London Go Picnic a Success
— Tony AtkinsThe London Go Picnic held on Sunday 21st July was very successful. Despite the heatwave the sun was not too bright and there were plenty of trees in St James' Park to hide under and there was always the trip to the pub, for more games afterwards, to allow players to quench their thirsts.
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Youngsters beat adults, to win trophy
— Martin HarveyCongratulations to youngsters Rebecca Margetts and Oscar Selby, who finished top of the handicap section at this year's British Pair Go Championship, above 14 players (nearly all adults). This meant that they got their hands on the trophies (pairs go-bowls), which just eluded them when they lost in the final in 2012. There's clearly proof in the old adage "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.". Well done, Rebecca and Oscar, especially as their combined average grade of 22.5 kyu was 7 whole grades stronger than the year before. Could anybody beat them in 2014?
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Bruno wins Milton Keynes
— Tony AtkinsThe 25th Milton Keynes Tournament was held at the Open University's sports pavilion. The 34 players were able to enjoy the heat wave by sitting on the balcony between matches.
Bruno Poltronieri (2d) from Warwick University won the event. He beat Toby Manning in the last round, who thus came second. Mike Cockburn (1k) was third. Graham Blackmore (13k) and Brent Cutts (8k) also won all three games.
The East Midlands team - Toby Manning, Peter Fisher, Andre Cockburn and Brent Cutts - won the team prize with an highly respectable score of 8 wins out of 12.
The winner of the infamous Milton Keynes Board Tournament was one of the event organisers, Tim Hunt with 4.5 wins out of 6.
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Go featured on Channel 4 programme
— Tony AtkinsGo featured on part 4 of "Child Genius" on Channel 4 on 2nd July. Oscar Selby was shown visiting the Oxford Tournament and playing in the British Youth go Championships at Aston, against various young players and receiving a prize from Tony Atkins.
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We were exhibiting at the London AnimeCon
— Jon DiamondBen Murphy and Tony Atkins hosted our stand at the London AnimeCon at the London Metropolitan University, Holloway Road on 20th/21st July.
Many people who had read the Hikaru no Go manga were interested in our stand, as well as game players and others!
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Welshman wins the Welsh
— Tony AtkinsIn an exciting conclusion to the Welsh Open at Barmouth, three players entered the last round with a chance of winning the tournament. In fact all three won their games, but it was Welshman Dylan Carter (1d Cardiff) who came out on top, by half a SOS point. Second and third places went to Richard Hunter (3d Bristol) and Toby Manning (2d Leicester). John Green (4k Leamington) and Colin Maclennan (10k Twickenham) also won four games out of five. There were 27 players overall, and 18 players and spouses enjoyed a very pleasant meal at the Min-y-Mor Hotel (the tournament venue) on the Saturday evening. The weather, however, could best be described as ideal for indoor games.
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Alex Kent wins Goat Ornament
— Tony AtkinsDurham's annual Go tournament was held in the Elvet Riverside lecture buildings this year. They had 27 people play over the course of the weekend, with ranks ranging from 20k to 5d. Many of the entrants were students, including some who had only learned this year. On the Saturday night - in a change from tradition - instead of going to a restaurant they instead held a Go BBQ where, despite the unexpected rain, there was much food eaten and Go played.
The tournament was won by Alex Kent (3d Bristol, but formerly of Durham), with Sandy Taylor (2d also Bristol, formerly of Durham) coming second. The side events - lightning and small board - were won by Carel Goodheir (10k Skye) and Josh Green (11k Durham) respectively.
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Contact to Junior section web-master
— Martin HarveyMartin is the BGA Junior section web-master (June 2013).
Feel free to contact him via this link.
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9-year-old Oscar Selby on Channel 4's 'Child Genius' TV series in 2013.
— Martin HarveyChannel 4 showed 9-year-old Oscar Selby (8.9 kyu, Epsom Go club) on Tuesday 18/6/13, in its series 'Child Genius'. The series of 4 episodes (shown each Tuesday at 9pm) follows a competition among 21 highly-gifted children, aged 7-11, run in association with British Mensa, to find the UK's ultimate child genius.
The last 2 episodes are broadcast on Tues. 25 June & Tues. 2 July.
The programme notes for episode 2 start: "Mild-mannered nine-year-old maths machine Oscar, who became the youngest person ever to get an A* in GCSE Maths aged seven, is a competition favourite but, away from the familiarity of maths, how will he fare in the unknown territory of this week's general knowledge round?". Watch the episodes on 4OD (Channel 4 catch-up).
Each week, 5 children exit the competition. How far can Oscar go?
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BGA to host European Youth
— Tony AtkinsThe BGA is to run the European Youth Go Championship 2014. It is being held on the weekend of 28th to 31st March 2014 at Butlin's in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Young players from all over Europe are expected to attend and compete in three age categories. BGA members will be able to join the weekend as the British Go Congress is to be run alongside.
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