UK News

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.