1980 Eastern Championship
Tournament Report
From the American Go Journal: The United States Championship again drew 141 players from around the nation for a Labor Day weekend of go. The twin "main event" of the American Go scene came off with few difficulties. The Easterns were run by Terry Benson, AGA President, and the Westerns by Richard Dolen, principle L.A. organizer.
The upper section of the Westerns had some surprises this year. The ultimate winner, Mr. Huh of Seattle, had never played in the tournament before. He overcame the stiff resistance provided by a tough section including Shigeo Matsuhara, 1978 Western Champion, Hyo Myung Kim, L.A.'s toughest Korean player, H.C. Chen, 2nd in last year's Westerns, and ten other 5 and 6 dans. His score would have been perfect but for a loss to Chen, a fellow Seattle area player.
Chen needed the victory to gain the Western berth on the United States team to the World Amateur Championships. Right behind Chen for Western representative was Paul Goodnan, S.F.G.C.. He finished with 5 wins by Chen's 4; but coming from below the "bar", the McMahon zero point, his final McMahon score was the same as Chen's: 4. The "sum-of-opponents' scores" (SOS) tie breaking method gave the place to Chen who had by far the tougher schedule.
The match for the Championship between Mr. Huh, Western Tournament winner, and 1979 Champion, Kyung Kim, took place on Monday September first. Kim made it short and sweet in soundly beating Huh two straight. After the loss Mr. Huh demoted himself from 7 dan (the rank he had assumed in Seattle) to 6 dan--a commendable move. In the East many tournaments and consistent rating control have restrained the typical upper dan inflation. There are only two rated 6 dans: Shin Kang and Takao Matsuda. Larger Western tournaments and rating control by a Western AGA are needed to present further debasement of our Go currency. The preponderance of Korean players whose Korean ranks have no relationship to ours places the burden squarely on the American organizers.
The Western Kyu Championship was a closely fought battle. The 20 player section included 11 first kyus, and 5 players finished with 4-2 records. The winner, Phil Pyun, was 5-1 losing only to Michael Willemsen of Palo Alto.
Francois Cartier, one of the principle organizers of the Quebec Go Association, added some non-oriental international color to the Westerns. Player as a 2 kyu, he had a 3-3 result. Les Lanphear, acting Western AGA Secretary managed a 3-3 record after a dismal 0-3 first day. (Perhaps he was worrying about the Western Executive Committee Meeting.) Jeff Knox' rising strength is documented by the tournament grids from past Western Championships, He took third place in the '77 kyu section (as a 3 kyu), second place in the shodan section in '78, second place among 3 dans in '79 and had a good record (3-2) as a 4 dan this year. The only other players (besides Jeff and Les) to participate in every Western Championship are perennial contender Blain Walgren, 5 dan of Seattle, and U.S. Champion Kyung Kim of San Francisco.
The Easterns returned to the Hotel Lexington this year and the Empire room was once again filled with the sound of Go stones clicking and game clocks ticking. Joining the eighty-eight players two professionals invited by the AGA. Jim Kerwin, the only American pro, and Mr. Mikio Sato, 5 dan, were kind enough to make the long journey and share with us their expertise. Their trip was made possible through the generous sponsorship of Mr. Takebayashi of Kumano Nachiguro, a Go equipment manufacturer and supplier.
The notable feature of this year's Easterns was not the presence of two pros (last year Iwamoto Sensei and Kobayashi Chizu attended) nor the number of players (last year had 96) nor the use of the Tournament Director's Apple II computer to do the pairings. What was surprising was the tremendous outpouring of corporate support for the tournament. The total value of the prizes awarded was over $5000! The bulk of that total came from two large prizes, but there were many smaller ones as well, some 35 items donated by 7 companies.
Mr. Takebayashi, besides underwriting the professionals' visit, donated an unparalleled number of prizes. The magnificent set of Go stones and bowls which went to the winner of the tournament is valued at over $1500. Kumano Nachiguro also donated 4 sets of fine slate and shell stones, 2 sets of thinner slate and shell stones, 4 slotted Go boards, 2 padded folding board, and 4 Go sets.
Mr. Nankawa of Prime Line Tools donated an SLR camera valued at $250. Panasonic Corporation donated 4 portable radios ($50 each). Mr. Shima of Pilot Pen donated 5 pens and pen-and-pencil sets. Mr. Masudo of Sanyo Shokai donated 2 men's brand-name suits ($150 each). Mr. Saji of Suntory Liquor donated 4 bottles of their finest (for consumption after the tournament!) Two sets of Go bowls were donated by the Manhattan Go Club ($15 each).
The highest placing, eligible U.S. citizen won the expense paid trip to Japan to participate in the World Amateur Championship ($2000+). It is awarded by Japan Air Lines, the principle supporter of international Go in the world. Mr. Ukari of JAL was present to congratulate the U.S. Representative and to present to the Eastern U.S. Champion a replica of the JAL Cup--the permanent trophy commemorating the U.S. Championship contenders and winners. (Each year JAL provides two replicas of the 4' high JAL Cup for the Eastern and Western Champions).
The AGA is deeply grateful for this generous corporate sponsorship. The AGA officer most responsible for the outpouring is Masao Takabe, AGA Vice-President. He has dedicated many years to building up contacts in the business community. His persistence is now beginning to pay off handsomely for all Go players. Next year he hopes to have similar donations for both Eastern and Western tournaments. His success should encourage other organizers to cultivate similar contacts in their local area.
Another long time AGJ advertiser and AGA sponsor, Tokyo Sales Corporation (Zen Book Store), had a large display at the Easterns. The lovely Ms. Kodama brought traditional kaya Go boards, top quality slate and shell stones, and a complete line of Ishi Press go books (some of which sold out immediately).
There was a feeling that 1980 might be the year Takao Matsuda would be Shin Kang (Eastern Champion since 1976) in their usual, dramatic, last round battle for the title. Takao had a superb 4-2 record in the World Amateur Championships this year including victories over tough Korean and Japanese amateurs.
In the early rounds Kang did seem a little off-form. He had to snatch victories from difficult positions with opponents who usually gave him no trouble. Takao won his early games easily. But the script writer made a mistake in round 3. Matsuda fell to his long time friend and Go partner Takahiko Ishikawa of Virginia Beach. Perhaps every strong player has his nemesis, Ishikawa is Matsuda's. Takahiko has only a mixed tournament record. He was 3-3 overall including losses to Ron Snyder and Jeff Rohlfs. But on at least three crucial occasions he has cut Matsuda down as he did here.
In round 4, Matsuda lost to Jong Moon Lee, a young Korean who finished strongly last year. Kang met the same fate against Lee in round five. So Matsuda's victory over Kang in their sixth round match was distinctly anti-climactic. Mr. Lee had run away from the field with a perfect 6-0 record.
There were many contestants for U.S. Representative to the WAGC. Only seven of the top seventeen players were ineligible. The choice came down to a last round game between Ron Snyder (5 dan, Manhattan Go Club) and Harry Gonshor (5 dan, New Jersey), which Ron won handily. Let's hope he does as well against the European players he meets in Japan as he did against them in 1978 when he won the Main Tournament at the European Go Congress.
For the first time there were professional players at both the Easterns and the Westerns--the start of a trend, we hope. On the West Coast, Cho Hun Hyun attended the opening ceremony and displayed his immense power in simultaneous demonstration, losing only two games out of fourteen. Sen Suzuki, Seattle's resident teaching professional, also made an appearance, giving lessons and cheering on his home team.
In the East we were grateful to have two pros: Mr. James Kerwin and Mr. Mikio Sato. Jim was invited especially by the AGA. Mr. Sato was also an AGA guest; his travel expenses were paid by Mr. Takebayashi and his local expenses were covered by a donation from Mr. Nankawa of Prime Line Tools. The pros played simultaneous matches both days of the tournament and made themselves available for teaching games, diploma games, and casual commentary throughout the weekend. Mr. Sato also presented the prizes donated by Kumano Nachi guro. They were charming guesses enlivening all the proceedings.
Mr. Sato has an impressive ability to teach go, although he speaks virtually no English. He is noted in Japan for his work with amateurs; it was clear why. He is a master of gentle correction, clear demonstration and good spirit. He is a happy master of go. High powered professional players often have egos to match; Mr. Sato is a strong 5-dan, but he is warm and unthreatening as well. He has kindly offered to provide professional commentary on amateur games for publication in the American Go Journal.
It is difficult in a McMahon tournament to pick a clear winner from a subgroup of the top section. The system was not designed for it. Yet that is what we have done in the Eastern and Western Championship tournaments. Only judicious planning by the Tournament Director from the first round can control the problem. Both AGA Directors managed to minimize the inevitable criticism. The Eastern Executive Committee decided to eliminate the problem next year by holding at a later date a separate tournament to determine the World Amateur representative.
The Eastern Representative tournament will be open only to those eligible to go to Japan. The Eastern Championship will remain an open tournament. It will also qualify players for the final event. The larger distances between the major Western go centres probably prohibits this solution on the West Coast. Careful running of teh pairing system will have to suffice for next year's Western.
The US Championships tournament would be impossible without the cooperation and effort of many people. Some have been mentioned earlier. We are especially grateful to the many corporate sponsors who gave so generously and to teh three professional players who gave their valuable time to visit us: Jim Kerwin, Cho Hun Hyun and Mr. Sato. But there are others as well. Innumerable times a Tournament Director turns to someone, asks for and gets help, and doesn't have time to say thanks. To the organizers who couldn't attend the tournaments themselves but still encouraged others to go, to those who brought boards, escorted the professionals, did byo-yomi, took game records, picked up prizes and did hte little things that made these tournaments possible, many thanks from the AGA and the players.