Welcome to our website. The Irish Go Association is the official organisation for promotion of the ancient oriental game of Go in Ireland. We are members of the European Go Federation and the International Go Federation, and organise numerous club and tournament events throughout the year. The IGA promotes awareness of the game including teaching sessions and providing public infomation. Please read further here for details of member benefits and our activities.
Venkata Velpuri of the Belfast club secured victory in the recent ‘Warming up’ tournament in Galway. Second place went to Philippe Renaut with James Hutchinson in third.
Full results can be found here
Another reason to attend next month’s Confucius Cup tournament in Dublin – a special sporting delegation from Beijing will be visiting. They will attend the congress to review top games, play simultaneous games, and award Dan certificates. Below is the list of experts and professional players who will come:
| Chen Zelan | - | Vice President of World Xiangqi Federation, Vice President of Board Games & Cards Administrative Centre of General Sport Administration of China. |
| Hua Xueming | - | 7d, Go Chinese national Team Captain. 16th and 18th National Go Women Individual champion; China 1st Mixed Pair Competition champion; 2nd Women Fast Game champion. |
| Huang Yizhong | - | 7d Go professional. |
| Guo Liping | - | Vice Director of the Chinese Chess Department, General Administration of Sport of the People’s Republic of China. |
| Jiang Chuan | - | Professional Chinese Chess player, National Champion, World Champion. |
More details about the Confucius Cup tournament and registration here.
The Irish Championship of 2014 is not yet finished, but a date has been set for the event of next year. On the weekend of January 10th – 11th the Top 8 kick-off event will take place at the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin. The Annual General meeting will be held on the evening of Saturday the 10th of January. The AGM will take place on the Saturday, after the Top 8 games finish, provisionally at 5:00pm. Read on to find the AGM agenda. Read the rest of this entry »
There will be a one day tournament in Galway on Sunday January 18th. See the Galway Club’s Facebook Group for up to date details. The expected format is also given below:
Date : Sunday 18th of January
Location : St-Mary’s College, St-Mary’s Road Galway City
https://goo.gl/maps/OAzJU
This year the Belfast Club created an Ulster Championship, in which 4 players took part. Losing out in the semi-finals were Paul Kelly and James Aitken. The final was won by James Hutchinson, who beat Tiberiu Gociu by the score of 2-0. The games from the final are attached for you to play through.
Read the rest of this entry »
The Irish Go Association in association with The UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland is pleased to present the 2015 Irish Go & Chinese Chess Congress. The events will take place from February 6th to 8th. While this will be the 26th annual Open Go tournament, it will also host Ireland’s first ever Chinese Chess tournament. The Congress will take place at its new location at The Gresham Hotel right in the heart of Dublin’s city centre, and will be comprised of three tournaments:
– The Rapid Go Tournament
– The Confucius Cup Go Tournament
– The Confucius Cup Chinese Chess Tournament
Full details here
Sunday the 30th of November saw the end of this year’s Irish Ladder tournament. Sitting on top of the pile of combatants was Philippe Renaut of le club de Galway. After playing his way to the top, he survived numerous challenges to his pole position. In second place was James Hutchinson, third placed was Ian Davis. Congratulations to Philippe!
The competition will re-open next year for all IGA members.
The University College Cork tournament took place on the 15th and 16th of November. The venue for this year was once again the Mardyke Pavillion. The format was a handicap Swiss, which offers up the chance to the lower ranked players to win the event. However, it was the highest ranked player taked part, Philippe Renaut (2-dan) who took home the honours, winning all of his 5 games. In second place was Gerry Gavigan, a UK player who was visiting the tournament. Taking third place on tiebreak was organiser Thomas Shanahan. Although the turnout could have been bigger, it was encouraging to see some new players taking part, particularly we might note the players travelling from Galway.
Full results and photographs may follow!
The Irish squad for the European Team Championships continued their strategy of starting slow, in order to end with a glorious late run. Up against the Springboks on Tuesday 18th November, they ended the match with a considered 1-3 deficit. James Hutchinson performed well to topple the 3-dan playing top board for South Africa, but the other squad members failed to follow his lead, despite having some good chances in all 3 games. Next up in the league will be the United Kingdom.
As if Irish Go players didn’t have enough excitement, with the upcoming UCC tournament, the finale of the Ladder, and the announcement of the next Confucius Cup – along comes another event. For those who enjoy life in the slow lane, registration is now open for the 2015 Irish Correspondence Championship. The format is very much the same as last year’s, so for those who enjoyed the competition last year, don’t leave it to late to sign up. The event should be kicking off just before 2015 begins.