Scott Cobbold retained the British Youth Go Champion title by winning all his games at the championships held on Saturday 21st January. The event, covering the school year 2022 to 2023, was held, as was the 2021 British Youth Go Championships, at the Leicester County Bridge Club. 48 youngsters from 5 to 18 years old battled for the age group titles and awards were also given for best player below the 5k bar and for the best Novice.

The UK team beat Norway 3-1 in the third match of the Pandanet Go European Team Championship C League season. Unfortunately for Ireland their top board didn’t show up and, despite wins for Gavin Rooney and Philippe Renaut, they could only draw, with penalty points for the missing game. However this meant that the UK team moved up from second to top place. [See here for League Page with game records.]

Full details of the 2023 Congress, to be held in Belfast in conjunction with the Irish Go Association, have just been announced. The information page, containing a link to the entry form, is at www.britgo.org/bgc2023info

Early entries would be of great assistance to the organisers.

We have been warned that accommodation in Belfast will be busy that weekend (due to an Elton John concert) so early booking of rooms is recommended.

The UK youth go team played Turkey in round 3 of the 4 round European Youth Go Team Championship.

The 48th London Open ended in a tie. So many of the 70 players were strong that the bar was at 5 dan and the three best players ran out of sensible opponents for the last round. As a consequence the players and organisers agreed that no arbitary tie-break would be applied in the case of a draw. In the end one of the three lost and it was two players, Minseong Kim (7d Korea) and Yaoling Yang (6d Bristol), that were declared joint winners, both on 6/7. Chun Fang (5d Edinburgh) had to be content with third place on 5/7.

In the second match in the European Youth Go Team Championship, the UK youth team played Hungary. Another five youngsters from our EYGTC team took part, with games spread over the two days of the weekend.

Those not reported here already:

Confucius Cup (Irish Open), Dublin - 24th-25th September - 39 players
Winner Stanislaw Frejlak (1p Poland).
Second Dohyup Kim (7d Korea).
Results

Sheffield - 9th October - 20 players
Winner Alvina Kwok (1d London).
Second Richard Wheeldon (1d London).
3/3 Bjorn Eurenius (7k Lancaster),
Steve Andrews (13k, Lincoln).
Results

The first online youth event of the autumn was the UK Squad Selection Tournament on Sunday 18th September. Twenty players took part, hoping to attract the attention of the squad manager, most being from Cambridge, London and Edinburgh. 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 (16k Cambridge).

The UK youth team is again playing in the European Youth Go Team Championship. This time each match is five games played on OGS (not KGS) with one player U20, two U16 and two U12. Team manager Alison Bexfield made up the team as listed on our EYGTC page. Alison aims to rotate the players on the team, to give all a chance to play, whilst trying to match strengths of opponents and yet giving the team a chance of winning.

In the second match of the season in the C League, the UK team played Spain. Unfortunately for them their number one player, Óscar Anguila, was ill and so the team order was shuffled up with a reserve on board three. In the match the UK players outplayed their opponents to win all four games which moved the team up to second place.

Leading the C League with two wins is Ireland who beat Slovenia three games to one, with wins for Karl Irwin, Philippe Renaut and John Courtney, but a loss for Gavin Rooney.

League Page with game records