British Championship 2008

The 2007 British Go Championship title match was between Bei Ge and Alex Selby. Bei Ge won, but Bei Ge decided to skip the 2008 Championships as his partner was pregnant. Again the top two from the Challengers' League would play the title match.

Title Match 2008

Hui Wang 5d has been in the UK studying for a PhD, and has only been playing Go here seriously since completing his studies. Matthew Macfadyen has an unbroken run as Champion from 1997 till 2005 so after a complete year's rest, this promised to be an exciting series. The best-of-five series took place on the following dates in locations ranging from Leicester through Cambridge to Oxford and back.

Matthew won 3-1 to regain the title from Bei Ge.

1. Sunday August 10
   In Leicester, hosted by Stephen Bashforth.
   Won by Hui Wang by resignation.
   Game One commentary by Li Yue.

2. Sunday August 31
   In Cambridge, hosted by Geoff Kaniuk.
   Won by Matthew Macfadyen by resignation.
   Game Two commentary by Li Yue.
   Game Two Kibbitzers moderated comments by observers.

3. Saturday September 13
   In Oxford, hosted by Nick Wedd.
   Won by Matthew Macfadyen by resignation.
   Game Three commentary by Li Yue.
   Game Three with Matthew Macfadyen's comments.

4. Saturday November 1
   In Cambridge, hosted by Geoff Kaniuk.
   Won by Matthew Macfadyen by resignation.
   Game Four moderated commentary by Jeff Chang.
   The board is rotated: Black is on the right edge, White is on the left edge.

5. Sunday November 16
   Not Needed (planned for Leicester).

You were welcome to observe these games, but as space was limited, you had to contact the championships organiser ahead of time. Note also that all the games were broadcast live on KGS!

The start time was 10am and each player had a time limit of 3 hours with generous overtime of 10 moves in 10 minutes. There was a 1 hour break for lunch at 1pm and games generally finished by 6pm.

Challengers' League, London 27/06/08-30/06/08

With defending champion Bei Ge deciding not compete in this year's Championships, Alex Selby joined the remaining qualifiers to participate in the 7 round all-play-all League held at the Nippon Club. The results are shown with wins in [..].

1. Matthew Macfadyen 6d &nbsp[6]
2. Hui Wang 4d [6] &nbsp
3. T Mark Hall 4d &nbsp[5]
4. Matthew Cocke 5d &nbsp[4]
5. Nick Krempel 2d &nbsp[3]
6. Desmond Cann 5d &nbsp[2]
7. David Ward 4d &nbsp[1]
8. Alex Selby 4d &nbsp[1]

So Matthew Macfadyen (former champion) and Hui Wang go through to compete in the Title Match - a best of 5 series to be played in the coming months and broadcast live on KGS.

Candidates' Tournament

The Candidates' Tournament was again on the May Bank Holiday weekend and in the Diamond at Selwyn College in Cambridge. There were 26 players from 6 dan to 2 kyu taking part. At the half way point the players on three wins were Matthew Macfadyen, Matthew Cocke and Hui Wang. In round 5 the two Matthews played and Cocke won and also won his last to come first. Macfadyen came second with 5 and, having lost just his first game, Nick Krempel came third. Hui Wang lead the group on 4 wins. Equal fifth were Des Cann, T Mark Hall and David Ward. First reserve joining the above seven in the Challengers' League was Alex Selby, also on 4 wins. Francis Roads 3d was the next reserve.

The list of players qualified for the 2008 British Go Championship was based on their performance in tournaments played during 2007. The qualifying achievement for the Candidates' Tournament 2008 was to have an EGF rating of 1900 or higher immediately after the end of at least one tournament in 2007 in which the candidate played in all rounds.