The Summer 2026 edition of the BGJ is now available for members to read in the Members' Area, with printed copies being sent out to those that receive them.

The first match in the news season of the Pandnet B-League was against Sweden as last year. As last year the match ended in a draw. This left the UK team mid-table as all the matches were draws, apart from Italy beating Ireland 3-1 (John Courtney was the only Irish winner).

League Page with game records

Michael Chang wrote: I played black against Weiying Sörlin. I am satisfied with my solid play in the game. I successfully attacked my opponent's big group to gain a victory at the end.

BGA President Gerry Gavigan welcomed 22 women, from ten countries around Europe, to the European Women's Go Championship. It was held at the London Go Centre on the 3rd and 4th October and was fought over five rounds.

Ting Li (6d) from Austria was unbeaten to take the title for a remarkable fourth year in a row. Second place went to Milena Bocle (3d) from France, who only lost to the winner (as shown in the photo of Ting Li below). Olesia Marko (4d) from Ukraine topped the group on three wins to take third place. Each was awarded with a glass trophy.

British representative Bruno Poltronieri 4d secured an excellent 7th place finish at the 46th World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC), held in Mungyeong, South Korea from 6-13 September.

Competing against representatives from 52 nations over eight rounds, Bruno finished with an impressive 6–2 record. His campaign featured victories over 5 dan players from France and Ukraine, only losing games to a 5 dan from Poland and a 6 dan from Singapore. This result marks the first top 10 finish at WAGC by a British player in 34 years—since Matthew Macfadyen’s 5th place in 1992.

The Spring 2026 edition of the BGJ is now available for members to read in the Members' Area, with printed copies being sent out to those that receive them.

After finishing second in League B (behind the Netherlands) the UK team had to play a promotion match against the team second bottom in League A. At one point it was expected this would be Hungary, but Israel ended in the ninth slot on tie-break. Italy was bottom and automatically relegated. Israel fielded a strong team and only Damen Woo, playing on board one, managed to win for the UK, so the match was lost 1-4 and the UK remain in League B next season.

League Page with game records

In the last round of the Pandanet Go European Team Championship the UK managed to beat Finland and hold onto the second place in the B League. Unfortunately Michael Chang forgot that his game was an early start and it was forfeited to Olli Ervelä. However the other three UK players won by resignation to take the match 3-1. This means the UK will have to play Israel in a play-off to gain promotion to the A League.

The Candidates' and Aspirants' tournaments were once again held over the Early May Bank Holiday weekend, this time in two bright, spacious rooms at the University of Warwick, kindly arranged by the university's Go society.

The British Go Congress returned to Cambridge this year, hosted in the spacious School Hall of the Stephen Perse Foundation Senior School. 66 players competed in the British Open, with a further 7 joining for the Lightning only, making this one of the largest Congresses in recent years.