Posted by Cian on the Irish Go google group
I travelled up on the Enterprise train from Dublin Connolly, which was
comfortable and inexpensive – at least when booked in advance!
I hadn’t been in Belfast in well over a decade. Lovely city, seems
very liveable – everything’s quite compact and you can walk from place
to place around the city centre easily.
The Belfast Boat Club was a great venue. The hall we played in was
bright and airy, and the bar wasn’t far away for food, coffee or
something stronger. I’ve attached one of Tibi’s photos to give a
flavour of it, I’m sure he won’t mind. :o)
Everyone pitched in for setup & teardown, and the tournament ran
smoothly end-to-end. The equipment sent by the Korean Amateur Baduk
Association to Belfast is really nice.
There were 14 players, which was a nice size for varied games and
getting to know one another. The Northern Irish players turned up in
force, Joel & Neil visited from Manchester & Edinburgh respectively,
Arthur, Matei & myself from Dublin, and Louise from Paris. Also a few
visitors – Mr. Wang’s wife was there early on to share photos from the
EGC in St. Petersburg, and Matei’s partner Rachel even got a game in
against José. We shared lunches, and a dinner on Saturday night.
Given that it was a small tournament, I was above the bar and got some
interesting games in against stronger players. :o) I lost
comprehensively to Mr. Wang, had somewhat closer games against James,
Matei & Tibi, and won against Louise.
All in all, great fun. Thanks very much to James for organizing it –
I’ll be back next year, and perhaps we can rustle up a bigger
contingent from Dublin. :o)