Welcome

Hello.

I thought for this auspicious occasion that I would try my hand at blogging my experience at the first ever Go congress in Australia.

A bit about Australia - Australia is a relatively small country considering its population but a very large one considering its size (it’s roughly the same size as Europe with about one twentieth the population). This makes finding other players of Go in Australia a bit tricky - we are thinly spread - a tyranny of distance as they say. Thus you can imagine my excitement when I heard there was to be a Congress. The possibility of bringing together players from all around Australia and the world in one place for the sole purpose of playing and celebrating Go was intoxicating! I hope that it will be the first of many.

A bit about myself - I've been playing Go for many years (I'm not going to tell you how long as it would be embarrassing - I have only recently broken the 10kyu barrier!) I could not honestly say I play seriously (more an avid dabbler if you will). I love the game though. I really love the game. I live in Sydney and play at the Sydney Go Club on Friday nights. I occasionally travel around Australia to compete in tournaments. The nearest other centre for Go from Sydney is Canberra which is a three hour drive south and a little bit inland. Or I can fly for an hour and a half south to Melbourne in Victoria or north to Brisbane or the Gold Coast in Queensland. As I said, thinly spread.

One other thing I must say about Go in Australia - we are incredibly fortunate to have Younggil An 8p from Korea decide to come and live in Sydney. It certainly has been a great boon for Australian Go.

The Congress itself will run for four days from tomorrow (wowow). The main tournament will be seven rounds and have a 1st prize of $5,000!!! There will also be a free tour of Sydney on the 1st day :)

I hope you enjoy this blog of the Congress. There are some links below to find out more about the Congress, Australian Go and other links to find out more about Go generally. Feel free to send me comments, criticisms, questions and the like. I can't promise I'll be able to answer them but I'll try :)