The Candidates' Tournament was again on the May Bank Holiday weekend and in the Diamond at Selwyn College in Cambridge. There were 26 players from 6 dan to 2 kyu taking part. At the half way point the players on three wins were Matthew Macfadyen, Matthew Cocke and Hui Wang. In round 5 the two Matthews played and Cocke won and also won his last to come first. Macfadyen came second with 5 and, having lost just his first game, Nick Krempel came third. Hui Wang lead the group on 4 wins. Equal fifth were Des Cann, T Mark Hall and David Ward. First reserve to join the above seven and Bei Ge in the Challengers' League was Alex Selby, also on 4 wins.
28 students from 3 dan to 30 kyu (and two ghosts) took part in the BGA Student Tournament, which was played online over 4 weeks. Winner with 4 wins was William Brooks (Trinity Cambridge). Runners up were Dave Buckley (University fo Warwick) and Mark Nubbert (St Annes Oxford). Adam Prescott (Durham) won 4/4. There were also good results (3/4) for Maria Tabor, Jonny Kiehlmann, Sandy Taylor, Colin Simpson, David Szotten and James Hadfield.
23 players attended the Bar-Low kyu-players only tournament in Cambridge. This year, part a smaller mind sports weekend, it was held in the Junior Parlour of Trinity, apart from the other events. Ed Wormington (4 kyu St Albans) and Natasha Regan (1 kyu Epsom) both won 4 out of 5; Ed was declared the winner based on SOS and received a box of chocolates as a prize. Other notable results were Hugo Wainwright (25 kyu St Olave's) with 5 wins and David Carter-Hitchin (17 kyu London) and Danielle Ward (19 kyu Cambridge) on 4 wins.
46 players took part in the Coventry Tournament at the University of Warwick. Winner was Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington). Ewart Shaw (5 kyu Leamington) and Jun Ahn (14 kyu Aston) also won 3/3. Leamington won the team prize and two Aston boys won the 9x9 and 13x13: Sam Muxlow and Callum Healey.
Four teams attended the Nippon Club in Piccadilly for the spring International Teams match. The joint China and Central London Club team was the victor, with 13 wins out of 20. Cambridge, Nippon and Wanstead all won 9/20. Unbeaten in all three games were Ben He (6 dan), Felix Wang (3 dan), Shi Tang (3 dan), Dawid Ward (4 dan) and Jiri Keller (2 kyu). Photos
William Streeten from Hastings Go Club and Steve Bailey and Geoff Kaniuk from the BGA ran the 41st British Go Congress at Horntye Park Sports Complex in Hastings. The very modern building allowed a distant view of the sea or a chance to watch sports such as judo, archery and hockey being played. The British Lightning took place on the Friday evening in the octagonal room. It started with 18 and ended with 22 players. It was played on the Swiss system using player numbers. The winner by tie-break was a reluctant to enter T Mark Hall (4 dan).
The British Open attracted 50 players. Both the octagon and another room were used for the boards. At the end of the first day the leaders were Toby Manning and T Mark Hall, with Paul Barnard not far behind.
The BGA AGM was held on the Saturday evening from 18:35 to 19:55, after which tables had been reserved in the Cosmo, a Chinese buffet on the seafront.
Day two started bright, though inland had had snow, and snow arrived in Hastings mid-afternoon. The winner of the Open was T Mark Hall with 5/6 and runner up with 4/6 was judged to be Toby Manning, though placed fourth on sos. Prizes for 5/6 went to Paul William Smith (8 kyu Hastings), Milos Podbera (11 kyu Prague), and for 4/4 Jiang Beck (14 kyu Cambridge). Jil Segerman (9 kyu Brighton) won the 13x13 with 3/4 and the Brighton Belles won the Nippon Club Trophy for best team. Toby Manning won the quiz and Pauline Bailey won the spot the stone contest.
Eight teams competed for the Broken Go Stone Trophy and the handmade chocolate egg by Annie Hall. Steve Bailey, of last year's winners Guildford, hosted the event at Burpham Village Hall, Guildford. The team from Maidenhead won the event (Xinyi Lu, David Denholm and Jonathan Englefield). Second equal were Swindon Eric's Idlers. Players on 3/3 were Francis Roads and Pauline Bailey. Winners in the 10x10 event were Shawn Hearn and Mark Nubbert.
The 2008 Youth Championships had 37 competitors aged from 7 to 18, with strengths from 4 kyu to 30 kyu, at King Edward VI School. Maria Tabor became the first girl youth champion with 5 straight wins including beating Chinese player Tom Zhai (4 kyu Stowe). Prizes and places went to:
73 players attended this year's Trigantius, plus another 16 in the Novices event, held again at the
University Centre but on a Saturday. Shaoyou Ouyang (6 dan London) was the new winner of the event.
Players that won all three games were
Suzanne Low (1 dan Cambridge), Carin Trygg Monvall (5 kyu West Surrey), Richard Mullens (6 kyu St. Albans)
and Owen Walker (19 kyu Cambridge Juniors). Those on two wins had
the next choice of prize, but nobody was left out. The best team was TGF from West Surrey.
The 13x13 was won by Danielle Ward. The Best Kyu Player cash prize was won by Taka Obita.
Pauline Bailey won the spot the errors picture competition.
In the small board Cambridge Novices' tournament
the winner was Arnold Chui with 5 wins. Second was Elliot Solomon with 4 and again nobody went
home without a prize.
62 players attended the Oxford Tournament at St. Edmund Hall. Winner was Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington) making a welcome return to one day events. Players on 3/3 were Jim Chim (2 dan Cardiff), David Buckley (1 kyu Leamington), Sue Paterson (4 kyu Brighton), Fred Holroyd (5 kyu Milton Keynes), Gary Gibson (9 kyu Wanstead) and Pauline Bailey (16 kyu West Surrey). Prizes again were sponsored by Hoyles Games Shop. After the event many of the players attended a meal in memory of Simon Eve who instigated the post-tournament meal last year, but sadly died suddenly in May.
On a beautiful sunny day, 24 players attended the 11th Cheshire Tournament. It was held again alongside the Chess Congress at Frodsham Community Centre. Winner of the Open section was organiser Tony Atkins (2 dan); second was George Leach (2 kyu Liverpool). Worthy mention goes to Martin Harvey, who at 5 kyu was the lowest ever player in the Open, yet only missed out from fourth place by half a point in his last game. The winner of the Handicap section had to be decided on tie-break between Andy Price (12 kyu) from Leamington and three of the group of boys from Aston. Huw Talliss came out top, followed by Andy equal with Jack Drury and Calum Healey was fourth. The 10x10 was cancelled for technical reasons.
65 players attended the HQ of HITACHI Europe Ltd for the 17th Maidenhead Tournament. Jaeup Kim won 3/3 in the top group to win his fourth concurrent title. Other players winning 3/3 were Baron Allday (1 kyu West Wales), France Ellul (6 kyu High Wycombe) and Robin Dews (11 kyu Nottingham). In addition all on 2/3 won a prize thanks to generous sponsorship from HITACHI. Team winner was Bracknell.
120 players assembled for the first day of the 34th London Open, held again at ISH, Great Portland Street, though a few players expected did not arrive. Special guest was the teaching professional from Amsterdam, Guo Juan. In the Open it was the Chinese players (Shaoyou Ouyang and Ting Li) who would prove the toughest opposition to the favourite, the Korean from Berlin: Seul-Ki Hong. The top board in round 1 was not broadcast live due to a technical problem, but after that games were broadcast over the Internet using Pandanet (IGS).
Game Record Round 1 Board 1 - Hong v SaloOn day 2 there were some tough games between the 6 and 7 dans. After four rounds Shaoyou Ouyang from London and Seul-Ki Hong from Berlin were unbeaten at the top. Also on 4 were Paul Barnard (1 kyu Swindon), Xavier Chaumat (2 kyu Paris) and Piotr Radzikowski (6 kyu Poland). In the evening Guo Juan played simuls and the lightning tournament was held. 42 players took part and the 8 that won through from the group stage were: Davide Bertok, Jenny Radcliffe, Baron Allday, Antti Holappa, Anna Marconi, Jonathan Turner, Ting Li and Julio Martinez. In the semis Julio beat Anna and Ting beat Jonathan. Winner of the tense 7-stone final game was Julio Martinez (4 kyu Barcelona), beating Ting Li (6 dan Beijing). These two players received the prizes of £100 and £50 donated by the Nippon Club.
Game Record Round 3 Board 1 - Ge v MeroOn day 3, Shaoyou Ouyang beat Hong and then Lluis Oh to take a clear lead. Hong and Ting ended the day on 5 wins. The three players unbeaten by round 4 won one more game each and were joined by 6 more kyu players on 5 wins. In the evening Guo Juan made a lecture to a crowded room, whilst 8 teams played the Pair Go Tournament. Winners were Dominique Cornuejols and Toru Imamura.
Game Record Round 5 Board 1 - Ouyang v HongOn day 4, there was only one game in the Open, the last round, as there was no round 8 this year. A huge crowd gathered to watch if Csaba Mero could upset Shaoyou Ouyang's unbeaten record, but he failed, allowing the Chinese 6 dan from London to be the worthy winner. Hong beat Ting Li in the crucial match for second place. Ting got third on SOS tie-break. All players on 4 wins got a London Open certificate and those on 5 or more got a marble paper weight. Winners of 6 games were Xavier Chaumat (2 kyu Paris), Piotr Radzikowski (6 kyu Poland), Peter Harold-Barry (9 kyu St. Albans), Arnaud Delattre (11 kyu France) and Edward Marshall (12 kyu Isle of Man). Just before the prize ceremony Guo Juan reviewed Shaoyou's last game and after it there was an informal 4-round Rengo tournament of twelve mixed size teams. The final was won by Spain's Julio Martinez and Lluis Oh, beating the UK's Jenny Radcliffe, Xinyi Lu and organiser Geoff Kaniuk. The last event was the New Year's Eve meal at a nearby Indian restaurant.
Game Record Round 7 Board 1 - Ouyang v Mero6th
There was a record turnout of 42 players this year. Emerging top of the pile at the end to scoop
the whisky was the Glasgow-based Swede Peter Dahlgren (2 kyu), followed by Piotr Wisthal (1 dan Aberdeen).
One other player achieved 4 wins: James Hadfield (17 kyu Durham). Besides Piotr, a further 9 players achieved 3 wins:
Alex Robertson (19 kyu Edinburgh), Rosie Handford (15 kyu St Andrews), Colin Morey (9 kyu Chester), John Shafer (9 kyu Durham),
Jenny Radcliffe (8 kyu Durham), Ron Bell (5 kyu Melrose), Jim Cook (4 kyu Edinburgh), Colin Bavidge (3 kyu Newcastle)
and Helen Harvey (3 kyu Manchester).
After Robbie Miller defeating Neil McLean in the 2007 final a month before, also determined
were the 2008 Scottish championship semi-finals:
Edwin Brady versus Robbie Miller and Piotr Wisthal versus John O'Donnell.
31 players took part this year. Shawn Hearn (6 kyu Bracknell) won all his games, beating Francis Roads (3 dan Wanstead) in the final. Ken Kneller (8 kyu Wanstead) also won all four games beating Andrew Bell (25 kyu London) in the last round. As well as Francis and Andrew, Andy Price (11 kyu Leamington), Mark Nubbert (4 kyu West Surrey), Neil Cleverly (8 kyu Bournemouth), Chia Hung Lin (6 kyu York University) and Pauline Bailey (16 kyu West Surrey) all won 3. The prize in the 13x13 competition went to Xinyi Lu (5 kyu Maidenhead). The Monopoly board quiz was won jointly by Malcolm Hagan and Pauline Bailey (aided by Gerry Mills). The James Bond theme tune quiz was won by Tony Atkins. On the previous day some 16 students were taught various subjects by teachers Bill Brakes, Francis Roads, Tony Atkins and Paul Tabor. Melissa Ridderhof was the best at Pits card game.
The National Space Centre in Leicester was again the venue for the second East Midlands Tournament. The 54 players could look at the exhibits for free between games or eat lunch under the jets of a rocket. Winner was a Chinese player from Nottingham, Hui Wang (4 dan); he beat Rujun Yang (3 dan) from Worcester in the last round. Some of the group from Aston School won all three: Hamzah Retah (18 kyu) and Mazhar Warraich (14 kyu). Also on three were Jonathan Green (9 kyu Leamington) and Alban Chauvin (3 kyu Teesside). Leicester Club won the team prize as two of their number won three: Ben Ellis (8 kyu) and Peter Roberts (18 kyu Derby).
After a year break, the Wanstead Tournament was back on with new organisers at the usual venue of Wanstead House, the community centre in East London. A rush of late entries saw 46 players take part. Winner with 4/4 was the Chinese player living in London, Shaoyou Ouyang (5 dan). Trophies were awarded for three wins to Felix Wang (3 dan London), Jaeup Kim (5 dan Reading), Phil Beck (1 dan Cambridge), Roger Daniel (4 kyu Wanstead), Fred Holroyd (6 kyu Milton Keynes), Ed Wormington (6 kyu St Albans), Aurimas Jasulaitis (8 kyu), Richard Scholefield (11 kyu Milton Keynes) and Michael Webster (14 kyu London).
Tony Goddard (6 dan Sheffield) made it four in a row at the Three Peaks by winning all 5 games again. The tournament was held as usual in the Marton Arms in the beautiful North Yorkshire country and was the biggest for five years with 62 players taking part. Those winning 4 games were: Tim Hunt (3 dan Milton Keynes), Edwin Brady (3 kyu St. Andrews), Frank Visser (5 kyu Cambridge), Andre Cockburn (8 kyu Nottingham), Brian Timmins (8 kyu Shrewsbury), Anna Griffiths (9 kyu Epsom), Justin Neeves (12 kyu Manchester) and Jiang Beck (15 kyu Cambridge).
The Wessex Tournament repeated its new three round format and venue of the J.N. Fear Institute in Keynsham near Bristol, on the day the clocks went back. Regrettably it didn't get the support it deserved with only half the previous attendance at 24. As well as the BGA selling books, Bristol Club were selling off old sets and magazines. Winner was Jaeup Kim (5 dan Reading). He was the only player with 3/3 and beat Paul Christie (3 dan Bath) in the last round. Players winning the lower divisions were Ian Sharpe (2 kyu Bath), Neil Moffatt (5 kyu Cardiff) and Pauline Bailey (17 kyu West Surrey). Peter Collins won the Fred Guyatt 13x13 competition and Reading won the team trophy.
The autumn team event was held at the ISH, home of the Central London Go Club. The Central London Go Club team failed to use the home advantage this time and came last with 6 points. The winners instead were the Nippon Club with 9 points. China and Friends (8) and Wanstead (7) took the other two places. Players winning all 3 games were Shaoyau Ouyang, Andrew Jones and Hiroshi Tamura.
After a short interval of 15 years the Belfast Go Tournament returned. 22 players took part in the rather rapid event, held at the Crescent Arts Centre. It was won by co-organiser Ian Davis (1 dan Belfast) on 4/4. In Second place, on tiebreak, was Noel Mitchell (2 dan Dublin), ahead of Claas Roever (1 kyu Galway). Also on 4 wins was Costin Camarasu (17 kyu), while Arthur Cater (8 kyu) won 3 games. Many competitors opted to take a bye to play simultaneous teaching games with visiting 5 dan professional, Catalin Taranu.
59 players attended the Open University for the 19th Milton Keynes Tournament. Bei Ge was playing last year's winner Alex Selby in the Title Match so there was a new tournament winner. This was Shaoyou Ouyang (5 dan London) who beat David Ward (4 dan Cambridge) in the last round. Hui Wang (4 dan Nottingham) was equal second with David. Winning 3/3 were Andrew Simons (2 dan Cambridge), Paul Tabor (1 dan Epsom), Mark Todkill (3 kyu Wanstead), Edwina Lee (5 kyu Maidenhead), Peter Fisher (6 kyu Leicester), Gary Gibson (10 kyu Wanstead) and Dwayne McCormack (11 kyu Leicester). The best team was Wanstead. The MK Go winner was Reuben Margerison (18 kyu Leamington) with 7/8 and runner up was Jonathan Englefield (8 kyu High Wycombe) with a perfect 5.5. As well as the baked potato lunch, after the prize giving everyone was given a tasty Milton Keynes concrete cow biscuit before several players and organisers headed to a local Chinese buffet.
The 2007 Fife Go Tournament in Cupar was the most successful event yet, attracting 28 players from all over the UK. Again, the tournament was run as a Swiss handicap, and for the first time used AGA rules. The strongest player on 4 wins, and therefore the winner on tie-break, was Russell Ward (7 kyu Aberdeen). Also on four wins was Paul McKenzie (13 kyu Kinglassie). Prizes for three wins went to Gerry Mills (1 dan Swindon), Michael Smith (4 kyu Edinburgh), Jonny Kiehlmann (8 kyu St Andrews), Quintin Connell (12 kyu Glasgow) and Alex Robertson (20 kyu Edinburgh). After the tournament several players enjoyed a curry and some informal go in a local pub.
The 11th edition of the Swindon tournament was held, like last time, at the Even Swindon Community Centre. This year it was switched from November in order to help spread out the autumn events. 45 players entered and the winner was Jaeup Kim, the Korean 5 dan living in Reading. Prizes for three wins went to Alex Bell (2 dan Oxford), Jim Clare (2 dan Reading) and Helen Harvey (3 kyu Manchester). Also a prize went to Fred Holroyd (6 kyu Milton Keynes) for 2 wins and a walk over.
18 players took part in the Cornish Handicap Tournament on the Saturday in Penzance. Winner of the Go Bowls trophy was Swindon's Eric Hall (5 kyu). He beat Bristol's Peter Collins (3 kyu) in the final. 20 players took part in the Cornwall Tournament on the Sunday. Winner of the tournament was Shige Uno (5 dan) who plays at the Nippon Club in London when in the UK. He would have received the Devon Go Stone but the trophy was not present. However he did receive one of the usual wooden stones, as did Rob White (5 kyu West Cornwall) for 3/3 and Elinor Brooks (8 kyu Swindon) for 2.5. Elinor also received a fan as best lady and John Culmer received a fan as the organiser, special gifts from Mr Uno.
The Northern was successfully revived as a one-day 3-round tournament in Stockport, at the Masonic Guildhall. 20 players attended on a rather damp day, and Gerry Mills brought the BGA bookstall. Matthew Ardron (10 kyu Sheffield) won a prize by winning all 3 games, but the overall winner was Norbert Bittner (1 dan Manchester) who also won all his games.
Held at the United Reformed Church in Potters Bar, Herts, the 11th MSO had several Go events. The final event on Bank Holiday Monday was the new Korean Ambassador's Cup. The top 8 UK players from the MSO Open battled over 3 rounds with a trip to Korea at stake for the second Korean Prime Minister's Cup. Winner of the final was British Champion Bei Ge. Second was Matthew Cocke. Third on tie-break was Alistair Wall. They all received engraved crystal glass trophies from Mr Choi, Director of the Korean Cultural Centre at the Embassy.
One event at the MSO on Bank Holiday Monday was the Rapid. Nine players played a five-round Swiss Handicap. Winner from Epsom was Matthew Selby (4 kyu), who was unbeaten. On 3 wins and taking the silver place and bronze places by tie-break were John Collins (17 kyu St Albans) and Xinyi Lu (5 kyu Maidenhead). Natasha Regan (1 kyu Epsom) was fourth and Matthew Hathrell (7 kyu Coventry) won the junior gold. This scored Matthew enough points to win the second place in the MSO Junior Pentamind. Second place in the adult Pentamind went to another Go player, Alain Dekker, who had played in the Small Board.
The main Open Go event at the MSO took place on the last Sunday. 26 players took part including some strong UK Chinese and two guests from Korea. It was the qualifying event for the Korean Ambassador's Cup (top 8 UK players). Winner with 4/4 was Kyung-Nang Kang, a 17-year old girl from Korea. Silver place went to Ben He (6 dan Glasgow) and bronze to Bei Ge (6 dan Milton Keynes). Others on 3 wins were Matthew Cocke, Felix Wang and Stuart Barthropp. Winner of the kyu division was Ron Bell (5 kyu Reading) with 4/4. Second was Nicholas Calderwood (8 kyu London) with 3 wins.
This year the Small Board Championship was held at the Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) in Potters Bar. Natasha Regan (1 kyu Epsom) was winner of the national title on 13x13 boards. She beat Paul Smith in the final and took the gold MSO trophy for her 5 wins overall. Paul's 4 wins got him the silver trophy. Worthy winner of the bronze trophy and a gold junior MSO trophy was Oscar Selby (40 kyu Epsom), who is not yet 5 years old but won 4 games. 8 took part.
Sunjang Baduk, the ancient Korean variant of Go, with a fixed starting position, was the battlefield for this year's BGA online tournament. Of the 20 players competing, Norwegian player Roy-Andre Kirkebo was the winner, with an unbeaten 5/5. In second place was Oxford student Mark Nubbert, just ahead of Matthew Crosby. Steven Donlon won the prize for best player under 5 kyu.
53 of the best players from 10 school heats and other youngsters met for the finals of the fourth
UK Go Challenge at Meadows Community Centre in Cambridge.
Section winners were:
U18 Boys - Tung Nguyen (Greenwich Community College) U16 Boys - Matthew Hathrell (Finham Park School, Coventry) U14 Boys - Hai Xia (King Edward VI, Aston) U12 Boys - Ken Dackombe (St. Olave's) U10 Boys - Peran Truscott (Cambridge) U8 Boys - Ibrahim Mustafa (Birmingham) U18 Girls - Kay Dackombe (Darrick Wood, Bromley) U12 Girls - Christiane Walker (Milton, Cambridge) U10 Girls - Hayley Baines (London Meed, Burgess Hill) U8 Girls - Roella Smith (Milton, Cambridge) Overall place winners: 1st - Hai Xia 2nd - Ken Dackombe 3rd - Matthew Hathrell Top Boy: Hai Xia (6/6) Top Girl: Hayley Baines (5/5) On 5/6: Hamzah Retah, Abdel Badawy, Matthew Harris and Maria Tabor. Champion School - Wellington School, Somerset (beat Aston 2-1) Champion Primary School - London Meed, Burgess Hill (beat Milton 4-3)Top Boy and Girl won an LG MP3 player kindly donated by LG Electronics UK Ltd. All section winners also got a framed certificate showing their achievement. Aoife McCaul got the puzzle-solving prize and prizes were also awarded in an East Anglian Youth Grand Prix, thanks to support from Hitachi: 1. Matthew Harris, 2. Aoife McCaul, 3. Oliver Gerlach, 4. Owen Walker, 5. Roella Smith.
The 15th Welsh Open at Barmouth was won as always by Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington) putting him on 73 wins unbeaten at that event. Matthew Cocke (5 dan York) was second and Alistair Wall (4 dan Wanstead) was third, both on 4 wins. Prize winners with five wins were Vaughan Hughes (10 kyu) and Richard Bentley (7 kyu Durham). On 4 wins were Sheffield's Kester Sandbach (13 kyu) and Tom McNeeney (10 kyu), Manchester's Martin Cook (6 kyu) and Bristol's Peter Collins (4 kyu). 37 players took part and enjoyed the venue of the Min-Y-Mor Hotel and especially the carvery meal on Saturday evening, despite the generally rainy weather.
The home of BGJ Editor Barry Chandler in Winnersh (Berks) was the venue for the long weekend of the Challengers' League. The top players from the Candidates' joined with British Champion Bei Ge to decide who will play this year's title match. Bei took an early lead and won all seven games to take first place. Surprisingly Matthew Macfadyen only won 4 games; his losing scores only totalling 4.5! Alex Selby lost his first game, but then won his next 4 and the last one to end on 5 wins and clear second place; his wins against Matthew Macfadyen and Sam Aitken were both half-pointers. So Alex will challenge Bei Ge for the British Champion's title. This is only the second time since 1977 that the final will not involve Matthew Macfadyen, who ended third. Also on 4 wins was David Ward, on 3 Des Cann, 2 T Mark Hall and William Brooks, and on 1 Sam Aitken. Tony Atkins was referee and ensured all went well and with Barry's help four games at the weekend were broadcast live on KGS.
Durham, at St. John's College, attracted an attendance of 38, including some players from Norway. Guest lunch speaker Matthew Cocke (5 dan York) won all six games to take the first prize. Young Will Brooks (3 dan Cambridge) only lost to him to come second. Norway's Sveinung Fjaer (13 kyu) was unstoppable winning all 6 and Lars Eirik Danielsen (11 kyu) won 4. Also on 4 were dan players Tim Hunt, Christian Scarff, Allan Scarff and Andrew Jones. Sveinung Fjaer won the Lightning and Durham's Rich Bentley (7 kyu) and Andrew Thurman (12 kyu) jointly won the 13 by 13. Prizes were bottles of local Durham Brewery's best. Full report.
This year the Pair Go Championships, the 17th, were held again at the Foxcombe Lodge Hotel, Boars Hill near Oxford. Last year's winners Kirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyen beat Natasha Regan and Matthew Cocke in the final, to take the championship for the eleventh time. In the 8-pair handicap group the winners were High Wycombe's Lydia Feasey (26 kyu) and Jonathan Englefield (7 kyu), at what was Lydia's first tournament. Best dressed pair again was Elinor Brooks and France Ellul and they also won the English Literature quiz with 39/40. Everyone who took part enjoyed the hot sunshine, the tasty buffet lunch and a choice of prize of oriental crockery and chopsticks.
The Scottish Open stayed at the Masons' Hall in the centre of Dundee and had the same number of players as last at 38. The winner of the Open was the strong Chinese from Edinburgh, Shaoyou Ouyang (5 dan), who won all six. Second on four wins was Claas Roever (2 kyu Galway) and Neil McLean (1 kyu Elgin) was third like the last two years. Also with 4 wins in fourth place was Tim Hunt (3 dan Milton Keynes). The only player on 5/6 was Markus Guhe (8 kyu Edinburgh). Thanks to sponsor Real Time Worlds, there were generous prizes of a bottle of local Cairn O'Mhor wine. One went to Japanese Consul-General Shuhei Takahashi who won all his three games and brought the news of visit of pro Kobayashi Chizu to the garden festival Edinburgh the following weekend. Prizes also went to Colin McLennan (11 kyu Twickenham), Jenny Radcliffe (9 kyu Durham), Colin Simpson (16 kyu St Andrews), Ian Morrison (15 kyu Edinburgh), to David Bell (8 kyu Dundee) in the lucky dip and to Pete Clinch (10 kyu Dundee) as best muffin maker. On the Friday evening small board lightning the top scorers were Edwin Brady (3 kyu) with 6/7, and Andrew Smith (3 kyu) and Tim Hunt (3 dan) on 5/7
Out of the 55 players only two players won all 3 games: winner Sam Aitken (3 dan Warwick) and Julien Corcessin (11 kyu Reims). Best kyu player was Marika Dubiel (1 kyu Lublin) and best beginner was Sam McCarthy (20 kyu St Albans). Francis Roads won the caption contest and Jonathan Green (10 kyu Leamington) won the Go Puzzle competition. Graham Philips (7 kyu Cambridge) won the 13x13 (with 6/7) and the team prize was won by Leamington (with 9/13).
17 kids and a pair of parents took part in the first Midland Geographic Go Gala at King Edward VI School, Aston, in Birmingham. There was teaching in two groups in the morning and a 13x13 handicap tournament in the afternoon. Two Aston 26 kyus took the top prizes. Winner was Hamzah Retah with 5.5 out of 6 and second was Ismael Mustafa with 5. Brother and sister Matthew and Holly Hathrell (8 kyu and 25 kyu) from Coventry took the next two places with 4.5 and 4 wins. Also on 4 wins was Abdel Bedaway (30 kyu Aston). Harry Cutts (25 kyu Nottingham) got a prize for answering most questions during the teaching.
This page is part of the British Go E-News.
It is part of the British Go Association website.
It was last updated 2008-05-09.