BGA Newsletter 343 October 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.

Sak Wathanasin

NEWS

European Women's Go Championship

This event took place at the London Go Centre on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October. Gerry Gavigan provided the following report.

There were 22 participants from 11 countries including two from the UK, Alison Bexfield 1D and Nassima Amir 4 kyu.

The spread was from 1p to 17 kyu so it seems appropriate to acknowledge the willingness of those who turn up to support the event.

Li Ting, 1p, Austria took the title with a clean sweep but it was tougher than it looked as two of her games were 0.5 point. Milena Bocle, 3D France was second on four wins and Olesia Malko 4D Ukraine was third on 3 wins. There cannot be any ties in a championship because invitations to international tournaments follow so it cannot go without mention that Ariane Ougier 4D France came 4th separated by 2 points SOSOS. Ariane also took Li Ting to a half point. (SGFs of the top three boards can be found on the LGC OGS account.)

The EGF supported the event by providing commentaries of the top three boards on their Twitch account, Mateusz Surma, 4p on day 1 then Andrii Kravetts 4p. In due course Fan Weijing 3p will provide a full review for LGC Youtube of the game between Li TIng and Milena Bocle.

One of the measures I use to judge the overall success of an event is the rapidity with which people leave when it is over. Things must have went well as there seemed to be general preference for standing around and chatting despite my desire to pack up and go home.

Kifu Master provided additional prizes and a gift for every participant. Olesia gets bonus points for her gift to me of a presentation set of Ukrainian chocolates.

Results. Gallery

Swindon

Colin Williams sent this report:
As usual the Swindon tournament was well organised, and attracted 22 players. The time limits were long enough to make this a category A event, though that did mean some of the intervals between rounds were very short for those who had played a long game. It does prove though that a three round one-day category A event is possible, other organisers take note.

The event produced a home town champion with Jake Game winning 3 out of 3. The only other person on 3/3 was Iu Garcia-Siches from London, who had to leave before receiving his trophy.

The picture shows Jake receiving his trophy.

Global News

World Amateur Go Championship 2026

Joel Barrett writes:
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.

A full report and interview with Bruno can be found here.

ADMIN

British Go Journal 216, Summer 2026

The latest edition will shortly despatched by post and will soon be available as a pdf in the Members' Area on the BGA website (look out for the announcement). 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
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Gerry Gavigan
EDITORIAL
WORLD NEWS Tony Atkins
UK NEWS Tony Atkins
JIL SEGERMAN 1943-2026 Sue Paterson
CHANGES TO THE DBS RULES Sue Paterson
FIVE DECADES OF SERVICE TO THE BGA Toby Manning
BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND 1 Damen Woo
FASCINATING TSUMEGO: PART SEVEN Richard Hunter
GO ODYSSEY Jason Woo
TOURNAMENT HISTORIES XXIX: YORKSHIRE Tony Atkins
SOLUTIONS TO THE JOURNAL PROBLEMS
ASSOCIATION CONTACT INFORMATION

BGA Tournament Winners

Full results here.
Cambridge Youth (UK Go Challenge) - Overall winner: Andrew Volovich (6K, Cambridge)
Nottingham - Zhan Shi (3D, Manchester)
Swindon - Jake Game (4D, Swindon)

EVENTS COMING SOON

This Month Confucius Cup (Dublin), Sheffield, Wessex (Bath), Three Peaks (Ingleton)
November British Youth (Nottingham), Northern Go Tournament (Cheadle Hulme School)
December Edinburgh Christmas, T Mark Hall Rapid (London), London Open
January London Youth