo by Thomas Hsiang