Announcement

The fifth season of the BGA Online League is now under way.

To balance the divisions out, I have moved Belfast and Billericay up to division 1, Glasgow up to division 2 and then done the draw for matches in each division.

As last year there are two matches between each pair of teams, a notional "home" and "away" match. Please try to complete at least one match if you can't fit in both matches. If you do play both, please try to field a different set of three players for each match against the same opposing team if possible.

If you have any problems and difficulties please don't hesitate to ask me or an "old hand" if available.

I hope everyone enjoys themselves this season and we look forward to seeing some interesting games!

John Collins

Full PDFs for issues 157 and 158 are now available online

It is our great pleasure to inform you that we, The Nihon Kiin, will release the English and Chinese version of ‘Cho U’s 4 by 4 Go Puzzle’ (developed by Zoo Corporation) on iPad and iPhone from 5th October 2012.  

This app is based on the 4 by 4 puzzle which has been come up with the idea by Cho U Kisei and Oza who is the best go player in Japan. This puzzle is the 4 by 4 tsumego game, an intellectual game which can be enjoyed by from complete beginners to high dan players. Kids can also learn how to play a game of go on its ‘Story Mode’ that features pretty characters.

Introductory special offer!

You can download the app at only US$ 0.99 (the regular price: US$ 2.99) for only two weeks from 5th October 2012.

The rules for 2013 have been revised by the BGA Council in May 2012. They will apply to the 2013 and all subsequent championships (until amended), and supersede all previous versions, although informally the changes are mostly effective for 2012.

The statement regarding the rules changes is as follows:

• Notification for events by letter is no longer required and is now optional for the Organizer (by letter or email to the address on our membership list)
• Announcement for events is to be on the website and in the BGJ (not in the Newsletter)
• Emphasis is now made that it is the responsibility of qualifiers to send in their entries (not the Organizer to ensure that they do)

In March 2013 Council clarified that if the Champion plays in the Candidates, then he/she cedes their automatic place in the Challengers League.

At the request of the Brazilian Go Association we have given them permission to translate into Portuguese articles from the British Go Journal, with appropriate acknowledgements. This will help them popularise the game in Brazil, where the 2016 World Mind Sports Games is scheduled to be held.

Hopefully this will also help promote Go in Portugal, Mozambique, Angola and other Portuguese-speaking countries.

We understand that other South American countries, although Spanish speaking, are also interested in this project.

"The Ring of Water" is the fifth book in the Young Samurai series of teenage novels by Chirs Bradford. It was published by Puffin on 3rd March 2011. Its hero is an English boy stranded in 17th Century Japan who has learnt to be a Samurai in order to survive. In this book he has to play a game of Go against a Japanese lord in order to gain freedom for him and his friends.

BBC Radio 4 - "Why Go?" (30 minute documentary on Go by Chris Ledgard)
BBC web page

Contributions by BGA members: Peter and Sheila Wendes, John Fairbairn and T Mark Hall.

The BBC website says:

Carol Goodheir reports that BBC Alba did a news report on the Isle of Skye Tournament, in Scottish Gaelic, lasting just over two minutes.

It is available on YouTube. Any Manx or Irish Gaelic speakers might be able to follow it too, to some extent for sure.