The British Go Congress returned to Cambridge this year, hosted in the spacious School Hall of the Stephen Perse Foundation Senior School. 66 players competed in the British Open, with a further 7 joining for the Lightning only, making this one of the largest Congresses in recent years.

The eighth match of the B-League season, on 14th April, was against our old friends and league rivals Ireland. Gavin Rooney was expected to play board three for Ireland, but in the end James Hutchinson had to move up a board with John Courtney playing board 4, Karl Irwin and Philippe Renaut on boards 1 and 2. The UK team fielded its strongest team to try and cement our second place; this tactic worked as Damon Woo, Michael Cheung, Bruno Poltronieri and Jake Game all won by resignation.

The Winter 2025-2026 edition of the BGJ is now available for members to read in the Members' Area, with printed copies being sent out to those that receive them.

The top seven places at the Trigantius all went to Chinese players, five of them starting above the 5-dan bar. With none of these on three wins, Yuanzhen Li, an MSc student at University College London, won with two wins and best SoS tiebreak. He is pictured below with the trophy.

In the sixth match of the 2025–2026 B-League season the UK team played Switzerland winning 4-0. Congratulations to Michael Cheung, Bruno Poltronieri, Jake Game and Ryan Zhang. This made the team third after leaders Croatia had their first five match wins voided after a player used AI. Netherlands now lead the table, ahead of Sweden, with what is probably an unassailable lead. Next match is 14th April against fourth-placed Ireland.

League Page with game records

Although held at its usual venue of Frodsham Community Centre, this year's Cheshire had new organisers and a new feature. Ai Guan and Florian Pein introduced the new Cheshire Chase, a self-paired three-round tournament played between rounds of the Open. 13 of the 32 players played at least one Chase game and the Chase winner was Caleb Fai (8k), the only player to play and win all three. His brother Joshua (6k) and Leo Zhang (15k) from Cheadle Hulme School won both the games they played. Adding both events together gave an Endurance ranking, again won by Caleb.

In the sixth game of the 2025-2026 B-League season the team played top team Croatia. All games ended in resignations. Two games were played early, with the UK equal going into the Tuesday night after Jun Sun won on board one. Unfortunately he was the only winner meaning the match was lost 1-3. The Netherlands defeated Austria to stay second, one point behind Croatia. The UK slipped to fourth on tie-break behind Sweden who tied with Switzerland. The next match is on 17th March with UK against Switzerland.

League Page with game records

In the fifth game of the 2025-2026 B-League season the team played Belgium. Three games were played at the weekend, with the UK ahead going into the Tuesday night. Bruno managed to win on time to take the match. Croatia won again, beating Sweden, to remain top. The Netherlands defeated Ireland, four games to nil, moving to second place, with the UK in a creditable third place. The next match is on 24th February with UK against Croatia.

League Page with game records

In the fourth game of the 2025-2026 B-League season the team played Austria. One game was played at the weekend and Michael's great win meant the team only had to win two games on the night. The team did not drop a single game to win the match four games to nil. This win moved the team up to fourth place on five points. Croatia became remained top on seven points, ahead of Sweden and Netherlands on six. Ireland lost to Switzerland (with just a win for Gavin Rooney) to move down to fifth. The next match is on 3rd February with UK against Belgium.

One of the premier North-West annual Go tournaments was kindly hosted again by the prestigious Cheadle Hulme School (CHS). Welcoming the competitors was CHS teacher Dave Barnett (whose Go-playing son is now at Cambridge), Helen Harvey (main tournament) and Martin Harvey (13x13).