British Championship: 1998

Summary

The 1998 British Go Championship was decided by a five-game match held at various venues. The defending title-holder was Matthew Macfadyen. The challenger was Edmund Shaw.

The Match

In the first game, played on June 14th, Matthew Macfadyen won by resignation after 197 moves. The game record is available in Ishi format or in SGF format, both with comments by Matthew Macfadyen.

The second game was played on Saturday 22nd August at the Chess & Bridge shop at 369 Euston Road in London. Matthew Macfadyen won. The game record is available in Ishi format or in SGF format, both with comments by Matthew Macfadyen.

The third game was played on September 19th, at the Milton Keynes tournament. Matthew Macfadyen won by half a point, thereby retaining the title. The game record is available in Ishi format or in SGF format, both uncommented.

Recent History of the British Go Championship

The British Go Championship is open to anyone with British citizenship or with five years residence in Britain. Since 1993, this included Shutai Zhang, who is a Chinese national and came to Britain in 1988. In 1993, he defeated Matthew Macfadyen, and became British Go Champion. He retained the title every year until 1997.

In 1997, Shutai Zhang has decided not to compete, leaving the title match to be played between the two highest-placed players in the Challenger's Tournament. These were Matthew Macfadyen and Charles Matthews. Macfadyen won their title match.

The time limits for each game are three hours per player, with "Canadian overtime" of five stones in five minutes.