In the members memo Allan Abramson, AGA president, said that Young Kwan would be sponsoring a tournament for AGA all members.



As I do pay attention to the feed on usgo.org, I noticed this is no longer the case.

http://www.usgo.org/news/2010/12/young- ... in-prizes/


I can only wonder what happened from the beginning of the month (I got the email on Dec 2) to when the EJ reported this news on Dec 16. I am wondering what Young Kwan thinks "all members" mean.

How many Canadians, Mexicans, and overseas AGA members will not be able to play in this tournament due to the eligibility requirement? How many new members wont be able to play now...


...Nick, this is where I expect you to jump right in.

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Decisions are made by those who show up.
and possibly those willing to attend secret meetings in ancient basements

Well apparently I won't be able to play, despite shelling out for a life membership. Remind me again why I should support the AGA?

Have you thought about joining the IGA?

Pwaldron is life member AGAID 28

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Decisions are made by those who show up.
and possibly those willing to attend secret meetings in ancient basements

Right now I'm not feeling very charitable to the go world in general so I'll pass. The AGA's playbook seems to be that yes, we're happy to take your money for a life membership, and we'd be even more pleased if you'd volunteer your time, but you're still not a "real" AGA member.

I'm through with them; a pox on their house...

This sort of thing makes me glad I am no longer a member. After all the Phil had done for the AGA, including the life membership, this is just a slap in the face to him and all hard working members. I think it time to start a campaign to discourage everyone from playing in this tournament.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

I think the rule is just there to prevent foreign people signing up just to pocket cash, maybe it could do with a little refinement ^^*

Yeah, somewhat my fault. With a decent top purse prize, I asked what they would do if a strong amateur from overseas signed up for AGA membership just to try to win this prize.

I need more details on the time of day the games would be held. Or is that negotiated with your opponent? The details aren't out there yet.

On the U.S. Resident restriction, I strongly disagree. Unless I'm mistaken, there is currently nothing to prevent a non-AGA member from another country from physically showing up at the U.S. Open and winning it, for example. In the past, I've seen players attempt to do so and come very close. Of course, it's easier to participate online than to travel to the U.S., but you'd still have to play the rounds. There's some commitment there. Having some strong outsiders in the pool is not a bad thing, IMHO, but if there is a real concern about "ringers" there should be a way to allow AGA members outside the U.S. to participate. For example, allow anyone who either meets the residency requirement or has played in a physical U.S. tournament in the past year (or is a life member, etc.). That would eliminate the vast majority of foreign ringers. If you want to be less formal, have a method to request the TD for an exception to the residency rule so a player can participate. (However, considering the history of the AGA, leaving that decision up to one person would probably create controversy.)

Easy. Either 6-months of residence or 6-months of membership.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

I think the change was a mistake

Its being discussed "offline" as we speak.

Stay tuned for possible corrections to the announcement.
I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here, but I just wanted to try an calm the masses a little bit.

Glad to hear it. If it should prove not to be a mere error, a grandfathering clause in the spirit of Dr. Straw's proposal would still suffice for any legitimate purpose the residency requirement might serve.

As for the US Open, Myungwan Kim moved to the US and won the open not long thereafter (certainly less than a year), while Yongfei Ge has won twice despite being Canadian. It's a truly open tournament, so more power to the both of them.

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Occupy Babel!

I agree with this. Why should we try to prevent "foreign people" from participating? I don't like that kind of discrimination. If we want to promote the AGA, having a membership requirement seems more logical than a requirement of where you are on the globe.

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be immersed

turns out, this is not an AGA requirement, but rather its a requirement of the sponsor - Young Kwon.

however, the issue of allowing lifetime members outside the US is still being discussed (as far as I know so far). Hopefully the final ruling will be published soon.

Then I think the AGA should disassociate itself with the tournament. Let him run it by himself.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

I find this comment really disrespectful to both Young Kwon and the AGA.

Honestly, has anyone who is personally impacted by this rule made a personal appeal for an exception? Did we even give the AGA a chance to respond or perhaps even be gracious about it?

Or we just started in with assumptions and complaints?

Effective communication is a two way street.

the only news I've heard so far is that this requirement will remain.

The AGA has a serious problem in this area. I would like to point out that we are STILL waiting on an official board statement about the dissolution of the 10 game rule...

I don't want to get back into that again.

_________________
Decisions are made by those who show up.
and possibly those willing to attend secret meetings in ancient basements