Anyone interested in getting a US States tournament going? Looking through the groups, I noticed a few (Texas, Tennessee, Michigan, Maine (me), etc…) statewide groups, and thought it could be fun to have a tournament. Not sure how it would work, since I’ve never setup a tournament, but if there is an interest, lets discuss!
Thanks,
Jasper (Maine Go)
If people who head the local groups could get together and agree on the finite details, or maybe turn to the AGA to help set things up, I could see this working. Something like a US amateurs/go enthusiasm tournament. The first one would be hard to organize, simply because no one’s ever attempted such a thing before, but in the future it could grow into a pretty prestigious event. A sort of Go convention.
I went ahead and did some research into what would go into organizing such an event, and while it’s plausible, it would take a lot of people working together to pull off.
A lot of labor goes into keeping track of who registers for the tournament, the logistics of reserving the venue, producing the tags/badges, arranging judges and recorders, deciding on prizes and entry fees that are reasonable but help to cover the cost of the above mentioned, and the people who organize the event staying transparent enough with the finances that no one needs fear scams or embezzlement.
That said, nothing worth doing is easy, and if enough people want it, something like this is totally doable!
Hi Kitten1 - Thanks for the response. I wasn’t thinking a real world tournament, just here on OGS, like a 19x19 correspondence, where whoever joins is representing their state… very informal, no prizes except bragging rights. Maybe a flashy icon? I could never pull something like that off in the real world… I am struggling just to get a local club going here.
I think this might appeal to those who are active in local clubs in the real world (or who would like to be part of a local club, if one existed), and who are interested in building more of a local community. It might help give players more of an interest in joining and participating in the state based groups here on OGS, which may in turn lead to more real world meetups. Maybe…
Thanks for your input! And Happy New Year!
We play go. The AGA is in the business of making money.
The American Go Association is obsolete. They party like it’s 1939. They are still debating whether or not Internet play is a valid form of competition. They need to join Edward Lasker in his grave.
My real life play is afternoons with friends. Real competition is online.
We can do this but he has to be through OGS. We don’t need the AGA at all.
No, I wasn’t thinking anything involving the AGA… just a casual thing on OGS. I guess really it would be just a regular tournament, with a spin that the participants are ‘representing’ their state. Ideally the state they reside in, or call home. If all 50 states were represented, that would be great, though I’m not sure that would happen. And maybe cap it at 5 or so max per state… not sure. But yea, all for fun between us OGSers.
Round 2… Maine vs Florida 
Volunteering to represent New Hampshire 
The AGA is in the business of making money.
The AGA is a registered nonprofit. It is absolutely not in the business of making money at all, and nobody working for it gets paid. At best, they get reimbursed.
They are still debating whether or not Internet play is a valid form of competition.
Actually, the AGA is working on a common protocol for all go servers to be able to report results, allowing cross-server ratings. The details are available on github. There is considerable debate on whether or not “internet play” is statistically identical to the play measured via the rating system, which is a little different. There are several AGA online tournaments, notably the Young Kwon National Online Tournament, or YKNOT.
As for your other points, i’m not sure where to start. But i did want to chime in on those two 
Thanks!
I have experience with nonprofits. Particularly the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
They are most certainly in the business of making money.
Sorry, i’m trying to understand: Are you saying that because of your experience with the MDA, that you believe all nonprofits will behave the same way?
As the OP, generally I would try to request we get back on topic, but as a card carrying AGA member and chapter organizer, and too am curious about what you are saying. I generally try to encourage players to join the AGA, and see it as a useful organization for promoting go in the US. Do you have specific information that would make me reconsider supporting the AGA? If so, do tell, as my AGA chapter fee is fast approaching.
Thanks
https://github.com/usgo For anyone who is interested.
It is not belief.
For-profits make money by selling you things or services to make your things better.
Nonprofits make money by selling you ideas.
Nonprofits have tax-exempt status because there no real way to tax what they do. It’s best just make sure they don’t do taxable activity and that every last cent that comes in ends up going out.
The MDA gives the entire national staff six-figure incomes. The executive board gets seven-figure incomes.
I raised a lot of money for the local group many moons ago. Maybe you’ve seen my picture around this forum. In my physically better days(90s), I was the top computer salesman in the Southeast for Circuit City. I have a gift for of communication. In 2005, I started doing volunteer work with the MDA. My speeches, and the crass terms of my commissioned sales days, separated people from the money.
This is where I must stop with the details because, while an incredibly long shot, I’m no longer quite anonymous here.
Local people are good people and, without fail, they walk away disgusted and easily replaced by the next sunny disposition victims. And there are Darksiders who get promoted, of course.
I prefer Chris Rock’s solution to MDA largess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7QkuiSdhc
I don’t believe the AGA is exploiting their cause on anywhere near the level of the MDA. I also think the AGA is obsolete. I have a card as well. Paying OGS has given me more than paying the AGA.
Ah, I see what you are saying. Interesting. I agree that I get way more go for the money spent from OGS then the AGA, since the closest rated tournaments to me are a couple hours away. In fact, there is one this Sunday, which I was going to go to, but may skip it. I may just relax at home and try to get a Nova League game or two in.
/me strongly suggests getting this thread back on topic. He would hate to have to shut it down, because the idea is cool.
He also enjoys referring to himself in the third person.
Sounds like a plan.
One thing I am not sure about, not knowing much about tournaments, is what type of tournament would work best. If there were multiple players representing the same state, it doesn’t seem like they should end up both playing each other… at least not in the end. Or maybe they should? So, maybe not an elimination tournement? Maybe Swiss? Seems like round robin would take forever, if there were lot’s of players. Is there a type of tournament that is geared towards teams playing against other teams?
Also, is there a way, in the current tournament implementations, to associate a player with a team? Or would we end up just using like a google doc or something to track who is representing what state?
And, I suppose the tournament itself would be hosted by a group, but players wouldn’t have to join the actual group, correct? Just the tournament?
You can make the tourney open to non group members iirc.
Teams make sense to me. That’s how most of the other geography-based tournaments do it.
@zbase For the geography-based OGS Rengo World Cup we used elimination…Feel free to PM me so we can discuss this
Cheers, xhu98
Ok! The thread’s moved on but i want to touch on this:
No one in the AGA gets a salary. No one. All of us are working towards building a vibrant Go community in the US, and while we may all be trying to achieve that in our own special way, it still remains an entirely volunteer organization. In fact, the current president, Andy Okun, doesn’t even accept reimbursement for his travel to and from Asia, which I’d guess easily runs him in the tens of thousands of dollars annually.
So, sure, there are definitely some shady non-profits out there that exploit chronic conditions and end up contributing very little to actual health research (citation), and there are non-profits out there that serve as shell-corporations for family dynasties to protect their fortunes, but i can guarantee you the AGA is neither. Saying the AGA is “all about money” is laughable – and maybe even offensive to those of us who have committed years of our lives (and thousands of dollars) to its mission.
If you’d like to check the AGA’s books, the financial statements etc are all available on their website, you can see where the money goes yourself
Sorry to re-derail, but really don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression here: No one in the AGA is getting paid.
Thanks & back to the thread!