British Go News - UK Results

UK Go Challenge Finals 27/06/09

The finals were in Cambridge again, at Milton Community Centre. 55 of the best players from 10 school heats and other youngsters took part in the finals and the new Challengers' section for beginners. £500 in cash prizes were provided thanks to Winton Capital Management. Winners were:

U18 Boys  - Matthew Hathrell (Finham Park School, Coventry)
U16 Boys  - Mazhar Warraich (King Edward VI, Aston)
U14 Boys  - Tian Ren Chen (Loughborough)
U12 Boys  - John Cremin (King Edward VI, Aston)
U10 Boys  - Akito Oyama (Cambridge)
U8 Boys - Stefan Wiecek (St Mary's, London)
U18 & Top Girl - Crystal Zhang (Grantham)
U14 Girls - Danielle Ward (Cambridge)
U12 Girls - Sijia Yao (Milton, Cambridge)
U10  Girls - Roella Smith (Milton, Cambridge)
U8 Girls - Sophie Broad (Bookham, Surrey)
Overall place winners:
1st - Tian Ren Chen
2nd - Mazhar Warraich
3rd - Matthew Hathrell
On 5/6: Jack Drury (Aston)
Challengers' Tournament - Annalise Nwaodor (St Mary's)
Champion School - Aston (beat Loughborough 2-1)
Champion Primary School - Milton (beat St. Mary's 3-0)
All section winners also got a framed certificate showing their achievement. Renzhi Zhou got the puzzle-solving prize and the lower aged players on 4/6 got a prize too.

Challengers' League 26/06/09-29/06/09

The Nippon Club, in Piccadilly London, was the venue for the long weekend of the Challengers' League. 8 top players from the Candidates' played to decide who will play this year's title match. The standings after 4 rounds were:
Macfadyen beat Barthropp, Cocke, Fearnley; lost to Wang
Cocke beat Krempel, Fearnley, Crosby; lost to Macfadyen
Wang beat Barthropp, Macfadyen, Hall; lost to Crosby
Hall beat Fearnley, Crosby, Barthropp; lost to Wang
Crosby beat Wang, Krempel; lost to Hall, Cocke
Krempel beat Barthropp; lost to Cocke, Fearnley, Crosby
Fearnley beat Krempel; lost to Hall, Cocke, Macfadyen
Barthropp lost to Macfadyen, Wang, Hall, Krempel

In round 5: Crosby beat Fearnley, Hall beat Macfadyen, Wang beat Krempel, Cocke beat Barthropp. In round 6: Wang beat Cocke, Macfadyen beat Crosby, Hall beat Krempel and Barthropp beat Fearnley.

In round 7: Macfadyen beat Krempel, Cocke beat Hall, Wang beat Fearnley, and Barthropp beat Crosby.

So the ranking after qualifying order tie-break: 1. Wang 6; 2. Macfadyen 5; 3. Cocke 5; 4. Hall 5; 5. Crosby 3; 6. Barthropp 2; 7. Krempel 1; 8. Fearnley 1. Macfadyen beat Cocke in the play off, so Matthew Macfadyen will defend his title against Hui Wang.

Welsh Open 20/06/09-21/06/09

Finally after 16 tournaments and 79 games Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington) lost a game at the Welsh Open. The 17th Welsh Open at Barmouth was won by Yohei Negi (2 dan St Andrews) who beat him in round 2 and went on to win all 5 games. Matthew was second with 4 wins. Third place for a second year was Simon Goss (2 dan Bracknell), topping the group on 3 wins. Local player Phil Ward-Ackland (4 kyu) was the only other of the 34 players to win 4 games.

Durham 13/06/09-14/06/09

The 6th Durham took part at the College of St Hild and St Bede alongside the Durham Regatta. 33 players took part, almost a half local. Winner from St Andrews was Yoheo Negi (2 dan). Local Xuan Ma (9 kyu) won all 6. Yuhan Jin (1 dan Teesside) won 4/5 and John Shafer (9 kyu Durham) won 3/4. Prizes for 4/6 went to Pat Ridley (13 kyu Chester), Adam Prescott (12 kyu Durham), Ben Riddell (9 kyu Durham), Sandy Taylor (1 dan Durham) and David Lee (2 dan Dundee). The Lightning side event was won by Jamie Taylor (7 kyu), with a tenacity prize for Andrew Thurman (7 kyu Durham). The Small Board side event went to Adam Watts (6 kyu Durham). A special prize for Making The Tournament Director's Day went to 8-year-old David Taylor (27 kyu).

British Pair Go Championships 07/06/09

This year the Pair Go Championships, the 19th, 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 and then Jenny Radcliffe and Francis Roads in the final, to take the championship for the 13th time. In the 8-pair handicap group the winners were Kelda and Paul Smith from Cambridge. Best dressed pair was top-hatted Nattasha Regan and Matthew Cocke. Sue Paterson and Granville Wright won the Art quiz with 26/40. Furthest travel prize went to Casey Alexander from Denver playing with Nicola Hurden from Bracknell. Photos

Scottish Open 30/05/09-31/05/09

The Scottish Open stayed at the Masons' Hall in the centre of Dundee and had 27 players. First with six wins was Yohei Negi (2 dan) from St Andrews. Second with five wins was Sandy Taylor (1 dan Durham) and third with 4 was Paul Christie (3 dan Bath). Winning all six was Carel Goodheir (14 kyu) from Skye.

Bracknell 10/05/09

Out of the 32 players, four players won all 3 games: winner Jon Diamond (4 dan), Peter Collins (3 kyu Bristol), Neil Cleverly (8 kyu Bournemouth) and Harriss Cook (12 kyu Twickenham). Simon Goss won the caption contest and Jim Clare won the Go Puzzle competition on the toss of a coin from Felix Wang. Xinyi Lu (6 kyu Maidenhead) won the 13x13 and the team prize was won by Twickenham with 7/9.

Candidates' Tournament, Cambridge 02/05/09-04/05/09

22 people gathered in Cambridge for the 2009 Candidates' tournament. They enjoyed communal meals in Cambridge restaurants on Saturday and Sunday, and the excellent lunch fare at the Selwyn College cafeteria. The seven players going through to the Challengers' League are: Matthew Cocke 6 wins, Hui Wang 5 wins, and T Mark Hall, Desmond Cann, Stuart Barthropp, Alex Rix and Matthew Crosby on 4 wins. Matthew Crosby beat Nick Krempel on SoS by the narrowest possible margin so Nick is first reserve. Alex Kent deserves special mention as being the only 1 kyu to enter the tournament, coming all the way from Durham to play, and winning an impressive 3/6, beating a 1 dan, a 2 dan and a 3 dan. Photos: Day1 Day2 Day3

BGA Student Tournament 06/04/09-03/05/09

22 took part in the BGA Student Tournament, which was played online over 4 weeks. Winner with 4 wins was Shu Tang (4dan, Westminster) Runner up was Chi-Fung Chueng (Brockenhurst). Third on tie-break (only losing to the top two) was Andrew Kay (Cambridge).

Bar-Low, Cambridge 03/05/09

28 players attended the Bar-Low kyu-players only tournament in Cambridge. This year, again part of the mind sports weekend, it was held in Whewell's Court of Trinity College. Edwin Brady (2 kyu St Andrews) was clear winner with 5/5. The only player winning 4 was Andrew Cohen (12 kyu).

Coventry 26/04/09

37 players took part in the Coventry Tournament at the University of Warwick. Winner was Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington). Matthew Hathrell (4 kyu Leamington), Elinor Brooks (8 kyu Swindon) and Pauline Bailey (16 kyu West Surrey) also won 3/3. Leamington was the best club and Chester won the team prize. Photos.

London International Teams 19/04/09

Four teams attended the Nippon Club in Piccadilly for the spring International Teams match. The Cambridge won all their matches 4-1 to become champions. The China and Central London Club team was second with 8, Wanstead scored 7 and Nippon Club 3. Unbeaten in all three games were Felix Wang, David Ward, Lloyd Smith and Matt Reid. Photos.

Thames Valley Team Tournament, Bourne End 13/04/09

Eight teams competed for the Broken Go Stone Trophy and the handmade chocolate egg by Annie Hall. The team from Maidenhead hosted the event and won the event for a second time running. They beat Wanstead in the final. Players on 3/3 were Francis Roads, Matthew Macfadyen, Ian Marsh and Xinyi Lu. The winner of a closely contested 10x10 event was Eric Hall.

British Go Congress 03/04/09-05/04/09

Chester Go Club ran the 42nd British Go Congress in Chester. The British Lightning took place on the Friday evening in the Olde Custom House inn, with 36 players. The winner with 5 wins was Baron Allday (1 kyu West Wales). Winning 4 were Yohei Negi (1 dan St Andrews), Sandy Taylor (2 kyu Durham), Xinyi Lu (5 kyu Maidenhead), Piers Shepperson (4 dan Epsom), Andrew Kay (3 dan Cambridge) and Xi Gao (5 dan China).

There were 61 players in the Open held at the Westminster Hotel. The winner was Xi Gao, a Chinese 5 dan from Liverpool, with 6/6. Second on 5/6 was Andrew Kay (3 dan Cambridge). Also on 5 wins were Yohei Negi (1 dan St Andrews), Richard Bentley (4 kyu Durham) and James Brownrigg (12kyu Chester). On 4 wins were Piers Shepperson (4 dan Epsom), Alistair Wall (3 dan Wanstead), Louise Bremner (1 kyu Isle of Man), Sandy Taylor (2 kyu Durham), Edwin Brady (2 kyu St Andrews), Geoff Kaniuk (3 kyu Cambridge), Martin Harvey (3 kyu Manchester), Simon Mader (4 kyu Cambridge), Stephen Bailey (4 kyu West Surrey), Jenny Radcliffe (5 kyu Durham), Brian Timmins (8 kyu Shrewsbury) and Elinor Brooks (8 kyu Swindon).

The Cheshire Open trophy was awarded to Martin Harvey and the Cheshire Handicap to Stephen Bailey (on SoS tiebreak from Brian Timmins), on the basis of most wins by those who had played recent Cheshire Tournaments. The Nippon Club Team Trophy went to Cambridge (Kay, Kaniuk, Mader) on 78%.

British Youth Go Championships 22/03/09, Aston

The 2009 Youth Championships had 39 competitors aged from 6 to 18, with strengths from 1 dan to 35 kyu, at King Edward VI School. Tian Ren Chen from Loughborough was the new youth champion with 5 straight wins including beating London's Michael Webster (4 kyu). Prizes and places went to:

  • Overall winner: Tian Ren Chen (Loughborough) 2nd: Michael Webster (London)
  • U18: Michael Webster (London) 2nd: Matthew Hathrell (Coventry)
  • U16: Mazhar Warraich (Aston) 2nd: Jamie Taylor (Leeds)
  • U14: Tian Ren Chen (Loughborough) 2nd: Jack Drury (Aston)
  • U12: John Cremin (Aston) 2nd: Thomas Meehan (Solihull)
  • U10: Roella Smith (Milton) 2nd: Marie-Clare Grant-Adamson (St. Albans)
  • U8: Sophie Broad (Surrey) 2nd: Kelda Smith (Milton)
  • Handicap Winner: Langdon Truscott (Cambridge)
  • Castledine Trophy: Loughborough (beat Aston 2-1)
  • Team with most wins: Weapon 'X' (Cambridge)
  • 13x13 knockout event: U18 Jamie Taylor U16 Tian Ren Chen U12 Peran Truscott
  • Puzzle competition: Wenxuan Ouyang (China)
  • Liar Dice: Matthew Hathrell

Cambridge Trigantius 07/03/09

As there was no Cheshire because of the British and no Oxford, Trigantius was the second tournament of 2009 in England. 53 players attend the event held at the Frank Lee Centre at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital. Winning his first open tournament and having played for only 3 years was local player Andrew Kay (4 dan). He beat Jon Diamond in the last round. Players that won all three games were Matthew Hathrell (4 kyu Leamington), Atta Chui (5 kyu Cambridge), Danielle Ward (11 kyu Cambridge) and Pauline Bailey (17 kyu West Surrey). The 13x13 was won again by Danielle Ward. The Best Kyu Player prize was jointly won by Helen Harvey and James Murray. Steve and Pauline Bailey won the difficult competition of word puzzles.
In addition, 21 more took part in the teaching and novices' tournament run by Paul Smith in another room. Winner of the 17-player small board Cambridge Novices' tournament was Ricardo Couso, best older junior was Roella Smith and best smaller junior was Oscar Selby. Oliver Gerlach won 4/5 and all with 3 wins got a prize too. All the entry fees went to Comic Relief.

Fife 21/02/09

There was a record turnout of 29 players for the 2009 Fife Tournament, held again at Age Concern Hall in Cupar. The favourite going into the tournament was Michael Marz (3 dan) from Leipzig in Germany and indeed he won the tournament with four wins from four games. He was awarded a pair of Go bowls which were kindly donated by Aidan Karley. The joint runners-up were Yohei Negi (1 dan St Andrews) and Robert Miller (1 kyu Dundee), both on three wins. Other players on three wins were Eugene Kee-Onn Wong (5 kyu Aberdeen), Stig Peterson (8 kyu Dundee), Will W Taylor (9 kyu Durham), Andrew Thurman (10 kyu Durham), Matthew W Taylor (20 kyu Durham) and Alan Stewart (23 kyu Glenrothes). After the tournament, a group of players went for a well-deserved curry.

Maidenhead Furze Platt 17/01/09

67 players attended the HQ of HITACHI Europe Ltd for the 18th Maidenhead Tournament. Du Qing won the tournament, following his second place in London, by beating Jon Diamond in the last round. Other players winning 3/3 were Matt Crosby (2 dan Epsom), Christian Scarff (1 dan Swindon) and Neil Cleverly (8 kyu Bournemouth). In addition all on 1.5 or 2/3 won a prize thanks to generous sponsorship from HITACHI. Team winner was the Cardiff Killers on tie break from Dani's Team. Andrew Boughton won the 9x9 with 6/7 ahead of Xinyi Lu on 7/10.

London Open 28/12/08-31/12/08

126 players assembled for the first day of the 35th London Open (132 over all days). It was held again at ISH, Great Portland Street. Special guest was the teaching professional from Amsterdam, Guo Juan. Also Kobayashi Chizu popped in for a visit. Last year's winner has returned from London to China, so there would be a new winner. Favourites included some Chinese and Korean players, Csaba Mero and Merlijn Kuin. The top board games were being broadcast live on Pandanet as the event was a Pandanet Major in the Pandanet Go European Cup. After two rounds 6 players at the top were unbeaten.

Oh v Kuin - round 1 board 1 Main Hall action

On day 2 Chi-Min Oh remained unbeaten to top the field after an exciting game v Qing Du. Qing headed the list of 3 wins players: Lluis Oh, Viktor Lin, Arnoud Rutgers van der Loeff, Merlijn Kuin, Csaba Mero, Tumo Salo and Antti Holappa were the others.

Day 2 evening was the Pair Go with 10 pairs. The winners were Guo Juan and Ian Davis. Scoring 3/4 were Martha McGill and Matt Crosby, and Annika Piiroinen and Antti Holappa.

Guo Juan in Pair Go The Small's from USA

On day 3, Chi-Min Oh won his 5th game against Csaba Mero. Qing Du beat Lluis Oh and there were wins for van der Loeff, Lin, Kuin and Danek (who missed the first day). Oh also won in round 6 against Viktor Lin to give an seemingly uncatchable lead.

During the evening Guo Juan gave a lecture on common mistakes, whilst another group of 45 took part in the Lightning Tournament. 8 players entered the knockout stage as shown below:

Paul Bivas 1d beat Yohei Negi 1d
Franck Pierron 1d beat Nils Timm 2d
Qing Du 6d beat Julio Martinez 2k
Simo Eerola 3d beat Baron Allday 1k

The semis saw Paul Bivas beat Franck Pierron and Qing Du beat Simo Eerola.
In the final Qing Du beat Paul Bivas.

Guo Juan lecture Lightning Registration

The final round on day 4 saw Chi-Min Oh beat van der Loeff to end on a perfect 7 and first place. Qing Du beat Merlijn Kuin to come second with 6. There were wins for Lluis Oh, Csaba Mero and Viktor Lin. These three ended on 5 wins like Kuin. Vladimir Danek who missed the first day got 4/5. Aurelien Cluzen (4 kyu Paris) won all 7 games and Eric Lebert (13k Rouen) won 6/7 and got the special merit prize. All players with 5 wins got a paperweight prize and those with 4 wins a certificate. Prizes were presented by Gemma Cochrane of Winton Capital who were sponsors on the event.

So the final order was 1. Chi-Min Oh, 2 Qing Du, 3 Lluis Oh, 4 Csaba Mero (equal on SOS), 5 Merlijn Kuin. Viktor Lin was equal 5th, but due to an organisers error would be sent his prize money later.

Chi-Min Oh First Qing Du second

Game Records (sgf) of Games Broadcast on Pandanet

Round 1 Merlijn Kuin v Chi-Min Oh

Round 2 Tuomo Salo v Viktor Lin

Round 3 Lluis Oh v Chi-Min Oh

Round 4 Qing Du v Chi-Min Oh

Round 4 A Rutgers vd Loeff v Lluis Oh

Round 5 Chi-Min Oh v Csaba Mero

Round 6 Viktor Lin v Chi-Min Oh

Round 7 Chi-Min Oh v A Rutgers vd Loeff

Scottish Barlow 13/12/08

35 players made it to the Quaker Meeting House in Edinburgh. Proceedings kicked off with the belated presentation of May's Scottish Open trophy to Yohei Negi (1 dan St Andrews). Yohei was the favourite for this event too and indeed he ended up joint winner with Alex Kent (2 kyu Durham). Unfortunately due to an organiser's error Alex was not announced as such and didn't get a prize. Yohei had lost in the last round to Adam Heslop (3 kyu Edinburgh), who won all 4 games and, as the four-wins players got their prizes first, won the malt whisky. Two others on 4 wins were Jan Korthmann (6k Aberdeen) and Jenny Radcliffe (7 kyu Durham). On 3 wins were: Robbie Miller (1 kyu Dundee), Sandy Taylor (3 kyu Durham), Ron Bell (4 kyu Borders), John Shafer (9 kyu Durham), Andrew Thurman (10 kyu Durham), Colin Maclennan (11 kyu Twickenham) and Andre Mazanke (20 kyu Edinburgh) who had only taken up Go three weeks ago.

Robbie Miller, Adam Heslop and Edwin Brady join 2008 champion Piotr Wisthal in the semifinals of the 2009 Scottish Championship.

West Surrey Handicap 07/12/08

24 players took part this year. Alan Thornton (1 dan St Albans) won the tournament for the second time in five years. Also winning all 4 was Hugo Wainwright (20 kyu Farnborough Village). Mike Charles (2 dan St Albans), Philippe Bourrez (3 kyu West Surrey), Ken Dackombe (9 kyu Farnborough Village), Max Bourget (10 kyu West Surrey) and Adrian Howarth (11 kyu CLGC) all won 3. The prize in the 13x13 competition went again to Xinyi Lu (5 kyu Maidenhead), with 7/9. The cat quiz was won by Sue Paterson and the numberplate word game by Tony Atkins. On the previous day some 11 students were taught various subjects by teachers Sam Aitken, Nick Krempel, Tony Atkins and Paul Barnard.

East Midlands Tournament 22/11/08

The National Space Centre in Leicester was again the venue for the third East Midlands Tournament and had 54 players like last year. Winner was David Ward (4 dan) from Cambridge; he beat Toby Manning in the last round. As last year, Hamzah Reta (10 kyu) and Mazhar Warraich (5 kyu) from Aston won all three. Also on three were Taka Obita (1 kyu Cambridge), Dylan Carter (1 kyu Cardiff), Laurence Ogden (8 kyu Nottingham) and Stephen Bashforth (12 kyu Leicester). The 13x13 prizes were awarded to Ocean Ho Phuong and Hamzah Reta, both from Aston.

Three Peaks 08/11/08-09/11/08

Matthew Cocke (5 dan York) finally stopped Tony Goddard's run at the Three Peaks by winning all 5 games. Tony was second. The tournament was held at a new venue of the Old Station Inn in Giggleswick, near Settle, but still in the beautiful North Yorkshire country. Again it proved popular with 52 players taking part. Those winning 4 games were: Danielle Ward (15 kyu Cambridge), Eric Hall (7 kyu Swindon), Jenny Radcliffe (7 kyu Durham).

Wanstead Tournament 08/11/08

32 players gathered at Wanstead Go Club's venue on a very wet Saturday in November for four rounds of Go. Susumu Yoshimura (2 dan London) won the tournament, and was the only player on four victories. Kiyohiko Tanaka (4 dan Nippon) was runner up with three wins. Also on three wins were Michael Charles (2 dan St Albans), Alan Thornton (2 dan St Albans), Peter Collins (3 kyu Bristol), Michael Webster (5 kyu London), Peter Harold-Barry (6 kyu St Albans) and Gary Gibson (8 kyu Wanstead). Michael Webster also won the prize for most improved on the year, having risen an impressive nine grades since Wanstead 2007. Pictures

Wessex 26/10/08

The Wessex Tournament moved to a new venue near to the centre of Bath. St Mark's Community Centre, a Victorian former church, proved a good venue. Also much appreciated were the doughnuts and real coffee that greeted the 32 players. Winner was Chi Feng Cheung (4 dan Bournemouth), who is from Hong Kong. He beat Paul Christie (3 dan Bath) in the last round. Players winning the 3/3 lower down were Alejandro Juanes (8 kyu Bath) and Jack Drury (9 kyu Aston).

London International Teams 19/10/08

The autumn team event was held at the Nippon Club, home of their Igo Kai and the Central London Go Club. As expected a strong Chinese team was the winner with 15 points. Second was Wanstead with 12, third Nippon Club with 6 and Cambridge scored 3. Winning 3 for China were Qing Du, Shi Tang, Yangran Zhang, Felix Wang and Stuart Barthropp. Takuya Ogino was the only player winning 3 not on the Chinese team. Pictures

Milton Keynes 12/10/08

40 players attended the Open University for the 20th Milton Keynes Tournament. David Ward (4 dan Cambridge) won the final this year against Sam Aitken (4 dan Warwick). Also winning all three were David Buckley (1 kyu Warwick), Graham Philips (3 kyu) and Andre Cockburn (7 kyu Nottingham). Unfortunately the MK Go Boards were too small for the stones and so the side event was cancelled. However there were still Concrete Cow Biscuits to give all a taste of the local culture.

Shrewsbury Tournament 04/10/08

Gerry Mills restarted the Shrewsbury Tournament after an 8 year gap at the same venue, The Gateway. 28 players took part and winner was Bill Brakes (2 dan Milton Keynes). Also winning 3 were Ian Price (9 kyu Cardiff) and Reg Sayer (15 kyu Stafford). The three prizes in the 13x13 komi-handicap tournament went to Aston boys: Jack Drury (most wins), Stewart Smith (best percentage) and Calum Healey (for effort).

Belfast Tournament 27/09/08-28/09/08

This year the Belfast Open was played by 14 players over 5 rounds. Only one player from Britain who discovered it was on and travelled to take part. That was Yohei Negi (1 kyu St Andrews) and he was the joint winner with Daniel Paraschiv (1 kyu Galway), both on 4 wins. Equal third were Claas Roever (1 kyu Galway) and Tiberiu Gociu (1 kyu Belfast). Also winning 4 was James Donnelly (10 kyu Belfast).

Arundel Tounament 28/09/08

The first ever Arundel Tournament was held in the historic Norfolk Arms in the shadow of the castle. 20 players took part and the winner was Jaeup Kim, the Korean 5 dan living in Reading, his second win in eight days. Runner up was Francis Roads and prizes were awarded for 3 wins to Mark Nubbert (2 kyu West Surrey) and for 2.5 to Jil Segerman (10 kyu Brighton). The South Coast team won the team prize.

Swindon Tournament 21/09/08

The 12th edition of the Swindon tournament was held, like last time, at the Even Swindon Community Centre. 36 players entered and the winner for a second year was Jaeup Kim, the Korean 5 dan living in Reading. Prizes for 3 wins went to Andrew Smith (2 kyu Cheltenham), Mark Nubbert (4 kyu West Surrey), Fred Holroyd (5 kyu Milton Keynes) and Emma Benjamin (formerly Marchant, 12 kyu Neath).

Cornwall Tournaments 13/09/08 - 14/09/08

15 players took part in the Cornish Handicap Tournament on the Saturday in Penzance. Winner for a second year was Swindon's Eric Hall (6 kyu). He beat Cornwall's Robert Churchill (12 kyu) in the final. 21 players took part in the Cornwall Tournament on the Sunday. Winner of the tournament was Yaeko Takano (2 dan) from Japan. She beat Toby Manning in the final. Also winning the usual wooden stones were Eric Hall for 3 wins and Phil Willoughby (8 kyu Winchester), the lowest graded player on 2 wins.

Northern, 07/09/08

The Northern Tournament took place like last year at the Masonic Guildhall in Stockport. 28 players took part. Overall winner was Bob Bagot (1 dan Lancaster). Other prize winners on 3/3 were Robin Dews (9 kyu Nottingham), David Szotten (9 kyu Manchester), Brent Cutts (11 kyu Nottingham) and Patrick Ridley (15 kyu Chester).

Mind Sports Olympiad Open 25/08/08

The main Open Go event at the MSO took place on the Bank Holiday Monday. 11 players took part. Three players ended on 3/4 and were split by mutual game and mutual opponents tie-breaks. Gold went to Paul Tabor, silver to Yangrang Zhang and bronze to Natasha Regan.

British Small Board 24/08/08

This year the Small Board Championship was held at the Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) in London. Paul Smith (Cambridge) was winner of the national title on 13x13 boards. He beat Paul Tabor in the final; third was Nick Krempel. Also Tony Atkins did well but could not win as arbiter. Winner of the Handicap prize was Xinyi Lu (5 kyu Maidenhead). 11 took part.

Isle of Man Go Week 17/08/08-23/08/08

49 players enjoyed the Go, music, quiz, games, teaching by Matthew Macfadyen, sandcastles, scenery and fun that was the Isle of Man Go Week. It was held again at the Cherry Orchard in Port Erin. Winner of the carved 9x9 Goban for the Open was Matthew Cocke (5 dan York). Joint runners up were Matthew Macfadyen and Piers Shepperson. Also on 4/5 were Natasha Regan (1 kyu Epsom), Geoff Kaniuk (3 kyu Cambridge), Wim Verstegen (5 kyu Netherlands) and David Wildgoose (14 kyu Sheffield). On 3.5 wins were Edmund Stephen-Smith (5 kyu Epsom) and Jil Segerman (10 kyu Brighton) and on 3/4 were David Phillips (1 dan IOM) and Pita Udo (15 kyu Netherlands).

The winner of the afternoon tournament was Richard Hunter (4 dan IOM). Runner up was Simon Bexfield (1 dan Letchworth) also on 3/3, as were Edwina Lee (5 kyu Maidenhead), Kathleen Timmins (12 kyu Shrewsbury) and Pita Udo (15 kyu Netherlands).

The winner of the Handicap Tournament was Ian Marsh (1 kyu Bracknell) with 5/5 and on 4/5 were Paul Margetts (2 kyu Epsom), Jenny Radcliffe (8 kyu Durham), Jil Segerman (10 kyu Brighton) and Celia Marshall (11 kyu IOM).

Jenny Radcliffe won both the Continuous Lightning and the 13x13 Tournament and, in addition, won the Rengo with Edmund Stephen-Smith. The Diehard Tournament was won by Paul Barnard (1 dan Swindon) and second was Gerry Mills (1 dan West Wales). The Quiz was won by the Manx Kippers team and the Sandcastle competition was won yet again by Charlotte Bexfield and family.

Mind Sports Olympiad Rapid 16/08/08

The first Go event at the 12th MSO in London was the Rapid. Five players played a round robin. Winner from Reading was Tony Atkins (2 dan), who was unbeaten. Taking the silver place was Paul Smith (2 dan Cambridge) and bronze place Xinyi Lu (5 kyu Maidenhead).

Epsom Tournament 19/07/08

The seventh and possibly last Epsom Tournament was held at the usual venue and was supported by Vicky and Stephen Streater, so all 51 players won something. Winner again after a year gap was Li Shen (6 dan); he beat Alistair Wall in the last round. Those with three wins were: Graham Philips (5 kyu), Michael Webster (7 kyu London), Gary Gibson (8 kyu Wanstead), Karsten Starke (10 kyu Epsom) and Jonathan Green (9 kyu Leamington). The 13x13 was won by Xinyi Lu. The 9x9 was won by Oscar Selby. The Team tournament was won by "OGS Team", comprising Graham Philips, Jonathan Green and Andrew Cohen. The booby prize was won by a delighted Pauline Bailey.





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