A few simple rules ... limitless possibilities

After last year's wobble, the Edinburgh Christmas Open has made a full recovery. The 2012 event was attended by a healthy 32 players at an excellent venue, only a stone's throw from the station and with home baking laid on by local organisers Martha and Matt. William Grayson (9k Durham) was the only player with 4 wins.

Please can I remind people that we will be closing off the current online league season on

Monday 31st December 2012 at 12 noon

Please try to get your outstanding games in wherever possible before then.

If you want to play the previous week, go right ahead, you will find it far more stimulating than the endless TV repeats and far less fattening than a further helping of plum pudding.

Our disappointing start this season continues... so badly that we are now bottom of the League with only one draw from four matches!

We are still seeking our first win of the season after a disappointing 1-3 loss to Norway.

Congratulations to Martha McGill on becoming the 200th player to be awarded a dan certificate by the BGA!

Congratulations also to Dylan Carter for becoming the 201st.

See our Dans list for a full list of all dan players with certificates awarded by us.

Here are the latest scores in the 2012 Double-Digit-Kyu Grand Prix, following the Coventry tournament.

A consultation on changes to this is being initiated this afternoon on the bga-policy mailing list. All BGA members are welcome to comment.

The Nihon Ki-in are sending two professionals to visit the UK in March 2013.

Previously such visits tend to have been planned at short notice, giving insufficient time for good planning: this one has plenty of notice.

David Lee has become Scottish Champion for the third year running, beating Matt Crosby in the final. The games were played on KGS on the 7th and 21st November.

In the semi-finals, David defeated Boris Mitrovic while Matt defeated Martha McGill.

43 players took part in the Coventry Tournament at Warwick University. Winner was Andrew Simons (3d) who beat Siu Fung Cheung (4d) from Bournemouth in the final. In third was Francis Roads (1d Wanstead) on 3/3.

From the 16th-18th November, fourteen of the UK's strongest players gathered together for a training event at Kirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyen's house in Barford, Warwickshire. The format was similar to previous years, with the participants being split into two groups according to rating. One group played games while the other had their games reviewed.