BGA Newsletter 331 October 2025

FROM THE EDITOR

This issue, and previous newsletters, will be found in the Newsletter Archive in the Members' Area. In Newsletters after August 2025 the images have clickable links for viewing them full size. Full-size images from earlier Newsletters may be found via the BGA All News pages.

Contributions are always welcome, both from our members and others. We ask that they be Go-related and "newsy". The place for debate and general discussion is the BGA open mailing list Gotalk. However, an introduction to a new topic is fine in the Newsletter. A brief introduction to Gotalk, with a link for joining, is on the BGA page Go on the Internet.

Instructions for Contributors: Please use plain text not file-attachments. Keep it fairly brief, and give web-links and contact details. It's good to include pictures. If they are on the internet, send me the URL, otherwise attach the picture files to your email. Send your contribution to newsletter@britgo.org to arrive by the first day of the month.

Jil Segerman

NEWS

BGA Tournament Winners

Full results here.
Nottingham - Changhao Huang
Swindon - Changhao Huang
Dublin - Cornel Burzo

Ex-Pat wins US Tournament

Congratulations to Jonathan Green who became Maine Go Champion.

World Youth Go Championships (WYGC2025)

Following his good result at the 2025 European Youth Go Championships, Lukasz Kudla (5 kyu, Edinburgh) qualified to represent Europe in the Under-12 section of this tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in August. He really enjoyed it; his result (1 win out of 5) was expected given the strength of the competition.

Newcastle Tournament

The second annual Newcastle Go Tournament took place at Newcastle University’s Urban Sciences Building on 30–31 August, with 23 players ranging from 5 dan to 25 kyu taking part.

Xuanqi Cui (5d) emerged as the overall winner with five straight victories. He received the impressive trophy – an ornamental 9×9 goban containing a fully functional 19×19 set – designed and crafted by Newcastle Go Club member Robert Manders (14k). Xuanqi is shown below receiving it from Tom Coulthard.

Changhao Huang (5d, UCL) and Zhan Shi (3d, Manchester) finished second and third respectively, each taking home a Newcastle Go Club hoodie. Below the bar, Caleb Fai (15k, Leeds) was also awarded a prize after an excellent run of five wins. Results.

The Saturday night social, held at a city centre restaurant, was well attended. They look forward to welcoming players again at next year’s tournament.

ADMIN

Call for Volunteers Next Weekend (11-12th October)

The Durham Go club is looking for volunteers to help us to transcribe some games of the 2025 European Student Go Championship. Preferably we're hoping to find someone who can transcribe the top board games onto OGS as they're played - just sitting beside the board and playing the moves.

We'd like to hear from you if you're willing to transcribe remotely as well, via a live video stream (in which case you could technically be anywhere!).

We won't be able to cover your travel or accommodation, but we can cover your meals (Friday dinner, Saturday lunch and dinner, Sunday lunch) and any transcribers would be very welcome to join us for the various events that are happening around the tournament.

If you'd be able to help, please get in touch with andrew@ambrose.thurman.org.uk or bithell.sam@gmail.com

European Go Congress, 2026

Next year's European Go Congress is to take place at Hacettepe University Beytepe Campus, Ankara, from Saturday 25th July–Saturday 8th August.

The organisers have sent some further information to BGA President Colin Williams, as summarised here:

"Unfortunately, we're waiting for the reviews and suggestions of the EGF board regarding the Schedule. There is a request for Monday to be the free day, rather than Wednesday. So they'll let us know their final decision and we will take consideration of it before publishing the schedule.

We will announce our web page once it's in final stage, we are sorry for being late for these details to be published, but we are planning to finish it no later than mid October.

Regarding the summer temperature, Ankara has a dry weather so no humidity there but it makes the temperature higher than Istanbul per se. Please note, there are air conditioning in every building that we are using for tournament purposes. Also in every decent hotel, air conditioning is a regular thing. But please note, dormitories of Hacettepe University do not have air conditioning units, even though dry weather makes the nights colder, it might be challenging for visitors from northern counties as yours. We will put all these details to our webpage at once.“

EVENTS COMING SOON

This Month: European Students' (Durham), Wessex (Bath)
November: Bar Low (London), Three Peaks (Yorkshire), British Youth (Nottingham), Northern (Cheadle Hulme)
December: Edinburgh Christmas, T Mark Hall Rapid (London), London Open