UK News

Dear Members,

A reminder that the 2025 AGM will be held on May 22nd by ZOOM.

The following items are now available to view at https://www.britgo.org/history/accounts

• The AGM Agenda
• The 2024 Annual Report
• The 2024 Accounts

It is not too late to put yourself forwards to be on the Disputes Panel, nominations are open until May 8th.

I am happy to announce that Craig Maclean from the Durham club has volunteered for the above role. He comes highly recommended, having done a similar job for the Durham club for some time now. In particular their use of social media has resulted in many more students returning to the club after their first visit.

Craig will be settling into the role over the next few months, and will be looking to issue a regular stream of informative social media content. Exactly how this will operate will be explained in subsequent communications.

We wish him every success.

In case people are interested I have just been told of a new thriller-genre novel that uses the game of Go as a high level structuring mechanism. The name of the book is "The Aji of Dead Stones" and it can be found on amazon.co.uk. The writer is apparently a lapsed Go player using a pseudonym.

The Agendas for the 2024 AGM, and the EGM that will precede it, have been published in the members area of the website at https://www.britgo.org/history/accounts

The Annual Report for 2023 has also been posted to that page.

The qualification rules for the Candidates event require a player to have attained the necessary grade in a tournament ending during the 12 months prior to 31st March. In a desire to open up the event to as many people as possible, whilst not reducing the general standard, the Board have agreed that in 2024 the British Go Congress (which ends on 7th April) will also count as a tournament from which people can qualify for the 2024 Candidates.

Members should be aware that a question has arisen as to whether the BGA’s Public Liability Insurance does in fact cover them. We are working as a matter of urgency to clarify the situation, but until we have a definite solution members should act on the side of safety and consider that they do not have Public Liability Insurance for themselves or their events from the BGA.

This weekend on 26th / 27th and if needed 28th at the London Go Centre Bruno Poltronieri and Ho Yeung Woo will play the best of three 2023 British Championship title match.

Play will start at 12:00 each day and go through until the end of the game. The London Go Centre will be doing a live stream on their YouTube channel. Commentary will be provided on KGS (probably the English Room) by Matthew Macfadyen. Please take the time to drop in online and have a look at how it is going.

The entry form and full information for this years Candidates tournament, the first part of the 2023 British Championship, is now available through the events calendar.

The tournament will be held from April 29th to May 1st at The Open University Cricket Pavilion, Milton Keynes. Location

Kidsgoserver.com, a new site designed specifically for kids aged 6 to 12, is now live on the web as a beta release.

A joint project of the American Go Foundation and the British Go Association, the server is designed to be a totally safe and kid friendly environment that can be used by anyone, and in schools.

We have reached agreement with the Irish Go Association to hold a joint Congress on Friday March 31st - Sunday April 2nd 2023, in Belfast. For the BGA this will be our usual annual Congress.

Further details on the exact venue will be available as they are firmed up.