Youth Go News 49 - October 2026

Editor, Toby Manning.

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Your Newsletter

This is your Newsletter: We welcome contributions from our readers; if you have any news, an interesting article or suggestions for inclusion in future newsletters please send it to ynews AT britgo.org. If you are a parent or teacher reading this, please pass it on to your children!

NEWS

New Go Clubs

Heckmondwike: Caleb Fai has set up a club at Heckmondwike Grammar School, Yorkshire.

Battersea Go Club is specifically for children and young people aged 8-15. It meets every Saturday from 1pm to 2.30pm at Battersea Library, 265 Lavender Hill, Battersea, London, SW11 1JB.

Cambridge: 5 schools in the Cambridge area have Go Clubs; for more information please email Cambridge Youth Go atgmail dot com.

Can I play Go for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award? From Alison Bexfield

If you are at a secondary school and taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme, the good news is that there are two different ways you can play Go as part of this.
The first is the skills section where you need to show regular participation in playing Go and hopefully improving. You will need to identify some goals – this could be as simple as participating fully in club activities and showing improvement over the time. Or it could be to attend a youth tournament during that time, or read a Go book or some other challenge.
The second way is the service section where you can volunteer at your local junior Go club and help run the club. Older juniors can assist the younger age group as part of their service award. They can help in a variety of ways. One is by individual teaching of total beginners. A second is by being the odd floating player each week so everybody always has a game. The third way is with the admin when members arrive – recording them and pairing them – and perhaps running a whole class teaching session when you are more confident. This would be great for developing presentation skills. If you don't have a club at your school, starting one and running it would be a great idea for the service section, but you would need someone at your school to agree to sign off the section for you.

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

UK Go Challenge Finals Cambridge were a planning an afternoon junior tournament at Milton Community Centre on 26 September and kindly allowed it to be the UK Go Challenge Finals. The event was supported by the Youth Go Trust and St. Faith's School, as well as the BGA. 14 youngsters took part, mostly from the local clubs and from Letchworth. This number included 9 year old Yuanzhen Fan who has recently arrived from China and has a 5d level in China. He is shown here playing a teaching game with Alex Rix. Many of the players had taken part, and some won, local UK Go Challenge heats, but it was not necessary to have done so. The winner was Andrew Volovich (6k), beating Yuanzhen into second, third was Alice Monroig (22k) from Letchworth who won all her games, but had not played in the top group. Section winners were: U18 Boys - Francois Hannequin, U16 Boys - Andrew Volovich, U14 Boys - Ben Burn-Murdoch, U10 Boys - Yuanzhen Fan, U08 Boys - Edward Lin, U14 Girls - Alice Monroig, U12 Girls - Renee Wong, U10 Girls - Brielle Wong, U08 Girls - Emma Wood. Results

FORTHCOMING YOUTH TOURNAMENTS

British Youth Go Championships Saturday 7 November from 10:00–17:00 at Lady Bay Church Hall, Pierrepoint Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 5BP. Titles in six age groups and other prizes. Non-British residents also welcome, but some may not be eligible for titles. Beginners and those new to the game will be made particularly welcome, and can select to play most of their games on 13x13 boards. Event is worth double points in the Youth Grand Prix. More info/entry

London Youth Saturday 30 January 2027. Location: London Go Centre, Dalling Rd, London W6 0JD. 5-round McMahon with Fischer time 20 minutes + 5 seconds. Registration 10:10–10:30, prize-giving by 16:00. Entry fee £5. Contact Toby Manning ynews AT britgo.org

Other Tournaments The above tournaments are only for those under 18; you are, however, welcome to enter any Go tournament listed on the BGA Tournament Calendar.

European Youth Go Championships 18-21 March 2027 in Belgrade, Serbia. The Youth Go Trust will provide a travel grant of £150 to each UK participant: please email trustees at youthgotrust dot org dot uk for more details. Entry restricted to those under 20 with European nationality. The 2028 event is scheduled for Czechia.

TEACHING/TRAINING

The next "Double-digit kyu" teaching will be on Sunday 15 November, at 14:30. If you are 10 kyu or weaker and wish to attend, please email youth-chair@britgo.org before the day.

The EGF Academy (teaching system) is for those of strength 5 kyu or stronger, with a goal to support strong young players in their development, strengthen their passion for the game, and help them build connections with peers across Europe. Some of today’s best European players are former Academy students. If anyone wishes to join the Academy, the BGA will pay 50% of the 35 euro per month fee (please pay the full fee and reclaim the 50% from the BGA).

Occasionally we are asked for players to do one-on-one teaching, normally online. If you feel that you would be interested in acting as a teacher, please let us know. The teaching is often remunerated.

ONLINE MEETINGS

None planned.

USEFUL RESOURCES

Here are some useful resources/links:

BGA Website: Junior Pages
BGA Youth Go X ("Twitter") account @britishyouthgo, kept fairly active (377 followers)
Instagram - account is uk_youth_go, now with regular updates - 584 followers
BGA Youth Go OGS (closed group, 158 members including adult organisers). If you are a new member, please complete this form.
BGA Youth Go Discord Channel

PROBLEMS

Black to play