[Newsletter] BGA Newsletter 256 April 2020

Sun Apr 5 10:31:56 BST 2020

FROM THE EDITOR

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
<https://www.britgo.org/gopcres/info#mail>. See also the BGA temporary
Coronavirus
page <http://www.britgo.org/coronavirus>.

While the UK is in lock-down many people are exploring ways of getting
together on-line, for games, tournaments, and video conversations. A few
stories came in time for this month’s Newsletter, but new ideas and
discussions are appearing almost daily on Gotalk. This is the place to find
out the latest, and maybe join the discussions.

The favoured combo for on-line meetings seems to be Zoom for
video-conversations together with OGS for the actual games. In Harry
Fearnley’s article on Virtual Meetings of the Oxford City Club, the link
’”notes for members” includes advice for getting started.

Looking ahead to the next Newsletter, please send me your stories of “Go
under Lock-down”. We all of us can benefit from learning about things that
worked well, and maybe having a good laugh at things that did not.

*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 at britgo.org to arrive by the first day of the
month.

# not to be confused with many other “GoTalk” sites that a Google search
will find.

Jil Segerman
NEWS

The full set of recent news items, including further details of some of the
items shown here, are on our News Pages <http://www.britgo.org/news>, and
on News Headlines <http://www.britgo.org/views/news>.
Pandanet Go European Team Championship

The next match, played on Pandanet, is on 7th April at 20:00 when we have
another difficult tie: against Italy, who are currently second. Spectators
welcome. See here <https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps> for
more details.
European Youth Go Championships

The EYGC (European Youth Go Championship) is a youth competition, played
face-to-face, in a different country each year. It is very well supported,
with players from most European countries. The atmosphere is always great,
many friends are made, new cultures experienced, European players' grades
cross-calibrated, and naturally youngsters improve at Go.

The 2020 edition took place from 11-14 March, in Stubičke Toplice in
Croatia. 162 youngsters from 14 countries competed.

Of the 72 games played by our UK team, we had 38 wins (53%), 31 losses and
3 byes. Very pleasing overall for the UK, and one of the best UK
performances at an EYGC, where there are always several very strong teams.
Apart from the top players in the groups, there were five youngsters who
won 5 out of 6 games. The UK were honoured to have three of these five
winners: Andrew Volovich (U12 section), Julia Volovich (U16) and Lizzy
Pollitt (U20).

See Martin Harvey's detailed report here
<http://britgo.org/news/2020/eygcday3>, also the EYGC menu of picture pages
<https://eygc2020.hgos.hr/media/> and most amusing video
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy-_wisiFq8&feature=youtu.be>, showing
things that happened during the event and its excursions.
The 'Skye Stir Fry'

At the recent Skye Go Tournament a few people discussed the idea of a
computerised tournament, and have set up one on OGS
<http://www.online-go.com/> called 'Skye Stir Fry'. Thanks, John Macdonald.

[Editor's note] I don't know if it will still be running by the time you
receive this Newsletter, but you are welcome to check it out if you're
interested.
Virtual Meetings -- Oxford City Go Club experience, so far

A report from Harry Fearnley.

For its regular Tuesday night meetings, Oxford City has held two meetings
online using OGS to play Go (Free), and -- parallel -- Zoom for
video-conferencing (Free #) support. We did this in our own club room on
OGS, and will hold an additional meeting there on Saturday morning (4th
April), hoping to reach some of our players now in China. Some of us were
new to the OGS server, so needed some time to familiarize themselves with
its capabilities -- particularly the review process. We recommended that
newbies start by playing a couple of unranked 9x9 games, just to get used
to things, before playing for real.

We did most of our interacting via Zoom. This worked well for less than 10
people, but we would probably need to use Zoom's "breakout rooms" (if at no
extra cost, and if it does not adversely affect possible 1:1 participant
support by the host) if we had more people. Zoom's share screen was great
-- one of us downloaded the SGF of a game that they had just played; used
KataGo (via Lizzie) on their PC to analyse the game; shared their PC's
screen with the rest of us, so allowing us to have a more fruitful
discussion.

# Normally, Zoom expects you to pay for meetings of more than 2 people,
which last more than 40 minutes. To avoid paying, participants have to
re-connect at 40 minute intervals! However, Zoom give you one freebie long
meeting per host, which was great for us. We will almost certainly get a
Zoom account costing £11.99/month, so permitting seamless connections.

We made some notes for our members
<https://www.britgo.org/clubs/oxford_c.html#virtual_meetings> where we link
to the relevant info. [Editor's note] Included is a "Help with Virtual
Meetings?" section, with advice both for organisers and participants.
A Virtual Meeting -- Arundel Go Club

Editor's Report

Sue Paterson set up a similar system for the Arundel club. In our first
virtual meeting, some half a dozen people used both Zoom and OGS, and a few
others joined us on OGS but not on Zoom. Sue had already purchased a Zoom
licence for some of her other activities, so we had the luxury of
un-interrupted talk. With Zoom and OGS both running, the experience is
almost as good as being in the same room.
ADMIN.Coronavirus

BGA Council have set up this temporary page
<http://www.britgo.org/coronavirus> to advise members of actions and ideas
for playing Go while the country is experiencing the Coronavirus outbreak.
Annual General Meeting of the British Go Association 2020

The BGA AGM is postponed. The constitution requires us to hold it during
the first half of the year, and requires at least 20 people (the quorum) to
be present, so it is not practicable to hold it in current circumstances. This
page <http://www.britgo.org/agm2020> gives some of the documents for the
meeting: at time of writing this is the President's Report, the Treasurer's
Report (including the audited accounts) and the Membership Secretary's
Report, all of which cover the calendar year 2019, but further documents
will be added over the next few days.
New Council Member

Colin Williams has been co-opted to serve as a member of the BGA Council.

Colin first saw the game of Go at school, when two sixth-formers were
playing a strange game that involved a home made board and over 300 blue
and white toothpaste tube tops (goodness knows how long it took them to
collect them). Then Clive Fraser joined the teaching staff and set up a Go
club, from when he was hooked.

There was a playing gap while at University, but a few years later when in
Farnham he met Richard Granville – and it started again. Several years
followed playing at the West Surrey Club, and co-organising the annual West
Surrey Handicap Tournament with Steve Bailey, during which he rose to the
dizzy heights of 2kyu.

Then, as for many, family duties and work intervened, and there was a 25+
year Go drought. Having retired in 2018 he joined the Bristol Club and has
re-found a passion for the game. With some time on his hands now is the
opportunity for him to give back to the game through the auspices of the
BGA. His ambition – probably hopeless – is to advance from his current 5/6
kyu up to shodan.
BGA Journal

*We are still seeking a volunteer to take over as Editor of the Journal.*
BGA On-line League

The BGA Online League will be restarting sometime in May; more details to
come in the near future. Teams of three or more players are requested to
contact Oliver Bustos Langton at online-league at britgo.org with names and
ranks ASAP. Individual players interested in joining up are also requested
to send their details in - we will endeavour to create teams out of such
players.
Analogue Clocks for Sale

Now that the BGA has purchased a number of digital clocks, which have been
proved in practice, we have a number of analogue clocks which are surplus
to requirements. We are therefore selling them off, at:
- £5 for one
- £8 for two
- £10 for three
all prices to include p. and p.
If you are interested, please contact Toby Manning at president at britgo.org
EVENTS COMING SOON

*CORONAVIRUS: Cancellations* include the British Go Congress and AGM
(postponed), all over-the-board events for April, and some of those in May.
Most European tournaments scheduled for April and May have been cancelled,
as also have the World Amateur (scheduled for Vladivostok) and the World
Women's Amateur (scheduled for Tokyo). Check the Events Calendar.
<http://www.britgo.org/tournaments> nearer the time for status of later
events.

*Events not cancelled* at time of going to press include:
*MAY*
Kyu Players Weekend, London
Bar-Low, London
Not the London Open
*JUNE*
Pair Go, Hatfield Durham
Galway
Welsh Open, Barmouth
*AUGUST*
Scottish Open, Dundee
Mind Sports Olympiad, London
Youth Training Residential near Grantham, Lincolnshire
*SEPTEMBER*
Cornwall
T Mark Hall Rapid Play, London
European Women's Championship, London
*LATER*
October, Wessex, Three Peaks
November, Doki Doki Festival (Manchester), British Youth Go Championship
December, London Open

*OVERSEAS*
The European Go Federation's Tournament Calendar
<https://www.eurogofed.org/calendar/calendar.htm> includes the Major
European Tournaments and a World Tournament Calendar.
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