Eric Yoder 6D swept the 2024 Evanston Invitational with an unbeaten 5-0 record. The event, organized by Evanston Go Club's Cheuk To Tsui, featured a round-robin style with six Midwestern amateurs. Yoder said his most intense match was in Round 4 against Sungsoo Kim 5D, one of the strongest players in Illinois. “Against Sungsoo, I made a ridiculous missed atari level misread that by pure chance turned into a ko since he was under a minute and didn’t find the way to kill cleanly in time, where I would have lost the game.” Yoder clinched the victory by 2.5 points. Fans also applauded the performance of 13-year-old Al Tang 4D. Tang, a student of Han Han 5P, rapidly improved from 1-Dan to a strong 4-Dan in recent years. Tang pulled two massive upsets, defeating Cheuk To Tsui 5D by resignation and Jae Donley 5D by 4.5 points in the finals. Before Round 5, Albert Yen told friends, including Jae Donley, that he advised Tang to “slow down at times to catch (Jae Donley’s) mistakes.” Donley replied, “Then I just won’t make any.” In the Round 5 match between Jae Donley and Al Tang, Tang lost a 120-point ko in the bottom left. However, Tang managed to stay in the game and regain the lead in the endgame under time pressure. Afterward, Cheuk To Tsui told friends Donley’s comment “aged like milk.” In another Round 5 upset, Tsui 5D defeated Sungsoo Kim 5D for the first time in an official tournament. The upsets led to a five-way tie for second place, with all players other than Yoder holding a 2-3 record. The Evanston Invitational determined the tiebreaker by a single-elimination blitz with a tough time setting of 15 minutes + 5 seconds Fischer time. Jae Donley emerged victorious from this intense blitz, claiming second place. According to Albert Yen 8D, who provided commentary on the Blitz Tie Break, Donley demonstrated a “mastery of time management to force the game into complicated fights, leading to his opponents running out of time.” Round 1: Commentators Michael Zhou 6D and Janice Kim 3P Round 2: Commentators TheLovingSun 4D and Arthur Ye 5D Round 3: Commentators Michael Zhou 6D and Janice Kim 3P Round 4: Commentators TheLovingSun 4D and Amy Guo 6D Round 5 (Finals): Commentator Albert Yen 8D Blitz Tie Break: Commentator Albert Yen 8D Albert Yen said that Donley’s prototype tool enriched the livestream experience. “Jeremiah developed a novel screen capture software similar to Baduk TV in Korea that transforms the video feed into a board grid, allowing streamers to show variations without game recorders. The platform will greatly simplify streaming tournament games, and Jeremiah hopes to develop his tool for upcoming tournaments across the country,” Yen said. Donley said he felt satisfied with his prototype tool. “The prototype tool worked very well. There were some minor and major bugs, and it seemed like the community liked the tool itself,” Donley said. Donley said the tournament was “fantastic.” “Compared to other tournaments, I felt happy about my performance even though on paper I didn't play well. I enjoyed listening to Janice Kim's commentary, and I hope we can have her back,” Donley said. Paige Lemaster said the atmosphere was unique. “I had a lot of fun,” Lemaster said, who chose to sit out from the Blitz Tie Break. “This tournament was special because I wasn’t playing with a bunch of players I didn’t know but got to play with friends who I share a passion with.” Looking back, champion Eric Yoder said players should stay focused on the game. “A good mindset is just to focus on playing the best moves and worry less about who is winning and what your count is,” Yoder said. “For the majority of moves, it doesn’t matter anyway. Just keep your focus and play well, so you can catch your opponent’s big mistakes and avoid sudden blunders.”
