A few simple rules ... limitless possibilities

The European Team Tournament was held following on from the Leksand Tournament. The Netherlands were the winning team with 8 points and 15 wins. Second was Serbia also with 8 points but 14 wins. Usual winners, Russia, were third. Six teams took part.

World Youth Goe Championships were held this year the tournament on Penghu Island in Taiwan. Chinese, Korean and home players dominated the event, with China winning the under-12 and Korea the under-16 titles.

Anson Ng, representing the UK, won 2 games in the under-12 and Vanessa Wong won 2 in the under-16. Top european player was Lukas Podepera from Czechia who won 3 games out of 4.

UK GO Challenge Finals

Roella Smith from Milton near Cambridge won this year's UK Go Challenge Finals. 29 of the best players from 5 school heats and other youngsters took part. Roella was also top girl. She beat the top boy, Barney Shiu, into second place by a half-point win in their game.

I've put in a few changes to the online league site to provide for the forthcoming Individual League.

People can update their status under "Update account" to indicate that they want to play in the Individual League. At the moment they'll just get plonked into the one and only division - we'll decide how the league is structured when we see how many people want to be included.

30 players attended this year's MK, held at a new time of year and held in the newly built Hub and adjacent hall at the OU. Winner was Mathieu Delli-Zotti, a French 1 kyu now living in Brighton. Also winning three were Graham Philips (2 kyu) and Steve Bailey (4 kyu). The best team was Cambridge who won 2/3 of their games. Steve Bailey also won 4/5 games on the MK-Goban, but the prize went to Paul Smith for 5/9.

Results

For the second weekend running, Yohei Negi was equal on game points with 2 others at the top of the table, but this time a tie-breaker was in use, and he won ahead of Matthew Scott and Sandy Taylor by one SOS point, retaining the Welsh Open title he won last year. Also finishing with 4 out of 5, below the bar (which was at 2d), were Richard Mullens and Richard Scholefield. It is pleasing to report that 39 players took part, an increase on last year. The weather was glorious, and go players enjoyed paddling in the sea, walking along the beach, promenade and hills at the back of Barmouth, and open-air Go in front of the Min-Y-Mor Hotel. The same venue has been booked for next year's tournament, to take place 25th-26th June 2011.

Results

This weekend has seen the biggest Durham Go Tournament ever, with 54 people gathering at St John's College, Durham for two days and a lot of Go.

Since it was the biggest Durham tournament ever, having a mere one winner seemed paltry, so in the absence of meaningful tie-breaks, the tournament was won jointly by Matt Reid, Yohei Negi and Matt Crosby, all on five wins.

The tournament was enlivened on the first day with regular reports from Andrew Kay, who had been expected to arrive in Durham on Friday evening, but had chosen to hitch-hike, and spent much of Saturday on the road, finally getting to Durham about 9pm, by which time three rounds were over and 35 players had eaten in a Chinese buffet.

British Pair Go Championships

This year the Pair Go Championships, the 20th, were held again at the Foxcombe Lodge Hotel, Boars Hill near Oxford, thanks to new proprietor Gary Adams. Last year's winners Kirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyen lost in round two to Alison and Simon Bexfield, but Alison and Simon lost the final. The winners were Natasha Regan and Matthew Cocke, who took the championship for the first time in five years. In the 10-pair handicap group, the winners for the second year running were young Kelda Smith and her father Paul Smith, from Cambridge. The best dressed pair competition again featured top-hatted winners: Sarah Wright and Alistair Turnbull won with reigning world best dressed champions, Kirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyen, taking second spot. Paul and Kelda Smith also won the RE quiz with 20 points.