BGA Newsletter 286 January 2022

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.

European Youth Go Team Championship

In round 2 of the European Youth Go Team Championship the UK team was drawn against Hungary. Our team had three of the five players making their debut appearance: Claire, Spike and Lukasz. The UK team gained a 4-1 victory.

Pandanet Go European Team Championship 2021/2022

The result of the UK match against Switzerland is uncertain as one game was not finished. Bruno played his game early on the Sunday morning and won, but on the Tuesday night both Alex and Jamie lost. Jon's game was, however, abandoned after connection issues meant his opponent dropped out four times. Details here. Next match is against South Africa on 18th January.

London Open

37 players took part in the London Open, held at the end of December at the London Go Centre. Winner was Yaoling Yang (5d Bristol). Also doing well were several of our young players. Details here

Grand Prix

The 2021 Youth Grand Prix ended with Andrew Volovich in first place with 1322 points. Second was Caleb Monk (1111) and third Scott Cobbold (1047). Details here

Andrew also won the Double Digit Kyu Grand Prix with 496 points. The winner 20 kyu and below was also a junior player, Liann Wong. Details here

ADMIN

BGA Congress 2022

Message from BGA Secretary Colin Williams:

I am actively planning for the 2022 Congress. Current plans, which are yet to be finalised, are to hold it on the weekend of 8th to 10th April at Lancaster University. More details will be published as they are firmed up. This venue is being magnificently facilitated by Marco Praderio. Obviously I will be monitoring the latest Covid guidance as it changes and will include that in the planning.

In order to make it the best experience possible I would like to ask for feedback on two items please:
1. If you are prepared to help in absolutely any way, before or during the congress, please let me know. This can be anything from assisting with pre-registration questions, volunteering to be a ghost for one or more rounds, right up to running the draw. Even if you have no specific task in mind but can contribute some time that would help. The more people that are involved the less the workload on each of us.
2. As the AGM will be held online, and not during the Congress, we will have some time available on the Saturday evening. If we assume the Lightning will be on Friday evening, and the main tournament over Saturday and Sunday, what sort of thing would you like to see on the Saturday evening? This can be the usual dinner, through to a lecture from a professional/expert, possibly a simultaneous, or anything else you can think of. Obviously I can’t guarantee anything specific at this stage, but it would be good to know what you would be interested in.

Responses please by e-mail to tournaments-chair@britgo.org. My thanks in advance.

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.

March: Trigantius, Cambridge; Cheshire, Frodsham
April: British Congress Lancaster June: Cheltenham (provisional); Welsh Open
July: European Go Congress Romania
August: Doki Doki Festival, Manchester
September: Confucius Dublin change of date