One of the goals of this southern California tournament was to encourage young beginning go players to enter tournament competition and gain experience. The youngest player in the event was five-year-old Eric Yang 30K and several other 30K players participated. This youth tournament is part of the Zheng Go Tournament. The main event, the 5th Zheng Go Tournament, will be held March 3-4, also in Irvine.

The group leaders were:
Dan Section: First place: Yi Wang 6D; Second place: Seowoo Wang 2D.
Kyu Section One: First Place: Barnett Yang 4K; Second Place: Zongli Huang 11K; Third place: Xiang Cai 18K.
Kyu Section Two: First Place: Tony Yang 30K; Second Place: Ziyu Xia 33K.

- includes reporting by Yixian Zhou and Kevin Chao, edited by Ted Terpstra

Hongkui Zheng took top honors in the 5th Zheng Go Championship, formerly known as the Southern California Go Championship. Held March 3 and 4, the Zheng Go Championship took place at the Back Bay Conference Center in Irvine, California.  A record 84 participants came from Southern California as well as travelers from the SF Bay Area, San Diego and Arizona.   Sponsored as in recent years by Jay Zheng, it was organized by Yixian Zhou and directed by Kevin Chao.  Shirley Lin 1p was the resident professional and played simuls with participants after the last round on Saturday.

Results:
High Dan Section
1st Hongkui Zheng; 2nd Hoon-Hee Jo; 3rd Yixian Zhou; 4th Yufei Jin; 5th Chenglie Huang; 6th Xiaocheng Hu
Dan section: 1st Josiah Frias; 2nd Jiale Chen; 3rd Troy Zheng; 4th King Bi; 5th Michael Sato; 6th Yuan Yuancheng
Kyu section 1: 1st Yike Deng; 2nd Ted Terpstra; 3rd Barnett Yang; 4th Darwin Kim
Kyu section 2: 1st Zongren Huang; 2nd Lujia Chen; 3rd William Gundberg; 4th Cody Frias
Kyu section 3: 1st Kevin Yang; 2nd Ethan Wong; 3rd Tony Yang; 4th Andy Zhou

photo by Jack Chao (l-r): TD Kevin Chao, Shirley Lin 1p,  champion Hongkui Zheng, sponsor Jay Zheng, organizer Yixian Zhou.