…because at the moment, flying the best players of Australia to Sydney or Melbourne for the national championship is asking for a fortnight of surprise quarantine or a month of surprise lockdown. Yay, epidemic SARS-CoV-2-delta.
So they declared this year’s Australian Digital go tournament to also be the Nationals. That’s played on OGS, one round per week, drawn every Monday, find your opponent and play them by Sunday evening at a mutually suitable time. First round starts on Monday 18 October.
Seven rounds later, we will have a winner in the open division (complete with shiny gold medal and the title of Australian Open Champion), and the upper (2d to 10k) and lower (10k to 30k) handicap divisions (also shiny, also gold, also medals).
Entry is free, thanks to the generous sponsorship of PacifiGo Australasian Go Supplies. Competition is open to everyone who would normally compete in either the Australian Digital (i.e. Australians, with adjacent South Pacific go players starting with New Zealand earnestly invited to join in the fun) or the Australian Open (all Australian go players, whether resident,visiting, or expatriate). Entries close the day before the first round starts.
So far we have entrants from Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Townsville, Perth, and Hamilton.
How about you?