Eligibility Changes for British Championships and Representative Teams
— Colin WilliamsThe eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed a recent change made to the eligibility conditions for the British Championships.
The new eligibility criteria are shown in section A5 of the Championship rules, and for the Youth Championship in section F5 on the same Eligibility Rules page.
The intent behind the changes is to:
1. Clarify the rules on eligibility, by defining it in terms of either holding a British passport, or being a resident of the UK. Exactly how we measure those criteria has also been clarified.
If you have any comments, please email the webmaster on web-master AT britgo DOT org.
Simplification and Reduction of Tournament Levy
— Colin WilliamsIn their January meeting the BGA Council agreed to a significant change to the Levy system.
The new scheme has the benefit of extreme simplicity for TDs to administer, and involves them asking only
• Are you a member (or youth member) of the BGA or any other national association?
• Is this your first tournament?
If you have any comments, please email the webmaster on web-master AT britgo DOT org.
Terry Stacey Grand Prix Update
— Colin WilliamsOne impact of Covid has been disruption to the Terry Stacey Grand Prix, which is an annual event that runs across tournaments between the British Go Congresses. The following have been agreed by the BGA Council to cover this situation, both now and in the future.
If you have any comments, please email the webmaster on web-master AT britgo DOT org.
UK Draw with South Africa
— Tony AtkinsFollowing the abandonment of a game in the match against Switzerland in December causing the team to lose the match, the team was hoping to do better against South Africa. Indeed when Bruno Poltronieri played the first board on the Saturday before and beat the very strong Victor Chow, a win looked possible. On the match Tuesday, in the other games, Des Cann won his game, but Jon Diamond and Alison Bexfield lost making the match drawn; the team stayed in eighth place, just above the relegation zone.
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UK Youth Team Win 3-2 Against Romania
— Tony AtkinsThe UK Youth Go Team won against Romania in round 3 of the European Youth Go Team Championship this weekend. Player of the Match goes to Edmund for stepping up at very short notice to ensure we did not default a game.
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Online Event in Canada - Jan 16th
— Colin WilliamsWe-Go would like to advertise their open tournament this Sunday January 16th. This is an online tournament (so players from across Canada are welcome!), and with current Covid conditions it's a great time to join an online event. See the full details on the event page at Event Page
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UK Match With Switzerland Unfinished
— Tony AtkinsThe result of the UK match against Switzerland is uncertain as one game was not finished. Bruno played his game early on the Sunday morning and won, but on the Tuesday night both Alex and Jamie lost. Jon's game against Frédéric Schlattner was, however, abandoned after connection issues meant his opponent dropped out four times.
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Yaoling Yang Wins London Open
— Tony AtkinsThe London Go Centre trustees took the view that the 47th London Open Go Congress would be staged as though the world were back to normal, writes organiser Gerry Gavigan. We thought this was important to help ensure the future health of the tournament. During the registration period it became clear that not everyone agreed with us.
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UK Youth Team Win Against Hungary
— Tony AtkinsIn round 2 of the European Youth Go Team Championship the UK team was drawn against Hungary. Our team had three of the five players making their debut appearance: Claire, Spike and Lukasz. Daniel, one of longer standing players, played a day ahead of the other games and took an easy win setting us up well for the remaining boards. Lukasz's game was a bit of a rollercoaster to watch on board 5, with a large group lacking the required number of eyes for some time. Lukasz held his nerve and capitalised on his opponent's error to save his group.
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Daniel Hu New British Champion
— Tony AtkinsThis year, because of no events earlier in the year, the top two British players at September's British Open were selected to contest for the title of British Go Champion. The two players were Daniel Hu (5d) who was equal second in the Open, and Bruno Poltronieri (3d) equal fourth. The match was arranged for Saturday 27th Novermber at a private location in Cambridge and the game got under way about 12 minutes after the advertised start time of 10:30.
If you have any comments, please email the webmaster on web-master AT britgo DOT org.