UK Tournament Report

Ivan Wong, a Chinese 1 dan research student at Manchester University, won the Northern Tournament on 5th September at the Stockport Masonic Guildhall. Unusually Ivan was the only player of the 24 there to win all three games and so was the only prize winner. Gerry Mills again brought the BGA bookstall, but for the last time.

The Isle of Skye Go Club hosted the first Skye Tournament at the Tongadale Hotel in Portree. 32 players took part in the main event, consisting of a mix of locals players and players from Scotland, England and even Switzerland. Winner was Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington) winning all six games. Second on four wins were Yohei Negi and Francis Roads, both 3 dan. Another six players won four, but the only player to win five out of six was Philipp Reinhard (3 kyu) from Zurich.

There were no British players winning Go Golds at this year's Mind Sports Olympiad. The event was held between 21st and 30th August at the Soho Theatre in the centre of London and had restricted space, meaning fewer events than normal. Six players played the 13x13 on the Friday afternoon, with Gold going to Spain's Paco Garcia de la Banda (3 dan). Silver went to Xinyi Lu (4 kyu) and silver to Vincent Frochot (8 kyu) from France. In the 12-player Open on the final Sunday, the Gold was won by Turkish 1 dan, Bulent Tuncel. Silver went to Paco and Bronze on tie-break to Alistair Wall (3 dan).

Go players took part in other games too, throughout the event, with some awards, such as Natasha Regan's Silver at Hare and Tortoise and Matthew Hathrell's Golds at Lost Cities, Continuo and Poker.

Oscar Selby, aged 7, became the youngest winner of a Manx Go event at the recent Isle of Man Go Week. He won the 13x13 and also the Rengo (doubles) with Matthew Cocke. Not much older was the winner of the Lightning Tournament, Barney Shiu.

Matthew Cocke just missed out on a top spot, losing the Open

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.

Challengers' League

Young Vanessa Wong, currently studying in Shrewsbury, is to play the British Championship Title Match against reigning champion Matthew Macfadyen.

Both players earned their places at the Challengers' League held over a long weekend at the Nippon Club in central London. Matthew convincingly won all 7 of his games, beating Vanessa in the last round. However Vanessa had earlier lost to Nick Krempel in round 3, so, when Richard Hunter only lost to Matthew and Vanessa, there had to be a play-off between Vanessa and Richard, which Vanessa won.

Nick Krempel, Tim Hunt and Andrew Simons ended with three wins, Matthew Scott with 2 and Kiyohiko Tanaka, who was also acting as host, ended on 0. Thanks go to him for hosting and to Nick Wedd for acting as referee.

The Title Match will be scheduled on various weekends over the coming months, often alongside a tournament.

Scottish Open

Yohei Negi from St. Andrews made it three in a row with his win at the 2010 Open. Second this year was Chi Pan Yau from Hong Kong, who only lost to Yohei. All the players on three wins also got prizes, which consisted of cash plus a bottle of Cairn O’Mohr local fruit wine. 27 players took part, all going away with traditional pot of marmelade. In the Friday evening rapidplay, Jennie Radcliffe got the prize for the best win/games ratio with 5/7, and Robbie Goetschalckx took the endurance prize having played a dozen or more games.