[Newsletter] BGA Newsletter 337 April 2026

[Jil Segerman]

FROM THE EDITOR

This issue, and previous newsletters, will be found in the Newsletter
Archive <https://britgo.org/newsletter> in the Members' Area
<https://britgo.org/membersonlyaccess>. 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
<https://britgo.org/allnews>.

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
NEWSPandanet - Switzerland

In the sixth match of the 2025–2026 B-League season the UK team played
Switzerland winning 4-0. Congratulations to Michael Cheung, Bruno
Poltronieri, Jake Game and Ryan Zhang. This made the team third after
leaders Croatia had their first five match wins voided after a player used
AI.

Further information here <https://britgo.org/events/euroteams2025>.
Youth Team

The youth team played Germany in the third round of the Pandanet Youth
Teams, but lost 0-5. They also lost to Croatia in round four by the same
margin.

Further information here <https://britgo.org/junior/pandanet>.
BGA Tournament Winners

Full results here <https://britgo.org/results/12months>.
*Trigantius* - Yuanzhen Li
*MSO GP Go 13x13* - Lucas Neirynck
AlphaGo: 10-Year Anniversary

Ten years ago, the AlphaGo AI system became the first program to defeat a
world champion in the game of Go. The significance of this event lies in
the famous "Move 37" in the second game of the match. This was the first
time that an artificial intelligence system showed its ability to go beyond
human knowledge and reasoning, and create new knowledge.

DeepMind's Thore Graepel explains the significance of this event in the BBC
"Inside Science" series, episode: "Is the Earth warming faster that we
expected?" <https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct8ty3>. See also the article
by Demis Hassabis
<https://deepmind.google/blog/10-years-of-alphago/?_gl=1*t2pwuv*_up*MQ..*_ga*NzE5MjAyMTg4LjE3NzM1NjQwNTA.*_ga_LS8HVHCNQ0*czE3NzM1NjQwNTAkbzEkZzAkdDE3NzM1NjQwNTAkajYwJGwwJGgw>
 on the deepmind.google website. And Daniel Hu's paper "Alphazero on Go"
<https://gocentre.londongo.club/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Alphazero-on-Go.pdf>
 on the LGC website <https://gocentre.londongo.club/resources> showing the
influence on Go strategy.
ADMINAnnual General Meeting Reminder

The 2026 AGM of the BGA will be held online via ZOOM on the evening of
Thursday May 28th.

This year Sebastian Pountney is standing down as Secretary, and Sam Bithell
is also standing down as a Director, so as always we welcome applications
to join the Board.

Key dates for the AGM are:
* Nominations for Officers and Directors must be received by April 16th
* Any motions (resolutions) that members want to submit must be received by
April 16th
* The agenda will be issued by April 30th
* Any amendments to ordinary resolutions must be received by May 24th
* Proxy votes must be registered by May 27th

Full details of the above are in the company articles, which are linked from
 this page. <https://www.britgo.org/articles>
British Go Congress, Friday 10th–Sunday 12th April - Reminder

Entries are still open <https://britgo.org/tournaments#congress> for the
2026 British Go Congress, to be held at Stephen Perse Foundation (Senior
School), Union Rd, Cambridge CB2 1HF.

As usual this event will begin with the British Lightning Championship on
Friday evening, followed by the British Open Championship on Saturday to
Sunday (6-round McMahon, Class A rated with Fischer time 45 minutes + 15
seconds).
EVENTS COMING SOON

*This Month:* British Go Congress (Cambridge), Online Lesson 4
*May* Candidates (British Championship) and Aspirants, Sheffield
University, Not the London Open, Online Lesson 5, Ulster, Welsh Open
(Barmouth)
*June* Durham, Cambridge Youth, Online Lesson 6
*July* European Go Congress (Turkey)
*August* Mind Sports Olympiad (London)
*September* European Women (London)
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