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Lightning Tournament Zips By

"This tournament is in no way authorized or sanctioned by the American Go Association," announced Lightning Tournament Director Keith Arnold to the 70 players assembled in the main playing area of the US Go Congress for the popular annual speed go event. "In fact, the Pro Dinner has been scheduled for tonight specifically so that there's no chance the professionals will see us play like this." Arnold explained that while "it's permissible to try to win on time" -- each player has 10 minutes with no overtime -- "it's illegal" to play bogus moves, although he noted that the rule "isn't enforceable" and that anyone getting too caught up in the rules "is taking this way too seriously!" He rapidly assigned the players into tables of six divided by playing strength and stones proceeded to fly at great speed. After five rounds in just two hours, 13 players emerged victorious as table winners. Several have already been table champions in the 9x9 and the 13x13. Dan table winners are: Zheng Xiangnan 7D, Xinying Jiang 6D, Will Lockhart 5D, Daniel Liu 5D, Cherry Shen 5D, Amy Wang 3D, and Eric Yang 1D. Kyu table winners are: Ben Peng 1k, Yukino Takehara 1k, Jim Fienup 3k, Jeff Wu 5k, Joe Suzuki 7k, Sean Davis 10k, and Kevin Wu 12k. Zheng Xiangnan, Ben Peng, and Jim Fienup are also table winners in the 9x9, and Jeff Wu is also a table winner in the 13x13. - report by Karoline Li; photo by Phil Straus; updated to reflect delayed result entry for table winner Sean Davis 10k.