BGA Newsletter 339 June 2026

FROM THE EDITOR

This issue, and previous newsletters, will be found in the Newsletter Archive in the Members' Area. In Newsletters after August 2025 the images have clickable links for viewing them full size. Full-size images from earlier Newsletters may be found via the BGA All News pages.

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 the URL, otherwise attach the picture files to your email.

NEWS

Jil Segerman

We are sad to announce that Jil Segerman, our Newsletter Editor, has died. Her death was sudden and unexpected. She was our Newsletter editor for an astonishing 25 years. During that time she retired from her job in nuclear medicine and moved from Manchester to Sussex, while increasing the newsletter frequency from bi-monthly to monthly and attending over 100 tournaments. Her perpetually sunny disposition will be sorely missed.

Sam Bithell has taken over the editorship on a temporary basis, but is unable to do this permanently. We therefore need a replacement: if you are interested please contact president@britgo.org

Global News

UK players continue to achieve top results across Europe, with Yifan Bao (7d) placing 1st in the 2026 Großer Affensprung (Great Monkey Jump) in Hamburg and 4th in the Dutch Open. Yuanzhen Li (7d) and Jason Qian (4d) placed 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the 27th Madrid Open. Yuanzhen Li also won the Not the London Open (see below).

Bruno Poltronieri (4d) will be our representative in the World Amateur (6-13 September, in Korea), and Michael Cheung (5d) will be our representative at the Korean Prime Minister's Cup (6 -13 November, Incheon, Korea).

BGA Tournament Winners

Full results here.
Sheffield Uni - Zhan Shi
Not the London Open - Yuanzhen Li
Welsh Open - Jake Game
Ulster - George Cristian Chirila

ADMIN

AGM

The 2026 BGA AGM took place on 28 May, with nearly 50 members attending or by proxy. The accounts - which showed a surplus for the year of £24 - were approved and Richard Wheeldon was re-elected as Examiner. Toby Manning and Phil Beck were re-elected as President and Treasurer respectively, although Toby's position will be subject to confirmation at an EGM (see below). Seb Pountney stood down as Secretary and was replaced by James Pickering. Andrew Ambrose-Thurman, Ai Guan and Damen Woo were re-elected to the Board, where they were joined by Bob Scantlebury: Sam Bithell stood down from the Board. There was a lively debate on the motion to ask the EGF to suspend Israel from membership, which was lost by 27:14 (with 7 abstentions). The motion on subsidising the 2028 European Go Congress, putatively to be held in Stirling, was withdrawn as it was clear that the membership felt that the motion was poorly drafted and there was insufficient information to make a decision.

BGA President and upcoming EGM

An Extraordinary General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 17 June at 19:00 by Zoom for members to determine who should be President going forward. The Agenda for the EGM has been published and can be found here in the members' area. Proxies should be appointed, in the same way as for an AGM, by contacting the Secretary (secretary@britgo.org) not less than 24 hours prior to the EGM in accordance with Article 42.

Gerry Gavigan and Toby Manning are both standing as candidates and the candidates have been invited to produce statements: Gavigan Manning

EVENTS COMING SOON

This Month: BGA EGM (online), Durham, Cambridge Youth, Online Lesson 6
July European Go Congress (Turkey)
August Mind Sports Olympiad (London), Newcastle*
September European Women (London), Cambridge Youth, Nottingham, Swindon*, Confucius Cup (Dublin)*
October European Women's Championship (London), Sheffield, Wessex*, Three Peaks
November British Youth (Nottingham), Bar Low*, Northern Go Tournament (Cheadle Hulme School)

• *To be confirmed