The 2026 Massachusetts State Go Championship set a new attendance record, drawing 79
players to Boston Latin School over January 31–February 1—up significantly from 2025’s field of 65. The growth reflects both the strength of the New England Go community and the increasing pull of the event as a proving ground ahead of major national tournaments.
Alexander Qi (3p, NJ) went a perfect 5–0 to take first place overall. Widely regarded as one of the strongest youth players in the country, Qi lived up to expectations with confident, precise play throughout the weekend.
The 2026 Massachusetts State Champion title went to Harley Huang (3d), who finished 4–1 as the highest-placing Massachusetts resident. Huang’s run included key wins over the state’s top-rated player and Trevor Morris (4d) in the final rounds, earning the championship title as a 3-dan.
Also finishing 5–0 was Harvy Yu (9k), who swept the kyu field without dropping a game—an exceptional achievement at any level of play. A large group of players finished with four or more wins, underscoring the depth of competition across ranks, from double-digit kyu to high dan.
This year introduced a new prize-selection app, allowing players to rank the prizes they wanted in advance. Sponsors listed offerings beforehand, players browsed and ranked their preferences, and prizes were assigned using a ranked-choice algorithm—ensuring that every prize winner received something they actually chose. The system will be used again at the US Go Congress in Boston this summer.
Sponsors included Go Magic, OGS, 101weiqi, European Go Journal, ZBaduk, AI Sensei, BenKyo, Tsumego Dragon / Shawn Ray, AYD, SmartGo, AwesomeBaduk, BadukPop, and Internet Go School.
Teachers & lecturers for the event included Justin Teng, Michael Chen, Mateusz Surma, Yoonyoung Kim, and Chris Sagner.
The tournament was directed by Nick Bonner, with Jonathan Green handling registration and John Kerpan managing facilities. Trevor Morris used the event as a testing ground for both the registration system and the prize app, ahead of the 42nd US Go Congress (July 25–August 1), which he is co-directing with Audrey Wang.
Full tournament report; more about the prizes app and how it will be used at Congress on the AGA Blog.
Collage: bottom: Top finishers (L-R): Alan Huang (7d) (2nd place), Alexander Qi (3p) (1st), Trevor Morris (TD), Andrew Huang (5d) (3rd); top left: 2026 Massachusetts State Champion Harley Huang (3d) with Trevor Morris (TD); top right: 4 & 5 game winners (L-R): Austin Robinson (1k), Joaquin Perkins (2d), Alan Huang (7d), Raymond Welch (13k), Nanjia Jiang (6k), Laura Wu (5k), Harvy Yu (9k, 5-0), Stephen Leone (3k), Jerrick Cheung (7k), Trevor Morris (TD), Bruce Jiang (25k), Pablo Marco Rider (2k), Bennett Ferris-Hamlett (5k), Isaac Wilde (6k), Quan Le (9k), Jacqueline Hood (18k), Hermann Fan (4k). Not pictured: Sophia Mears (11k). photos: Nick Bonner