BGA Newsletter 297 December 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 Go Congress 2023

The 2023 EGC was originally scheduled for Ukraine, but for obvious reasons that is not possible. For a long time it was thought that there would be no Congress in 2023, but the Germans have stepped into the breach and the 2023 Congress will be in Leipzig from 22 July - 5 August. This was agreed by the EGF Executive on 6 December.

European Youth Go Team Championship

The ninth EYGTC is taking place online on OGS from November 2022 to February 2023. In the first match, against Germany, all five UK team members lost their games. This confirmed Germany, without any Russian teams playing, as the number one seeds for this year. Details here. In the second match in December the UK beat Hungary 4-1. Details here.

UK Online Youth Events

The first online youth event of the autumn was the UK Squad Selection Tournament on 18 September. Twenty players took part. The event winner was Scott Cobbold with three wins, with Gene Wong as the runner up. The only player below the bar winning three was Yiliang Liu. The second was the delayed 2022 UK GO Challenge Finals on 16 October. 40 players took part. Cyrus Shek (3k Ayrshire) won all six games, with Claire Chen (2d), Lea Wong (1k) and Isabella Qiu (2k) winning five each.

Pandanet Go European Team Championship

In the second match of the season in the C League, the UK team played Spain and won the match four games to nil. This was partly helped by Spain's top player being ill and unable to play, but well done to Daniel, Bruno, Alex and Scott. This left the team in 2nd position, behind Ireland who beat Slovenia. Our next match is against Norway on 24 January.

Our league page includes the game records and details of this years team.

Go in the Economist

From Toby Manning, via Gotalk:
The 12 November issue of the Economist has a short article on Go in its "China" section (Page 61). It notes that "in the second half of the 20th century an economically vibrant Japan dominated international competitions" but that "over the past two decades [Chinese] Go players took home many of the most important trophies". However, it then goes on to point out that for the first time since 2000 no Chinese player reached the semi-finals of the prestigious Samsung Fire Cup, and suggests that Korea is now top Go-playing nation. It is also suggested that Chinese players have not embraced AI as much as the Koreans (is this a "not invented here syndrome?") and the Chinese also claim that the Covid lockdown has badly affected team training.

ADMIN

British Go Journal 201, Autumn 2022

For members who do not wish to receive the printed version; this is to let you know that the latest edition is now available as a pdf in the Members' Area on the BGA website. You will need login here for access to the Members' Area, and to the 201 Journal pdf and sgf files, including the problems. The three previous Journals are also available in the Members' Area.

EVENTS COMING SOON

This Month: London Open
January 2023: British Youth Go Championships (Leicester)
February: Lancaster March: Trigantius (Cambridge), Cheshire (Frodsham), Joint British/Irish Go Congress (Belfast)
April: Rip-Off (Dublin)
May: British Championship - Candidates Tournament, Sheffield
June: Cheltenham (Tentative), British Pair Go Championship (Frodsham), Durham, Welsh Open (Barmouth)
July: European Go Congress (Leipzig, Germany)
August: Youth Go Camp (Lincolnshire), Mind Sports Olympiad (London)

More information here