Andrew Davies

I live in Capetown, South Africa, which is a very beautiful part of the world. I first represented South Africa in the WAGC in 2009. Since then, besides playing go, I’ve been working as an electronics engineer, designing phased array antennas that enable airplanes to communicate with earth satellites so they can provide Internet service for their passengers. It’s fascinating work. Airbus and Boeing are two of our customers.

I’ve also been busy with family life. My two children have grown up and are on the point of leaving home. My daughter, who recently graduated from university, has been heavily involved in YWAM: Youth With A Mission. She’s gotten married to a Brazilian man she met in that organization. My son is now in his second year at university, so it won’t be long before he’ll be finished and leaving home as well. My wife loves the sea, so she tries to get me to the beach often. I’m more keen on hiking, however, and there are plenty of good hikes around Table Mountain near Capetown.

Getting back to go, South Africa only has about fifty go players. It’s a rotating population, but we hold the South African Championship every year, and we have one very strong player. That’s Victor Chow, who is 7 or 8 dan. He’s not tightly involved with South African go because we’re so much weaker than him, but with his help we’ve recently started a new scheme. We play games and do commentaries on them, then pass our comments on to him and he comments on our comments. Two years ago we also joined the European Go Federation, as observing members. This is something we’re very grateful for because it gives us international exposure. Being down on the southern tip of Africa, aside from the WAGC and Korea Prime Minister Cup we don’t get to see much international go, except for Victor, who plays a lot on the Internet. I played in the KPMC in 2012 and in the WAGC in Thailand last year, where I was seeded 39th and finished 39th. I didn’t feel satisfied with that result, but here I am to try again.