BGA Newsletter 340 July 2026

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 the URL, otherwise attach the picture files to your email. Send your contribution to newsletter-editor@britgo.org to arrive by the first day of the month.

NEWS

2026 BGA British Championship

The 2026 BGA British Champion will be decided by three games on 11th, 18th and 19th July. Zeyu Qiu 6D (LGC) and Becky Li 3D (UCL) will be contesting the title at the London Go Centre with the games starting at 11am.

Spectators are welcome (please let LGC know if you are coming). The games will be streamed to "LGC Account" on OGS and a commentary will also be provided by Damen Woo 7D (Nottingham) on BGA's YouTube channel.

Go books to give away

Francis Roads writes: I have a lifetime's collection of go books which I am no longer able to read, owing to failing eyesight. If anyone has a good use for them, they will need to be collected from my home in London E18. Please contact me if you are interested: francis.roads@gmail.com

Android app to access the EGD and EGF calendar

Matt Marsh has an Android app that allows you to
- track your rating from the European Go Database
- see your rating progress
- view your tournament history and results
- get notified whenever your rating changes
- track the ratings of others & see their ratings, tournament histories and results
- get notified when their ratings change

You can also
- find Go events in Europe
- view details of major European tournaments and events
- get notified of new upcoming tournaments

You can get it here

An iOS version is being planned.

Global News

UK lose PGETC promotion match against Israel

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.

You can find the final league table results here.

BGA Tournament Winners

Full results here.
Durham - Jason Qian

ADMIN

EGM

An Extraordinary General Meeting was held on Wednesday 17th June to elect the President of the BGA, following the resignation of Colin Williams due to health issues. The candidates were Gerry Gavigan and Toby Manning. Following the vote, Gerry Gavigan was elected by a majority of 42 to 40, with 1 abstention.

Our new President, Gerry Gavigan, writes:

Thank you to Toby for stepping up after Colin was unable to continue as President. I regret Colin's understandable decision. Thank you to everyone who voted for me. Over the coming year I hope that those who didn't vote for me are persuaded that the outcome was not so awful. My desire over the coming year is to increase the active participation of the membership and that at the next election there is a much higher turnout.

British Go Journal 215, Spring 2026

The latest edition is now available as a pdf in the Members' Area on the BGA website. You will need to be logged-in as a Member to access the Members' Area and Journal files.
* Member's Access page to login
* Members' Area
* Journal web page
* sgf files, including the problems, for this edition
The three previous Journals are also available in the Members' Area.

CONTENTS
ACTING PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Toby Manning
EDITORIAL
RICHARD BOZULICH 1936-2026 Simon Cohen
WORLD NEWS Tony Atkins
UK NEWS Tony Atkins
YOUTH NEWS Tony Atkins
FASCINATING TSUMEGO: PART SIX Richard Hunter
EGF GRAND PRIX SEMIFINAL Damen Woo
ALPHAGO VS FAN HUI Toby Manning
TOURNAMENT HISTORIES XXVIII: ONE-OFF EVENTS Tony Atkins
SOLUTIONS TO THE JOURNAL PROBLEMS
ASSOCIATION CONTACT INFORMATION

EVENTS COMING SOON

This Month: European Go Congress (Turkey)
August Manchester Open, Mind Sports Olympiad (London)*
September Cambridge Youth (UK Go Challenge), Nottingham, Swindon*, Confucius Cup (Dublin)*
October European Women's Championship (London), Sheffield, Wessex*, Three Peaks
November British Youth (Nottingham), Bar Low*, Northern Go Tournament (Cheadle Hulme School)

• *To be confirmed