[Newsletter] BGA Newsletter 315 June 2024

[Jil Segerman]

FROM THE EDITOR

This issue, and previous newsletters, are available in the Newsletter
Archive <https://britgo.org/newsletter> in the Members' Area.

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://britgo.org/gopcres/info#mail>.

*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.

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 <https://britgo.org/news>.
Pandanet: Match Against South Africa

Our team in the Pandanet Go European Team Championship
<https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps> played second-placed
South Africa on 21 May. With the UK already promoted they just had to turn
up and avoid a match point penalty. Unfortunately Scott Cobbold tried to
arrange his game against Victor Chow on the Sunday before, but failed to
make the game and the team occurred a two board point penalty. The others
did show up with a win for Des Cann and close losses for Jon Diamond and
Alison Bexfield, allowing second placed South Africa a three-one win to
finish just one match point behind the UK and earn the play-off place. So
the final C-League ordering was UK, South Africa, Spain, Slovakia,
Kyrgyzstan, Denmark, Slovenia and Norway.
Pandanet Youth Go European Team Championships

The team played Croatia in round five of the European Youth Go Team
Championship <https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/PYGETC> on 8 May. The
team was missing two of its strongest team members and so were starting the
match outgraded on three boards. Michael Mitcham-Harding Zoe Walters and
Blake Shamoon were unable to beat their stronger ranked opponents. On board
2 Ryan Zhang played a very competent game to take a win by resignation
while our board 1, Scott Cobbold, fought hard but ultimately lost by 8.5
points. This meant Croatia won the match 4-1.

The UK youth team played Romania in the final round. This match was
unfortunately timetabled in half term week and we were missing some of our
top players; as a result the UK team were out ranked on three of the five
boards so it would have been a tough match to win. In the end, the team of
Scott, Michael, Derek, Lea and Emily all lost their games. This left the UK
third overall in the competition behind Ukraine and Romania.

Our thanks go to Alison Bexfield who acted as team manager.
ADMINBritish Go Journal 207

The Spring 2024 issue of the British Go Journal is now available as a pdf
in the Members' Area on the BGA website. You will need to log-in as a
Member here <http://britgo.org/membersonlyaccess>. Then go to the Members'
Area <http://britgo.org/membersarea> and click on the link below the cover
picture. The link for sgf files, including the problems, for this edition
is here <https://britgo.org/bgj/issue207>.

*CONTENTS*
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Toby Manning
YOUTH NEWS Tony Atkins
GO-PLAYING ROBOT David Wildgoose
ADVICE FOR DOING TSUMEGO – PART FOURTEEN Richard Hunter
PROMOTING GO IN THE UK Paul Smith
UK NEWS Tony Atkins
BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP 2023: GAME 3 Artem Kachanovskyi
ASSOCIATION CONTACT INFORMATION
43RD WORLD AMATEUR GO CHAMPIONSHIPS Tim Hunt
TOURNAMENT HISTORIES XX: OXFORD Tony Atkins
PHOTO COMPETITION Andrew Ambrose-Thurman
WORLD NEWS Tony Atkins
SOLUTIONS TO THE JOURNAL PROBLEMS

Printed copies should have arrived in mid-May.

The copydate for the next edition is 1 July.
Huge Turnout for 2024 AGM

On Thursday 23 May over 60 members either attended the video conference for
the SGM and AGM, or were represented by a proxy vote. For the first time in
many years there was a contested election for president, alongside the
elections for other officers, directors and dispute panel members. Minutes
of the SGM and AGM <https://britgo.org/history/accounts>, together with the
voting results, can be found in the Members' Area
<http://britgo.org/membersarea>.
Consultation on the BGA Financial Reserves

At the AGM the Board announced the start of a consultation exercise with
members over what, if anything, should be done with the BGA’s financial
reserves. A number of options were raised at the meeting, which have been
captured as part of the feedback. All members are encouraged to come
forwards with suggestions as to how we should manage our reserves, through
either maintaining their current level or using them in a specific manner.
All suggestions can be sent to any Board member, such as
president at britgo.org or treasurer at britgo.org. Anonymity will be respected
if requested. The consultation is expected to last several months, and will
be advertised through various channels. Once members' inputs have been
gathered the Board will discuss the findings and put in place an
appropriate plan of action. The results will of course be reported back to
the members.

The current financial position can be seen in our annual accounts for 2023
<https://britgo.org/history/accounts> in the Members' Area
<http://britgo.org/membersarea>.
BGA Photography Competition

Message from Andrew Ambrose-Thurman:
There are many Go players who are also talented photographers and artists.
But something that we hear from clubs and people running events is that
there aren't all that many Go related images available on the internet that
are available for them to use - if you want to put a picture on a poster
for an event, you'll often need to take your own. Go pictures can also be a
good way to advertise the game to people who haven't come across it before:
Go events can look fun and exciting, and Go sets can be beautiful and
intriguing - when people see games being played they'll often stop to ask
about it.

To help with this, the BGA are running a photo competition - to spread the
word, and give the BGA and other Go groups more resources for Go events.

This isn't just for photographs - if you're an artist and want to enter
with your Go related drawings, they would also fit the competition. There's
a full set of rules here <https://britgo.org/photocompetition> with
instructions for where to send your photos. But if you've got any questions
that haven't been covered do get in touch. Whether you're a photographer or
an artist, I hope you'll take part!
The Youth Go Trust Receives Charitable Status

>From Sue Paterson:
In April of this year the Youth Go Trust was awarded charitable status by
HMRC. This means that the Trust is able to claim the Gift Aid on donations
from those individuals who pay UK income tax, thus boosting the donation by
25%.

The Youth Go Trust was created in 2022 from the Castledine-Barnes Trust
which had supported young players for more than twenty years. The Trust
received a generous donation from the T Mark Hall Foundation last year and
is in a healthy position to support young Go players. We are also grateful
to clubs and individual players who have financially supported the work of
Trust in the past and continue to do so. To find out more about the Trust –
including how to donate – please visit our website
<https://www.youthgotrust.org.uk/>

We are keen to support initiatives which encourage young people to play Go
and we also welcome applications for support from individual young people
or their carers. So far this year we have paid out over £850 for equipment
for schools and grants to individuals enabling them to attend Go events. To
make a request for financial support please complete the website
application form and email trustees at youthgotrust.org.uk
EVENTS COMING SOON

*This Month:* Tonbridge, Welsh Open (Barmouth)
*July* European Go Congress (Toulouse, France)
*August* Youth Camp (Caythorpe), Mind Sports Olympiad (London)
*September* Nottingham, Swindon, Edinburgh
*October* Sheffield, British Small Board / UK Go Challenge Finals
(Cambridge), Wessex
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