British Go Congress Held in Belfast

For the first time in 65 years the British Congress was held in Northern Ireland, in the Maldron City Hotel in Belfast. 47 players made the journey, including nine from south of the border due to the efforts of the Irish Go Association. Thanks must go to the IGA, who provided the kit for the event, to Tiberiu Gociu, who did much of the local legwork before and during the event, and to Toby Manning and Colin Williams for running the two tournaments.

In the Lightning on the Friday evening there was a good turn-out, with six groups of four in the round robin stage. After a fierce knock-out, the final was won by last year's winner Changhao Huang (5d UCL) who narrowly beat Theodor Calota (12k St Albans).

The Open seemed very much to be going the way of Tianyi Chen (5d Liverpool) until Changhao Huang beat him in the last round. Eventually Tianyi won it on a tie-break from Mingxuan Chang (4d No Club), who had only lost to Tianyi, using sum of opponents' scores.

Two players achieved five wins out of five, Theodor Calota (12k St Albans) and Dewei Liu (7k Belfast). This was especially impressive by Dewei as he entered two grades higher than his 2022 EGD ranking. Results

In addition Peikai Xue was awarded the Terry Stacey Trophy for the most above-bar wins in the previous year.

Overall the participants appeared to enjoy the event, relished the opportunity of playing opponents that were new to them and, for many, enjoyed the chance to play in a different city.