1977 American Honinbo Championship

Tournament Report--Eastern Honinbo

From the American Go Journal: September was go month in New York this year. Three special events kept go organizers and players busy from one end to the other. It began with the Eastern U.S. Championships. 17 dan level and 10 kyu level players vied fro the titles of Eastern Honinbo and Kyu Champion in the pleasant surroundings of the Empire Room of the Hotel Lexington.

In spite of the last minute notice to many distant players, there was a substantial turnout of those from far away. Predictably Shin A. Kang of Baltimore, last year's champion, showed up as did a strong contingent of New York players including Takao Matsuda, Harry Gonshor, Larry Brauner, Katsumi Nishiyama, and two newcomers to the AGA tournament scene: Hee J. Lee, who finished third in the tournament and J.O. Hwang, who finished second in the preliminary (losers) tournament behind Harry Gonshor. From Virginia came long time combatant Takahiko Ishikawa, and from Michigan and the AGA hotbed in the Midwest came Bruce Wilcox, who upset Larry Brauner in the first round but met his match in the big three of the tournament: Lee, Matsuda and Kang. Mr. Lee fought hard but finished 2.5 points short in his match with Mr. Matsuda. He gave Mr. Kang a hard fight but was forced to resign in the middle game. So the battle came down to the two familiar opponents. Mr. Matsuda had lost in the New York Club's qualifying tournament and so had to work his way out of the preliminary event under a single knock-out rule through a rugged four rounds on Saturday and then defeat Lee to come up against Mr. Kang. Mr. Kang had easily won the Baltimore Go Club championship and came as the club's representative. He seemed in top form and a tough fight was expected.

The contenders (all of the other contestants having lost twice) agreed to play a single deciding game rather than best of three; they were both undefeated. With two hours per player and 1 min. byo-yomi, the match went into the late afternoon with a 15 minute recess. Mr. Kang was the victor. The two players went over the game for the assembled crowd-a particularly considerate act for Mr. Matsuda, who must have felt the loss deeply.

The awards ceremony was honored by the attendance of Mr. Kamano of Japan Airlines, who presented the JAL Cup, a permanent trophy presented to the AGA by JAL to commemorate the winners of the national championship. Mr. Kamano expressed the hope that in future years the American Champion may be invited to visit Japan as a guest of JAL-as at present the British and European Champions are.

Special thanks for the success of the tournament should go to John Exter and the New York Go Club who provided boards, stones, manpower, supplies and moral support to the hard-pressed tournament director, Terry Benson. Without them it simply wouldn't have been possible.

Tournament Grid

Eastern Honinbo Championship

  Player City, State Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7  
1 Larry Brauner Jersey City, NJ 6d 2 3 - - - - -  
2 Young Kwon Queens, NY 5d 1 - 5 6 3 14 11  
3 Bruce Wilcox Ann Arbor, MI 4d 4 1 6 14 2 10 -  
4 Morikuni Goto Philadelpha, PA 5d 3 5 7 16 - 13 -  
5 Shin Kang Baltimore, MD 6d - 4 2 10 14 6 - Champion
6 Takao Matsuda Queens, NY 6d 7 9 3 2 10 5 - 2nd
7 Don Wiener Waterville, MN 3d 6 8 4 - - - -  
8 Sung Chun Jang New York, NY 5d 9 7 12 - - - -  
9 Kuan Chu Kuo Demarest, NJ 5d 8 6 15 - 11 17 14  
10 Hee J. Lee New York, NY 5d 12 11 14 5 6 3 - 3rd
11 Katsumi Nishiyama Queens, NY 5d 13 10 17 - 9 15 2  
12 Harry Gonshor N. Brunswick, NJ 5d 10 13 8 15 16 - -  
13 Moriaki Tanaka New York, NY 2d 11 12 16 17 15 4 -  
14 Takahiko Ishikawa Virginia Beach, VA 6d 15 16 10 3 5 2 9 4th
15 Jung O.K. Hwang New York, NY 5d 14 17 9 12 13 11 -  
16 Bob Ryder Summit, NJ 5d 17 14 13 4 12 - -  
17 Tako Onishi New York, NY 2d 16 15 11 13 - 9 -  

Tournament Report--Western Honinbo

From the American Go Journal: The largest AGA tournament ever took place over two days at the Men's Faculty Club on the U.C. campus at Berkeley. The event drew a representative field from throughout the West to decide the Western Honinbo and Kyu Champions and to bring together many of the regions' Go organizers. The Title was--predictably--won by last year's U.S. Honinbo, Kyung Kim. Richard Dolen of the Rafu Ki-in (Los Angeles) was second and Blain Welgren of Seattle third. Bill Spight, president of the New Mexico Go Association took the San-Dan Championship, and Thomas Donahue of the Mountain View (Cal.) Go Club won the Western Kyu Championship. The tournament was organized and directed by Terry Benson of the AGA with invaluable help from Herb Doughty of the Berkeley Go Club, the San Francisco Go Club, and many local players.

Tournament Grid

Western Honinbo Championship

  Player City, State Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6  
1 Kyung W. Kim Milpitas, CA 7d 2 3 4 19 4 6 Champion
2 Blaine Walgren Seattle, WA 5d 1 5 4 3 19 11 3rd
3 Richard Dolen Santa Monica, CA 5d 4 1 7 2 5 19 2nd
4 Joyn Givens Berkeley, CA 4d 3 7 2 14 1 9  
5 Ned Phipps Berkeley, CA 4d 8 2 1 11 3 7 4th
6 Chris Kirschner Seattle, WA 3d 7 10 19 9 8 1  
7 Bill Spight Alcalde, NM 3d 6 4 3 13 9 5 3d Winner
8 Alan Salazar Oakland, CA 2d 5 - 14 10 6 15  
9 Eric Vella Berkeley, CA 2d 13 19 16 6 7 4  
10 Steve Cutler San Bruno, CA 2d 17 6 - 8 15 -  
11 William Crowther Palo Alto, CA 2d 12 14 13 5 16 2 2d Winner
12 Robert E. Clark Albuquerque, NM 2d 11 15 17 16 14 -  
13 Bruce Thomson Northbridge, CA 2d 9 15 11 7 18 -  
14 Doug Cable Portland, OR 2d 15 11 8 4 12 18  
15 Bob Ayers Mt. View, CA 2d 14 12 18 17 10 8  
16 Dennis Waggoner Seattle, WA 2d 18 13 9 12 11 17  
17 Tom M. Minami Richmond, CA 1d 10 18 12 15 - 16  
18 Amnon Myers Berkeley, CA 1d 16 17 15 - 13 14  
19 David Lin Concord, CA 4d - 9 6 1 2 3  

Game Records

Eastern Honinbo Final game: S.A. Kang vs. Takao Matsuda
American Honinbo Final game 1: S.A. Kang vs. Kyung Kim
American Honinbo Final game 2: Kyung Kim vs. S.A. Kang
American Honinbo Final game 3: S.A. Kang vs. Kyung Kim


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