Drawing dozens of the nation’s top young Go players, this month’s Young Lions Go Competition
marked the first major American Go Honor Society (AGHS) event of the 2023-24 school year, with Yihao Man 4D emerging victorious.
The tournament -- held online on November 12 and 19 -- was “a huge success,” organizers report. Seventy players with strengths ranging from 25K to 6D
Competed, organized in nine divisions, with the winners in these divisions being Yihao Man 4D, Dash Zhang 1D, Chenhui Zhang 3K, Matthew Wang 5K, Brett Li 7K, Matthew Qi 12K, AlbertYe 13K, Noah Wu 18K, and Max Wu 24K.
“It was a great experience,” said Chenhui Zhang 3K, who championed Division B with a 3-1 record. “Every game went pretty close, and I felt surprised when I realized I was winning my division since I had already lost one round.”
The success of the tournament relied on the hard work of the AGHS tournament team, consisting of Grace Chen, Jake Kim, and Tony Yang, and led by Co-Vice President Kevin Yang and Head Tournament Director Steve Zhang. The Young Lions Go Competition was the second that Chaparral High School sophomore Tony Yang directed for the AGHS.
AGHS president Jamie Tang emphasized that the event was made possible by contributors from outside the AGHS, including the American Go Federation (AGF), which funded tournament expenses; AGF Vice President Paul Barchilon and AGHS mentor Andrew Zhang, who provided helpful advice and support; Baduk Club, which was crucial to the streaming effort.
The AGHS has launched renewed outreach efforts, with Media Marketing Manager Julia Zhang creating official accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and Xiaohongshu. The AGHS also recognized the lack of online communities geared for the under-18 Go community and has created a Discord server (see the link here) and a WeChat group. The AGHS says it hopes to keep the Discord server a family-friendly space and has implemented several moderation strategies to this effect.
Finally, the AGHS has launched a Youth of the Month initiative to recognize under-18 Go players who have “devoted significant time and effort to promote Go in their communities.” Click here for the nomination form.