The newsletter Archive

Graeme Parmenter 12 Sep 2019

 

We plan to archive all the early printed newsletters of the NZ Go Society on the website.   This series covers the period 1975 until 1995.

We will add five years’ worth of newsletters to the archive every month so as not to overwhelm those who might have some interest in the origins of the game in New Zealand!

 

 

The existing online newsletter archive was started in 2017, but a few newsletters from the period 2003-2004 have also been added.  If you have copies of newsletters for the period 1996-2003 or the period 2005-2016 let us know!  We would like to make this a complete archive if possible.

 

 

1975-79

The history of the NZGS newsletter begins before the NZGS, with the Auckland Go Society.  The first five newsletters were all published under the banner of that organization.

They report the 1^st Auckland Go Congress, held in November 1975 and attended by 19 kyu players, including Kurt Flatow from the Sydney Go Club who won Division 1 of the tournament. 

Bob Talbot, the secretary of the Auckland Go Society was providing the teaching articles in the newsletters with hand drawn and labelled diagrams on the vital subject of “Connection”.

The newsletters include a discussion of a “New” system of counting (Chinese method) from Ray Tomes and an article on computer go!

They also give indications of players in other parts of the country, with reports of clubs formed in Wellington and Dunedin and announce an official visit to Australasia by professional go players from Japan.

On 10th July 1976 Bob Talbot became the first home grown dan player when he was given the rank of 1 dan by the Auckland Go Club committee.  Bob learnt the game in the pubs of London before becoming one of the leading lights of the Auckland Go scene.

The 1^st New Zealand Go Congress, was also announced for 1976, signaling the inevitable formation of a national go organization.

The 1^st NZ Go Congress was hosted by Auckland and players at the tournament agreed to form the New Z Go Society.  To solve the delay involved in formulating a constitution it was decided that the Auckland Go Society would change its name to The New Zealand Go Society and a new constitution for that organization would be adopted at the Go Congress in 1977, held in Wellington. 

In 1976, the bookshop was started and Ishi Press books became available to NZ players.  That staple of NZ players the Elementary Go Series was selling for a mere $2.50-$3.50 per volume!

In 1977 Ishi Press began publishing Go World, and suddenly new go players had access to commentary on professional games and up to date teaching articles. 

That same year dissatisfaction with the NZ rules of go began to be expressed and after the Chinese rules were published in Go World No 5 NZ adopted these at the 1978 AGM.

In 1979 NZ was one of only 15 countries to attend the 1^st World Amateur Go Championship becoming a foundation member of the International Go Federation.

 

[To view these newsletters click on "Newsletter Archives" and scroll to the bottom of the page to display more items.]

 

Invitation letter

 

To someone who may concern：

This is Hangzhou Branch of China Qiyuan. From 27^th October to 1^st November, China’s biggest amateur Go tournament “Shanglv Cup International City Go Tournament” Will be held in Hangzhou, China. We sincerely invite you to represent your country to attend this banquet.

 

Please allow us to introduce some basic information of this tournament first:

1. This is the only tournament in China that players can get rank certification issued by China Go Association. Details are as below:

Place	Rank
1	Professional or Amateur 7d
2-9	6d
10-49	5d
50-119	4d
120-209	3d
210-309	2d
310	1d

2. This tournament has high prizes. Details are as below:

Place	Prizes
1	60,000 RMB
2	30,000 RMB
3	20,000 RMB
4	10,000 RMB
5-6	5,000 RMB
7-8	3,000 RMB
9-32	1,000 RMB

There are also high prizes for female, Children and many other groups. Please reply us if you need specific information.

3. In order to encourage more foreign Go Players to participate in, we decide to undertake your entire accommodation fee staying in our 5-star hotel. Besides, if you need the pick-up service, please inform us your flight/Train number early so we can arrange a driver for you.
4. Along with the main tournament, we also have 6 other interesting tournament, which are: Male Doubles, Female Doubles, Male & Female Mixed Doubles, Family Doubles and Children’s Tournament (Below 10 years’ old). All these tournaments are separated with the main tournament so you do not need to worry about the time conflict. These entire tournaments also have high prizes up to 5,000 RMB (First Place).
5. This whole Go tournament (including main tournament and other tournaments) is under the main structure of the biggest Go festival (the 5^th China Go Culture Exposition). Besides the tournament, you may see Vanished Go boards on the “Go Culture Artworks Auction” and fantastic research papers about Go Culture on “the 4^th International Go Culture Conference”. Anyway, we believe that you will not come in vain.

 

After the brief introduction of this tournament, here are the boring but important tournament rules:

1. Each Side has one hour without overtime. Exceeding one hour will be judged as loss. Arriving late more than 30 minutes will be judged as loss.
2. All players will be divided into Group A and B to play totally 9 rounds. Once a player loss 5 games he/she will be knocked out. When finishing all 9 games, the play from Group A will play the player in Group B with the same place to decide the final place. The winner has 2 scores and the loser has 0.
3. The group place will be judged by the results of all players from the certain province/country. If the result is a draw (less possible though), there will be a rematch.

 

Finally, the registration deadline is 30th September, so please reply us as soon as possible so that we can prepare early for your journey. Attached are detailed regulations for the tournament. Whenever you have enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

Contact Person: Di Yang  Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Best Regards

Hangzhou Brach of China Qiyuan

 

Appendix 1: Regulations for the Main Tournament

Appendix 2: Regulations for the Other 6 Tournament

 

 

Regulations for the Main Tournament

Competition:
1. The game uses the latest rules of competition issued by Chinese weiqi association.

Rankings and reward

1. Team classifications take top 6. Women’s take top3.

①Men's group
Champion: 25000 Yuan
Runner-up: 12000 Yuan
Third place: 8000 Yuan
Fourth place: 5000 Yuan
Fifth place: 5000 Yuan
Sixth place: 5000 Yuan

②Women's group
Champion: 15000 Yuan
Runner-up: 10000 Yuan
Third place: 6000 Yuan

      2.Men’s individual take top 32, women’s individual take top 6, when female player get mixed competition ranking , the bonuses can be accumulated.

• Men’s individual
  Champion:60000 Yuan
  Runner-up: 30000 Yuan
  Third place: 20000 Yuan
  Fourth place: 10000 Yuan
  Fifth place: 5000 Yuan
  Sixth place: 5000 Yuan
  Seventh place: 3000 Yuan
  Eight place: 3000 Yuan
  9 to 32:1000 Yuan

②Women’s individual:
Champion: 10000 Yuan
Runner-up: 5000 Yuan
Third place: 3000 Yuan
Fourth place: 1000 Yuan
Fifth place: 800 Yuan
Sixth place: 600 Yuan

Class declaration

	Rank	Declaration level
Final	Champion	Professional 1 dan or Amateur 7 dan
	2th -9th place	Amateur 6 dan
	10th -49th place	Amateur 5 dan

 

 

Cost:

1. No entry fee for this competition.
2. All participants are responsible for their own accommodation and transportation. The organizing committee to provide room for contestants by email reservation, Due to the limited availability of the rooms, reservations will be accepted in orders. Accommodation fee per person per day 120 Yuan, The organizer will provide the subsidies accordingly. Single room 300 Yuan/per day.

 

 

 

Schedule

 

Date	Morning	Afternoon		Evening		Remarks
27th October （Saturday）	Check in Address：China Qiyuan-Hangzhou Branch						Lobby     Tianyuan tower
	Team leaders' meeting 16:30-17:30							4th floor Meeting room
28th October  (Sunday)	First round  9:00-11：00		Second round 13:00-15:00						Competition Room： 5th floor Qian Xi Room
29th October  (Monday	Third round 9:00--11:00		Fourth round 13:00--15:00
			Fifth round 15:30--17:30
30th October （Tuesday）	Sixth round    9:00--11:00		Seventh round 13:00-15:00						5th floor Qian Xi Room
			Eighth round 15:30--17:30
31th October （Wednesday）	Ninth round 9:00—11:00		Final 13:00-15:00		Closing ceremony 18:00				5th floor Qian Xi Room
1thNovember （Thursday）	Departure

 

 

 

Regulations for the Other 5 Tournaments

Competition:
1. The game uses the latest rules of competition issued by Chinese weiqi association.

Rankings and reward
men’s double、women’s double、Mixed doubles、parent-children group、children group take top 6.

 

Duo group：

Champion: 5000 Yuan
Runner-up: 4000 Yuan
Third place: 2000 Yuan
4-6 place: 1000 Yuan

 

Children group：

Champion: 5000 Yuan
Runner-up: 3000 Yuan
Third place: 2000 Yuan
Fourth place: 1000 Yuan
Fifth place: 800 Yuan
Sixth place: 600 Yuan

 

Cost:

3. No entry fee for this competition.
4. All participants are responsible for their own accommodation and transportation. The organizing committee to provide room for contestants by email reservation, Due to the limited availability of the rooms, reservations will be accepted in orders. Accommodation fee per person per day 120 Yuan, The organizer will provide the subsidies accordingly. Single room 300 Yuan/per day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Double Competition Schedule

 

Date	Morning	Afternoon		Evening		Remarks
27th October （Saturday）	Check in Address：China Qiyuan-Hangzhou Branch						Lobby     Tianyuan tower
28th October  (Sunday)		First round 15:00-16:30			Second round 18:30-20:00				Competition Room： Room 409
29th October  (Monday)					Third round 18:30-20:00
30th October （Tuesday）					Fourth round 18:30-20:00
31th October （Wednesday）			Fifth round 15:00-16:30		Closing ceremony 18:00
1thNovember （Thursday）	Departure