Promoting Go in the UK and beyond
British Go News - General News
Stacey Points 2008-2009
With two events gone (Coventry and Bracknell), Matthew Macfadyen shared the lead with Jaeup Kim on 3. Then the long tournaments started, with the Scottish Open players then leading the field, but Durham evened things up a bit, followed by the Welsh. After Epsom:
1. Yohei Negi 12 2. Toby Manning 9 3. Alistair Wall 8.5 4= Matthew Macfadyen 8 4= Andrew Jones 8 6. Gerry Mills 7 7. Matthew Cocke 6
Youth Grand Prix 2008
The Youth Grand Prix started after the 2007 London Open. After the BYGC, which counts double points, 50 young players had played in a tournament. With a strong swhowing from Aston at Coventry and from Cambridge at the Bar-Low, it has become a contest between the two clubs. After the Pair Go, Roella Smith moved up to 5th with 308. As all the top players were at the UK Go Challenge only the order changed, but Ken and Jack scored points at Epsom:
1. Danielle Ward 486 2. Ken Dackombe 438 3= Jack Drury 436 3= Matthew Hathrell 436 5= Owen Walker 412 5= John Perkins 412 7. Roella Smith 388
British Championship 2008
The hunt to find the British Champion 2008 is on. Over the May Bank Holiday the Candidates' Tournament selected the seven players to join defending champion Bei Ge in the Challengers' League. This was in June and selected the two players for this year's best of five title match: Matthew Macfadyen and Hui Wand. The games will be broadcast live on KGS from 10:00 on 10th August, 31st August, 13th September, 1st November and 16th November (see championship page). The first game was won by Hui Wang by resignation. The second game was won by Matthew by resignation.
Stacey Points 2007-2008
The long events are a good way to score points; Tim Hunt's second at the 5-round Three Peaks saw him catching Matthew Cocke. Shaoyou's win at London gave him the lead, but Tim was not far behind and caught up at Maidenhead. Shaoyou's win at Cambridge put him ahead with just 6 points at the British remaining this lead proved uncatchable. Final places:
1. Shaoyou Ouyang 23 2. Tim Hunt 21 3. Alistair Wall 18 4= Francis Roads 15 4= Phil Beck 15 6. Jaeup Kim 14 7= Matthew Cocke 13 7= Toby Manning 13
Professional Visits
Guo Juan was the teacher at the 2007 London Open.
New Dan Grades 2008
The BGA has recognised the new dan grades of:
6th April 2008: 2 dan Nick Krempel 2 dan Phil Beck 1 dan Alex Bell
New European Pro Grades
In Korea earli in 2008, Diana Koszegi from Hungary has been made pro 1 dan. Alex Dinerchtein and Svetlana Shikshina have been promoted to pro 3 dan, also in Korea.
Go on TV
A question on "The Weakest Link" on 06/05/08: "What two letter word is the national board game of Japan and an instruction to proceed?" Answer: "Yahtze????"
In the BBC TV documentary "The Shogun" (BBC 2 29/03/08) about the rise of the first Shogun, Tokagawa Ieyasu, both Ieyasu and his son and top general were seen playing Go. Ieyasu mused his battle strategy over a game, while in a second scene the players were urged to finish more quickly as it was time for battle.
In "Diagnosis Murder" episode "Deadly Games", BBC1 07/03/08 and 21/12/06, Dick van Dyke as Doctor Mark Sloan plays Weiqi (Go) to get inside the mind of a potential assassin who also plays. Several scenes feature study and playing of the game, and there is some explanation of the rules and strategy.
Go on Radio
On 09/01/08 on their 20:00 Radio 2 programme, Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie mentioned Go. One of their listeners had said that Othello was based on Go. Mark said that he knew people that play Go and that Go is "quite a thing". Stuart asked whether Go was the game that if computers ever play it we are all in trouble. Stuart also asked whether it was very artistic and stated it is definitely "No Cluedo". On 07/03/08 Harry Fearnley was interviewed on Radio Oxford.