Clubs – Queensland Go Society

Brisbane Meeting Rules

Hey all! Just a quick note to update you on the change of rules for Brisbane Go Club Meetings for the next few weeks or so (hopefully).

The short version is, we will be requiring people to wear masks at meetings when not actively eating or drinking, at least until case numbers drop a bit.

The longer version:

For the last few weeks/months, we’ve been pretty chill about whether people wear masks or not. Part of this is because the risk has seemed pretty low, part of it is we generally trust our members to make their own assessment of risk based on their individual circumstances, part is distaste about telling people what to do (something we have far too much of these days). But at time of writing, QLD has nearly 400 locally acquired active cases, and all indications are that those numbers are going to continue to grow very quickly. And while, again, all indications are that the rate of serious disease is very, very low, simply being infected can seriously affect a person’s life – inability to work, etc. And as has been pointed out, go is a circumstance that is just likely to spread infections – people facing each other, only a couple feet apart, can be talking, inside so poorly ventilated, etc.

So, until case numbers drop (my current rule of thumb is to below 100, but that’s pretty arbitrarily chosen so suggestions are very welcome), we’re going to be insisting that people wear masks at meetings. We have a box of surgical masks that people are more than welcome to grab one from if they need it, and we’ll continue to provide hand sanitiser etc.

Not that this only applies to Brisbane Go Club. The QGS explicitly does not tell its clubs what to do, and encourages them to make their own assessment based on their own situations.

As always, we strongly encourage you to make your own choices based on your individual circumstances. I don’t know your life, I don’t pretend to be an expert. If you decide that going to meetings is too risky, that’s totally fine! We have a Discord server, which while it’s not as fun as playing in person, is better than playing randoms, especially with the voice chat function.

I have recently come across this tool, which helps you judge the relative risk of various outings etc. It’s of necessity going to not fit every circumstance, but taken as a starting point I think it’s pretty good?

Hope to see you all soon!

Brisbane Go Club Ladder

The Brisbane Go Club Ladder will be launched at the meeting this Tuesday evening (the 8th of June, 2021). There will be two ladders: Open and Handicap available. Participation in both is encouraged and free!

	Open	Handicap
Maximum Handicap	0	9
Komi	6.5	0.5 with stones, 6.5 if even
Ruleset	Japanese	Japanese

The full rules are below, but if you wish to participate, either let whoever is running the meeting (usually Allan) know at the meeting, or send him an e-mail at secretary@brisbane.go.org.au.

The intent of this ladder is to have a bit of fun, while encouraging friendly competition and desire to improve. There will absolutely still be casual games being played, and as usual the QGS Code of Conduct still applies (summary: don’t be intentionally unpleasant or disruptive, at least without a really good reason). As always, suggestions are welcome!

Rules

Initial starting point will be done by local rank, with reference to AGA or OGS rank if necessary. People joining later will be inserted by estimated rank. If rank cannot be easily estimated, they will begin at the bottom rank
Only games played at club meetings will be valid
Only games agreed upon by both players beforehand will be valid ladder challenges
People can only challenge for positions within 5 levels of their current position
- e.g. Sam currently occupies position 7. They can challenge for positions 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, but not 8 or 1. They can be challenged by the people occupying the positions 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12.
If a game cannot be completed by the end of the meeting for whatever reason, either:
- The game will be a “no result”
- The game will be paused and completed at the next club meeting
- The players must agree which decision. If they cannot, the person running the meeting will be the final arbiter. If a game cannot be completed at the next club meeting, then the game will be declared a “no result”
Players must record their names, current ranks, and result. Kifu is preferred (via paper or sgf format) but not required
If a person does not participate in a ladder game for 8 consecutive weeks, they will be removed from the ladder
- Re-entry can occur by challenging the person at the position they held previously or up to 3 positions higher. If they fail, they will occupy a position double the level they used to occupy
  - e.g. Kim occupied position 3 on the Open ladder, but could not participate in games for long enough to drop off the ladder. They challenge Leigh, who currently occupied position 1, but lose the game. Kim re-joins the ladder at position 6. If Kim had won, they would have taken position 1, with Leigh taking position 2, and the ladder adjusting as normal
It is generally expected that people will participate in the ladder in good faith and general spirit of sportsmanship. The intent of the ladder is to encourage a spirit of friendly competition and desire for improvement
Any ambiguities or decisions that need to be made will be made by whoever is running the meeting. Those decisions may be appealed to the QGS Council, if desired.

Current positions will be displayed at both meetings and on the BGC website
The winners of each ladder will be awarded at the end-of-year Christmas party if one is held. If one is not held, they will be awarded at the last meeting of the year

Brisbane Go Club Meeting

On the 19th of January, the Brisbane Go Club had the first pizza night meeting for the year! It was a relatively quiet night, with 9 attendees, including both strong players like Heiwei Yang (6d) and Elizabeth Patrick (2d), and beginners like Rhuaidi Burke.

Everyone had a lot of fun, and much pizza was eaten! Thankfully, Supreme High Overlord Allan was saved from the temptation of having to take the leftover pizza home by the generosity of Brenton Robert.

We also had a bittersweet evening, with the re-emergence of Justin Shin, a member who has been too caught up saving lives to play go for several months. He is apparently leaving for Melbourne, and wanted to say goodbye to his friends, including Horatio “Hora-Hora” Davis. He will be missed, and we wish him all the luck in Melbourne.