Youth Go News 32 - December 2023

Editor, Toby Manning.

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NEWS

Hong Kong Match

Results so far have nearly all gone Hong Kong's way in this match which started on 14 October. Our first two players Ching Lok To and Odysseas Jones-Roumeliotis lost to Marsha Lau, but Aiden Chong beat her. He in turn lost to Lam Yat Hei who is very strong. Our next players all lost to him too: Taher Anjari, Emily Li, King Hee Lim, Lukasz Kudla and Audrey Fung. Finally Michael Mitcham-Harding managed to beat him by 7.5 on 25 November and he won again the next day.

The following weekend Michael lost on the Saturday, but Sung Hee Lim won on the Sunday.

The current score is 9 -4 in Hong Kong's favour.

Details on the Match web page.

TOURNAMENTS

UK Go Challenge Finals

22 players took part in this online event, sponsored by the Youth Go Trust, on small boards (13x13) on 15 October. Section winners were:

• U18B Caleb Monk
• U18G Julia Volovich - Top Girl
• U16B Kwun Yin Ng - 2nd overall by Tie-break
• U16G Zoe Walters
• U14B Daniel Yang
• U14G -
• U12B Andrew Volovich
• U12G Audrey Leung
• U10B Ryan Zhang - 1st overall by Tie-break
• U10G Emily Li
• U08B Max Volovich
• U08G -

British Youth Go Championships

Congratulations to Alvina Kwok (2d) who is our new Under-16 and British Youth Go Champion. Shown left, she is the first girl to win the event since Maria Tabor in 2008. Alvina, who is originally from Hong Kong, was the best of the 38 players and defeated Scott Cobbold (4d) and Ryan Zhang (2d) on her way to the trophy.

Other age-group winners were: Under-18: Scott Cobbold, Under-14: Daniel Yang, Under-12: Ryan Zhang, Under-10: Aidan Fung and Under-8: Sophia Gan. The Novices Winner was Tom Satterthwaite; James Zhao, Blake Shamoon and Claude Robinson won 4/5 games. Results

The British Youth Go Championship was held on 11 November at Leicester Bridge Club for a third time. It was run by Toby Manning and Tony Atkins. Gallery

EUROPEAN YOUTH GO TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Our UK youth go squad has played the first round of the European Youth Go team Competition and won 5-0 against Turkey.

Our team for this round comprised Scott Cobbold, Alvina Kwok, Michael Mitcham-Harding, Ryan Zhang and Yanyi Xiong. We were expecting to win on the first three boards, as the grades were in our favour and our players duly delivered. Our board 5 was facing a tough game against a 1 kyu. Yanyi did well to punish some mistakes by his opponent and capture a group and then stay calm and play safely in the remainder of his game to pick up a good win. Ryan's match was the last to be played and on paper was evenly matched, but Ryan was able to take a convincing win cementing the 5-0 result.

Our squad for this year again shows the increasing strength of our young players with competition for places in the U16 age group being particularly competitive. We welcomed six new faces to the squad this year for the first time: Alain Cheung and Alvina Kwok in the U16 and Audrey Fung, Blake Shamoon and Aidan Fung in the U12 age group. We also welcomed back Ryan Zhang in the U12, at a considerably stronger grade than when he was last in the squad 3 years ago.

The full UK youth squad for this season is:
Under 20: Scott Cobbold 4d, Claire Chen 2d
Under 16: Alain Cheung 4d, Alvina Kwok 2d, Gene Wong 1k, Daniel Yang 1, Lea Wong 2k, Michael Mitcham-Harding 4k
Under 12: Ryan Zhang 2d, Yanyi Xiong 5k, Audrey Fung 5k, Blake Shamoon 6k, Aidan Fung 6k, Lukasz Kudla 7k, Emily Gan 10k

LONDON YOUTH

Sponsored by the London Go Centre

This open event will take place at the London Go Centre at Ravenscourt Park, West London, on Saturday 27 January.
The event will be split into 3 sections:

• A three round even game tournament for the strongest players
• A 3 round handicap tournament for middle-ranking players
• A novices tournament (played on 13x13 boards)

Registration by 10:30; we expect the event to finish by 17:00. Registration for novices before 14:00. The entry fee of £5 (to be confirmed) includes a sandwich lunch (to be confirmed). Here are more details. To enter please send an email to info AT kisekigo.com stating:

• Name
• Strength/Grade (if known)
• email address and contact telephone number
• If you are playing in the novices section
• If you have any allergies or diietary retrictions.

EUROPEAN YOUTH GO CHAMPIONSHIPS

This event will take place in Hamburg, Germany, from Thursday 21 March until Saturday 23 March. It will be run in three sections (Under 12, Under 16 and Under 20). We expect that there will be 6 rounds, with a total of over 100 entrants. There are flights to Hamburg from Heathrow, Stansted and Manchester.
Assuming that there is sufficient interest, the BGA will be sending a coach to accompany the party, who will act as team leader and will provide comments and game analysis. If you need permission from your school to attend, then we can provide a letter to support your application. If travel and/or accommodation costs are a problem then the Youth Go Trust may be able to assist. The Championships will be preceded by a "Training Camp" (from 18 - 20 March).

CONSULTATION MEETING FOR ADULTS

On Sunday 21 January 2024, at 20:00, the BGA Youth Committee will be holding a consultation meeting, held remotely using Zoom. It is open to all adults interested in Youth Go.

This is your opportunity to put forward comments, criticisms and suggestions for how we develop Youth Go in the UK.

If you intend to come please email youth-chair AT britgo.org, so that we can send you the Zoom link. If would also be helpful if you could let us know if there are any topics you would particularly like addressed.

TEACHING/TRAINING

DDK Teaching (for weaker players, below 9 kyu)

We run bi-monthly teaching events (there is no charge). The next one will be on 7 January at 14:30. If you wish to attend please email ynews AT britgo.org before 5 January.

EGF Academy

The EGF Academy is for stronger players. The BGA offers a 50% grant to anyone attending the Academy: please email ynews AT britgo.org for more details.

DIARY SUMMARY

2023
9 December - European Teams against France A

2024
7 January - DDK Teaching
13 January - European Teams
21 January - Online parent and teacher forum
27 January - London Youth
10 February - European Teams
21 - 23 March - European Youth Go Championships Hamburg, Germany.
14 April - British School Teams (online)

USEFUL RESOURCES

Here are some useful resources/links:

BGA Youth Go Twitter account (kept fairly active, 216 followers)
BGA Youth Go OGS (closed group, 205 members including adult organisers). If you are a new member, please complete this form.
BGA Youth Go Discord Channel
BGA Website: Junior Pages

PROBLEMS

Black to play