BGA Newsletter 281 August 2021

FROM THE EDITOR

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.

Re-Opening Congress

To mark the end of lock-down we will be running a delayed 2021 British Go Congress in Leicester over the weekend of October 2/3 (subject to confirmation). The major event will be the British Open (6 rounds played over 2 days). This Tournament will also act as the Candidates' Tournament: for this year only the two best-placed British* players will be invited to play a single-game match for the 2021 British Championship. Further details are on the BGA website.
*Holders of a UK Passport, or who have been resident for 5 years with no absence exceeding 6 months

European Women's Go Championship

Originally planned for London, uncertainty of travel restrictions has forced this event online on OGS. It still runs from 4th to 6th September and details are on the London Go Centre website. Note the necessity to video your play and the requirement to hold nationality of a European country.

Mind Sports Olympiad

As in 2020, all events are being held online, the Go events on OGS. There are three Go events: 19x19 on Sunday 22nd August (afternoon and evening), 9x9 on Wednesday 25th (evening) and 13x13 on Friday 27th August (evening). Entry/details

ADMIN.

BGJ 196 is now available

The summer 2021 edition of the BGJ is now available for members to read in the Members' Area, with printed copies being sent out later in the month. These are coming from a different printing company than before and will be in full colour like the online version. Contributions for the next edition should be with the editor by 1st October.

Report on the AGM of the European Go Federation

BGA President Toby Manning writes:
“Colin Williams and I attended the (online) AGM of the European Go Federation at the end of July. It was a 9-hour marathon finishing at 02:00 in the morning (and even later for those in European time zones).
The EGF Finances are still in a poor state: The current sponsorship contract from China is coming to an end, and its terms involve a degree of repayment from the EGF in the latter years. Expenditure has not been reduced to match this, and so the EGF is running a sizeable, and unsustainable, budget deficit. Most of this money is spent on tournament prizes, usually going to the top players. The auditors continue to comment on somewhat lenient financial controls which allow events to go over budget.
The Executive’s response was a proposal to dramatically increase their overall membership fee income. These currently amount to 1 euro/head with a minimum of 200 euro, their proposal would have doubled their total income and quadrupled the amount the BGA pays. However, at the same time there is opposition, especially among the smaller countries, to the present subscription level (let alone any increase). After a debate this proposal was massively rejected in a vote (34 to 4).
I had meanwhile, on behalf of the BGA, put forward a simple alternative of 3 euro/active player (defined as players 10 kyu and over with a recorded tournament on the EGD in the last three years) with a minimum of 50 Euro. This will provide approximately 50% more subscription income for the EGF, although the increase in our contribution will be nearer 150% (it was always going to happen that our share of the total income was going to increase), and this was accepted (31 to 9). The Executive has promised to work towards a balanced budget in 2023, though have already stated their intent to bring a motion to the next AGM increasing the membership cost to 4 and then 5 euro per active player.
There was a debate about the direction of Youth Go, with two members of the Executive (Catalin Tanaru and Jana Hrcova) at loggerheads over its future direction. In a vote on which vision to follow, that of Catalin was agreed and Jana decided not to offer herself for re-election to the Executive.
At the very end of the session a question was asked about what the EGF could do for member countries. One key input was that Martin Stiassny, EGF President, stated that the EGF could not be responsible for driving the growth in numbers of Go players, that has to be the job of each individual country.
I volunteered to act as one of the EGF's auditors (the other being Nicole de Beer from the Netherlands), and this offer was accepted.
The outputs from this AGM will be one of the items considered by Council at a forthcoming strategy day, as part of the process of setting our priorities over the medium term.”

EGF Journal

Members may be interested in European Go Journal. Details are on the EGF website or in this presentation.

Iwamoto European Foundation

Gerry Gavigan, BGA Council member, was elected as one of European members of the Iwamoto European Foundation (IEF) board at the last meeting of the European Go Federation. An article about the IEF will appear in a future issue of the BGJ.

Seaford Go Club

Seaford Go Club is planning to start playing again, with new meeting arrangements. Seaford is on the South coast, between Brighton and Eastbourne. If you live in the area and would be interested in attending the club, or being involved with plans for getting it restarted, please get in touch with Keith Osborne. Club information, and contact details for Keith, are here .

EVENTS COMING SOON

Guidance due to the risk of infection with Covid-19 continues. Anyone thinking of planning a face-to-face event should think carefully about whether social distancing and related guidance in their part of the UK can be fully met. Tournament organisers will be responsible for safety and legal compliance with such guidance. For further details of events see https://britgo.org/tournaments.

August, Mind Sports Olympiad (Online)
September, European Women's Go Championship (Online), Youth Squad on OGS
October, British Congress (subject to confirmation), Youth Monthly on OGS, Wessex
November, British Youth (Leicester)
December, London Open