UK News

Japanese Professional to visit North London Go Club

As we have already announced we are pleased to receive two professionals from the Nihon Ki-in to the UK, with the assistance of the The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation.

They will be visiting Oxford and Bognor Regis. Chizu Kobayashi will then go on to visit London and Edinburgh.

The Professionals

Kobayashi Chizu (小林 千寿), 5 dan, born 28th September 1954 in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture. She is the sister of several professionals and was a student of the very famous Minoru Kitani and became 1 dan in 1972, 2 dan in 1973, 3 dan in 1974, 4 dan in 1976 and 5 dan in 1978.

Last updated Fri Oct 13 2017.
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GoGoD back online!

We're please to be able to report that GoGoD is now back online, after a period of down-time, but at a different location:

After spending so many years on the GoGoD database, T Mark Hall was naturally keen that his legacy should endure. He therefore asked John Fairbairn (in photo right) to try to keep the project going, at least until the original target of 100,000 games was reached (it currently has 79,000 games).

To match even a fraction of the work Mark did is a daunting task, but he did leave a large reserve of games for processing, and so John has decided to re-light the flame, but with considerable changes to ease the workload.

The most important are:

  • GoGoD moves from standing for Games of Go on Disc to Games of Go on Download.
Last updated Sat Oct 14 2017.
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Japanese Professional to visit Scotland

It has been confirmed that two Japanese Professionals, Chizu Kobayashi 5p and Masaki Minematsu 6p are to visit the European Youth and British Go Congress over the weekend of Feb 28/March 3.

During the preceding week they will visit Oxford Go Club, and during the following week Chizu Kobayashi will visit Edinburgh Go Club.

This will be the first visit of a professional go player to Scotland for 15 years.

Last updated Sat Oct 14 2017.
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T Mark Hall's bequests

Some of you will have been aware that T Mark Hall, who died in December, left a bequest to British Go in his will. This was in two parts:

  • his Go books, pictures and other ephemera were left to the British Go Association (BGA)
  • a substantial sum was left to the Go community via a Trust, with the Trustees being John Fairbairn and the Officers of the BGA (President, Secretary and Treasurer).

We have arranged for the books etc. to be stored with the BGA Archive until a more suitable location can be found. Suggestions for this location are welcome. [We're mindful that the best locations might wish to be paid for housing it.]

Probate will probably not be for several months and the precise amounts involved won’t be known until then. Details about the setting up of the Trust also need to be worked out.

We will let you know when further details are settled.

Last updated Sat Oct 14 2017.
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London Open 2013: daily results

Don't forget you can keep up to date with the daily results from the London Open here.

Last updated Fri May 12 2017.
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Japanese Professionals to visit European Youth Go Championships

We are delighted that the Nihon Ki-in are planning to send two professionals (Kobayashi Chizu 5p and Minematsu Masaki 6p) to the UK in February/March 2014 and will be present in Bognor Regis during our combined EYGC and British Go Congress.

Final confirmation of their visit and details of the locations around the UK they will be teaching at, hopefully including Scotland for the first time, are still to be decided.

Last updated Sat Oct 14 2017.
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David Ward

David Ward died in Cambridge in December 2013.

David Ward will be remembered for his determination to succeed at Go. He was also very generous with his time, being willing to play others, no matter what level they were at. He contributed to British Go in many ways including being our analyst for many years, mentoring in the Shodan Challenge, running the London Open for several years and many articles in the British Go Journal.

Go was more than just a game for him, it was a soul mate. We have truly lost a Go friend.

David served on the BGA Council for a short period in 2004; in the same year he was the (unsuccessful) challenger for the British Championship. He was President of the Central London Go Club for many years.

In his memory his widow, Helen, donated the David Ward Cup with an endowment. The cup is awarded each year to the best placed British player at the London Open Go Congress.

Last updated Fri May 12 2017.
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T Mark Hall, 1947-2013

It is with deep sadness that we have to announce the death of T Mark Hall on Monday after a long illness.

T Mark was a long and faithful servant of the British Go Association, of British Go in general and of World Go through his partnership with John Fairbairn in GoGoD (Games of Go on Disk). He was on our Council for some 22 years, serving for 20 of these as Treasurer, a record of service that will surely be unsurpassed.

He was a fine player, especially at Lightning Go, and won many tournaments, although never quite challenging for the final of the British Championship. His last tournament appearance was in the British Open in April this year when he came 4th.

Last updated Thu May 11 2017.
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1st WBaduk Varsity Match announced

We are pleased to announce that the online Korean Go Server, is sponsoring an Oxford vs Cambridge Match at the London Open.

The match, which will be shown online on the WBaduk server, will be on the evening of December 30.

Each team will have 4 members: two current students, and 2 alumni.

More information is available at the LOGC page

We are very grateful to WBaduk for their financial support making this match possible.

Last updated Sat Oct 21 2017.
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3-in-a-row in European Teams

European Team Championship
Pandanet IGS
Tue, 12 Nov 2013

We're up to three wins out of three now in the European Team Championship. This month our match was against Iceland.

All of the matches were comfortable wins this time, giving us a good 4-0 scoreline to put us top of our division once more. On board 1, Andrew Simons made things a little edgy towards the end but was ahead by so much that a win was still assured. Meanwhile on board 4, while the other games still had only around 10-20 moves played, Henry Manners and his opponent went off to the pub having played the entire game (1 hour each + 25 stones in 10 minutes Canadian byo-yomi) each using around 10 minutes! Who needs to think to win by almost 100 anyway...

Last updated Sat Oct 14 2017.
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