UK Results: 1995

1995 results

Hitachi London Open 29/12/95-01/01/96

140 players, 40 percent of whom were from overseas, attended the annual four day tournament over the new year period in London. Mr Imamura from Hitachi presented the prizes including the camcorder presented to Matthew Macfadyen for winning the lottery. The event largely went well, run by Harold Lee and his team of helpers, apart from the first day when late registration and a software error on the computer delayed the first round.

In the lightning competition the winner was Miyakawa (6 dan F) who beat Zhang (6 dan UK) in the final. Marcus Keinappel (7 kyu) was third by beating Matthew Cocke (4 dan UK).

A rengo competition was won by the 4 dan strength team A: Rupel, Kashevnik, Rickard, Shepperson and Willems. At 13x13 the prizes went to Tom Blockley (9 kyu UK) for 10/13 and to Emil Nijhuis (4 dan NL) for 5/5.

In the main event after 6 round the Grand Prix points were awarded to: Guo, Zhang, Miyakawa, Gerlach, Colmez, Macfadyen, Laatikainen, Danek, Shepperson and E. Nijhuis in that order. The top four players then played knockout to determine the winner. Guo and Zhang survived to an exciting final which Shutai Zhang (the Chinese doctor from London) won despite losing their earlier match to Guo Juan. Three players were awarded joint third Miyakawa, Laatikainen and Danek.

The only player to win all his games was Jamie Harrod (22 kyu Brakenhale). S. Hurschka (16 kyu D) lost only one. Prizes for 6 wins went to T. Roth (18 kyu D), Richard Mullens (7 kyu UK), S. Kohonen (4 kyu SF), K. Poggenklas (4 kyu D), G. Bertram (4 kyu D), S. Duhr (1 dan F), S. Dilger (2 dan D), C. Nijhuis (3 dan NL) and to Martin Solity (4 kyu UK) for 5.5 wins.

On the day after the West Surrey Teaching Day is held the traditional handicap tournament. 51 players attended. Winner was Jay Rastall (2 dan London) who beat Alison Jones (2 dan Wanstead) in the final. Elinor Brooks (9 kyu Swindon) and Gerard Farrimond (30 kyu Epsom Downs) also won all four games. After a disputed result Suryan Stettner (10 kyu London) and Francis Weaver (14 kyu Brakenhale) were awarded prizes for 3.5. Eight other players won 3 games: Tony Atkins, Clive Wright, France Ellul, Roger Daniel, John Johnstone, Thomas Blockley, Steve Ashing and Claire Boxall. In the 13x13 prizes were won by Messers Atkins, Ings, Hamilton and Dowling. In the guess the baby photograph competition Colin Williams spotted the most familiar go players and John Johnstone was second (though he was one of them).

60 players attended the Allied Dunbar club, plus the players involved in the Title Match upstairs. Winner was Francis Roads (4 dan Wanstead). Prizes for 3/3 went to: Harold Lee (4 dan London), Jay Rastall (2 dan London), Jonathan Chin (1 kyu Reading), Charles Bockett-Pugh (4 kyu West Surrey), George Haig (12 kyu Swindon), Pauline Bailey (16 kyu West Surrey), Jamie Harrod (25 kyu Brakenhale), Carl Bate (31 kyu Brakenhale) and Karen Graham (33 kyu Brakenhale). Oxford's Herman Marxer (1 kyu) won the 13x13.

26 players attended the third Three Peaks tournament held at the Arton Arms near Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales. Winner was John Rickard (4 dan Cambridge) with 5/5. With 4/5 were Tim Moon and David Bennett. Francis Roads (4 dan Wanstead) got 3.5/5.

The 26th Wessex took place on the day the clocks went back, as usual. Not usual was the attendance of 124 - a recent record. First was T.Mark Hall (4 dan Bristol). Winners of the other divisions were: Paul Christie, Jo Hampton, Nick Wedd, Jiri Keller, Andy Seaborne, Dave King, Pete Johnson and James Harrod. The Hot Shots from the new club at Hursley in Hampshire won the team prize.

This was played at the Nippon Club's new location of Samuel House in St Alban's Street near Piccadilly. The home team won with a score of 20 ahead of CLGC (19), Wanstead (15) and China and friends (12). Two players in each team won all three games: T. Mark Hall, Jonathan Chetwynd, Edmund Shaw, Alan Thornton, H. Naka, G. Obayashi, Harold Lee and Z. Gan.

Matthew Macfadyen regained "his" goban trophy from club mate Des Cann by winning Shrewsbury again. Those who won three wins at the pleasant river-side venue were Tony Putnam (1 kyu), Brian Timmins (3 kyu), Emma Marchant (12 kyu) and Jamie Harrod (30 kyu). Tom Summerscales won the 13x13 and four teams were equal so no award was given.

The British Pair Go Tournament was held at the Compleat Angler Hotel in Marlow. It was sponsored via the IAPG Committee and so some good prizes were available. Winners of the Open section and hence to be the British representatives in Japan were Matthew Macfadyen and Kirsty Healey. They beat Francis Roads and Jackie Chai in the last round. Winners in the handicap section were Francis Weaver and Debbie Jones, Hannah and John Ellul (also the best dressed Youth Couple). Best dressed couple were Paul and Andrea Smith. Prizes in the novice section went to Yvonne Mao (playing with Paul Margetts) and Noel Leaver (with Sylvia Kalisch). 84 players attended.

70 players attended the event at the Open University. Winner was Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington). Prize winners for three wins were: Alison Jones (2 dan), Paul Barnard (1 kyu), Matthew Holton (1 kyu), Tony Warburton (1 kyu), France Ellul (4 kyu), Graham Brooks (12 kyu), Tom Summerscales (14 kyu), Francis Weaver (17 kyu) and Andrea Smith (30 kyu).

T.Mark Hall (4 dan Bristol) beat John Rickard (4 dan Cambridge) in the last round to finish ahead of the latter on tie-break to win the Red Rose Shield. Young Tom Summerscales (16 kyu Culcheth) was the only player to win all six games. Those on 5 were: Robin Hobbes (7 kyu Manchester) and Tony Pitchford (8 kyu Chester); Paul Hankin (1 kyu Cambridge) got 4.5. 51 players attended.

Anglo-Japanese 26/08/95

Japan beat the London locals 33-9, only three British players could manage two wins and none three.

The third biannual Isle of Man Go Week was a success. 48 players attended the main tournament and others played in the Pair Go and 13x13. Andrew Jones (3 dan Wanstead) surprised the reigning champion and club mate Francis Roads (4 dan) by beating him. Andrew went on to win the title despite losing to Tony Atkins (2 dan Wokingham) in the final round. 1. Jones (4/5) 2. Roads (4/5) 3. Atkins (3/5). Francis Weaver (22 kyu Brakenhale) won all five games. Players on 4/5 were Paul Smith (1 dan Cambridge), Claude Burvenich (1 kyu Belgium), Bart Fondour (2 kyu France), Paul Clarke (8 kyu Swindon) and Edward Marshall (16 kyu IOM).

Francis Roads managed to hang on to his afternoon title. Others win 3/3 were Bill Streeten (3 kyu London), Dave King (8 kyu Swindon), Paul Marshall (25 kyu IOM). Paul Hankin (1 kyu Cambridge) won 2.5/3.

In the handicap a four-way tie on five wins was resolved as weakest player wins: Francis Weaver (22 kyu) from Mark Harrod (10 kyu Brakenhale), Paul Donnelly (1 dan Belfast). Alison Jones (2 dan Wanstead). Pair Go champs were Paul and Andrea Smith who beat Colin Adams and Paul Hankin in the final. The Team Champs were the Wall Of Paul 2: Donnelly, Margetts, Barnard and Hankin. 13x13 Mike Charles (2 dan Stevenage) beat Jo Hampton (1 dan West Wales) and the play-off for the Continuous Lightning Mark Harrod beat Jo Hampton despite Jo winning more continuous games and beating Mark twice already. Note that all handicap games were Manx style with handicap plus one and 7 komi/grade if over 9 stones.

The social event this year was a coach trip and walk to the official go club cafe on a remote headland. The Wanstead Mushrooms won the quiz despite sitting in a dark conservatory. The day out saw trips to Peel and St Johns (official) and to Snaefell, Castletown and the southern cliffs (unofficial). Professional player Saijo Masataki was present until the Tuesday and worked very hard on teaching games, analysis and in lectures to the players. Our thanks go to the Isle Of Man players for a successful week and extending a warm welcome to any go players that drop in at any time.

20 players attended the first tournament held in a very sunny Totnes. Alistair Wall (4 dan) travelled by train from Wanstead to win the event. Also on 3/3 was local 12 kyu Rick Brennan.

The sun shone on the 40 players at the Welsh Open. Confusingly there were four F.Roads playing as the "Being Francis Roads" competition was open for the first time; it went on tie-break of facial hair to the 4dan version. As at Leicester Matthew Macfadyen was the easy victor. Mark Harrod (11 kyu Brakenhale) was also unbeaten. Prizes for four wins went to Simon Shiu (3 dan Teesside), Charles Leedham-Green (1 dan Wanstead), Colin Adams (1 kyu Preston), France Ellul (4 kyu High Wycombe) and Keith Osborne (13 kyu Wokingham).

This year a new feature was a quiz based around board games set to the teams in between rounds. Winners of this were Swindon. In the go Matthew Macfadyen (6dan Leamington) was unbeatable as expected. Other prizes went to Jo Hampton (1 dan West Wales), Stuart Brown (1 kyu Hull), Gary Quinn (2 kyu Teesside), Paul Clarke (5kyu High Wycombe) and George Haig (16 kyu Swindon).

After a gap of over 10 years Cambridge club resurrected the British Small Board Championship. Games on 13x13 are really quite hard especially as there was a continuous full-board lightning in between. Last times winner, Francis Roads (4 dan Wanstead), won again despite some scares. The kyu players section was won by Paul Hankin and Tom Sommerscales. Richard Hunter over from Japan won the continuous lightning prize.

In order to catch up on missing years this was the second schools event in six months. Attendance was rather poor. The under 18 prize was not contested, so youth champion was the under 16 winner David King (1kyu Brakenhale). Under 14 winner was Emma Marchant, under 12 was Tom Blockley and Under 10 was Sophia Ellul. No one would compete against home team Brakenhale for the Castledine Trophy nor for the Lightning Championship, so Brakenhale became the clear holders of the claim to best school.

This event is usually dominated by the Wanstead 4-dans who fail to get in the Challenger's. This year was no exception as Francis Roads easily won with six wins. Joint second were two-dans Tony Atkins and David Ward at the top of the group on four. Prizes were awarded in bands to Neil Ghani (1 kyu Edinburgh), Simon Marlow (4 kyu Glasgow), Jim Thompson (6 kyu Leicester) and Nick Bethel (14 kyu Dundee).

Challenger's League 27/05/95-29/05/95

Eight player all-play-all: Macfadyen 6, Cocke 5, Cann 4.5, Hall & Shepperson 4, Rix 3.5, Webber 1, Chetwynd 0.

This was not at ICL and not on FA Cup Final Day, but at a new rugby club venue with appropriate large photos on the wall to put you off your game. However T.Mark Hall was not distracted as he won with 3/3. Antonio Moreno (2 dan Bristol), Jo Hampton (1 dan West Wales), Andrew Ketley (3 kyu Cheltenham), Daniel Cox (6 kyu Brakenhale), Robert Finking (11 kyu) and Francis Weaver (30 kyu Brakenhale) also won 3.

The VE Bank Holiday say 36 players at Covent Garden battling for the right to play in the Challengers League with Messers Macfadyen, Cocke and Webber. The biggest battle was against the noise; apart from the usual buskers this year the fire bell, a parade of human insects and various WW2 aircraft fly-pasts had to be contended with. However the five on five who survived this were Cann, Hall, Rix, Shepperson and Chetwynd (who is still only 2 dan).

North East 22/04/95

Another fast play event. This time six rounds, held in Darlington. Local player Simon Shiu won all six games ahead of Francis Roads. Richard Pearce (12 kyu) from Newcastle won 5/6.

At very short notice Wokingham Go Club hosted the second Thames Valley Team Tournament. It was too short notice for the home team to turn up and so out of the other 8 teams it was the Royal Standard (Beaconsfield) team that won (Jones, Hawdon and Jones) ahead of the Brakenhale Fellas and Furze Platt.

The Wanstead Go Club were the hosts of a very successful British at the delightfully rural location of Felsted School in Essex. The only minor panic was when insufficient sets were present to play the lightning, so Paul Barnard and Steve Bailey were awarded a prize for playing with a demonstration set of coloured glass stones. The rest of the lightning went as expected, but the final saw a shodan, Chris Dawson, playing Brakenhale Schools' 12 kyu Mark Harrod. In a very laid back game Mark won becoming the weakest ever British Lightning Champion.

If the lure of the sunshine and the pleasant surroundings did not tempt you outside there was the 13x13 event between games. Organiser Francis Roads won 9/10 but young Daniel Cox had a game- win product of over 500.

In the Main event visitor form Sweden Ulf Olsson won with 5 wins. Equal second were Harold Lee and John Rickard. The only player with all six games won was Culcheth's David Bennett (15 kyu). Three players won five: Simon Butler (1 kyu Reading), Wayne Walters (4 kyu Wanstead) and Paul Clarke (10 kyu High Wycombe). Prizes were also awarded to those with 4/6.

In the Stacey Grand Prix for 1994-1995 Alistair Wall was the clear winner of most games above the bar, and the Youth Grand Prix was won by David King for the second year running.

Another fast play, this time with five rounds. Matthew Macfadyen won the top Swiss Section ahead of Teesside's Simon Shiu (3 dan). The other groups were won by: 1. Toby Manning and Alan Thornton (2 dan); 2. Brian Ellis (1 dan); 3. Matthew Holton and Tony Warburton (1 kyu); 4. Paul Barnard (1 kyu); 5. Martin Harvey (2 kyu); 6. John Lowe (4 kyu); 7. Jim Edwards (8 kyu); 8. Nick Fortescue (8 kyu); 9. Paul Clarke (12 kyu); 10. Daniel Dowling (18 kyu). The best team were the Leamington Beards and Jo Hampton won the 9x9.

South London 18/03/95

This fast play event over 8 rounds was held at Battersea Arts Centre and was won by Alistair Wall (4 dan Wanstead). Most other top players were in Dublin for the Irish Open.

International Team Match 12/03/95

Held in a rather stuffy Indian Restaurant, the CLGC team profited from the good food to win ahead of Wanstead, the Nippon Club and London University.

62 players attended the University Centre on a sunny spring day. Norwich's Matthew Cocke (4 dan) won beating Cambridge's Miss Xiashua Jiang in the last round. Winners on 3 were: J.Chetwynd, S.Goss, G.Mills, B.Allday, O.Riordan, D.King, R.Mullens and V.Milner.

Despite the original organiser and seven other go players missing the tournament for a skiing holiday, Wanstead went well. Winner was Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington) who beat London's Jonathan Chetwynd (2 dan) in the last round. C.Weeks of West Surrey won four games and prizes were also awarded to those with 2.5 or 3: Messers M.Hall, S.Barthropp, H.Lee, P.Collins, D.King, E.Hall, W. Walters, R.Mullens, R.Finking, J.Lewis and Miriam Brod and Emma Marchant.

Schools 1994 22/01/95

Brakenhale School won the 1994 Team event again. Newcomers Commonweal School, Swindon, won the Lightning Championships.

Sponsored again by Hitachi Europe at their Maidenhead Headquarters. Won By T.Mark Hall (4 dan) who beat the sponsor and Macfadyen. Other with three wins: Andrew Grant (2 dan OU), Charles Leedham-Green (1 dan Wanstead), Simon Butler (1 kyu Reading), David King (2 kyu Brakenhale), Bill Rivers (2 kyu Oxford), Charles Bockett-Pugh (5 kyu West Surrey), Paul Clarke (13 kyu High Wycombe) and David Bennett (16 kyu Culcheath).