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 wins, with Stefan Budig 4-dan (Germany) taking second place on SOS.

Noel Mitchell 2-dan won the Irish National Championship and represented Ireland in the 18th WAGC, finishing in 27th place with four wins. He was also invited to play a teaching game with the Chief Referee for the tournament, Kobayashi Satoru, which was presented in Go Weekly [the game is given on page 36].

Ireland still suffers from a severe lack of women players and a continuous drain on our existing players from emigration. We are currently planning new initiatives for recruiting players, using some of the new teaching material available in Europe.

Club details
Regular meetings are held in either the Henry Grattan Pub on Baggott St. or The Pembroke Pub on Pembroke St., Dublin, every Monday and Wednesday evening from 8:30 pm. All are welcome.
(Report by Noel Mitchell)