I've put in a few changes to the online league site to provide for the forthcoming Individual League.

People can update their status under "Update account" to indicate that they want to play in the Individual League. At the moment they'll just get plonked into the one and only division - we'll decide how the league is structured when we see how many people want to be included.

30 players attended this year's MK, held at a new time of year and held in the newly built Hub and adjacent hall at the OU. Winner was Mathieu Delli-Zotti, a French 1 kyu now living in Brighton. Also winning three were Graham Philips (2 kyu) and Steve Bailey (4 kyu). The best team was Cambridge who won 2/3 of their games. Steve Bailey also won 4/5 games on the MK-Goban, but the prize went to Paul Smith for 5/9.

Results

For the second weekend running, Yohei Negi was equal on game points with 2 others at the top of the table, but this time a tie-breaker was in use, and he won ahead of Matthew Scott and Sandy Taylor by one SOS point, retaining the Welsh Open title he won last year. Also finishing with 4 out of 5, below the bar (which was at 2d), were Richard Mullens and Richard Scholefield. It is pleasing to report that 39 players took part, an increase on last year. The weather was glorious, and go players enjoyed paddling in the sea, walking along the beach, promenade and hills at the back of Barmouth, and open-air Go in front of the Min-Y-Mor Hotel. The same venue has been booked for next year's tournament, to take place 25th-26th June 2011.

Results

This weekend has seen the biggest Durham Go Tournament ever, with 54 people gathering at St John's College, Durham for two days and a lot of Go.

Since it was the biggest Durham tournament ever, having a mere one winner seemed paltry, so in the absence of meaningful tie-breaks, the tournament was won jointly by Matt Reid, Yohei Negi and Matt Crosby, all on five wins.

The tournament was enlivened on the first day with regular reports from Andrew Kay, who had been expected to arrive in Durham on Friday evening, but had chosen to hitch-hike, and spent much of Saturday on the road, finally getting to Durham about 9pm, by which time three rounds were over and 35 players had eaten in a Chinese buffet.

British Pair Go Championships

This year the Pair Go Championships, the 20th, were held again at the Foxcombe Lodge Hotel, Boars Hill near Oxford, thanks to new proprietor Gary Adams. Last year's winners Kirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyen lost in round two to Alison and Simon Bexfield, but Alison and Simon lost the final. The winners were Natasha Regan and Matthew Cocke, who took the championship for the first time in five years. In the 10-pair handicap group, the winners for the second year running were young Kelda Smith and her father Paul Smith, from Cambridge. The best dressed pair competition again featured top-hatted winners: Sarah Wright and Alistair Turnbull won with reigning world best dressed champions, Kirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyen, taking second spot. Paul and Kelda Smith also won the RE quiz with 20 points.

42 players took part in the Bracknell Tournament held again at the community centre in Woosehill, Wokingham. Winner was Felix Wang who beat previous winner Jon Diamond in the last round. Felix became the first holder of the new trophy given in memory of former organiser Clive Hendrie Also winning three were Helen Harvey (3 kyu Manchester), Elinor Brooks (8 kyu Swindon) and Malcolm Law (10 kyu Brighton). Neil Cleverly won the caption contest and Jim Clare won the Go Puzzle competition again. Michael Harrington (17 kyu Bracknell) won the 13x13 and the team prize was won by Swindon. Gerry Mills got a special prize for supporting the event with the bookshop over many years.

Results

A very successful weekend for some 18 of the strongest British Go players was held at the Village Hall and Kirsty and Matthew Macfadyen's house in Barford.

The Icelandic Volcanic plume that on the Thursday disrupted our travel plans for Guo Juan, who lives in Amsterdam, and created some panic for the organisers.

However, a PC, projector, camera, microphone and other stuff were sorted out, and she did the whole weekend remotely using the Internet with Skype for the voice channel. It actually worked very well and the technology was in some ways better than using a demonstration board face-to-face.

Several lecture sessions were held, many games reviewed and a 9 a side rengo game took place after dinner, with Guo knocking out players who played moves below their playing level.

Carol Goodheir reports that BBC Alba did a news report on the Isle of Skye Tournament, in Scottish Gaelic, lasting just over two minutes.

It is available on YouTube. Any Manx or Irish Gaelic speakers might be able to follow it too, to some extent for sure.

Congratulations to Matthew Macfadyen for scoring the most Stacey Points in the year up to the Congress. He scored 38 points for top-group tournament wins. This was four more than last year's winner, Yohei Negi, who came second.

Full details

The BGA AGM was held on the evening of Saturday 10th April 2010 at Teviot Row House in Edinburgh.

The newly elected officers and Council members are:

President: Jon Diamond, Treasurer: Simon Mader, Secretary: Jonathan Chin, Auditor: Alison Bexfield.

Council Members: Edwin Brady, Brian Brunswick, John Collins, Geoff Kaniuk, Toby Manning.

Congratulations to all those elected.

Additionally, the three proposals on membership rates, student membership and the levy policy were approved. More details on these will follow soon.

Edwin Brady (Ex-Secretary)