Go in Britain: 1976

At the new London Go Centre venue, the London Open was won by K. Hirama from Japan ahead of M. Nashiwa and Robert Rehm. The first British Lightning was held in Reading and was won by T. Mark Hall. The first Leicester was won by the Birmingham shodan Mark Hollings. The British Go Congress was held at Imperial College and was attended by 108 players; winner was M. Nashiwa.

Fourteen players attended the first Candidates' Tournament at the London Go Centre. Ron Moss (2 dan), Brian Castledine (2 dan), Jim Bates (3 dan) and David Mitchell (2 dan) were the four to survive. They joined Paul Prescott (4 dan), Tony Goddard (4 dan), Stuart Dowsey (3 dan) and Matthew Macfadyen (3 dan) in the Challenger's League. Prescott won the League with 5 out of seven, but lost 3-0 to Jon Diamond in the Title Match.

At Amsterdam a 5 dan student from London called Nishiwa was the winner and in Ljubljana the London 1 team of Bates, Prescott and Gray won on tie-break. London also won the Southern League, whilst Huddersfield won the Northern League. The Northern Tournament was won by Prescott on tie-break from Macfadyen.

The 20th European was held at St. Catherine's College Cambridge. In a very close Championship group, Tony Goddard and Patrick Merissert had to play off for the Title, which the Frenchman won. John Diamond was third. The open group was won by Matthew Macfadyen. Ronald Schlemper won the Weekend Tournament ahead of Britain's Brian Chandler. Robert Rehm was Lightning Champion and Rengo champion was the Reading Weak Group.

107 players attended the London Open at the London Go Centre, which spanned the new year. Favorite to win was Nishiwa Michio on a stay from Japan. However he lost to Jon Diamond who went on to win with 6.5 out of 8. Second were Goddard, Macfadyen and Nishiwa. At the prize giving Ron Moss (3 dan) was named as the 1976 BGA Knockout Champion; Ron was also second in the Reading Honinbo, losing that to Matthew Macfadyen.

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