1986 Eastern Championship
Tournament Director: Katherine Wolfthal
Tournament Report
From the American Go Journal: This year the Eastern US Championship returned tot eh glorious roof garden of the Garmercy Park Hotel. With 128 entrants it was one of the largest regional tournaments of the year. After being held outside New York for the first time in ten years (at last year's Congress), and coming on the heels of the incredible 1986 US Go Congress, attendance was a bit down from the usual 160 or so players.
The prelude to the tournament was almost more interesting than the tournament itself. On Tuesday the legendary Eio Sakata 9-dan arrived in New York from the Congress. With him were several other pros including Michael Redmond 5-dan of California in his first visit to the East Coast; Kunio Ishii 9-dan, one of the top pros in the Osaka area; Yusuke Oeda 8-dan, Michael's sensei; Asoko Ashida 6-dan and Toshimi Kitani 1-dan, a popular host of go programs in Japan.
The pros played simultaneous games at the New York GO Club on Thursday and Friday evenings. On Friday, Mr. Sataka played David Mechner, a 16 year-old 8-kyu from Chappaqua, NY. Sakata modestly claimed his victory by only a few points. "Bullies" who delight in beating up on beginners and weaker players could learn from Mr. Sakata's example.
Saturday dawned warm and clear, and tournament entrants found themselves basking in the crisp fall air outside, under a protective awning. Because of the lower attendance almost everyone was almost to play outside. A second room that had been reserved was never used.
On Saturday evening the players who stayed after the last round found themselves the beneficiaries of an unexpected treat. Instead of the playing fee that was required at the club, the pros would play all comers for free! More than fifty people played on both Saturday and Sunday evenings.
Also participating in simultaneous play on Saturday and again on Sunday were two Korea professionals: Chan Suck Ha 7-dan, the third ranked player in the Republic of Korea and Sam Jho Chun 6-dan. Both had arrived Friday evenings after attending the Congress and visiting Chicago. They went on to tour other parts of the country. Mr. Chun is becoming a familiar figure, having attended both Congresses, and he has been working hard on his English.
The Championship was won by Ji-young Yoo, an awesome 6-dan who had recently blown away a number of extremely strong Chinese players at a tournament in New York's Chinatown. He had also won a tournament in Los Angeles on August 10. In the LA tournament, sponsored by the Korean Times Los Angeles, his final opponent resigned after 79 moves.
Yoo is not eligible to represent the US at the World Amateur Go Championship next May in Beijing, since he is not a citizen. A knockout-style playoff was conducted on Monday by Roy Laird to determine the Eastern finalist, who will then face Hai Chow Chen, he Western contender. The final match pitted Thomas Hsiang 6-dan of Rochester against Takao Matsuda 6-dan of New York. Hsiang especially wanted to win the right to face Chen, with whom he had played on a college go team in China. As the game developed he seemed to have the advantage, but he was facing a calm player who had won the US Championship more than a dozen times. Matsuda coolly waited for a mistake, and Hsiang obliged with a tenuki that he regretted the second he played it.
This year's Eastern Open was conducted by Tournament Director Katherine Wolfthal, a non-played who had helped run several previous tournaments, including the Western US Championship. Roy Laird was the main organizer, with lots of help from Wyrne Evans, Lee Obliger, Sam Zimmerman, Peter Kurtz, Marvin Wolfthal, and many others including, of course, Terry Benson.