British Championship

The BGA organises the British Go Championship annually, for the title of British Go Champion for the winner and for the eight best players to earn qualifying points for the World Amateur Go Championship [1]. The Championship comprises a number of events culminating in a Title Match. Details of rules and organisation, and so on, are available using the links on the left. The trophy is the John Barrs Goban, shown here. It is a traditional Japanese Go board (a good quality tenmasa board).

Current Champion: Andrew Kay [2] Previous Champion: Matthew Macfadyen [3]

2014

The 2014 British Championship started in April 2013. All those who play in tournaments between April 2013 and March 2014 and end with an EGF rating of 1900 or higher are on the list of qualifiers [4]. Note: This list may contain players who are not BGA members or do not have the required British nationality or residency requirements.

2013

The 2013 British Championship started in April 2012. All those who played in tournaments between April 2012 and March 2013 and ended with an EGF rating of 1900 or higher were on the list of qualifiers [5]. Note: This list may contain players who are not BGA members or do not have the required British nationality or residency requirements.

Those eligible could play in the Candidates' Tournament [6] in Edinburgh between 4th and 6th May 2013, and 23 players did so, including the ghost and a wildcard. The top 8, including Champion Andrew Kay, will play the Challengers' League in London from 24th to 27th May.

2012

All those who played in tournaments between April 2011 and March 2012 and ended with an EGF rating of 1900 or higher were on the list of qualifiers [7] for the Candidates. They played the Candidates' Tournament [8] at ISH in London over the May Bank Holiday weekend (Saturday 5th to Monday 7th May).

The top 8 players played in the Challengers' League [9] Held over the Jubilee holiday weekend 1st - 4th June, also in London at the Nippon Club. There was an extra place available from the Candidates' as the reigning champion, Matthew Macfadyen, decided not to compete for the title this year.

The top two players played the best of three title match. In 2012 it was Andrew Kay and Nick Krempel, neither of whom had been champion before. These games were relayed on KGS, Game 1 featured a commentary by Alexandr Dinerchtein 3p, from 10:00.

The matches were scheduled as follows:

• Game 1: Saturday 8th September Won by Andrew Kay by resignation.
  Game One Relay [10] raw record including unmoderated comments.
  
• Game 2: Saturday 22nd September Won by Andrew Kay.
  Game Two Relay [11] raw record including unmoderated comments.
  
• Game 3: Sunday 30th September Not needed.
  

Andrew Kay became the new champion.

2011

Title Match (reduced from 5 to 3 games this year)

All games relayed live on KGS from 10:00.

1. Sunday 3rd July
   at Matthew's house in Barford, Warwickshire
   Won by Matthew Macfadyen by resignation.
   Game One - No Comments [12]
   Game One Relay [13] raw record including unmoderated comments.
   Guo Juan Audio Commentry [14]

2. Sunday 17th July
   at Nick Wedd's house near Oxford
   Won by Nick Krempel by 2.5 points.
   Game Two - No Comments [15]
   Game Two Relay [16] raw record including unmoderated comments.
   Guo Juan Audio Commentry [17]

3. Saturday 17th September
   at Nick Krempel's house, Camden, London
   Won by Matthew Macfadyen by resignation.
   Game Three Relay [18] raw record including unmoderated comments.
   Guo Juan Audio Commentry [19]

Matthew Macfadyen remained the champion.

Challengers' League

Matthew Macfadyen, British Champion 2010, won all seven games in the Challengers' League to earn the right to defend his title. This year he will be playing Nick Krempel (3 dan London), who won five games in the League, in a best of 3 final. Hui Wang and Alistair Wall just missed out on playing for the title by one win each.

Results [20]

Candidates

The qualifiers for the British Go Championship [21] are based on their performance in UK tournaments. The qualifying requirement for the Candidates' Tournament is to have an EGF rating of 1900 or higher immediately after the end of at least one tournament, played between April in the previous year and the end of March, in which the candidate played in all rounds. You must also be a BGA member and satisfy the residency [22] requirements in section A.2 of the official rules.

28 players from 2 kyu to 5 dan attended the Candidates' Tournament held at Selwyn College in Cambridge. Andrew Kay (4 dan) was unbeaten winner and Des Cann (4 dan) won five out of six. The rest of the qualifiers, on 4/6, were Hui Wang (5 dan), Alan Thornton (1 dan), William Brooks (3 dan), Nick Krempel (3 dan) and Alistair Wall (3 dan). The reserves, also on 4/6, were David Ward, Richard Hunter and Paul Taylor.

Champion Matthew Macfadyen was on hand for two days in the Lyttleton Room to analyse the players' games and suss out the likely opposition.

Results [23] Tanaka's photos [24]

The entry fee for the British Championship this year was £25, including the Challengers' League, for those who qualify, as well as the Candidates' Tournament.

2010 [25]

Vanessa Wong, studying in Shrewsbury, won her playoff game against Richard Hunter in the Challengers' and so qualified to play for the 2010 Title Match against current champion Matthew Macfadyen, who also qualified in the Challengers' with a flawless 7/7 win.

Vanessa won the first game, but Matthew Macfadyen won the next three to retain the title. The last game was actually held on 16th January 2011.

For previous years use the links in the left hand side menu or see the British Championship History [26].