Pair Go®, in which a man and a woman play alternate moves on the same side, has been considered a frivolous diversion. But we believe that if you actually try this system out you will find that it produces a very interesting game. . . .Not only do you have to analyze the moves made by your opponents; you also have to read out the meaning of your partner’s moves. . . . Before the game is over, however, it is virtually certain that your partner will play some stones that will either move you to admiration or leave you perplexed, providing a zest that you never have found in the individual game. When a one-on-one game becomes two-on-two, new elements are added, and new questions arise in the formulation of strategy.
Pair Go®, in which male-female teams compete for prizes and the right to play for their country in the yearly International Pair Go Championship, has grown rapidly in popularity since its inception in the late 1980’s. The World Pair Go Association believes that bringing more women into the game will make it more popular with all players. They also aim to introduce a social element to a game that can be a solitary pursuit.
In Canada, we hold a Pair Go tournament as part of the Canadian Open (usually on the labour day monday). At this tournament points are awarded based on the pair’s place, and also for participation. Since the International Pair Go competition is aiming to encourage participation more than competition every pair may have the chance to represent Canada over time through accumulation of participation points.
Points System Rules (introduced in 2004):
- Each player on the first place pair gets 6 points, on the second gets 4 and players on the third are awarded 3.
- All other participants who complete the entire tournament receive 2 points.
- Points are accumulated each year, and are reset to zero when a trip is awarded.
- Each pair member retains his or her points, should a team split up.
- Pairs are made of one female and one male person.
- To be eligible to represent Canada at the Pair Go Championship a pair must meet the tournament eligibility requirements (primarily Canadian citizenship, but also attire and demeanor), and not been a Canadian pair representative in the last 3 years.
- Any CGA member may acquire pair go points to be used in the future if they become eligible to represent Canada.
- A pair of eligible players who cannot attend the Canadian Open may register with the organizers as a Pair interested in being the Canadian Representatives.
- The Pair to represent Canada will be the pair with the leading point total between pairs participating in the tournament and non-attending pairs who preregistered.
- To retain their points players must remain CGA members. If their membership expires they have until the next Canadian Open to renew their membership; if they do not do so their points are reset to 0. Players whose membership expires at the current open have a grace period until end September to renew.
- If there is a tie in points the Pair finishing highest in this years tournament will be selected. If the tie is between non attending pairs a random selection will be made. If there are no eligible pairs then the CGA president will select an alternative pair. Preference will be given to pairs who competed at the CGA pair tournament in the past 5 years but have not represented Canada in the interim. The president is encouraged to select a pair with a strong record of attendance and performance at pair go tournaments. The actual choice shall be at the President’s sole discretion. If no such pair can be found who are able and willing the CGA President will nominate an eligible female, who will then select an eligible male for her partner.
| # | Player Name | Total Points | 2015 and previous points | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brady Zhang | 17 | 2** | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| 2 | Yuqing Zhang | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| 3 | Alice Sedgwick | 15 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 4 | Shan Lu(female) | 13 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | James Sedgwick | 12 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 6* | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 6 | Meng Sun | 12 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 | David Lu | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Irene Sha | 12 | 12(2010) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Julie Zhu | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Juyong Koh | 10 | 10(2011) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Selina Chang | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Owen Sedgwick | 9 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Henry Chen | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 14 | Grace Chen | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 15 | Im(Daniel) Jiwoong | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Amira Song | 8 | (2012) 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Ben Mantle | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Julie Ouellet | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Stanley Chang | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Pierre-Yves Laflèche | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Isabelle Brillant | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Pascal Tremblay | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Melissa Zhang | 6 | 0(2015) | 6 | 0 | 6 | 6* | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Peter Zhang | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | Amy Guo | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Tina Bai | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Jean-Sebastien Lechasseur | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Xiaofei Deng | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Jocelyn Parent | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | Myriam Dumas | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Jang Jing | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Minggao(Michael) Liang | 6 | (2008) 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Hejun(HJ) Cai | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 35 | Veronika Keras | 5 | 3** | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Lisa Zhang | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Edward Chung | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Points set to zero for trip
x Points earned in the online pair tournament
** When players move off the “4 points or less” lists the points are put in “2015 or earlier”, although the year isn’t tracked.
4 Point holders
Alexandre Lessard, Lydia Gallant(2018), Ben Gong, Howard Wong, Jiabao(Amy) Song, Haiyan Chen, Marshall Li Cai, Wayne Chapeskie, Mike Chen, Joanna Liu, Bo Jiang, Alina Zhang, Andy Sohn, Ron Mackenzie, Icy Yin, Fan Jun, Aleks Saiyan, Simon-Pierre Fortin, Karen Lai, Benson Lai, Anna Blinder, Vanessa Robitaille, Ram Homier, Luke Chung, Sebastien Guay, Tony Zhao, Yuxin Zhang
3 Point holders
Hannah Greenberg, Claudia Chau, Wang Zi, Bing Xiao, Xiangdong Zhang, Allison Chuang, David Pronovost
2 points holders
Gavin An, Ronnie Fan, Ahmet Balcioglu, Elvis Sun, Sarah Greenberg, Mike Li, Ella Li, Olivia Li, Kevin Su, Judy Su, Andrew Li, Celine Li, Boya Hou, Selina Jiang, Jecia Mao, Andy Luo, Ethan Liu, Jessica Wang, Vallen He, Veronica Jiang, Leo Li, Angel Huang, Lydon Li, Sabrina Feng, Maya Li Cai, Mark Zhang, Yilin Shao, Jerry Lin, Lyn Lin, Tiger Gong, Louis Liu, Laywing Liu, Yu Liu, Lucy Tong, Quan Sun, Canshi Song, Andrew Chen, Mandy Pan, Roy Tong, Helen Lu, Michelle Cheng, Anthea Ching, Morgun Wu, Jingyi Wu, Judy Liu, Emma Hsueh, Jessica Leung, Dorota Mazur, Colin Zheng, Wu Di, Francois Gourdeau, Clayton Skibinsky, Charles Chang, Isabel Chang, Jiang Lu, Alex McDonnell, Joanne Wong, Bruce Zhang, David Zhang, Kevin Wu, Olivia Charbonneau, Alexandre Dutil, Maria Zhukowsky, Veronique Genest, Yuhang Cui, Miao Yu, Xuech Cheng Yu, Wanshan Gu, Tony Xiao, Liang Yu, Sha Ding, Suzanne Champoux Williams, Yunyi Yao, Jean-Francois Gagner, Jason Liu, Kevin Li, Benoit Potvin, Bowen Wong, Yong Zhang, Oliver Rossier, Jiaqi(Rachel) Lin, Jinle Jiang, Zhiyi(Claudia) Zeng, Zekai Jiang, Frieda Fan, Yiyang(Dandi) Li, Zheng Qi
No point holder previous attendees
Remi Campagnie(2018), Andrew Huang (2017), Jin(Sarah) Yu(2017), Tianyu(Bill) Lin(2013), Gansheng Shi(2010), John Yu (2009), Chuyang(Alexis) Liu(2008), Dong Wang(2007), Naiting Liu (2007)
* There will be year(s) next to point holders if they have previously represented Canada.
For rules on how the tournament should be run the document describing the Canadian Open includes a section on Pair Go®. The original 2002 version can be found here, and the 2008 proposed updated version (synced up with the Point system above) can be found here.
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