21 Feb 2010 No Comments
| March 5, 2010 | ||
| 4:00 pm | to | 7:00 pm |
The Melbourne University Students Playing Go collective are kicking off first semester with their traditional Beginners’ Night from 4pm on Friday the fifth of March. If you’re around Melbourne Uni then, RSVP via Facebook or just turn up. Here are some pictures of last year’s beginners night.
06 Oct 2009 1 Comment
The 2009 Australian open champion is Zack Zhou 7d. Second place in the open division of the thirty-second Australian National Go Tournament on the weekend went to Kevin Chen 7d, and Raphael Shin 7d placed third. All three players won five of the six rounds, and were separated on the sum of their opponents’ scores.
All the competitors
The second division was handicapped, with eleven competitors between second dan and third kyu. Yong Heng Li 3k won with a clean sweep, Jeremy Wen 1d of Brisbane came second with five victories, and Tridat Tran 1k placed third with four wins.
Bill Wen winning third division in the 2009 Nationals
The third division (four kyu and under) was won by Bill Wen 15k of Brisbane, with Masahide Yanagi 5k and Warrakun Mangrai 8k placing second and third.
An Younggil 8p playing simultaneous games on the teaching day
In all, a good tournament, with a strong field (110 dan!) of forty competitors, and a good turnout for An Younggil 8p’s teaching afternoon on the preceding Friday. The BBQ didn’t hurt, either. Kudos to the host Melbourne University Students Playing Go collective, and the newly announced Victorian Go Club for helping out.
Shining Yin, tournament director for the 2009 Nationals
A full report with shiny photos will be in the summer edition of the Journal. If anybody has any interesting kifu from the tournament and wants to send them to us, we will be happy to turn them into SGF files for your use and and see about getting reviews of them from strong players for later publication.
01 Sep 2009 2 Comments
Game Rules
Each game is 60 minutes main time for each player with one period of 30 seconds byoyomi thereafter. (updated from 30 minutes per side, which was a typo – 6/9/2009)
Division One- Open (no handicap)
Division Two- Handicap rules
Divison Three- Handicap rules
Nationals Programme
Itinerary for Saturday and Sunday, as well as game rules will be explained during Opening Ceremony.
Registration opens at 8a.m on Saturday, please ensure you arrive early with your registration details (payment in cash/payment details) and to collect your badges.
Closing Ceremony and Presentation of Prizes is set to take place at 6pm Sunday.
Friday’s Teaching Day
Begins at 9. For those flying in on Friday, feel free to make your way to the event when available. There will be nearby eateries for lunch options including Subway, KFC and China Bar.
Students Playing Go committee members are likely to be busy in the evening in preparation for the Nationals, for those wanting dinner in the city, they’ll be happy to recommend some awesome places.
Please direct all questions to mail@spgo.org.au.
29 Aug 2009 4 Comments
Friday’s Teaching Day (2nd October)
Students Playing Go is holding a Revision/Teaching Day before the Nationals Tourney and all players are welcome to join (free event) on Friday. Professional players An Younggil (6p) and Zheng Hong (9p) will be present if you have any questions and for reviews and teaching games. This is a phenomenal opportunity for go players so do come along (come rain or hail or high winds)
Time: 9am-5pm. Friday 2nd October.
Location: Room 109, Alice Hoy Building, Melbourne Uni. (This room is located downstairs, entrance from Monash Road. Get off the tram and walk into uni, it should be the second set of stairs going down into the building on your left)
Tournament Fee
SPGO now have a DIRECT DEBIT system for players to pay their entry fee. Please send your payment to “Students Playing Go”, BSB: 803143, Account number: 9083. (Melbourne University Credit Union Limited).
Once you’ve sent your payment, please email SPGO (mail@spgo.org.au) with your registration details and the reference number of your payment. It is vital that you include your NAME and REFERENCE NUMBER of payment.
You can also ensure a quicker registration on tournament day by buying your AGA membership from the AGA now. Please include your membership number with your registration details.
Tournament Prizes
Players will be competing for some awesome prizes!
Trophies for 1st, 2nd, 3rd Placements + 2 Runner Ups
Cash Prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Placements
Gifts for Winners and Fighting Spirit Awards
9×9 Fun Tourney- Gifts and Prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Placements + Fighting Spirit Award
Game Rules
For Divisions 1, 2 and 3.
Absolute setting, 45 min per player- 90mins per game, Japanese rules, 6.5 komi. Handicap system in place.
Accommodations
Accommodation in Melbourne during the Australian National Go Tournament 2009 may be in peak-season prices, due to the Spring Racing Carnival. It is advisable to book early.
Here’s a website you can browse through for hostels around Melbourne: http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/australia/melbourne/
Here are the easiest-to-navigate-from hostels for those who are not confident using the public transport or maps (but be warned, these may be the most expensive due to its location):
City Centre Budget Hotel - 22-30 Little Collins Street, Melbourne. http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/australia/melbourne/8415/
The Greenhouse Backpacker (Melbourne) 228 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia website: www.greenhousebackpacker.com.au
email: greenhouse@friendlygroup.com.au
phone: 1800 249 207 (freecall, within australia)/ (613) 9639 6400 (overseas)
Dormitory of 4-8, $28 per night
Double (2 people maximum) $78 per night per room
Single $65 per night per room. No group bookings discounts available.
This one is in walking distance (5 minute walk):
Victoria Hall Accomodation – 380 Russell St, Melbourne, Australia 3000
phone: 1800 670 611(within australia)
website: victoriahall.com.au
private or dorm rooms, with shared bathrooms
twin room: from $75 a night (private)
single room: from $59 a night (private)
Dorm rooms: 4-bed dorm: from $28 a bed
6-bed dorm: from $24 a bed
Bookings from website, or phone call with credit card (VISA or Mastercard) details.
Please have a look through the Go Journal Forums for home stay possibilities. If you’re in Melbourne and can offer homestay, please add to the forums.
Maps/Directions
The Univeristy of Melbourne is easily accessable by public transport. Every tram at the Flinders St Train Station tram stop and along Swanston Street will stop or pass by the university. These trams have “Melbourne University” displayed on the front, but if in doubt, just ask the tram driver.
Included are a map of Melbourne (follow the RED line I’ve marked), and a map of the Melbourne Uni campus (the Union Building is in grey and circled in RED). Trams will stop right outside the Arrow marked 1, please walk into the campus via Monash road and look for the Union Building. Alternatively you can walk a little upwards to Arrow 2 and walk straight towards the Union Building. Members Lounge is on the ground floor.
We hope to see all of you at the Nationals.
If you have any questions please contact the organizers at mail@spgo.org.au
26 Jul 2009 No Comments
| July 29, 2009 | ||
| 4:00 pm | to | 7:00 pm |
The Melbourne University Students Playing Go club are holding their biannual beginners night on 29th July in the Graham Cornish Room at Union House. If you’re on campus, or even if you’re not, come down from 4pm-7pm, be sociable, learn some go. See the entry on their blog for more details, or contact shamim@go.org.au.
03 Jul 2009 5 Comments
| October 3, 2009 | to | October 4, 2009 |
Details of the Australian National Championships are confirmed as follows:
Venue: Members’ Lounge, Ground Floor, Union House, University of Melbourne
Registration form is here
On-the-day registration begins at Saturday 9:00am, but please register in advance!
AGA Annual General Meeting begins Saturday 5:30pm
Closing ceremony begins Sunday 5:30pm
Contact: SPGO or or Box 11, Union House, University of Melbourne, Vic 3010
The Tournament Referee will be An Young Gil 6p.
28 Mar 2009 4 Comments
Late afternoon on a cloudy Tuesday rolled around, and the committee members of Students Playing Go staggered over to the Union building, arms laden with go equipment and plenty of snacks. The event started precisely at four, and as several muttered ‘we didn’t expect -this- many people to show up!’ Indeed we recorded more than 40 turn-ups, comprising of old and new members, players from the local high school and even a couple of curious students peeking in from the outside. Many immediately dived into games while others sampled the food (the dips seemed to be a firm favourite!). It was great seeing everyone mixing about and even separating into small groups for teaching games. Yours truly had to miss the middle hour, during which the tournament director Trithang held a demonstration of life and death situations and opening strategy. All in all it was a very lively evening, ending with an awesome group photo! We certainly hoped that many have picked up some good tips and a good many new friends.
07 Mar 2009 No Comments
This just in from Shamim at the Melbourne University Students Playing Go collective:
“The end of summer saw intense flurries of activity from the committee members of SPGO (notwithstanding its political sounding name, Students Playing Go is the happy friendly resident go club of the University of Melbourne), who are preparing to lure welcome new students and introduce them to this wonderful game. We begin by braving 38 degrees heat for Orientation week and was met with resounding success with a high markup of new members. Some have seen passing reference to go especially in movies and TV shows, but many became interested by the sight and sounds of stones hitting the board and also (we hope) by our smiling faces as we demonstrated games. Good news this year, there were fewer mentions of reversi and no one mistook stones for candy nor attempted to eat any!
Turnout for first week meetings have been quite pleasing, with even a couple of dan-level players coming in and beginners who dived into games with much enthusiasm. The first event for the semester – Beginners’ Night certainly looks to be promising at this rate! Meanwhile, the hiccup of players getting lost while attempting to locate us in the Alice Hoy building, will hopefully sort itself out soon.
Stay tuned for more updates and activities from Students Playing Go =)”
Yes, more posts than average this week from me; I hope to persuade someone at MU-SPGO that they want posting rights on this blog as well as theirs, so you don’t just see the same names all the time here. And it would be nice to hear from the UNSW Go Club as well as the crowd at UWA. If anyone in Sydney or Perth is reading this and is in a position to, could you give them a poke?
Go Game Guru