BGA Newsletter 317 August 2024

FROM THE EDITOR

This issue, and previous newsletters, are available in the Newsletter Archive in the Members' Area. This is the most reliable way to view the Newsletters, as some email clients can corrupt the formatting of the pictures.

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.

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.

30th Welsh Open has Youngest-ever Winner!

On 29th and 30th June, Barmouth's Dragon Theatre was again the venue for Welsh Open. The weather was mixed, but there were chances to climb the cliffs for views of the town, its wide bay and the start of Snowdonia national park's scenic mountainous region.

Ryan Zhang (3d London City), the top player in the 'U12' bracket in the UK youth squad, became the youngest ever Welsh Open champion, beating all six opponents, an age record that will prove very hard to beat. Organiser Martin Harvey presented his prize and the Brian Timmins Plaque. The runner-up prize was won by Richard Hunter (1d Bristol) on SOS, winning four out of six. A prize for five wins out of five went to David Baldwin (8k Aberystwyth University). Full results here.

Pavement Go in Skye

To bring Go to a wider audience, the Skye Go Club has installed a go board in the pavement, in the main square of Portree. Pictured here is organiser Carel Goodheir playing the first game ever against club member Jurriaan Dijkman, and some of the people who stopped to talk. Video

The club wishes to thank the Portree & Braes Community Trust for its support, and contractor Adam Fowler for creating the board and the Go stones.

There has not been a Go tournament on Skye since the first COVID lockdown. However, the installation of this Go board keeps the story going and, who knows, maybe next year shall see another tournament on Skye?

A New Go Tournament

John Shafer, teacher at Tonbridge School in Kent, ran the first Tonbridge Tournament with the support of Colin Williams, president of the BGA. There were 22 players on the day ranging from 4 dan down to 23 kyu, including several from the Tonbridge School Club.

Artur Gascon (1k) from Spain was the overall winner, and he and local pupil James Dodson (23k) both won all four of their games. Prizes also went to those who won 3/4 games, and to the 13x13 winner Nathaniel Chan.

The venue was excellent, with coffee and biscuits laid on, and the town centre some five minutes walk away. It is hoped to make this tournament a regular feature.

European Go Congress, Toulouse

The 2024 EGC is now ended, on Saturday 10th August. Details are on the congress website. Ai Guan presents a spreadsheet with information on just the GB participants (red circle for win, black X for lose). Photos of the event, as well as many of the players, can be found on this Flickr page.

British Championship 2024

From Ai Guan: This year's British Championship title match will provisionally be held as a best-of-3 on the weekend of 14–16 September in Nottingham. The contenders are Ho Yeung (Damen) Woo, defending champion, and Yaoling Yang, playing in the championship for the first time. As usual, the game will be broadcast online with commentary. Further updates will be provided in the next newsletter and on the BGA website, so stay tuned.

ADMIN

New BGA Secretary

From President Colin Williams:
I am pleased to announce that Sebastian Pountney from Chelmsford has been appointed as the new BGA Secretary, filling the gap left after the AGM. As such he will become a Director of BGA CLG.

Sebastian has been working hard to try and improve the visibility of Go in the East of England, including negotiating with his local library to get a Go display installed, though sadly that fell through at the final stage.

BGJ 208

The Summer 2024 issue of the British Go Journal has been printed and is being sent out. It is also available as a pdf in the Members' Area on the BGA website. You will need to log-in as a Member here. Then go to the Members' Area and click on the link below the cover picture. The link for sgf files, including the problems, for this edition is here.

CONTENTS EDITORIAL
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Colin Williams
YOUTH NEWS Tony Atkins
DEREK HUNTER 1947-2024 Richard Hunter
TONY COLLMAN 1953-2024 Horace Stoica
UPDATE ON THE YOUTH GO TRUST Sue Paterson
TROUBLE MASTER: PROBLEM 1 In-Seong Hwang
INTERNATIONAL ISSYK-KUL GO CUP Quintin Connell
UK NEWS Tony Atkins
CLARIFICATION OF CONFUSING KO TERMINOLOGY Richard Hunter
BGA LOGO COMPETITION Sam Bithell
THE MARKETPLACE OF ONLINE GO LESSONS Mateusz Surma
TOURNAMENT HISTORIES XXI: NOT THE ... Tony Atkins
44th WORLD AMATEUR GO CHAMPIONSHIP Alex Rix
WORLD NEWS Tony Atkins
SOLUTIONS TO THE JOURNAL PROBLEMS
ASSOCIATION CONTACT INFORMATION

The copydate for BGJ 209 is 1st October.

EVENTS COMING SOON

This Month: Mind Sports Olympiad (London), Newcastle (NEW EVENT)
September Nottingham (NEW EVENT), Edinburgh, Confucius Cup (Dublin), Swindon
October Sheffield, British Small Board / UK Go Challenge Finals (Cambridge), Wessex
November Bar Low, Three Peaks (Yorkshire), British Youth (Leicester), Northern (Cheadle Hulme)
December London Open