BGA Newsletter 322 January 2025

FROM THE EDITOR

This issue, and previous newsletters, are available in the Newsletter Archive in the Members' Area. This is the most reliable way to view the Newsletters, as some email clients can corrupt the formatting of the pictures.

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

Pandanet Go European Team Championship

The UK team played and lost to Croatia on 10th December. Report
They then drew with Italy on 7th January. Report

BGA Tournament Winners

Full results here
T Mark Hall Rapid - Yifan Bao
London Open - Tingxu Zhao and Yuhang Xing, tied

50th London Open

The London Open at the end of the year was the 50th edition. It was held at the London Go Centre, with an entry of 73. The strong Chinese players dominated with Tingxu Zhao and Yuhang Xing ending tied on six wins. Chenhe Yuan was third with five wins. Peikai Xue & Yuhang Xing won the Pair Go (Doubles) and Damen Woo won the Lightning. Michael Cheung 5d was again the recipient of the David Ward Trophy.

Ohashi Hirofumi 7p was the professional-in-residence and he was very popular.
The photo shows Ohashi and prize winners; click to enlarge.

European Grand Prix 2024 Finale

Ai Guan writes: We were pleased to have two British players – Ho-Yeung Damen Woo 6d and Michael Cheung 5d – qualifying for the European Grand Prix Finale 2024, the culmination of all EGF Bonus Point Tournaments that took place over the year. The prestigious tournament took place this year in Karlsruhe in January 2025.

Damen (pictured) performed outstandingly in the initial group stage, winning all three games to secure his place in the quarter-finals. His streak was finally ended by Valerii Krushelnytskyi 7d, the eventual Grand Prix champion, with Damen finishing in 8th place. Michael also put up a strong fight in the most competitive group, the only one to produce two semi-finalists (including Valerii). A fantastic effort from both players and congratulations to Damen on his remarkable achievement.

Full details, including game records, can be found on the dedicated EGF webpage.

Adam Atkinson

Cesco Reale writing on Facebook: "Farewell, little man of games. Adam Atkinson, popularizer of puzzles, strategy games and mathematical games passed away tonight. I owe the passage from chess-go to the world of abstracts to him. ... Adam had a typical English sense of humor, and with a detached and innocent air he managed to hold court with his games and drive dozens of people in attendance crazy."

Alex Rix writing on Gotalk: "... I also remember Adam as a gregarious and friendly person who frequently manned stalls to teach people to play go (and other games). He seemed to enjoy that very much as well as being very engaging - Cesco sums him up very well."

If anyone would like to share any memories then please contact Colin Williams, President@britgo.org

ADMIN

1st International ParaGo Championship

The International Society of Go Studies is co-hosting the 1st International ParaGo Championship to be held in Korea in February 2025. The organisers will cover accommodation and meals for 3 nights and 4 days (22-25 February), and flight cost will have to be paid by participants.

If anyone is interested in attending please contact President@britgo.org in the first instance and we can jointly make representation about an entry.

British Championship: Candidates and Aspirants

Entries have opened for the Candidates' Tournament, the first stage of the 2025 British Championship, and we invite all eligible qualifying players to join. This year, a new Aspirants' Tournament will run alongside for players rated under 1900 (at time of entry without further eligibility requirements). See BGA Events Calendar for details.

BGA Online Club

The online BGA club will resume on Saturdays 7pm (UK time), beginning 11th January, on the recently revived BGA Discord and on Playstrategy. We welcome all players to join (not restricted to BGA members).

Youth Grand Prix

Each Year we run the "Youth Grand Prix". Every Youth player who enters a Tournament gets between 40 points (if they lose all their games) and 100 points (winning all their games); at the end of the year the person with the most points is the winner.

In 2024 we had over 100 entrants, i.e. youth players who played in at least one tournament. The winner was Clinton Yu (16k, Manchester), with 1153 points; second was Ryan Zhang (4d, London) with 1059 and third was Olivia Jennison (22k, Cheadle Hulme) with 620. They share a prize fund of £100, kindly donated by Jeremy Rickard in memory of his brother John (4d) who died of liver disease in 2004.

6th Not The London Open, 24th – 26th May 2025

The professional-in-residence will be Minjin Lee 8p. She will be available for reviews, advice, etc. She will also give two lectures and finish the event by reviewing one game.

Her professional career began in 1999 and since then she has developed an impressive record beginning in 2007 as winner of the Jeongkwanjang World Women’s Baduk Championship, several other titles over the years concluding in 2022 as Winner, Women’s Baduk League.

EVENTS COMING SOON

This Month: Coventry
February London Youth, Lancaster, MSO Grand Prix (Online),
March Cheshire (Frodsham), Cambridge Trigantius
April British Go Congress (Edinburgh, provisional)
May Candidates (British Championship) and Aspirants (Leicester), Skye, Not the London Open
June Durham, Pair Go (provisional), Tonbridge, UK Go Challenge Finals, Welsh Open (Barmouth)
July European Go Congress (Warsaw, Poland)
August Youth Go Camp (Caythorpe, Lincolnshire), Mind Sports Olympiad (London), Newcastle