BGA Newsletter 301 April 2023

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 Congress in Ankara, Turkey

Our two representatives, Ryan Zhang and Lukasz Kudla, both ended up with 5/6; Ryan was 2nd in the Under12 group, while Lukasz was 12th. Congratulations to both of them. The photograph, courtesy of Greg Kudla, shows Ryan (on the right) with his trophy, while Lukasz is holding the trophy for the UK's second place in the European Youth Go Team Championship.

British Go Congress in Belfast

For the first time in 65 years the British Congress was held in Northern Ireland with 47 players in the Open Championship. Tianyi Chen became the Open champion, and Changhao Huang kept his Lightning title. Further details here.

Overall the participants appeared to enjoy the event, relished the opportunity of playing opponents that were new to them and, for many, enjoyed the chance to play in a different city.

Pandanet Go European Team Championship

The UK team was matched against Denmark in round five and won three games to one. Details here. With two rounds to play we lie second in League C, after Ireland.

ADMIN

Additional Board Members

The Board has co-opted Daniel Milne and Sam Bithell onto the Board.

2023 AGM

A reminder that the 2033 AGM will be held online by ZOOM at 20:00 on Thursday 20th April. Details and the agenda can be found here. Annual reports will be added shortly. The meeting link will be added nearer to the meeting.

Toby Manning, Phil Beck and Colin Williams are the only nominations for President, Treasurer and Secretary respectively. With the exception of Mohammed Amin, all the other Directors (including Daniel and Sam, mentioned above) offer themselves for re-election.

Additional Byelaw

The Byelaws are a recent introduction alongside conversion to the Company Limited by Guarantee: they are subservient to the Articles, but more important than "policies".

The Board has recently added a fifth Byelaw to clarify the procedure for electing the "Disputes Panel" (this is a panel that will deal with serious complaints: we hope it will meet rarely, if at all).

Code of Conduct Amendments

When we made the transition to a Company Limited by Guarantee, we introduced a "Code of Conduct".

The Board has now made some minor changes to the Code, as follows:

• Added the words "or referee" to section F, to indicate that complaints etc. may be addressed to a Referee as an alternative to the Tournament Director
• Added words dealing with the use of electronic devices to record games to Section F (essentially stating that these may be used with the agreement of both one's opponent and the Tournament Director/Referee)
• Added a requirement in Section G for Board Members to make it clear when they are speaking in an official capacity, and when in a personal capacity (this was a requirement from the 2022 AGM).

UCL Tournament imposes a capacity limit

Due to the volume of entries and the logistics involved the UCL tournament on the 15th April has imposed a limit of 80 players, and created a wait list for other entrants. If you are affected you should be contacted by the organiser.

If you have entered but now will not be there please inform the organiser as soon as possible, as that will make space for someone who would not otherwise be able to play.

2023 British Championship – Candidates Event.

As advertised on the events calendar this will be held in Milton Keynes between the 29th April and the 1st May. There is a limit of 32 entries this year, on a first-come first-served basis. The qualification and eligibility rules are detailed here in sections A2 and C2. If you have any questions concerning these please contact tournament-chair@britgo.org.

EVENTS COMING SOON

This Month: UCL (London), Rip-Off (Dublin)
May: British Championship - Candidates' Tournament, Sheffield University, Not the London Open
June: Cheltenham (Tentative), British Pair Go Championship (Frodsham), Durham, Welsh Open (Barmouth)
July: Cheshire (Frodsham), European Go Congress (Leipzig, Germany)
August: Youth Go Camp (Lincolnshire), Mind Sports Olympiad (London)

More information here