2007 U.S. Youth Go Championship Qualifier: Pre-registration required by 11:00 p.m. Thursday, April 12, 2007
Where: Golkin Meeting Room, Room 223, 2nd Floor, Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce Street, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Houston Hall is where we normally meet to play. To find Houston Hall on UPenn's campus, click here or here. To see where on the 2nd floor the Golkin Meeting Room is (Room 223), click here. For directions, click here.
When: Saturday & Sunday, April 14 & 15, 2007. Pre-registration required by 11:00 p.m. Thursday, April 12 (below). Registration at door on Saturday from 8:30 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. Players must be present by 9:15 a.m. to be paired. Round One to begin at 9:30 a.m.
Divisions: The event will have two divisions: a junior division for those under the age of 12, and a senior division for those between the ages of 12 and 18 (inclusive). The winner from each division will be invited to play in the National USYGC in Seattle, WA, in May, to compete against the winners from the other regional qualifier tournaments.
Age requirements: Participants under the age of 12 on August 6, 2007 may play in the junior division. Participants between the age of 12 and 18, inclusive, on August 6, 2007, qualify for the senior division.
Qualifications: To compete in the qualifying tournament, all players must be US Citizens or permanent residents as of January 1, 2007 and have resided in the US for at least 6 of the 12 months prior to the International Championship in August. In addition, all players must be members of the AGA as of January 22, 2007.
Format: AGA rules, 7.5 komi. All games will be AGA rated. All games to be played even, no handicap. 60 minutes basic time, 5 30-second periods of byo-yomi. Saturday, 3 rounds. Sunday, 2 rounds, including the finals match (3 rounds, if needed).
The format of the tournament will be a seeded knock-out / elimination match. On Saturday, all registered participants will have an opportunity to play in three rated rounds, regardless of their win/loss record. Players who win all three of their matches on Saturday will advance to the semi-finals and finals round on Sunday.
The elimination format means that some of the top- seeded players in each division may have a bye (i.e. do not have to play) in Round 1. This is why we are making pre-registration mandatory. Those players who have a bye in the first round will receive an email notification alerting them of the bye and also informing them that they will not have to arrive until 1:00 p.m. for Round 2.
Pre-registration:
Pre-registration is mandatory so that we may prepare the pairings in advance. Online pre-registration can be found here. Pre-registration closes at 11:00 p.m., Thursday, April 12, 2007.
Registration:
$25.00 for AGA members and those who have pre-registered. New AGA members (those who joined after January 22, 2007) or AGA members who do not meet the citizenship qualifications will not be eligible to compete in this tournament.
Prizes:
The 1st place junior and senior winners will each receive paid economy airfare and hotel stipend (up to $100.00 per night) to the National US Youth Go Competition Finals in Seattle, WA, courtesy of the AGA. Finalists can also choose between a $400.00 scholarship to the US Summer Go Camp or a $400.00 scholarship to the 2nd Feng Yun Youth Summer Go Camp in Hangzhou, China. In the event that the first place contestants are unable to attend the National finals, the 2nd place runners-up will be selected to go in their stead.
Directions to tournament:
Viewable here.
Nourishment:
The basement level of Houston Hall has a food court that will be open from noon - 8 p.m., serving everything from burgers to burritos, salads to sushi. There is an additional food court available on 34th & Walnut Street, as well as a Wawa on 38th & Spruce Street. Starbucks Coffee can be found on the corner of 34th & and Walnut Street, and there is a Dunkin Donuts is at 35th & Walnut Street.
Any questions? Please
email co-organizers Peter Nassar at pnassar@vet.upenn.edu or Matt Bengtson at mattbengtson@earthlink.net. Or call Peter at (215) 898-6271 (weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.).