BGA Newsletter 272 November 2020

FROM THE EDITOR

Contributions are always welcome, both from our members and others. We ask that they be Go-related and "newsy". The place for debate and general discussion is the BGA open mailing list Gotalk. However, an introduction to a new topic is fine in the Newsletter. A brief introduction to Gotalk, with a link for joining, is on the BGA page Go on the Internet. See also the BGA temporary Coronavirus page.

Instructions for Contributors: Please use plain text not file-attachments. Keep it fairly brief, and give web-links and contact details. It's good to include pictures. If they are on the internet, send me the URL, otherwise attach the picture files to your email. Send your contribution to newsletter@britgo.org to arrive by the first day of the month.

Jil Segerman

NEWS

The full set of recent news items, including further details of some of the items shown here, are on our News Pages, and on News Headlines.

2020 Pandanet Go European Team Championship

In the first match of the new season of the Pandanet Go European Team Championship B-League the UK beat Belgium three games to one. There were wins for Daniel Hu, Alex Kent and Jamie Taylor. This placed UK second behind Germany, who beat Croatia four-nil, and just ahead of Finland, who beat Netherlands.

UK Go Challenge Finals

The online youth event for October, held on the afternoon of Sunday 4th, was the delayed finals of the 2019-2020 UK Go Challenge. 33 young players battled over six rounds on 13x13 boards. This time the winner was Ryan Zhang from London. Second was Cyrus Hi Him Shek from Ayrshire and third was Gene Wong from Fernhill Primary School, on tie-break from Scott Cobbold and Lea Wong (Top Girl). David Baldwin and Caleb Monk, both 11k, notably won five games.

Age group winners:
Boys U08 Ryan Zhang
Boys U10 Gene Wong
Boys U12 Cyrus Shek
Boys U14 Scott Cobbold
Boys U16 Robbie James
Boys U18 David Baldwin
Girls U08 Liann Wong
Girls U10 Annie Walters
Girls U12 Lea Wong
Girls U14 Julia Volovich
Girls U16 Hilary Bexfield
Girls U18 -

CCTV World Youth

The UK youth team celebrated Halloween by playing their first round match in the CCTV World Youth Amateur On-line Weiqi Tournament. Held on the Chinese server called Yike and sponsored by Chinese TV, this new event has 22 teams from around the world taking part on weekends between now and the end of the year.

Our first match was against Colombia and was won two games to one. Jayden Ng lost a close game to Juan David Ramirez Jimenez, Scott Cobbold beat Alan Yeray Cortes Sarmiento by resignation and Caleb Monk beat Alen Vasquez Quiroga by 64.5. In the individual junior section, Ryan Zhang did well, narrowly beating Yuki Kouchi of Japan. 26 players are taking part.

London Mind Sports Centre

Members of the Young Chelsea Bridge Club, together with the T Mark Hall Foundation, have been seeking to purchase an ex-Salvation Army citadel in Hammersmith, London, to turn it into a Mind Sports Centre; both the Young Chelsea Bridge Club and the London Go Centre will move to the new building. The T Mark Hall Foundation is putting £400,000 towards the purchase price of £1.76M.

Our offer has been accepted and, subject to a survey not identifying major problems, we hope to complete the purchase in December.

Pair Go Founder Honoured

Taki Hisao, Honorary President and Counselor to the Japan Pair Go Assocaition, was chosen by the Japanese government as a "Person of Cultural Merit". The Award Ceremony was held on 4th November. The award was given in recognition of his contributions to art and culture by promoting Japan’s food culture, propagating and promoting public art, popularizing Pair Go, etc. He is only the second person in the Go world to be so honored, having been preceded by the late Sakata Eio, Hon. Honinbo, in 1992.

ADMIN

BGA Journal

BGJ 193 is being printed and should be with members soon. Work has begun on BGJ 194: please send your contributions to journal@britgo.org. The copy date (latest date for acceptance of contributions) is 31st December.

New On-line group

Cambridge player Gokul Ramanan Subramanian has arranged online play at OGS and has set up a mailing list. You can see details in the BGA Clubs List in the Cambridge City entry.
You can find out more here and subscribe to the mailing list here.

EVENTS COMING SOON

On-Line League

The start of the on-line league has been unavoidably delayed, so there is still time to enter your team, with games to be played between November and June: we currently have 5 teams registered. Please contact Matt Marsh: matt@crazedbytes.net

NOTE: Coronavirus

England is again in lockdown until at least 2nd December and there are differing regulations in force across the UK. With a rapidly changing situation keeping any such advice up-to-date is difficult. Anyone thinking of planning a face-to-face event should think carefully about whether social distancing and related regulations in their part of the UK can be fully met. Government guidelines may be found at:

England

Scotland

Wales

Northern Ireland

There are no plans for face-to-face events during the remains of 2020, and those listed for 2021 are provisional. Tournament organisers will be responsible for safety, and legal compliance.

Various Online events are being planned.

Council have prepared a questionnaire "BGA Survey – Online Go Congress" for the membership. If this has not appeared in your Inbox please check the Spam list, or contact secretary@britgo.org to have it sent again.

Events not cancelled at time of going to press include:
THIS MONTH
BGA Online event
DECEMBER
British Youth Go Championship (online)

LATER
April, British Go Congress
May, Not the London Open
June, Welsh Open
August, Youth Training Residential