1976 Eastern Honinbo
Tournament Report
From the American Go Journal:Mr. Shin A. Kang of the Baltimore Go Club was the victor in an exciting American Honinbo Semifinal to decide the Eastern Honinbo. The strong field of 13 dan players included Takao Matsuda, 1976 American Honinbo and holder of the Eastern Honinbo title for thirteen of the eighteen years it has existed. Mr. Matsuda was upset in the first round by H.C. Chen of Washington, C.D. Mr. Chen met Mr. Kang in the final round and lost in a furious fighting game. The eastern representative for the kyu championship was settled in a decisive final victory for Bob Gross, also from the Baltimore Go Club--its organizer, over the editor of this journal, Terry Benson.
The final telephone matches will be played early in December between (it appears) the Baltimore Go Club and the San Francisco Go Club. A special note should be made of the excellent representation of East Coast Go clubs in this tournament. Many players had to travel substantial distances to attend. That is a credit both to their determination and the increasing importance and participation in the American Honinbo titles.
Tournament Grid
| Player | Prelim | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matsuda, NY Go Club | - | 2 | 6 | 8 | - |
| 2 | Chen, Washington | - | 1 | - | 4 | 10 |
| 3 | Goldin, Philadelphia | - | - | 4 | 11 | - |
| 4 | Kudo, Boston | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | - |
| 5 | Wei, Atlanta | 4 | 7 | 12 | 6 | - |
| 6 | Paeng, Pittsburgh | 7 | 4 | 1 | 5 | - |
| 7 | S. Lee, Toronto | 6 | 5 | 8 | 12 | - |
| 8 | H. Lee, Eastside GC | - | 9 | 7 | 1 | - |
| 9 | Gonshor, Jersey City | - | 8 | - | 10 | - |
| 10 | Kang, Baltimore | - | - | 13 | 9 | 2 |
| 11 | Selick, Princeton | 12 | 13 | - | 3 | - |
| 12 | Ching, Holmdel | 11 | - | 6 | 7 | - |
| 13 | S. Choi, Syracuse | - | 11 | 10 | - | - |
Game Records
Eastern Honinbo Final game: S.A. Kang vs. H.C. Chen
National Honinbo Final game: S.A. Kang vs. K. Kim
National Kyu Final game: Bob Gross vs. Mark Rampel
National Championship
Tournament Report
From the American Go Journal: Mr. Kyung Kim of the San Francisco Go Club defeated Mr. Shin A. Kang of the Baltimore Go Club in the finals of the 1976 American Honinbo Championship. Played via telephone on December 5th, the match lasted 8.5 hours. By mutual consent of the four players (Bob Gross of the Baltimore Go Club and Mark Rampel of San Francisco were the kyu contenders) the time per player was increased from 1 to 1.5 hours and byo-yomi to one min. The majority of the time was taken up by the transmission process which was greatly complicated at the Baltimore end by an administrative error. The phones in the playing room could not receive outside calls so a second relay point was required elsewhere in the Student Union building at Johns Hopkins. As is typical in telephone matches, the players were extremely frustrated by the absence of an accurate sense of their opponents' playing pace. Both east coast players were behind in time for the duration of the match. The Kang-Kim match produced a jigo on the board, Mr. Kim with white winning by the komi. The east coast recaptured the Kyu Championship won last year by Donald McCarthy of San Francisco. Bob Gross came from behind to beat Mark Rampel, who resigned after 270 moves.