Seventh Annual World Collegiate WEIQI Championship

Posted on 2020-02-01 by John

The IGA has received the following invitation from the Shanghai Ing Foundation:

International Collegiate Tournaments which gathers 100 players from over 40 universities and more than 15 countries each year. This year’s tournament will be held in Shenzhen, China, from July 7 – 13.

The tournament is open to any current undergraduate or graduate level college student. All costs related to room, board, and tours during the event will be covered by the tournament organizer. Travel costs associated with getting to and from Shenzhen will be the student’s responsibility.

This is a truly unique experience as the Shanghai Ing Foundation does not spare any expense during the planning of this event. If you would like to know more about this program, you can find the schedule and regulations as well as additional information on the Shanghai Ing Foundation’s website.

While play is competitive, players of all skill levels are welcome to participate. There will be five divisions: Open, low dan, single digit kyu, double digit kyu, and a women’s division.

The deadline for applying is March 15th

Interested parties should contact Eoghan – president@irish-go.org

Posted in World | Tagged | 2 Comments

January

Posted on 2019-12-31 by John

Looking forward… January

Correspondence Championship
With a near-record number of signups, this kicks off on New Year’s Day in the OGS Ireland group.

WAWGC 2020
The deadline for applications to the 2020 World Amateur Women’s Go Championship in Tokyo is on the 5th.

Irish Women’s Championship
Carol and Michele will advance to the final of the 2019 Irish Womens Go Championship. This best of three will kick off in the new year.

Top 8 (Irish Championship)
The main tournament runs the weekend of 25th–26th. The best-of-three series will follow in February.

Further ahead… February

Irish Go Congress
The Rapid and the Irish Open will take place in Dublin over the weekend of the 28th February – 1st March

Weekly Meetings

Galway – Tuesday 19:30 in Mc Swiggans
Cork – every other Tuesday* 20:30 in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral Hall
Dublin – Wednesday 19:00 in Toners
Online – Thursday 20:00-22:00
Stillorgan – Sunday 14:00-18:00 at PingZone, St Benildus College
Cork – every other Sunday* 20:30 at Mr Bradleys, Barrack St

* The rebel county alternates between two venues and nights. Best to check in advance if planning to attend.

Pandanet Go European Team Championship
10th PGETC
Ireland stays atop the table after drawing 2-2 against Slovakia in round 3. They will face Slovenia on the 28th.

Looking back… December

2019 Top 8 (Irish Championship)
Matei emerged triumphant in the final game of the Championship.

On the continent…

30 years of Pair Go
Several teams from Europe were in Tokyo to participate in tournaments organised by the Japan Pair Go Association to celebrate 30 years of Pair Go at international level.

Västerås Open 2020
A two-day tournament in Sweden on 8th-9th Feb.

Tenuki

KGS+ Now Free
The AGF has “a very long list of things [they] want to improve”, such as removing reliance on Java, to open KGS up to more people.

The Littlest 1-dan
Today’s Power Report gives an update on the exploits of Nakamura Sumire, along with other events from the month just gone.

Learn (Basic) Joseki
A new site listing 248 joseki for kyu players.

Posted in Europe, Ireland, Online, World | Tagged , , | Comments Off on January

December

Posted on 2019-12-01 by John

Looking forward… December

Top 8 (Irish Championship)
James and Matei stand at one win each, with the deciding game provisionally scheduled for the 14th.

Further ahead… 2020

Correspondence Championship
Next year sees this tournament moving to OGS. Registration closes December 15th.

Top 8 (Irish Championship)
Registration is now open for next year’s Top 8. Deadline for entry is December 15th.

Irish Go Congress
The Rapid and the Irish Open will take place in Dublin over the weekend of the 28th February – 1st March

Weekly Meetings

Galway – Tuesday 19:30 in Mc Swiggans
Cork – every other Tuesday* 20:30 in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral Hall
Dublin – Wednesday 19:00 in Toners
Online – Thursday 20:00-22:00
Stillorgan – Sunday 14:00-18:00 at PingZone, St Benildus College
Cork – every other Sunday* 20:30 at Mr Bradleys, Barrack St

* The rebel county, being awkward as ever, has decided to alternate weekly between two venues on two different nights. Best to check in advance if planning to attend.

Pandanet Go European Team Championship
10th PGETC
Ireland returned another 3-1 result in round 2 against Croatia. They will face Slovakia on the 3rd.

Looking back… November

Cork Go Tournament
This year ended up being a cosy affair, without the traditional disaster. Results via EGD. Some photos have also been posted.

Irish Womens Championship
The Irish Womens Championship is underway. Results so far

On the continent…

European Youth Go Championships
The 25th EYGC will take place on 11-14th March 2020. More info on L19

Silk Road Tournament
Tony Claasen has written an article covering the 6th Silk Road Tournament, which took place in Vienna at the start of November.

Västerås Open 2020
A two-day tournament in Sweden on 8th-9th Feb next year. (The TD has tenuous links to the IGA.)

Tenuki

Invincible – The Games of Skynet
Lee Sedol has resigned from professional play, citing the rise of AI opponents that cannot be defeated.

Yutopian Enterprises
The US retailer is offering a retirement discount, and looking for someone who might be interested in carrying on the business.

Posted in Cork, Europe, Ireland, Online | Tagged , , | Comments Off on December

November

Posted on 2019-11-01 by John

Looking forward… November

Cork Go Tournament
This will take place on the 23rd-24th of November

Further ahead… 2020

Correspondence Championship
Next year sees this tournament moving to OGS. Registration closes December 15th.

Top 8 (Irish Championship)
Registration is now open for next year’s Top 8. Deadline for entry is December 15th.

Irish Go Congress
The Rapid and the Irish Open will take place in Dublin over the weekend of the 28th February – 1st March

Weekly Meetings

Galway – Tuesday 19:30 in Mc Swiggans
Cork – every other Tuesday* 20:30 in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral Hall
Dublin – Wednesday 19:00 in Toners
Online – Thursday 20:00-22:00
Stillorgan – Sunday 14:00-18:00 at PingZone, St Benildus College
Cork – every other Sunday* 20:30 at Mr Bradleys, Barrack St

* The rebel county, being awkward as ever, has decided to alternate weekly between two venues on two different nights. Best to check in advance if planning to attend.

Pandanet Go European Team Championship
10th PGETC
Getting off to a good start in League C, Ireland beat Denmark 3-1 in the first round. The team will face Croatia in round 2 on the 5th.

Looking back… October

Irish Correspondence Championship
Philippe claimed the 2019 title with an impressive 8/9 wins

Top 8
Matei beat Roman in a tie-breaker to decide who would advance to face James in the best-of-three final matches

Korean Prime Minister’s Cup
The IGA advises that it has changed the selection process for the KPMC

On the continent…

Europe gets a sensational victory in the 4th MLily Cup
Artem Kachanovskyi has posted a detailed writeup

European Student Go Championship
The 2019 EGSC was held on 28-29 September in Kyiv, Ukraine


EGC 2020
Next year’s European Go Congress has been announced

Västerås Open 2020
A two-day tournament in Sweden on 8th-9th Feb next year. (The TD has tenuous links to the IGA.)

Tenuki

qGo
The alternative IGS client has hit the version 1.0 milestone


BadukPop!
Haijin Lee (aka Haylee) has announced a new tsumego mobile app. Its freemium nature has received some criticism on reddit.

Posted in Cork, Europe, Ireland, Online, World | Tagged , | Comments Off on November

Cork Go Tournament 2019

Posted on 2019-10-03 by John

We are pleased to announce The Cork Go Tournament of 2019, to be held over the 23rd-24th of November.

Here in friendly Cork, on the banks of the Lee by the famous St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral, we are delighted to host another Go tournament for all you go aficionados out there.

GENERAL INFO and RULES

This will be a class B Swiss Tournament (Handicap -1) of 5 rounds; 40 minutes main thinking time and 5X30 seconds byoyomi. Komi will be set at 6.5 and Japanese counting will be used for scoring the game.

As always we will supply various teas, coffee, fruit, biscuits and other goodies!

SCHEDULE

Saturday
9.30: Registration
10:00 Round 1
13:30 Round 2
16:00 Round 3
19:00 Dinner at a nearby restaurant

Sunday
11:00 Round 4
14:30 Round 5

VENUE: St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral Hall, Dean Street, Cork.

Entry Fee – €15 (€8 for students and unemployed).

REGISTRATION

Please fill out the registration form

OR

You can email tomasoseanachain@gmail.com with your name, email address, rank, club, and whether you would like to join us for dinner.

Registered players

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Posted in Cork | Tagged | 1 Comment

October

Posted on 2019-10-01 by John

Looking forward… October

Irish Womens Championship
With entry closed, this is starting earlier than advertised

Irish Correspondence Tournament
This is now drawing to a close.
Ian is looking for someone to organise next year – anyone interested can email newsletter@irish-go.org

Top 8
Also has just a few games left

Further ahead…November

Cork Go Tourney
The 2019 Cork Tournament will take place on 23-24 November. Details to follow, but it will likely be a class B tournament of 5 rounds.

Weekly Meetings

Galway – Tuesday 19:30 in Mc Swiggans
Cork – every other Tuesday* 20:30 in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral Hall
Dublin – Wednesday 19:00 in Toners
Online – Thursday 20:00-22:00
Stillorgan – Sunday 14:00-18:00 at PingZone, St Benildus College
Cork – every other Sunday* 20:30 at Mr Bradleys, Barrack St

* The rebel county, being awkward as ever, has decided to alternate weekly between two venues on two different nights. Best to check in advance if planning to attend.

Pandanet Go European Team Championship
10th PGETC
The 2019-2020 incarnation kicks off early October

Looking back… September

Confucius Cup
The IGA has posted the final standings. Young-sam Kim won from a very strong field including Pavol Lisy 2p and Cornel Burzo 7d.
SGFs of the top games should be available again whenever KGS stops falling over…

Online Interprovincials
Connaught has now won enough games to be declared this year’s winner.

Belfast Go Tournament
Results from the one day tournament are available on the EGD

On the continent…

EWGC 2019
The EGF has posted two articles on the European Women’s Go Championship


EGC 2020
Next year’s European Go Congress has been announced

Västerås Open 2020
A two-day tournament in Sweden on 8th-9th Feb next year. (The TD has tenuous links to the IGA.)

Tenuki

Play it again, Fan
While looking for something else entirely, I stumbled across the collection of reviews Fan Hui did for IGA members back in 2015

Our Increasingly Benevolent Future Overlords
Two new developments:
DeepMind: The Podcast – hosted by mathematician and broadcaster Dr Hannah Fry
A new version of lizzie

Russian Go Federation handsout two-year ban
The Federation Executive Committee has barred a player until Sep 2021 after finding that he cheated in the 24th international PandaNet tournament.

Sunmire wins on time
A somewhat ambiguous facebook post was given context on L19. She has unfortunately since lost in the final round of the 23rd Female Kisei.


Shanghai Tango

Posted in Cork, Europe, Ireland, Online, World | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on October

September

Posted on 2019-09-02 by John

Looking forward… September

Belfast Go Tournament
There will be a one day tournament in Belfast on Saturday September 14th

Confucius Cup
This heavyweight of the 2019 Irish lineup (a level C event in the European Grand Prix) will take place over the weekend of September 28th/29th at the Confucius Institute in UCD

Online Interprovincials
Round 3 is still underway

Further ahead…November

Irish Womens Championship
The 3rd Irish Womens Championship will kick off in November. Games will be played over a period of 6 months both in person and online. The deadline for registration is September 22nd.

Weekly Meetings

Galway – Tuesday 19:30 in Mc Swiggans
Cork – Tuesday 20:30 in St Fin Barre’s Cathedral Hall
Dublin – Wednesday 19:00 in Toners
Online – Thursday 20:00-22:00
Stillorgan – Sunday 14:00-18:00 at PingZone, St Benildus College

Looking back… August

KBA Equipment
The Korean Baduk Association has kindly provided the IGA with sets, books, and clocks, to be divvied up between the Belfast, Cork, Dublin, and Galway clubs.
KBA equipment

Irish Correspondence Tournament
The duracell bunny of Irish tournaments keeps on going

On the continent…

A Day at EGC 2019
Carol has posted a report on this year’s EGC.
Carol EGC 2019

EGF Ratings System Review
A Commission has been set up to evaluate a proposed change to the EGF ratings system. The change would see EGF rankings expanded, allowing those with ranks weaker than 20kyu to participate fairly in EGF rules tournaments. Anyone interested in nominating someone for the Commission or Stakeholder Group should contact secretary@irish-go.org

Teach the Teachers
A special, free event for the bright organising go minds of Europe will take place in the European Go Cultural Centre on the weekend of 5-6 October. Three professionals from Japan, Korea, and China will be present to share their professional knowledge on how to teach our sport, with an emphasis on how to promote go in schools.

Tenuki

The Futurama of AI
Andreas Hauenstein has created a site where you can play against not just Leela, but also three weaker variants dubbed Fry, Bender, and Farnsworth. More info here.
Carol EGC 2019

Nakamura Sumire
The AGA’s John Power reports on the youngest pro’s first (and second) win.

Tenuki Normal
A non-profit brand whose goal is to create Go/weiqi/baduk/igo style clothing for comfortable and casual wear that stays true to the aesthetics of the game

Posted in Cork, Europe, Ireland, Online, World | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on September