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Traveling Go Board: Go Hothouse in UK Garden City

A go hothouse sprang up in Letchworth Garden City, UK the weekend of November 8-10, when 14 of the UK's strongest and most promising players congregated at the home of Letchworth Go Club organizers Simon and Alison Bexfield (see New Go Club Blooms in UK's Garden City, EJ 4/5) for an intensive weekend honing their go skills under the guidance of  Juan Guo 5P. Juan, famous for her Internet Go School and a frequent attendee at US Go Congresses, flew in from her home in Holland to be there. Co-host and participant Alison Bexfield 2d (pictured, right of center) described the event as "inspirational", explaining that "the weekend was one of a series run by the British Go Association over the past few years to encourage the development of the leading UK players." The program was developed by British Pair Go Champion Kirsty Healey who also organizes the weekends, which are aimed at increasing the number of players with a European Rating (GoR) over 2400. Invited attendees had to be rated over 2100 or meet other criteria such as being young and rapidly improving players. The format was a mix of formal teaching from Juan on particular openings, interspersed with games and reviews of those games. Intensifying the complete absorption in go, many slept at the Bexfields' or in nearby accomodation and the event was catered throughout by Simon Bexfield. Participant Tim Hunt 2d (pictured, center), a senior IT developer at the Open University, told the EJ: "The event was excellent, as usual. Guo Juan is a fantastic teacher. The Bexfields are wonderful hosts." Check out Juan's Facebook page for more photos. Report by Tony Collman, British correspondent for the EJ. Photo by Juan Guo; (L-R) Matthew MacFadyen 6d, Richard Hunter 3d, Tim Hunt 2d, Alison Bexfield 2d, Matt Scott 2d.