48 players sat down in eight groups to play the British Lightning. This was the first event at the combined BGC and EYGC weekend at Bognor Regis.

The winners of the groups went on to the knock-out stage: Paul Barnard, Cornel Burzo, Francisco Divers, Anton Kriese, Andrei Mramorov, Des Cann, Jonas Welticke and Richard Hunter. Cornel then went on to beat Francisco to reach the final against Jonas, who had beaten Andrei. The final was decided on the clock (and on the board) in favour of Cornel, the Romanian 6d.

Results Photos

Two Professionals, MINEMATSU Masaki (6p), Kansai branch of NHK and KOBAYASHI Chizu (5p), NHK, visited Oxford on Thursday 27th February.

We started the evening with a suggestion of Kobayashi Chizu. There were 13 players from 20 kyu to 5 dan, with a few more dan players than kyu players. We split into 2 (almost) equal size groups -- a Black group, and a White group. The first Black and White players each played 2 moves, followed by the second players, who did the same. Sometimes, the players were asked by Kobayashi why they made their choice, and alternative moves were often discussed.

At the suggestion of one of our members we are pleased to announce that the reports submitted for the AGM are now available in the Members Area of our website.

This includes the unaudited accounts for 2013.

Apologies for the delay in issuing the following - it was intended for the Newsletter but not included by mistake (not the Editor’s).

The agenda for our AGM next Saturday to be held at Butlins, Bognor Regis 7:30pm is:

• Election of Tellers
• Minutes of the 2013 AGM
• Matters Arising
• Officers, Membership Secretary and Auditors reports
• 2013 Accounts
• Election of Officers and Auditor
• Election of Ordinary Council Members
• Consideration of Proposals Received
• Any Other Business

Please note that no proposals for item 8 from members were received by the Constitutional deadline.

You are reminded that the BGA's AGM is on Saturday evening (1st March), at the British Go Congress in Bognor Regis, starting at 19:30.

If you have not registered for the British Go Congress or EYGC and wish to attend please email eygc @ britgo.org, otherwise you will have to pay Butlin's day fee to enter the site.

The European Go Federation, the French Go Federation and the Go Seigen Club of Toulouse are happy to announce the 2014 European Student Go Championship that will be held at Balma near Toulouse, South West of France on September 27th & 28th 2014.

Our city has one of the largest number of students in France: around 100,000. It is as well a major place in Europe for Aeronautical, Space & Defense business.

All Go playing students are invited.

Despite problems in some parts of England caused by flooding, there should be no weather problems affecting Bognor Regis this weekend. Friday is predicted to be 6C but quite wet, with 4C and dry at night. Saturday is showery but Sunday is predicted a sunny 7C! Monday is predicted showery, at 8C. (Updated Thursday)

There should also be no problems with travelling by train to Bognor from London or Gatwick Airport. Information on services and fares can be found at the Southern Railway website. Note they offer reductions for groups and children under-16 travel for just £2 off-peak with an adult.

We managed to repeat our result from 2011, although we're now both in League C, not League B...

Andrew failed for us on Board 1. His opponent, whom he had beaten in the first season of the league in 2011, played some rather strange and bad moves in the opening and Andrew spent rather too long trying to punish them. Andrew didn't get much advantage (if any) and got annoyed.

He then got a group in trouble and lived in ko instead of unconditionally, losing some stones in the process, but then his opponent, presumably thinking Andrew was an utter moron based on the play so far, played some nonsense overplay of his own and created some dead stones. Andrew then missed a tesuji, so some more stones died and then the group that should have been alive had to fight the ko, as Andrew was trying to kill his surrounding group. Andrew lost that ko, but saved another group and then died instead of living in his corner because he played 3-3 instead of 3-2 by mistake...

Report by Ben Murphy (edited by Tony Collman)

I attended the Rocket Complex in Holloway Road, London for the first ever combined London Anime and Gaming Convention on Sunday 9th February and quickly set up the table. It was expected some attendees might be familiar with go from the anime Hikaru No Go.

Francis Roads was with me and we showed people the rules of Go and then played a 9x9 game with them either with or without a handicap, depending on their preferences. I brought some Go sets (9x9 boards with 13x13 on the other side) with me and some copies of the book Teach Yourself Go, by Charles Matthews. These were provided by Roger Huyshe, the BGA's seller of books and equipment.

I managed to sell three of the Go sets and four copies of the book. Many people liked Go and found it very easy to learn and there were many strategy game fans at the demo. One man said he was in the Navy and was looking forward to teaching and playing against his friends on his ship.

The 2014 Irish Go Congress occurred over the weekend on 14th -16th February, with 44 players attending in a surprisingly sunny Dublin. Celebrating 25 years of Go in Ireland, the main tournament, the 3rd Confucius Cup, was well represented with a strong field of players.

Fan Hui (2p France) won with a perfect 5/5 score. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places all had three wins with the order decided with SOS, resulting in Csaba Mero (6d Hungary) in second place, Antoine Fenech (5d France) third, and Ondrej Silt (6d Czech Republic) fourth.