Continuing our series of historical articles oÂn Go in Ireland, we present John Gibson’s diary of the of the 2001 European Go Congress, which was held in Dublin. John was the Tournament Director for the congress.
The game of Go is probably the oldest board game in existence. It originated in China over 4000 years ago. The first mention of it in literature is by Confucius ( 500 B.C.). The game reached Japan in the 8th century and is now considered the national game of the country and played by approximately [...]
After various informal Go groups met periodically from the 1970′s the TCD group & Collegians club amalgamated to form the IGA in 1989. The IGA became affiliated to the International Go Federation (IGF) and the European Go Federation (EGF) and started running the Irish Open Go Championships from 1990. We reached the 14th running of [...]
The following was taken from the 1997 Ranka Yearbook The main event of 1996 was the Irish Open, held March 15-17 in Dublin. Attended by 28 players from ten countries, it proved to be an exciting tournament. Shutai Zhang 7-dan (UK) was the winner on 5–0, but the next five finishers were all on 3 [...]
Report taken from 1996 Ranka Yearbook 1995 was a very successful year for go in Ireland, being the first year that the Irish Open was a European Grand Prix tournament. It was held in March, with a total attendance of 34, including 19 players of dan strength. The winner of this five-round event was Matthew [...]
Taken from the 1995 Ranka Yearbook This year was marked mostly by a welcome increase in the number of foreign participants in our open events. The Irish Open, held in March 1994, attracted a total of 25 players, including ten dan players, making it the largest and strongest tournament ever held in Ireland. The winner [...]
The following is taken from the 1994 edition of Ranka. 1993 showed an increase in membership and activity for the Irish Go Association. Additionally, we were fortunate to welcome many foreign visitors throughout the course of the year. One highlight was the visit of the professional player Hirano Masaaki 6-dan, who played simultaneous games for [...]
Taken from the 1993 Ranka Yearbook 1992 was a quiet year for Go in Ireland, with very little of note. Noel Mitchell won the Irish Championship and represented Ireland in the 14th WAGC. The winner of the Irish Open was T.Matsumoto 3-dan. Mr Matsumoto is resident in Ireland and a great asset for the improvement [...]
Taken from the 1992 Ranka Yearbook Go in Ireland continued to grow in 1991, with clubs now meeting regularly and an increasing number of foreign visitors making contact. The visit of Mr. Akihiro Kumagai, amateur 5-dan, from Japan to Dublin for a month provided many instructive games and an opportunity to assemble some of the [...]
Taken from the 1991 Ranka Yearbook Ireland is the newest member of the IGF, having been accepted in 1990. While there have been scattered individuals playing Go for over ten years, it wasn’t until 1989 that any attempt was made to form real clubs and organize an Irish Go Association. The impetus for this organization [...]