COTSEN OPEN 2012

[Joaz Banbeck]

Cho Hun-hyun 9p, Others, to Attend Cotsen Open, First Pro Candidates to be Selected.

This year’s Cotsen Tournament, or, fully titled, the 2012 Cotsen Open with1st AGA-Tygem Pro Prelim will take place on April 28-29 and will be generously hosted by the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles (KCCLA).
At the top end of the competition, two candidates will be selected for the AGA’s first ever professional certification tournament to be held in North Carolina this summer. As a special treat this year and to celebrate the first official event of this year’s AGA pro selection process, the Korea Baduk Association (http://english.baduk.or.kr/) is sending three top professionals including the legendary Cho Hun-hyun 9p to attend the Cotsen. Cho and the others will observe the pro qualifier games, do game commentary and play simultaneous games with attendees. (The tournament organizers note that preference for playing in the simuls will go to those who register earliest for the tournament. http://www.bayareago.org/cotsen/)
Cho is considered one of the greatest players of all time, with more than 150 professional titles to his name, and first of the three great baduk heroes of Korea along with Lee Chang-ho 9p and Lee Sedol 9p.
Also attending and teaching will be Yang Jae-ho 9p, who is secretary general of the Korea Baduk Association, and Yoo Chang-hyuk 9p, winner of many Korean and International titles, Kim Myung-wan 9p, one of the organizers of the new pro system and local South California favorite and renowned US teacher Yang Yilun 7p.

This year’s free lunch for pre-registered players will be Korean finger food courtesy of KCCLA and food from Los Angeles’ famous roving gourmet food trucks courtesy of Eric Cotsen. KCCLA will provide participants with traditional style Korean cloth fans (which might perhaps be autographed?).

There will also, of course, be masseuses.

Questions may be directed to Jenna Stewart, creativemindevents@me.com.

[Josh Hatch]

I unfortunately won't be able to attend as I live on the opposite side of the country. It sounds like it will be a great event though.

Are the top two in the Cotsen the two that qualify for the pro tournament or is the qualifier separate?

[mlund]

Must ... attend ... Cotsen ... I've never traveled to a Go tournament before but talking to the old-hands at the Phoenix Go Club made the Cotsen open seem Epic.

- Marty Lund

[Jordus]

So I registered this weekend. Who else is going to be there?