2nd North American Youth Open
Saturday, September 4, 2021. Online: AGA Tournament Room on KGS
Click here for pairings and results

What is the North American Youth Go Youth Open?

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The NAYO (North American Youth Go Youth Open) is an open youth tournament held by the American Go Association for all players under the age of 18.

 

Since the US Youth Go Championship was discontinued many years ago, we all missed having it back! The goal for the NAYO is to provide an opportunity for young players to once again compete in a high-standard North American tournament. The AGA intends to host this competition annually and make this event the largest open youth Go tournament in North America. In the future, we hope to create a face-to-face tournament of the same name co-sponsored by the New York Institute of Go and the American Go Foundation.

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Eligibility: All of the participants must be under 18 years old by the date of the tournament. There is NO rank requirement to enter. Players with no rank may register as 25 kyu. All players must be a current AGA, CGA, or MGA member. Players whose ranks at their associations are out of date, but have a solid KGS rank with at least 10 most recent games may enter. Pre-registration is required.

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Note: Higher divisions will carry higher cash prizes. All the participants must at least register at their most recent rank. Players may register in a higher rank to challenge themselves. Sandbagging activity is strictly prohibited. The tournament director holds the right to ban players who register false information.

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Non-refundable Commitment Fee: $20. The commitment fee will go to the administration, referee, and the anti-AI technical team in order to cover the costs to run and analyze selected games. We intend to provide the best tournament experience to all of our participants. The commitment fee will help the administration, referee, and Anti-AI technical team to prepare for their work in advance. The commitment fee also discourages forfeiting.

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Opening Ceremony: 

We will have a short and greeting online ceremony. All participants can start joining the opening ceremony at 11:30 - 11:45 AM EDT on Saturday, September 4, 2021.  

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Topic: 2nd North American Youth Open Tournament

Time: Sep 4, 2021 11:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84879992038?pwd=Qk44dUN5ZUl6SkMzTzdTcmN5dWJDdz09

 

Meeting ID: 848 7999 2038

Passcode: 689818

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Prizes:

Prizes and plaques are awarded in all divisions. Plaques are provided by the American Go Foundation. In order to be eligible for a prize, all players must compete in all four rounds. Participants that complete all rounds will receive a 1-month free subscription (worth $9.99) to the NYIG_Go YouTube Channel, silver tier membership. More information can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSA-TwHcEw0 and www.ny-go.org/youtube-memberships

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Please fill out the form here to redeem your free subscription.

 

Tournament schedule: Saturday, September 4, 2021

• Opening Ceremony: 11:45 AM EDT, please join between 11:30-11:45 AM EDT. 

• 1st Round: 12:00 PM EDT

• 2nd Round: 2:00 PM EDT

• 3rd Round: 4:00 PM EDT

• 4th Round: 6:00 PM EDT

 

Rules:

• AGA rules, 19 by 19 board, 30 minutes, 3x30 seconds byo-yomi

• Undo: undo is not allowed. You are responsible for your own misclicks.

• Chatting: No chatting is permitted. The only exceptions are: (1) greetings and (2) saying thank you.

• Paring: Swiss-style pairing. All games are even with no handicaps.

• Brackets: All brackets will be divided by ranks. The number of brackets will depend on the number and ranks of participants.

• Venue: AGA tournament room on KGS

• Final Standing: Final standings will be determined using the total number of wins. Tiebreakers are resolved using the Sum of Opponent’s Scores (SOS) and further by Sum of Defeated Opponent’s Scores (SODOS).

• Punctuality: all players are expected to be on time. A player will forfeit the game if he or she is more than 15 minutes late. If you win by forfeit, please wait for tournament director’s confirmation before leaving. Otherwise, the result is marked as a tie.

• Result confirmation: The result of a game must be agreed by both players. If the game finishes normally, the winner MUST send a personal message to the TD on KGS, with the results being clearly stated.

• Disconnection: If a player leaves without finishing a game, the opponent should report to the tournament director immediately. A disconnection that lasts 10 minutes or more will also result in forfeit.

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Tournament video requirements:

All participants are required to join the zoom call. To help reduce the possibility of AI or outside assistance, we highly recommend that all players complete the full camera setup below. If you are unable to complete the camera setup, in the rare case of reports, all decisions are non-disputable and left to the TD. Players are responsible for their own technical issues during the tournament. 

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Throughout the tournament, join and remain in the 2nd North American Youth Open Tournament Zoom meeting room:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84879992038?pwd=Qk44dUN5ZUl6SkMzTzdTcmN5dWJDdz09; Meeting ID: 848 7999 2038; Passcode: 689818. Please adhere to the full camera setup requirements below. 

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The camera must clearly capture:

• face: only medical electronic devices are allowed

• hands: must be visible on screen at all times

• computer screen: the game and the video call are the only applications open

• Players cannot communicate with anyone during games unless in emergencies. If you notice any suspicious activity, please immediately report to the TD by private message or the "raise hand" feature.

 

Anti-AI Rule: The use of AI is strictly prohibited. The visual camera must capture (1) the full computer screen and (2) both the hands and face (sideview) of the player. If the video is not provided upon request, any decision made by the TD team will be final. We highly recommend players in all divisions to have a video record of the player.

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If you suspect your opponent uses AI, please complete the game as normal and report to the tournament director after the game. The tournament director may not intervene in ongoing games but may use the game records as evidence of the investigation. The tournament director could initiate an investigation with or without any reports received. If a player had been found highly suspicious, the tournament director reserves the right to dismiss the results and ban the player from the tournament. Most of the commitment fee is used in the administration and Anti-AI investigation systems. We have one of the strongest AI analysis tools to monitor your games. If the similarity of the entire game matches 50% or more, it is considered highly suspicious of AI usage. The TD team may then make the final decision based on the results of the analysis and historical game records of the player.

 

We will be using the strongest AI analysis tool, Golaxy (https://senseis.xmp.net/?Golaxy) to monitor the tournament. Top US and Canadian players, with an AI expert from Golaxy, will serve as the Arbitration Committee to make the final decision if the similarity of the entire game matches 50% or more. A similarity matching 70% or more is equivalent to professional play. The similarity matching 60% is equivalent to at least AGA 7d.

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The registration deadline is September 1, 2021.

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If you are new to KGS, please see the KGS download and setup instruction here: ny-go.org/online-class-instructions

If you have questions about how to create a game on KGS, please visit here: ny-go.org/kgs-game-setup