Per AGA's data on rated-tournaments in 2023, here are the strong players (5.5D+) with most wins: 1st: 37 wins Alan Huang (NY), tournaments won: NY Summit, best US-citizen player in US Masters Open 2nd: 29 wins Jeremy Chiu (PA) tournaments won: NGC Pumpkin Classic, Golden Gate 3rd: 26 wins Edward Zhang (VA) 4th: 24 wins Michael Chen (PA), tournaments won: MassGo, MD Open, Pro Qualification, Gotham Open-fall, New England Tied-5th: 23 wins Juanshu Lan (TX) and Eric Lee (CA), tournament won: SF Obon 7th: 22 wins Alexander Qi (NJ) 8th: 21 wins Lambert Lee (NY) 9th: 21 wins Paige Lemaster (OH) Tied-10th with 17 wins: Han Han, CA ( 17W-0L record; tournaments won: US Masters Open, Zheng Cup, Gotham-spring)Tyler Oyakawa, CATianyuan Zhang, Iowa (US Pair Go champion)Justin Teng, MD 14th: 16 wins, Ninghan Duan (FL) won NY State Championship Tied-15th: 15 wins Xiaodi Huang (MA) Yifan Wu (MO) Tied-17th: with 14 wins: EricLui (MD) Leshan Feng (PA) Chao Xie (CA) YutongShao (CA) Congratulations! 5 Reasons to play in-person Go: Meet new and old friendsOpponents know you and will play a specific strategy, and therefore expose your weakness, but you can improve fasterProve your current strength--Respect is to be Earned, not Given by an outdated ratingMore serious and thrilled--full experience of a competitionSome may not be a big fan of socializing, but merely being there and being in company can be a support to the go community
