Welcome to the first NZ Go Society newsletter of the century! This will be a regular mailing, bringing you news of upcoming events, tournament results, game records, problems – anything of interest to New Zealand go players. This month we report on the recent National Championship competition in Auckland, give a brief overview of the NZGS, and launch this newsletter.

The 2002 NZ Go Championship competition was held in Auckland over the weekend of the 9^th and 10^th of November. Twenty players took part in the event – 3 from Dunedin, 3 from Wellington, and 14 from Auckland.

The strength in play seemed very high, with nominal rankings in the Open section ranging from 2 dan up to 6 dan. The handicap section saw some interesting pairings, with Edwin Phease, 6 (that’s his age, not his kyu rating) providing not only formidable competition but also highly entertaining impromptu commentary, for all to hear.

Auckland’s Daniel Jung, 15, proved unstoppable, taking the title of New Zealand Go Champion 2002 with six straight wins. Second, with five wins, was Long yang Li. Ted Kim and Colin Grierson were tied in third place with four wins. Also on four wins was Steve Kim, but the sum-of-scores system came into play here and put Steve in fifth place.

Steve Taylor and Edwin Phease shared first place in the Handicap section. Edwin speaks confidently of reaching shodan level in the near future….

An excellent atmosphere pervaded the entire tournament, with at least as many ‘friendly’ games as competition ones, some very young and talented players, lots of enthusiasm, and an enjoyable Saturday evening - a meal at a Chinese restaurant, after which we invaded Colin’s house for go, drinks, fireworks and the highly amusing card game “Oh Hell”.

Here’s a brief description of the NZGS, stolen from the Dunedin club newsletter (thanks Roger / Barry / Yucong):

The NZGS was started in 1975 in Auckland. Initially there were two member clubs (both in Auckland), but soon go players were found in Wellington and Christchurch. There have also periodically been clubs in Dunedin, Hamilton and Palmerston North.

The main function of the NZGS is to organise a gathering of go players from all over NZ once a year. The NZ Go Congress is held each year around springtime to discuss the NZ go scene and to play in the NZ Go Championships.

Each year the NZGS selects a representative to attend the World Amateur Go Championship (usually in Japan). This is a very desirable trip as all expenses are paid, and you get to meet go players from all over the world. New Zealand's representatives usually finish about the middle of the field; ranging from an 8th placing in 1983 to about 35th.

The representative is chosen based on results in a number of tournaments. There are up to 4 provincial open tournaments (at the moment only Wellington and Auckland hold these) a year and the NZ Go Championship. The Championship has the most weighting. You can see how the points are allocated on the internet at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~barryp/wagc.htm

Sometimes the NZGS has produced magazines to keep NZ go players in touch with each other and with news from around the world.

The NZGS also runs a bookshop to make go literature and playing material available to NZ go players.

At the NZGS AGM, held immediately after the NZ champs, the foundations were laid for establishing a web site, which will raise awareness of go in NZ and make it easier for people to find us.

All New Zealand go players are invited and encouraged to join the NZGS. Your tiny annual subscription of $10 is easily recovered in discounts given on tournament entry fees and bookshop purchases, but more importantly, your membership makes you eligible for a trip to Japan! And obviously you will be kept up to date on news and events.

If you would like to join the NZGS please contact your local club secretary, or Ira Turvey. Ira can be contacted at ira_turvey@xtra.co.nz or you can write to him at this address:

This newsletter has been sent to all known NZ go players, NZGS members or not, in the hope of stimulating even further the growing interest in the game. If you would rather not receive the newsletter in the future, please let me know via return email or post:

I have printed and posted the newsletter to people for whom I don’t have an email address: if you have received this in the post, but also have email, could you please let me know your email address so that we can save on postage costs.

Also, if you know of anybody else who would like to receive this newsletter, please let me know.

I would welcome any news from other clubs out there, or events, items of interest, etc. In the next issue I hope to bring you Leon Phease’s report on his and Yucong’s trip to the 13^th International Amateur Pair Go Championship. And perhaps we’ll soon hear news from Auckland about some new premises (they’ve been evicted from their current meeting place!).