We would like to present you the fourth annual youth friendship match between North American youth players. This event provides the opportunity for youth players from around the continent to get top-level playing experience while making new go playing friends. The tournament is organized as a team match, with players being invited to compete based on their standing in the ratings lists. (Source:www.usgo.org)

 

Last year Canadian players won the match 5-2. This year the result was similar: Canada won 4-1 vs USA team. The games were played on KGS, so you can check the rest of the games. 

 

I decided to show the game between Vincent Zhuang (VISA [-]) and Daniel Gourdeau (WhiteRawr [7d]). Daniel is the only participant who is not of an asian origin. It seems that both USA and Canada rely on the players of asian background and not on their own. Look at USA team for World Mind Games and compare it with European. Apparently Europe chose another way: it invested in their own players. In fact, I cannot recall any high dan player on KGS of American origin. Of course, it's great that USA has so many strong players both professionals and amateurs from China. You can learn a lot from them. But on the other hand, it's a stumbling block for native americans who cannot compete against their asian fellows.

 

Final result: 

USA 1 - Canada 4

 

1. Calvin Sun (kbag [8d]) - Ryan Li (icydarts [8d]) W+R

2. Hugh Zhang (sume [6d]) - Gansheng Shi (zdarthmaul [8d]) B+10.5

3. Andrew Lu (applesauce [-]) - Jianing Gan (hkkyeen [-])  W+R

4. Vincent Zhuang (VISA [-]) - Daniel Gourdeau (WhiteRawr [7d]) W+4.5

5. Jimmy Yang (Jimmy3d [-]) - Andrew Huang (DonValley [-]) W+R