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Last 3 months News
02-Dec: Cheadle Hulme are Top British School
Cheadle Hulme School (shown left) proved they are the top British school for Go by both having the largest team at the British Youth Go Championships and by winning the Castledine Trophy. The top three of their 19-strong team won the team matches to get the trophy, beating Sir John Lawes School from Harpenden (3-0) and James Gillespie's High School from Edinburgh (2-1) (who beat SJL 2-1). The Best Junior School was Harpenden Academy, beating James Gillespie's Primary School (2-1). The 2019 British Youth Go Championship (BYGC) was held in the marquee of Brownsover Hall, a... |
25-Nov: Peikai wins Three Peaks
This year's debutant organiser, Adrian Abrahams reports: There was very nearly no Three Peaks competition this year, after I failed to confirm the venue's booking at the Wheatsheaf pub in Ingleton.... |
20-Nov: Win Against Netherlands Moves UK to 5thIn the third match of the season, our team had a great win against a team from the Netherlands, winning three games to one. This meant the team was 5th in the B-League. Andrew Simons wrote: I won my game against Filip Vander Stappen by resignation. I took a look at some of his KGS games and he seemed to play an old pre-AI territorial style, so I quickly played AI style opening similar to my title match against Sam last year but attached on the other (better) side in the lower left. When I tried to surround territory on the 5th line he came in and we had our first fight, but I felt confident with his weak side group to push against and my lower right pressing group in decent shape. He played very territorially and I ended... |
19-Nov: UK Youth Team Fight Valiantly Against Russia AThe UK youth team fought valiantly against top seeds Russia A team in the first round of the 2019/20 European Youth Go Team Championship (EYGTC) but in the end the match went according to grade and the Russian team won 5-0. We always knew it was going to be a difficult match, as all the Russian A team are dan players. So we fielded our strongest players from the squad. Even so, only one game was within one grade of the Russian team on paper. Incidentally, this was the strongest team the UK youth team has fielded since this competition began. Four of our players were experienced members of the team, but we welcomed Bill playing on Board 2 playing in his first team match... |
18-Nov: BGA Demos Go 1-1 to 200 Youngsters Over Two Days
Despite floods disrupting travel, especially in the N-W, this year's Doki Doki Festival went ahead as planned, in Manchester. Thanks go to all the organisers, helped considerably by members of the friendly Japan Society North West (JSNW). The annual fun event, with all imaginable Japan-themed activities, stalls and competitions, attracted its usual huge (4,000 over 2 days) and largely youthful attendance. For each such occasion, the organisers invite us back (we're the British Go... |
04-Nov: Cambridge Wins Varsity Match
The three-player teams played three rounds, with Cambridge emerging the winners by six boards to three. The Oxford players were Alexandru-Petre Pitrop, Han Yang and Guodong Cao, and the Cambridge players were Tony Tunyang Xie, Doha Chris Lee and Zherui Xu. They are shown with non-playing John Bamford from Oxford University. R1: Cao 0:1 Xie; Pitrop 0:1 Xu; Yang 1:0 Lee R2: Pitrop 0:1 Lee; Yang 0:1 Xie; Cao 0:... |
02-Nov: Turkey DefeatedThe second match in the new league season was against Turkey. The match produced some entertaining games of which the British team won three to take their first win of the season. This left the team in sixth place out of ten. Bruno Poltronieri was the losing player, by resignation to Emre Polat (5d). He wrote: I lost by resignation. I was relatively happy with the opening, though Leela seems to prefer Black. I then managed to cut off part of my opponent's group and get a fairly large territory on the right side, at which point I’m definitely leading. I guess I was too confident after that because I played a very questionable tenuki which probably made the game even again, if not worse. I actually still thought I was... |
02-Nov: UK Lose to SwedenFor the tenth season of the Pandnet Go European Team Championship, the UK team remains in the B-League, the second of four leagues. The first match was against a strong Swedish team. Jamie Taylor was our only win by resignation against Lova Wåhlin (1d). Bruno Poltronieri lost to Charlie Åkerblom (5d) by 18.5, Alex Kent lost to Martin Li (4d) by Resignation and Des Cann lost to Erik Ouchterlony (4d) on time. Jamie wrote: I started a very dubious fight in the corner pretty quickly and my opponent misplayed and died. After that she tried to make a huge moyo to compensate, which looked scary for a bit, but she made a very weak group in the process which also died. After that she resigned. Bruno wrote... |
31-Oct: Wessex Celebrates its 50th
The Wessex Tournament celebrated its 50th edition by making 2019 a special two-day event. Sponsorship from the T Mark Hall Foundation enabled the nice, but expensive, venue of the Bristol Village Hotel, in Patchway just north of Bristol. Fittingly T Mark had been a member of Bristol Go Club, a great fan of lightning Go and a four-time winner of the Wessex. The main event on the Saturday afternoon was the T Mark Hall Lightning (played with handicaps). It was won by Peikai Xue, who defeated Carl Roll in the playoff between the two division winners. Both received cups... |
31-Oct: BGJ 189 Now Available in Members AreaThe Autumn 2019 edition of the BGJ is now available for members to read. |
15-Oct: Recent arrivals to UK take Northern
On a pleasant autumn day, Cheadle Hulme School once more hosted the 3-round "Northern" tournament, with 32 players competing - 11 of them CHS pupils. The latter included an intrepid foursome in the first year at CHS, who'd scarcely played on full boards before – but nonetheless had great fun, and learned a lot on the day! We were also pleased to see players who had travelled from as far as Edinburgh and Lincoln. The overall winner was Jingchen Sun, a 3 dan from China, pictured receiving... |
14-Oct: Cambridge Dominate British Small Board
Twenty five years ago Paul Smith and some others started the Cambridge Junior Chess and Go Club. In order to celebrate their first quarter century it was decided to run an event that would be attractive to both children and adults. After a five year gap, the British Small Board Championship was brought back. It was suspected the main reason for this was that Paul Smith was fed up of having the trophy for so long! The venue was the modern lofty hall in Storey's Field Centre, in the newly constructed district of Eddington, with a separate room for relaxing and... |
14-Oct: Cakes and Tournament Celebrate 25 Years
Twenty five years ago Paul Smith and some others started the Cambridge Junior Chess and Go Club. In order to celebrate their first quarter century it was decided to run an event that would be attractive to both children and adults. As the UK Go Challenge Finals were not held in the summer as normal, it was decided the event would be the finals for 2018-2019 (making deciding which age group players were in harder than normal). In order to make it interesting for adults it was decided to combine the event with the 2019 British Small Board Championship... |
09-Oct: Announcement of 2019 Youth Go SquadThe 2019 UK youth go squad has been selected. The team of fifteen players comprises a mix of U20, U16 and U12 players, who form a team to compete for the UK in the European Youth Go Team Championship, played online between November and February. Each of the four matches involves five players (one Under 20yo, two U16 and two U12). The UK team has improved in strength each year since the championship first started and this year is no exception. The prospect of making it into the youth team and acquiring one of the distinctive red team hoodies has boosted youth go in recent years. Team manager Alison Bexfield explains that she reviews the results from rated tournaments during... |
07-Oct: Andrew Kay Wins First Game in MatchThe first game of this year's British Championship title match took place on Saturday 5th October, between Andrew Kay and Andrew Simons (the two top-placed players from this year's Challenger's League). After an entertaining game Andrew Kay came out on top, winning by resignation. As well as a live relay on KGS, Matthew Macfadyen commented on a clone of the game. The next game of the best-of-three title match is expected to take place in early November - more details to follow. |
30-Sep: Tetsuro Yoshitake Wins Wet Sheffield
This year 36 players took part in the annual Sheffield tournament, now in its fifth edition at Greenhill Library. Tetsuro Yoshitake (3d Nottingham) was the eventual winner with three wins and he is shown, right, receiving his prize. The next three places had to be separated by SOS to give second place to Toby Manning (1d Leicester), third to Richard Wheeldon (2k London) and fourth to Carl Roll (2k Nottingham). Winning all three games were Ashley Lester (7k Nottingham), Daffyd Robinson (13k Lincoln) and 4 from Cheadle Hulme School (CHS) - Sam Barnett (13k), Amy Upton (13k), Morgan Pittaway (24k) and Jacob Rubert (29k... |
28-Sep: Peikai Xue Wins SwindonPeikai Xue (2d London) won all three games to win the Swindon Tournament. 29 players took part at the now usual Conservative Club venue in Old Town. Jim Clare (1d Reading) was second on sos tie-break from Swindon's Tony Putman (1k) and Chirstain Scarff (1k), with two wins. The only other player to win all three games was the London junior player Scott Cobbold (6k). Both he and Aidan Putman (1k Swindon) went home with "prestigious" trophies, Aiden's for the 13x13 side event. |
22-Sep: Joint Winners at Arundel
Twenty-one players made it to Arundel this year. The organiser was especially grateful to those who had travelled many miles – some even braving the M25 – to experience Go in tournament conditions and enjoy the Arundel sunshine. This year there were two winners as shown in the picture: Alistair Wall (1d Wanstead) and Jonathan Reece (1k), who was on a brief visit from his home in South Africa. Alistair and Jonathan both had two wins in the four person round robin of the top boards. Two people won all three of their games: Malcolm Hagan (7k Arundel) and Pierre Oliviere (11k... |
12-Sep: Andrew Does Well in Korea
In the 2019 Korea Prime Minister Cup International Baduk Championship, our representative, Andrew Kay, came 9th out of 62 entries. He had 4 wins (against Cyprus, France, Argentina and Hungary) and 2 losses (to Korea, who came second, and Thailand). This is one of the best results ever in an international tournament by a British player. He is shown here playing the player from Hungary. The Irish representative, Ruari McCloskey, was 59th with 1 win (against India). The overall winner was He Xin of China with six wins. The group on five wins was... |
09-Sep: Toby Wins Cornwall AgainThere was a disappointing turn-out at the Cornish Go Weekend which was held in Falmouth this year; it had, however, the same format as in previous years. On the Saturday morning Ian Marsh and Toby Manning led a teaching session, while the Handicap Tournament on Saturday afternoon was won by local man Miles Henderson Smith (11k), with Peter Collins (3k Bristol) being runner-up. Results On Sunday Toby Manning (1k Leicester) won the 3 round McMahon Tournament for the seventh time, while local man Paul Massey (1k) was the runner-up. Results |
09-Sep: Zhang Chao Lectures after T Mark Hall Rapid
On 7th September 2019 the second T Mark Hall Rapid Play Tournament was held at the London Go Centre. There were 22 entries ranging from 5 dan to 25 kyu, including several youngsters. The winner, with a clean sweep, was first time entrant Zhang Zhiqing (5d China). Second place went to another first timer, Gene Wong (3d), a youngster from Hong Kong. Third was Alistair Wall (1d). The battle below the bar was won by three 2 kyu players, Quentin Rendu, Richard Wheeldon and Paul Smith. Pierre Oliviere was the best-placed DDK and he also kindly brought along some of the youngsters. A... |
27-Aug: Not All Go at MSO
This year's Mind Sports Olympiad was held, like the previous five editions, at the JW3 community centre in London. As usual a large variety of games and mind sports, both new and traditional, was played over the eight days of the event. Several Go players and their families were seen in non-Go events, with some, like Natasha Regan, winning a Gold medal. Unfortunately the first Go event (9x9) scheduled for the Friday morning, 23rd August, was cancelled by the organisers as they thought there was only one entry... |
21-Aug: Chinese Youth Event Final ReportHere is the final report from UK team leader and team coach, Martin and Helen Harvey, from their base in Xi'an:
19 Aug (Day 4): Today was full of Chinese history and culture. In the morning, the organisers took us to visit Louguantai Temple, situated in the northern foothills of the Qin Mountains (70 km east of Xi'an), the birthplace of Taoism. It is a famous holy place for tourists to visit, founded in the Western Zhou Dynasty and flourishing in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It is a beautiful and scenic spot, surrounded by mountains, a bamboo forest and decorative... |
19-Aug: Narrow win for Richard Hunter in Isle of ManThe 2019 Isle of Man Go Festival, held in memory of its creator, Leo Phillips, took place in Port Erin in a new venue, St Andrew’s Church Hall. Although attendance was a disappointing 21 the participants (and several spouses and friends) were a friendly lot and the congress spirit of previous years continued. The new venue proved a success. It was slightly nearer the sea providing a seaview from the kitchen window (the well equipped kitchen also doubling up as an analysis room). Although the cooler than usual for August and slightly breezy weather meant that no one took advantage of the garden to play outside while admiring the seaview. The main Open tournament was won narrowly on tie-break by Richard Hunter (1d Bristol) from... |
18-Aug: UK Team Taking Part in Chinese Youth EventTwo European teams, one from France and one from the UK, were invited thanks to Fan Hui to take part in the 2019 "I-GO" "The Belt and Road International I-Go Youth Go Invitational Tournament", for teenagers. This runs from 16th to 22nd August in Xi'an in China. Here is the first report from UK team captain and team coach, Martin and Helen Harvey:
The UK Team are enjoying the first few days of their trip to Xi'an. There are 20 teams, from six countries. The 4 UK Team members are Edmund Smith, Rowan Borrow, Daniel Gascoyne and Amy Upton - the latter 3 from... |
