147 players attended the first day of the 32nd London Open, held again at ISH, Great Portland Street. Again it was run by Geoff Kaniuk and the others from CLGC and the main tournament was a major in the Toyota - IGS-Pandanet European Go Tour. The only problem on day 1 was a communication problem between draw computer and printer delaying the start of round one. The top two boards, featuring two of the 7 dans (Yun He from LSE and In-Seong Hwang from Berlin), were broadcast over the Internet using IGS-PandaNet. Yuki Shigeno (pro 2 dan) was on hand to give game commentaries.
On day two Ben He (4 dan Glasgow) beat Yun He (7 dan LSE) and then Yun retired sick. Ben then lost to Cho Seok-Bin (7 dan Hamburg). JK Shim (5 dan New Malden) also won his third game, but then lost to In-Seong Hwang (7 dan Berlin). So the two Korean 7 dans from Germany topped the field. Li Shen (6 dan London) topped the group on 3 win. UK players winning 4/4 were: William Brooks (1 dan Cambridge), Andrei Sokolov (10 kyu Preston) and Nat Chua (12 kyu LSE). In the evening players were able relax a little in the Pair Go tournament, if they so desired. Winners were a pair from Grenoble, France, Dominique Cornuejols (1 dan) and Jean-Loop Naddef (5 kyu). Three pairs were second: Ines and Jose Teles de Menezes (Portugal), Suvi Leppanen and Teemu Rovio (Finland), Antti Tarvainen (Finland) and Drago Pergar (Slovenia).
On day three the two Korean 7 dans clashed in round five. Cho beat Hwang in a spectacular game, to become favourite to win. At the end of round six Cho was still unbeaten. Hwang was second and Ondrej Silt (6 dan Czechia) was third, both with 5 points. The other unbeaten player was Teemu Rovio (1 dan Finland). Several UK players were on 5/6 and possibly on for prizes. The evening entertainment was the Lightning Tournament. After a group stage 8 players were left to play a knockout: Konrad Hoeffner (13 kyu Germany), Paul Blockley (13 kyu Worcester), Markku Juntunen (2d Finland), Cho Seok-Bin (7 dan Germany), Rita Pocsai (4 dan Hungary), Ondrej Silt (6 dan Czechia), Hwang In-Seong (7 dan Germany) and Daniel Althans (12 kyu Germany). After two more rounds only Ondrej and Daniel were unbeaten.
On the final day, Saturday, the two Korean 7 dans won again, seeing off Matthew Cocke (5 dan York) and Ondrej Silt (6 dan Czechia). Ondrej must have been tired as the Lightning final was played at lunch time and moreover he had to give 17 stones. It was the 12 kyu from Potsdam, Daniel Althans, that won the final. In Round 8 the Korean pair won again (against Li Shen (6 dan London) and David Ongaro (4 dan Germany)), giving Cho clear first ahead of Hwang.
The last few games in the continuous 9x9 were played and Ken Dackombe (15 kyu Farnborough Village) inched ahead of Lars Kristensen (17 kyu Denmark) under the Leiden square-root formula (563 points to 532) to win. Then Yuki Shigeno analysed one of the 7 dan games on the demo board before the prize-giving. Total attendance was 152 from a record number of countries.
All on 5 wins got a certificate and a paperweight went to all on 6 wins: Lars Kristensen (17 kyu Denmark), Kay Dackombe (16 kyu Farnborough Village), Nathanael Chua (12 kyu LSE), Minguel Teles De Menezes (10 kyu Portugal), Anders Eriksson (5 kyu Sweden), Jean-Loup Naddef (5 kyu France), Mark Todkill (3 kyu Wanstead), Max Nilsson (3 kyu Sweden), Juho Heikkinen (2 kyu Finland), Milan Jadron (1 dan Slovakia), Teemu Rovio (1 dan Finland), William Brooks (1 dan Cambridge) and Markku Jantunen (2 dan Finland). Matthias Terwey (6 kyu Germany) won a remarkable 7/8.
The Grand Prix places in the Toyota - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour were as follows:
18 players and 2 kibitzers came to the Quaker Meeting House in Edinburgh, a venue so excellent (apart from the impossible parking) that it has already been booked for Dec 2006. Winner of the red wine on 4 out of 4 was Neil McLean (2 kyu Elgin). For further prizes Neil kindly provided four copies of Moyo Go, a new game analysis package that he contributed to. These went to Rob Miller (3 kyu Edinburgh), who was second with 3 wins, and to three members of the Aberdeen club on 4 wins: Nir Oren (7 kyu), Eugene HC Wong (17 kyu) and Eugene KO Wong (17 kyu). It was decided that Scottish championship semifinals will be Neil McLean v Rob Miller and Donald Macleod v Allan Crossman.
30 players took part. Natasha Regan (1 kyu Epsom) was the winner, beating Brian Dackombe (3 kyu Farnborough Village) in the final. Paul Blockley (13 kyu Worcester) beat Pauline Bailey (17 kyu West Surrey) to also win 4 games. As well as Brian and Pauline, also winning 3/4 were Geoff Kaniuk (3 kyu London), Xinyi Lu (7 kyu Maidenhead), Neil Cleverly (8 kyu Bournemouth), Jonathan Englefield (8 kyu High Wycombe) and Edwina Lee (5 kyu Maidenhead). Two prizes were awarded in the 13x13 competition: Paul Margetts (1 dan Epsom) for 5/5 and Brian Brunswick (1 dan Epsom) for 60 percent. A team formed of Geoff Kaniuk, Natasha Regan and Matthew Selby won the London Underground quiz, correctly naming all the stations inside the Circle Line. On the previous day some 22 students were taught various subjects by teachers Brian Brunswick, Paul Barnard, Tony Atkins and Jon Diamond. Tony and Brian were the best at pits card game.
The first ever UK Go Challenge Geographic Go Gala took place at Milton School, Cambridge, organised by Paul Smith. 32 children from the East Anglia area took part in a day of teaching and 13x13 competition. Best secondary school was Norwich and best primary school was Milton. Under-18 champion was Will Brooks. Under-15 was won by Luke Betts and under-13 by Matthew Harris. Oliver Robinson was under-11 champion, Aoife McCaul was under-9 and Roella Smith under-7. Owen Walker was the best at the puzzle competition. Other prizes went to Alice Lincoln, Zai-Chen Lu and Hibiki Kono for 4/5 and to Christopher Russell, Christian Roberts, Hugh Simpson, Richard Engel, Sam Smith-Howell and Sam Holman for 3/5.
The Swindon Tournament reappeared after a four year break. The 9th edition was held at the Even Swindon Community Centre. 44 entered and winner was Bei Ge (3 dan Milton Keynes). He beat Mike Charles (2 dan St Albans) in the last round. Trophies were awarded for three wins to Maria Tabor (9 kyu Epsom) and Nagin Patel (12 kyu Swindon), for two and a half to Neil Moffatt (6 kyu Cardiff) and David M King (1 dan Swindon). The continuous 13x13 event was won by Dylan Carter (1 kyu Cardiff).
Tony Goddard (6 dan Sheffield) held on to the Three Peaks title for a second year. He won all 5 games, including a win over Edmund Shaw (5 dan Bracknell) who was second with 4 wins. Again 51 players took part and a visitor from the Czech Republic, Martin Klemsa (10 kyu Brno), won all 5 games. Those winning 4 were: Jamie Coulthard (8 kyu Sheffield), Tom Coulthard (7 kyu Newcastle), Chris Morris (5 kyu Durham), Edwin Brady (4 kyu St. Andrews) and John Walsh (3 kyu Lancaster). The tournament was held as usual in the Marton Arms in the beautiful North Yorkshire country.
The Cambridge Junior Chess and Go Club was again the hosts of this event at the Meadows Community Centre, Cambridge. 20 entered the main event and Alex Selby (3 dan Cambridge) was winner of the national title on 13x13 boards. He beat Tim Hunt in the final. Prizes were awarded for best scores out of 8 (including handicap games). Greg Pallis (9 kyu Oxford) scored 6.5 and Maria Tabor (9 kyu Epsom) won 5. From Cambridge Ben Handley (13 kyu) won 6, David Ward (4 dan), William Brooks (1 dan) and Joe Walker (5 kyu) won 5. For the 52 Junior Chess players in the parallel event, there was also a Go problems competition won by Tom Daniel and a beginners 9x9 event won by Fraser Roebuck, with Benjamin Marrow second.
65 players took part in the 36th Wessex held as ever in Marlborough Town Hall, but possibly for the last time for the event in its traditional format. Wanstead won the team prize. Winner was Alex Rix (4 dan London) who beat John Hobson (2 dan Bath) in the last round. Two division 2 trophies were awarded, to Alan Thornton (1 dan St Albans) and Dylan Carter (1 kyu Cardiff) who were both unbeaten. Winners of the trophies for the other divisions (some by tie-break) were: 3 Mark Todkill (3 kyu Wanstead), 4 Malcolm Hagan (5 kyu Winchester), 5 Daniel Debski (7 kyu Maidenhead), 6 David Davies (9 kyu Reading), 7 Paul Blockley (13 kyu Worcester), 8 Pauline Bailey (16 kyu West Surrey). Of these Mark and Dan won 4 and Pauline 3.5.
The autumn team event was held at the ISH, home of the Central London Go Club. The Central London and the Wanstead Club teams proved the strongest and finished tied. Players winning 3/3 were Piers Shepperson and Zaid from the CLGC team and Andrew Jones and Paul Tabor from the Wanstead team.
12 players from 1 kyu to 20 kyu took part in this event held at Sally Prime's house near Oxford. The trainer this year was Yuki Shigeno, the 2 dan professional who has been living in Italy. Winner of the mini-tournament was Helen Harvey (1 kyu Manchester) who won against Tamsin Jones (1 kyu Chester) and Edwina Lee (4 kyu Maidenhead) and drew with Sue Paterson (3 kyu Brighton). Maria Tabor (10 kyu Epsom) won three games in the handicap section.
20 players from Scotland, the north of England, and even including one from Australia, took part in the first Fife Go tournament, which was held in the Age Concern Hall, Cupar. The winner, with 5 wins out of 5, was Robbie Miller (4 kyu Edinburgh). Prizes for 4/5 went to Stig Vilholm Petersen (14 kyu Dundee) and Eugene Wong Hung Chih (20 kyu Aberdeen). Five others won prizes for 3/5; these were Donald Macleod (3 kyu Glasgow), Chris Barnett (6 kyu Durham), Nir Oren (8 kyu Aberdeen), Donald Spy (15 kyu Dundee) and Zhuo Min Chong (25 kyu Aberdeen).
42 players attended Wanstead. With less players than normal, especially in the top group there was the possibility of a tie, especially as Francis Roads (4 dan Wanstead) lost in round 2 but beat Des Cann (5 dan Milton Keynes) in round 3. However Des survived a nail-biting last round game against Matthew Reid (1 dan Cambridge), to come out first by sos tie-break. Francis came second with Matthew Reid and also Christian Scarff (1 dan Swindon) winning 3 out of 4. Paul Barnard (1 kyu Swindon) was top player with a perfect 4/4, a score also managed by Xinyi Lu (8 kyu Maidenhead) and Ken Dackombe (15 kyu Bromley). Richard Almond (15 kyu Hastings) narrowly missed getting 4 as he had a drawn game. Other players winning chocolates or wine for 3 wins were: Sam Aitken (1 kyu Warwick), Geoff Kaniuk (3 kyu London), Frank Visser (4 kyu Cambridge) and Ron Bell (5 kyu Reading). The event was the first run on the Windows version 6 of Godraw by Geoff Kaniuk and using the BGA's new laptop and printer; it ran perfectly to time with no technical problems.
65 players attended the Open University for the 17th Milton Keynes Tournament. Ge Bei, the local oriental 3 dan, was the tournament winner, beating Francis Roads, Alistair Wall and Alex Rix (all 4 dan). Others winning three wins were: Mike Cockburn (1 dan St Albans), Phil Beck (1 dan Cambridge), Anna Griffiths (7 kyu Epsom), Xinyi Lu (9 kyu Maidenhead), Elizabeth Abbott (13 kyu Oxford) and Peter Harold-Barry (19 kyu St Albans). The best team was the Forbidden team (Brian Brunswick, Anna Griffiths and Jenny Radcliffe) with 77.7 percent. The MK Go winners were: William Brooks for best percentage with 7/9 and Sadhvik Vijay for most wins with 5/7. In addition 4 beginners played a separate tournament in the afternoon. Winner was Ed Murray (Aston) with 6/6, second was Clari Hunt (Milton Keynes) with 4/6, and equal third were Zoe Nash and Emma Nash (Woodley).
20 players took part in the Cornish Handicap Tournament [5] on the Saturday in Penzance. Winner of the Go Bowls trophy for the second year running on 4/4 was young Jonathan Englefield (7 kyu High Wycombe). He beat another teenager, Jake Finnis (6 kyu West Cornwall), in the final. Winning 4/5 were Rob Churchill (17 kyu West Cornwall) and Maria Tabor (11 kyu Epsom). 20 players took part in the Cornwall Tournament on the Sunday. Winner of the Devon Go Stone for the first time was Ian Marsh (1 dan) from Bracknell who beat Wanstead's Alistair Wall (4 dan) in the final. The players who each won a wooden stone for 3/3 were Eric Hall (5 kyu Swindon) and Rob Churchill (17 kyu West Cornwall).
Held at the Renold Building at Manchester University, the 9th MSO had Go events over three days of the last weekend. The main event of the weekend was the Northern and the Bank Holiday Monday had the Rapid to finish the weekend. Six players played all-play-all in the Rapid with reduced handicap but with stones and komi after nine stones. A four way tie was split by mutual game results to give the Gold to Tim Hunt (3 dan Milton Keynes). Silver went to Paul Blockley (13 kyu Worcester) and his father Ed Blockley (2 kyu Worcester) got the Bronze. Placed fourth was Hana Kvapilova (14 kyu) from the Czech Republic.
11 players attended the Northern at Renold Building, UMIST, in Manchester. It was held as part of the MSO. Gold medal winner was Alistair Wall (4 dan Wanstead). Silver was won by Paul Smith (2 dan Cambridge) and for the second year running the Bronze was won by Tim Hunt (3 dan Milton Keynes). Prizes for 3 out of 5 (and a bye) went to Ron Bell (5 kyu Reading) and John Nicholas (4 kyu Manchester).
This year the Pair Go Championships were delayed from May until July to stay away from the European championships in Maidenhead. This year the venue was again the Foxcombe Lodge Hotel, Boars Hill near Oxford, and the weather was perhaps a little too hot; some of the plants selected as prizes by organiser Francis Roads were starting to wilt a little. Last year's winners Kirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyen lost in round one to Natasha Regan and Matthew Cocke. These two managed to hang on, beating Anna Griffiths and Tony Atkins and then Alison and Simon and Bexfield in the final, to take the championship for the first time. Emma Marchant and Simon Goss got the fighting spirit prize. In the 8-pair handicap group the Beckenham father and daughter, Paul and Maria Tabor, were top with 3/3. They beat Jil Segerman and Tony Pitchford in the final. Sasha King and Christian Scarff won the handicap fighting spirit prize. Best dressed pairs were Kirsty and Matthew, and Jackie Chai and John Johnstone. Number quiz winners were Maria and Paul.
The best players from 18 school heats met for the finals of the second
UK GO Challenge [6] at Loughborough Grammar School.
More than double 2004 took part in the finals at 46. Section winners were:
U18 Boys - Wilson Hau (Loughborough) U16 Boys - Rajinder Poonian (Loughborough) U14 Boys - Matthew Hathrell (Finham Park School, Coventry) U12 Boys - Matthew Harris (Cambridge) U10 Boys - Ollie Robinson (Milton, Cambridge) U8 Boys - Thomas Meehan (Solihull) U16 Girls - Hetty Boardman-Weston (Loughborough) U12 Girls - Holly Hathrell (Finham Park School, Coventry) U10 Girls - Christiane Walker (Milton, Cambridge) U8 Girls - Aoife McCaul (Milton, Cambridge) Overall top place winners: 1st - Matthew Hathrell 2nd - Hetty Boardman-Weston (Best Girl) 3rd - Rajinder Poonian Other Top Winners - James Hoyle (Loughborough) for 6/7 Champion School - Loughborough; Champion Primary School - London Meed, Burgess Hill Fighting Spirit Prize - Andrew Dudley (Ninestiles Birmingham)All top winners won micro-hi-fis and camera-mobile phones kindly donated by LG Electronics UK Ltd.
The KGS tournament grew in popularity this year, gaining more players and a higher intensity of games (as it lasted for just the month of June, half as long as last year). Players hailing from over 10 countries took part, with particularly strong challenges from sometime leaders Jose Miguel Pasini (Chile) in 7th and Jesse Savo (Finland) in 9th place. The last day saw Gunnar AAstrand Grimnes from Aberdeen surge through from out of nowhere to win with 6/6. He overtook Kiyohiko Tanaka, who had the consolation of winning the 4k+ category (which included two players with KGS dan grades). 5k-15k was won by Xinyi Lu, and the 16k and under category by Alan Cameron. The Teaching Side event met with limited enthusiasm and was won by Ian Davis on 8 lessons. Thanks to Edwin Brady who designed the web application for the tournament and Ian Davis for running it.
The 13th Welsh Open at Barmouth was won as always by Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington) putting him on 63 wins unbeaten at that event. Alistair Wall (4 dan Wanstead) was second with 3/5, on tie-break from Simon Goss (2 dan Bracknell) and Christian Scarff (2 dan Swindon). Prize winners for four wins were Ed Blockley (2 kyu Worcester), Steve Bailey (4 kyu West Surrey), Gary Beman (6 kyu Leamington), Richard Scholefield (12 kyu Milton Keynes) and Stephen Bashforth (17 kyu Leicester). 32 players took part and enjoyed the seaside sunshine and evening meal at the new venue of the Min-Y-Mor Hotel.
The Scottish Open moved north this year to the pleasant old campus of Aberdeen University. 25 players took part. The winner was a rapidly improving Polish 2 dan, Jakub Zborowski. He won all 5 games. Second was Francis Roads (4 dan Wanstead) with 4/5. Quintin Connell (14 kyu Glasgow) was also able to achieve five wins and Stig Vilholm Petersen (18 kyu Dundee) won a prize for winning four. Also turning in noteworthy results were locals David Fowler (15 kyu) and organiser Nir Oren (8 kyu), both winning 3/4, and Neil McLean (4 kyu Elgin), who beat and came equal third with Tony Atkins (3 dan).
The Durham Go Tournament was attended by 49 people, 36 of whom made a local Chinese buffet owner very happy on Saturday evening. The tournament ended with a tie for first place, between Francis Roads (4 dan Wanstead) and Tim Hunt (3 dan Milton Keynes), each on five wins. Also on five wins was Patrick Ridley (22 kyu Chester). Winning prizes for 4/6 were Toby Manning (3 dan Leicester), Andrew Grant (3 dan Milton Keynes), Quentin Mills (4 dan Cardiff), Claas Roever (3 kyu Dublin), Peter Allen (4 kyu Liverpool), Chris Morris (5 kyu Durham), Colin Bavidge (6 kyu Newcastle), Stuart Parsons (7 kyu Staines), Chris Barnett (8 kyu Durham), Etienne Dufrier (9 kyu Teesside) and Stephen Bashforth (17 kyu Leicester). The continuous 13x13 side event was won by William Brooks (1 dan Cambridge) and the lightning by Matthew Holton (2 dan Teesside).
Best of the 58 players was Heung-Soon Kwak, a Korean 5 dan from Bournemouth; he beat Kaisshu Hirahara (5 dan Maidenhead) in the last round. Winners of 3 games were William Brooks (1 dan Cambridge), Paul Tabor (2 kyu Epsom), Mark Todkill (4 kyu London) and Stuart Parsons (7 kyu Staines). Miguel Carrion Alvarez (13 kyu London) won the 13x13. Stuart Parsons won the Go Problems competition and Toby Manning won the caption competition.
26 players attended the Bar-Low kyu-players only tournament in Cambridge, reports Phil Beck. It was held as part of the Mind Sports Olympiad weekend. Local Cambridge player Matthew Reid (1 kyu) was the overall winner with 5 wins. Mathieu Flinders (1 kyu), also from Cambridge, came second with 4 wins. Third place was taken by a visitor from Romania: Tiberiu Gociu. No handicaps were played and towards the end the draw produced some daunting ties; nevertheless Christian Roberts (22 kyu) from Norwich and Maria Tabor (16 kyu) from Epsom did well to beat opposition 7 and 5 grades stronger than themselves in even games. The weather also played its part. A violent thunderstorm caused a power cut for half an hour, but the draw computer's battery survived until power was restored.
The event was held again in Cambridge but in the Junior Parlour of Trinity College and not at the MSO weekend.
The room pleasantly looked out over the gateway to Trinity and the nice weather gave rise to a soothing babble
from the throngs of tourists outside. Des Cann won all his games to become the Challenger to Matthew Macfadyen.
2nd with 5 wins was Matthew Cocke (+ Wall, Diamond, Tanaka, Rix and Ward) on last position tie break from
3rd placed T.Mark Hall (+ Wall, Tanaka, Cocke, Rix and Ward), also on 5 wins. 4th on 4 wins was
Alex Rix (+ Wall, Diamond, Tanaka, Ward); 5th on 3 wins was John Diamond (+ Wall, Hall and Tanaka); 6th
with 2 wins was David Ward (+ Diamond and Tanaka); 7th on 2 wins was Alistair Wall (+ Tanaka and Ward);
Kiyohiko Tanaka playing in his first Challenger's failed to win any. No play offs were necessary.
The first ever Triangle Tournament (2 plays 1) was held alongside the
European Pair Go Championships [14] at
Hitachi in Maidenhead. 14 players took part which meant that one game each round had to be 1 on 1. Nobody
won 3 games so the lowest graded player winning two in a pair was judged the winner. This was Paul Blockley
(13 kyu Worcester) and second was Jonathan Englefield (8 kyu High Wycombe). Third for winning his first
two games was Ed Blockley (2 kyu Worcester). Runners-up who got go baseball caps
were Xinyi Lu, Daniel Debski, France Ellul and Nick Wedd. Getting the fighting spirit prize was Chuwen Teng, a young lady
from Hitachi who learnt Go specially to take part.
Gallery [15]
Teams of players attended the Nippon Club in Piccadilly for the spring International Match. The Central London Club were the victors this time, ahead of Wanstead, Reading, Cambridge, Nippon and Mars. Akiko Sato (CLGC) and Stijn van Dongen (Cambridge) won all 4 games.
Toby Manning, Peter Fisher, Stephen Bashforth and the others from Leicester Go Club ran the 38th British Go Congress at the very pleasant surroundings of Stamford Hall at Leicester University. The weekend featured the British Lightning, British Open and the BGA AGM.
The British Lightning was won for a second year running by David M King (1 dan Swindon) who beat Francis Roads in the final. 24 players took part.
The British Open had 61 players. T Mark Hall (4 dan London) failed to win it for a third year running, but settled with second with five wins out of six. The worthy winner on 6/6 was Tony Goddard (6 dan Sheffield). Also on 5/6 were Ken Dackombe (17 kyu Farnborough Village) and Andrei Sokolov (15 kyu Preston).
The Nippon Club Team Trophy was won by the the Dackombe family's Farnborough Village team from Kent. Also Francis Roads collected the Terry Stacey Grand Prix trophy and David King collected his dan diploma.
Eight teams competed for the Broken Go Stone Trophy and a handmade chocolate egg by Annie Hall. Wycombe and Maidenhead A team (Paul Clarke, France Ellul and Edwina Lee) beat their B team in the final. Players on 3/3 were Alistair Wall, Paul Christie, Paul Clarke, Xinyi Lu. Xinyi Lu won the 10x10 on tie-break from Nicola Hurden (both had 7 wins).
The Candidates' Tournament was held in Leamington Spa, but the parallel Leamington Tournament was cancelled due to staff shortages. 18 players took part. Jon Diamond, Kiyohiko Tanaka (both on 4 wins), T. Mark Hall, Alistair Wall and Des Cann (by nigiri from Alex Selby) (on 3 wins) qualified for the Challenger's League. They would join Matthew Cocke, Alex Rix and Dave Ward in the Challenger's League (an 8 player all-play-all tournament in early May).
73 players attended this years Trigantius, plus another 21 in the Novices event. Li Shen (6 dan London) was the
winner for the second year running beating the next placed players: David Ward (4 dan Cambridge), Andrew Jones
(3 dan Wanstead) and Yun He (7 dan LSE).
The others winning all three were Brian Dackombe (3 kyu Bromley), Mike Pickles (5 kyu Norwich), Jonathan Tims
(6 kyu Liverpool), Peter Allen (7 kyu Liverpool), Chris Barnett (12 kyu Durham), Stephen Chester (15 kyu Cambridge),
Nathanael Chua (15 kyu LSE), David Ellmore (18 kyu Billericay) and Ken Dackombe (19 kyu Bromley).
Best Kyu player was Mathieu Flinders and the Team Prize went to Cambridge A. Alistair Turnbull won the 13x13
and Matthew Harris got the youngest player prize (as Ken Dackombe had already won one). All players of 2 wins got
a small prize.
In the Trigantius Novices' tournament [18] the winner was Zaichen Lu from
Norwich School. There were various age-group, team and puzzle-solving prizes too.
The first LSE tournament was held at the London School of Economics and attracted 41 players. It had an unusual time system (20 minutes then overtime of 30 in 5), but was very professionally run by the students with the draw projected instantly in all the playing rooms. Local star Yun He (7 dan LSE) was the unbeaten winner. Runner up was Matthew Woodcraft (1 dan Cambridge) and Zaid Waqi (1 dan Imperial College) and Andrew Grant (3 dan Milton Keynes) also won 3/4. Winning prizes for 3/4 were Ivan Wong (4 kyu Oxford), Patrick Donovan (5 kyu Hastings), Anna Griffiths (6 kyu Epsom), Jonathan Englefield (8 kyu High Wycombe), Peter Welinder (15 kyu Imperial College) and Tevong You (19 kyu Imperial College).
75 players attended the Oxford Tournament at St. Edmund Hall. Winner was the Chinese teenager player from London, Li Shen (6 dan). He beat two Wanstead players, Francis Roads and Alistair Wall and then Min Yang (4 dan Oxford) in the last round. Players on 3/3 were Joonghoon Jo (3 dan London), Paul Christie (2 dan Bath), Harry Fearnley (2 dan Oxford), David M King (1 kyu Swindon), Matthew Reid (1 kyu Cambridge), Barry Chandler (3 kyu Reading), Nick Krempel (4 kyu Cambridge), Will Segerman (5 kyu Bath), Alex Parsons (7 kyu Unattached) and Stuart Patterson (15 kyu Leamington). Prizes again were sponsored by Hoyles Games Shop.
33 players, including a large and successful team from Liverpool, attended the Cheshire Tournament which had been moved from Crewe to Wilmslow at short notice. This was because of the Chess Congress being cancelled, but Ashdene Primary School proved a good replacement. Winner of the open section was Toby Manning (3 dan Leicester); second was Tony Atkins (3 dan Bracknell). Winner of the handicap section was Jonathan Tims (8 kyu Liverpool) on 5/5; he beat club mate George Leach (2 kyu) in the final. Also on 4/5 were Chris Burke (6 kyu Liverpool) and David Biddulph (30 kyu Stockport). Neil Leavesley (25 kyu Liverpool) was best youth player with 3/5. 10x10 winner was 16-year old Andrea Sullivan (14 kyu Liverpool) with 7/10. Photos [19]
Another record of 73 children attended this event at King Edward VI School, Aston.
There were lots of locals, groups from Bloxham, Loughborough, others from many of the new schools around the country
and even two players from Hong Kong.
Winners [runners up] were:
74 players attended the HQ of HITACHI Europe Ltd for the 14th Maidenhead Tournament. Winner for third year running was Chinese boy Li Shen (5 dan London), aged 13. Second was Kaisshu Hirahara (5 dan) who works for the sponsor HITACHI. Several players won 3/3 including Masuo Kikusui (2 dan London), Paul Taylor (1 dan London), Peter Fisher (5 kyu Leicester), Mark Todkill (5 kyu Wanstead), Christopher Price (6 kyu Cardiff), Matthew Scott (6 kyu Oxford), Pauline Bailey (16 kyu West Surrey), Stephen Bashforth (18 kyu Leicester) and Daniel Watson (24 kyu Maidenhead). In addition all on 2/3 won a prize thanks to generous sponsorship from HITACHI. Team winners were Cardiff and 9x9 winner was Xinyi Lu (8 kyu Maidenhead) on 7/8, with good attempts from William Brooks and France Ellul.
Links:
[1] http://www.britgo.org/news/london2005.html
[2] http://www.eurogofed.org/gotour/games.htm
[3] http://www.britgo.org/files/images/news/swindon05a.jpg
[4] http://www.britgo.org/files/images/news/small05b.jpg
[5] http://www.britgo.org/results/2005/cornlight.html
[6] http://www.ukgochallenge.com
[7] http://www.britgo.org/results/2005/barmouth.html
[8] http://www.britgo.org/files/images/news/chall05a.jpg
[9] http://www.britgo.org/files/images/news/chall05b.jpg
[10] http://www.britgo.org/files/images/news/chall05c.jpg
[11] http://www.britgo.org/files/images/news/chall05d.jpg
[12] http://www.britgo.org/files/images/news/chall05e.jpg
[13] http://www.britgo.org/files/images/news/trinity05.jpg
[14] http://www.britgo.org/news/enews2.html#epgc
[15] http://www.britgo.org/tournaments/2005/europairgo/gallery.html#triangle
[16] http://www.britgo.org/files/images/news/leicester05b.jpg
[17] http://www.britgo.org/files/images/news/leicester05c.jpg
[18] http://www.britgo.org/results/2005/trignov.html
[19] http://www.kisekigo.com/cheshire
[20] http://www.britgo.org/news/enews1.html
[21] http://www.britgo.org/news/enews1a06.html
[22] http://www.britgo.org/news/enews1a04.html
[23] http://www.britgo.org/news/enews1a.html
![36th Wessex Tournament 30/10/05 [4] 65 players took part in the 36th Wessex held as ever in Marlborough Town Hall, but possibly for the last time for the event in its traditional format. Wanstead won the team prize. Winner was Alex Rix (4 dan London) who beat John Hobson (2 dan Bath) in the last round. Two division 2 trophies were awarded, to Alan Thornton (1 dan St Albans) and Dylan Carter (1 kyu Cardiff) who were both unbeaten. Winners of the trophies for the other divisions (some by tie-break) were: 3 Mark Todkill (3 kyu Wanstead), 4 Malcolm Hagan (5 kyu Winchester), 5 Daniel Debski (7 kyu Maidenhead), 6 David Davies (9 kyu Reading), 7 Paul Blockley (13 kyu Worcester), 8 Pauline Bailey (16 kyu West Surrey). Of these Mark and Dan won 4 and Pauline 3.5. London International Teams 23/10/05 The autumn team event was held at the ISH, home of the Central London Go Club. The Central London and the Wanstead Club teams proved the strongest and finished tied. Players winning 3/3 were Piers Shepperson and Zaid from the CLGC team and Andrew Jones and Paul Tabor from the Wanstead team.](http://www.britgo.org/files/images/news/small05b.jpg){kind=link}
![36th Wessex Tournament 30/10/05 [4] 65 players took part in the 36th Wessex held as ever in Marlborough Town Hall, but possibly for the last time for the event in its traditional format. Wanstead won the team prize. Winner was Alex Rix (4 dan London) who beat John Hobson (2 dan Bath) in the last round. Two division 2 trophies were awarded, to Alan Thornton (1 dan St Albans) and Dylan Carter (1 kyu Cardiff) who were both unbeaten. Winners of the trophies for the other divisions (some by tie-break) were: 3 Mark Todkill (3 kyu Wanstead), 4 Malcolm Hagan (5 kyu Winchester), 5 Daniel Debski (7 kyu Maidenhead), 6 David Davies (9 kyu Reading), 7 Paul Blockley (13 kyu Worcester), 8 Pauline Bailey (16 kyu West Surrey). Of these Mark and Dan won 4 and Pauline 3.5.](/files/images/news/small05a.jpg){kind=link}
