Brisbane Go Club

The Brisbane Go Club plays the ancient oriental game of go (also known as igo, weiqi, baduk, or stones) in the city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. If you know how to play, we have stones and boards and opponents in a friendly, social, air-conditioned atmosphere. If you don't know how to play, we'll teach you.

We were founded around 1976 at the University of Queensland, helped found the Australian Go Association in 1978 (the AGA in turn was a founding member of the International Go Federation), moved to the Pancake Manor in Charlotte Street around 1979, grew branch meetings at Sunnybank Hills in early 2006 and Chermside in late 2007 and departed for the Queensland Contract Bridge Club in July 2008. Later that year we incorporated, and stayed that way until March of 2013.

We have pages on Sensei's Library, Facebook places, Google places, and even the Yellow Pages. Most of our social media action happens on the Facebook group.

As of the March 2013 general elections, the club is run by

• Mark Bell (president for life, mbell at go.org.au)
• John Hardy (treasurer, john at johnhardy.com.au),
• Larry Wen (secretary, larrywen at hotmail.com), and
• Erli Qiu (token innocent bystander and ordinary committee member from the Gold Coast)

Contact us

Questions? Contact the convenor of the meeting you're interested in, or the club secretary on secretary at brisbane dot go dot org dot au. Our mailing address is PO Box 149, Woody Point, Queensland 4019.

Join us

Membership is free for juniors (under sixteen), fifteen dollars per year for students, and thirty dollars per year for everyone else, renewable annually in March. Ask a committee member to sign up at any of our meetings or tournaments. Membership gets you registration as a ranked player with the Australian Go Association, voting rights, credit points when playing in tournaments, and inclusion on the mailing list to keep you in the loop on events.

Guests are welcome to come play at our weekly or monthly meetings without joining, of course, but then you wouldn't be as cool.

Meetings

• Every Tuesday evening at the Queensland Contract Bridge Club (67 Ipswich Road, Woolloongabba) from seven o'clock until half past ten o'clock. Members pay $1 per night, guests and strangers $2. The last meeting for 2012 will be 18 December, the first meeting for 2013 will be 8 January.
• The second Saturday morning of each month at the Sunnybank Hills public library, corner of Calum and Compton Roads from nine 'clock. The convenor is Larry Wen, larrywen at hotmail dot com.
• The last Sunday of each month, the Gold Coast Go Club meets at the Gold Coast Country Club. The Gold Coast Go Club convenor is Yoko Usami, goldcoast at go dot org dot au. Contact her to RSVP and get on their mailing list.

There are players at large with goban in the Queensland University Gaming Society, which meets on Mondays from 4pm in semester, and the UQ Chinese Chess Club, which meets on Thursdays from 4pm in semester.

2013 Tournament Calendar

• The annual Brisbane Keio Online Friendly Match online in the KGS Australia Room on Sunday 10th February 2013. This was a one-round team vs team tournament organised by John Hardy; the club with the most victories won, (this year that was Brisbane 4-3). Kickoff was at 2.00pm Brisbane time (3.00pm Sydney; 1.00pm Tokyo).
• The 33rd Queensland State Championships on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th March 2013 in room 420, Joyce Ackroyd Building 37, Blair Drive, University of Queensland, St Lucia. The open division (six rounds over two days for 1d and stronger) determined the state champion (Kevin Jiang 6d), the handicap division (five rounds on Saturday for 1k to 20k) chose the state kyu champion, Hans Shi 9k.
• The inaugural Autumn Rapids on Tuesday 26 March at the Queensland Contract Bridge Club from 7pm in the usual meeting room. Time is 30 minutes per player main time plus 30 seconds byoyomi, handicap is per playing rank, the draw is a three-round knockout, limit of eight players, contact John Hardy to join in. Spectators welcome.
• The third MCSQ Cup on Saturday 13th April at the Sunnybank Hills Public Library. This is a one-day, three-round tournament generously sponsored by the Mainland Chinese Society of Queensland. Contact Larry Wen (secretary at go.org.au)
• The third Gold Coast Classic on October 27 at the Gold Coast Country Club. Three rounds Swiss, plus tiebreaker if needed, from 9am to 6pm in the small function room beyond the bar to the left. Contact Yoko Usami (goldcoast at go.org.au).

Teaching

• At the Sunnybank Hills and Woolloongabba meetings, there are usually senior players around to teach beginners and challenge everyone else. Please feel free to ask for a game review afterwards.
• During tournaments, we have the habit of inviting An Younggil 8p up from the go school in Sydney to teach, review games, and teach some more.
• Mr Hung 4d operates a go school for children who are beginners through mid-dan strength in Peter Street at Strathpine. They teach weiqi, and also teach Mandarin Chinese. To sign up for lessons in either subject, contact Janna Yang (dukeny4888 at gmail dot com, phone 0431146884) or turn up to the Chermside meeting (when we're having a Chermside meeting) and introduce yourself.

Honour Roll

• Cecil Kuo 2d, voted life membership at the 2005 Annual General Meeting.
• John Hardy 2d, voted honorary membership at the 2011 Annual General Meeting and life membership at the 2012 Annual General Meeting.
• Mark Bell 3d, voted life membership at the 2013 Annual General Meeting.