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Top Congress Tourney Leaders Emerging at US Open & Masters Division

Leaders are beginning to emerge in the top tournaments at the US Go Congress as the weeklong event takes the traditional mid-week break. Only a single player, Mark Lee, is undefeated after five rounds in the US Open Masters Division and 34 players are undefeated in the rest of the US Open field (click here for latest crosstab results) Tuesday began with the third round of the US Open and the fourth round for the US Open Masters Division and finished strong with Crazy Go and the fifth round of the Masters Division, as thunderstorms moved into the city, prompting game recorder Nathan Borggren to report that "A rainy day is turning into a rainy night, clouds are moving in front of the buildings, lights are coming on all over the skyline; looks like one of those nights Batman has his work cut out for him. White has left the room." Yilun Yang 7P gave live game commentary on Board 1 of the US Open Masters Division morning game as well as on Board 2 of the 3rd round from the previous evening.

After the morning US Open round, professionals gave well-attended game reviews (right), simuls, and lectures throughout the late morning and all afternoon. The afternoon saw another round of the Women's Tournament, as well as the advance of Jim Fienup 3k in both the 9x9 and Lightning Tournament playoffs. Check out EJ photographer Phil Straus’ Tuesday Photos Facebook album. 
Crazy Go dominated the main playing room Tuesday night, with around 100 attendees throughout the evening and even some new crazy games the tournament hadn't seen before, invented on the spot. Stay tuned for a full Crazy Go report on Thursday with photos and game profiles. The third round of the Midnight Madness tournament was scheduled for late Tuesday night; it takes place every evening around 12am midnight in the main playing room. The sign-up sheet is on the tables outside the main playing area. 
Day Off Photo Contest: The E-Journal is very pleased to announce that we’re sponsoring our first-ever Day Off Photo Contest for sight-seers out and about in the Big Apple on Wednesday. Send us photos from your Day Off adventures and we’ll tweet and post them! Photos must include a go board; an iPad is ok if we can see board. Show us go in NYC! Send photos to journal@usgo.org. 
Wednesday Highlights: The traditional 4-round Die Hard Tournament will be held Wednesday in the main playing area. And watch for these stories tomorrow (follow us on Twitter @theaga):
- Game Theorist Frank Lantz on why go should be “A little less Tang Dynasty and a little more NASCAR” 
- He Xie 9P On Mastering the Fundamentals