The 10th year of the Pandanet AGA City League brought some of its strongest competition yet. The final rounds were played after the US Go Congress this year. Ithaca faced off against Canwa Vancouver 2 and Chicago faced New York City. Results and games are linked below, bold denotes winner.
Ithaca defeated Canwa Vancouver 2 in this years finals by 2-1. The B League has changed in the last few years as the number of strong players playing has changed in the last few years. The 10 team League duked it out through seven rounds this year. As not all of the teams played each other, by the time the season came to close the top two teams had not played each other. With almost matching results during the season, a final round was scheduled. Canwa Vancouver has played teams from the A and B leagues over the years. With the perennially strong Canwa Vancouver 1 team so close it is easy for them to train. Ithaca on the other hand came out of the gorges to run through their opponents. Over the years these three have shown their strength at many tournaments, as a team they have become formidable. The finals showed this off and it was close. Canwa Vancouver scored a strong win on the first board (W+R). Ithaca came back on the other boards with good wins over their opponents (W+33.5 and B+4.5).
Board 1: Alan Huang 7d (B) vs Leo Tian 6d (W)
Board 2: Hongkui Zheng 7d vs Nick Jin 5d
Board 3: Aaron Ye 7d vs Kevin Wang 5d
Chicago upset New York City this year by 2-1. New York City has won the previous three years and were the favorites going in this year. As the final round approached it showed Chicago out front with NYC and Canwa Vancouver 1 at their heels. After a very close set of tie breaks NYC took on Chicago. This is Chicago’s second year in the A League after being in the B League for a few years. Some important changes to their top boards have brought a renewed strength with their wins. The three final games were slow and carefully played out. Boards 2 and 3 (B+R and B+11.5) were finished within a few minutes of each other. Both teams and viewers watched Board 1 finish out its exciting finish (B+5.5).
Board 1: Tim Song 1p (B) vs Ryan Li 3p (W)
Board 2: Calvin Sun 1p vs Stephanie Yin 1p
Board 3: Albert Yen 8d vs Michael Chen 8d
