American Go E-Journal » Europe

The British Go Association (BGA) took a stand at the first ever combined London Anime and Gaming Convention on Sunday February 9 at the Rocket Complex, part of the London Metropolitan University. It was expected that some anime fans would have a passing familiarity with go from Hikaru No Go and might like to learn more about the game.

The demo was the initiative of BGA member Ben Murphy of Billaricay Go Club, Essex, who first made contact with the London Animecon and ran a stand there at the August event last year with Tony Atkins (see Go Goes To London AnimeCon, EJ  08/02/13 ). This year BGA VP and AGA member Francis Roads provided a dan-level presence.

They showed people how to play, then engaged them in a 9 x 9 game. Roger Huyshe, the BGA’s seller of books and equipment, provided them with starter go sets with combined 9 x 9 and 13 x 13 boards and copies of the book Teach Yourself Go, by Charles Matthews, and they sold three sets and four books. One man who bought both said he was in the Navy and was looking forward to teaching and playing with his shipmates.

“I really enjoyed doing the demo and I played a few games against Francis Roads and it was an amazing experience teaching people,” said Murphy, adding, “I’d like to give a big thank you to everyone at London Anime and Gaming Convention and the British Go Association for helping me with the demo. Many people enjoyed playing go and I think we made a good number of go fans during the day.”

Report by Tony Collman, British correspondent for the E-Journal. Graphic courtesy London Animecon.

France: The 29th Antony Tournament finished February 2 with Junfu Dai 8d in first, Benjamin Blanchard 3d in second, and Francois Mizessyn 4d in third. Germany: Also on February 2, Viktor Lin 5d took the 17. Erdinger Go-Turnier in Erding. Behind him were Jonas Fincke 4d in second and Sebastian Koller 3d in third. Russia: Natalia Kovaleva 5d (left) bested Rusian Dmitriev 5d at the Festival Lariks in Moscow on February 2 while Igor Nemlij 5d placed third.
– Annalia Linnan,  based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news; photo courtesy of EuroGoTV

Romania: Constantin Ghioc 5d bested Lucretiu Calota 5d at the National Veteran Championship in Bucuresti on January 26 while Liviu Oprisan 4d placed third. Netherlands: Also on January 26, the Dutch Female Championship finished in Amstelveen with Marika Dubiel 2d (left) in first, Mirjam Visscher 4k in second, and Annemarie de Putter 2k in third. Hungary: Dominik Boviz 4d led group 1 in the Kondor Dragon Cup on January 26 in Budapest. Behind him were Robert Csizmadia 1d and Attila Teby 1k.

– Annalia Linnan,  based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news; photo courtesy of EuroGoTV

Tony Buzan, the inventor of mind-mapping and author of numerous books on enhancing the power of the brain, has made his debut appearance at a go tournament at the age of 71. The man once named by Forbes Magazine alongside Henry Kissinger, Margaret Thatcher and Michail Gorbachev as one of the world’s top five international lecturers played in round one of the annual Maidenhead Go Tournament, held January 18 at Hitachi’s European Headquarters in Maidenhead, south-east England, after seeing publicity about the tourney in his local newspaper, the Maidenhead Advertiser.

He entered with a nominal grade of 10k, but it seems this may have been wishful thinking as opponent Colin Maclennan of Twickenham Go Club, with a thick grade of 10k, won by a large margin. Maclennan says, “In our game it soon became apparent that I was building a huge moyo that he allowed me to turn into territory.  He then invaded with little hope of life. In the end I won by over 100 points.”

It appears that Buzan has long wanted to find the time to learn to play go well, though it is hardly surprising, with his prodigious output and many speaking and other commitments, that he has not so far been able to put in the many hours required to master the game. British Go Association VP Tony Atkins says Buzan approached the Association some twenty years ago, enquiring about learning at the time when manytime British and European Champion Matthew Macfadyen 6d was actively teaching. He added, “I still have fond memories of a festival of the brain that [Buzan] organized at the Royal Albert Hall some years ago, which we were privileged to teach go at”. Atkins organizes the go competition in the Mind Sports Olympiad (see Taylor Wins Gold at London’s Mind Sports Olympiad, EJ 8/28/13), which Buzan co-founded.

However, the novice promised tournament organizer Iain Attwell that he will be attending some of Maidenhead Go Club‘s Friday evening meets in the future. If he does, he will be in good hands: the club and tournament, sponsored by Hitachi,  grew out of the Furze Platt School go club which Attwell founded some twenty-five years ago with fellow teacher France Ellul who had taught him to play, and the school produced every single Under-16 and Under-18 British Youth Champion for a number of years. Attwell described his guest as “a very nice gentleman”, and expressed hopes that Buzan will be as good as his word.

In a surprise finish, Toby Manning 2d of Leicester this year stole the tournament from British Championship Challenger Andrew Simons 4d of Cambridge in the third and final round. Click here for full results.

Report by Tony Collman, British correspondent for the E-Journal; photo courtesy of  Buzan’s mindmappingsoftware blog.

Croatia: Lovro Furjanic 1d bested Zoran Mutabzija 5d at the 2. Velika Gorcia Open on January 12 while Mladen Smud 1k placed third. Turkey: The Istanbul City Championship Finals finished on January 4 with Ozgur Degirmenci 2d in first, Mustafa Morca 2k in second, and Hayri Killic 1d in third. Ukraine: Andrii Vdovin 2d conquered the 2014 Championship of the Dnipropetrovsk region on January 5. Kostiantyn Lopatenko 2d came in second and Volodymyr Oblovantyi 1k was third.
– Annalia Linnan,  based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news

Following lively debate on British go community subscription list Gotalk (see British Open Not So Open, Eurogotv 12/30/13), the British Go Association (BGA) has now reviewed its decision to limit entry to the British Open and British Lightning this year to members of the BGA or other national go organization (see footnote to British Open Taking Entries, EJ 12/29/13). Instead non-members will be subject to a £5 surcharge, payable upon attendance. The events form part of the British Go Congress 2014 which, as reported, will be held at the English south coast resort of Bognor Regis, February 28 – March 3, alongside the European Youth Go Championship. Click here to enter.

Tony Collman, British correspondent for the E-Journal