In the biggest turnout in Atlanta go tournament history, 46 players participated in the June 11 Emory University Chinese Student & Scholar Union Go tournament. Feijun (Frank) Luo 6d topped the field, and, in a touching moment at the end of the award presentations, Luo and Junfeng (Mark) Gu presented Jeffery Kerlagon (below, in shorts) with an “Outstanding Service Award” in recognition of his 15 years of promoting go in metro Atlanta. The audience roundly applauded Kerlagon, who was deeply moved by the gesture. Jingzhi Wang, President of Emory University’s Chinese Student & Scholar Union, gave a warm welcome to all players — who came from Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas — at the beginning of the tournament, and expressed an interest in hosting such a tournament at Emory University on an annual basis.
Winner’s Report:
Open Dan Division: 1st: Feijun (Frank) Luo 6d; 2nd: Ge (Johnny) Wang 5d; 3rd: Geng (Eric) Wang 6d Dan Division: 1st: James Shi 3d; 2nd (tie): Peiyu Tang 3d, Shawn Ray, and Ge Wang
Kyu Division: 1st (tie): Matt McCawley and William Ott; 2nd (tie): Alexandros Salazar, Brandon Zhou, Yiping Wang, and Alex Panaccione
Notably, youth players Peiyu Tang (13 years old) and Brandon Zhou (8) won the second place in the Dan and Kyu divisions, respectively. Peiyu Tang started learning go at the age of 5 and became a 2d player at the age of 9 in China; Brandon Zhou has learned go for less than one year and already leaped to 2k.