British Go E-Journal: March 1998

Issue 21. March 1998

Tournament News

Furze Platt 24/01/98

The Furze Platt Tournament was again held at Hitachi Europe's headquarters in Maidenhead. Again thanks to their sponsorship there was a buffet lunch and prizes to all with two or more wins. Local knowledge was important as a quiz on Berkshire and Furze Platt Go Club was set; winner was Reading's Tony Atkins and second Steve and Pauline Bailey from Guildford. 75 players took part in the tournament, down on the previous year as the Manx group were unable to get there. So few was a shame as Hitachi's generosity means a free buffet lunch and prizes to all with two or more.

T. Mark Hall (4 dan) won the event again, but had to point out to the organisers that this was not is third win in a row as the trophy omitted to record Harold Lee's win in 1996. Others who won 3/3 were Stephen Ashing (6 kyu West Surrey), Francis Weaver (7 kyu Brakenhale), Tony Lyall (8 kyu Norwich), Malcolm Hagan (12 kyu Portsmouth), Neil Moffatt (12 kyu Portsmouth), Neil Ings (15 kyu Brakenhale), Eike Ritter (16 kyu D) and Aaron Dickson (30 kyu Brakenhale).

No less than 33 players won 2/3 namely F. Roads, A. Wall, J. Clare, A. Jones, T. Atkins, S. Goss, A. Grant, A. Thornton, B. Allday, P. Barnard, C. Hendrie, P. Margetts, M. Marz, D. Micsa, P. Clarke, K. Drake, J. Hamilton, I. Marsh, S. Bailey, M. Kegelmann, J. Keller, M. Nash, M. Vetter, M. Solity, A. Bell, E. Best, E. Brooks, D. Cohen, K. Cole, M. Goss, N. Hurden and S. Hearn. Brakenhale's "A Team" of Nicola Hurden (17 kyu), Aaron Dickson (39 kyu) and Shawn Hearn (30 kyu) won 100 percent to win the team prize. Aaron also won the continuous 9x9 with 9/9 and other prizes went to Jiri Keller, Steve Ashing, Peter Fisher and Mike Charles.

British Youth Championships 25/01/98

The day after Furze Platt has become the date for the Youth Championships. This year the venue moved from Brakenhale to Milton Community Centre Cambridge, a venue that provides good facilities such as swings and lots of grass to run about on. The hosts were new Youth Coordinator Paul Smith and his wife Andrea and Tim Hunt from Cambridge Club. Simon Goss ran the draw as usual and again managed to come up with winners in each category.

34 youngsters from age 5 to 17 and 5 to 35 kyu took part and played six rounds during the day. The battle for the Youth Champion Title was between a 5 and a 6 kyu; the correct result ensued with Tom Blockley (Worcester) gaining the title over Francis Weaver (Brakenhale). Tom also won the under 14 by beating Sam Hughes (15 kyu Brakenhale); Francis won under 16 ahead of runner up Philip Marshall (9 kyu Isle of Man). The under 18 category was won by Paul Hyman (12 kyu Brakenhale) who beat Anna Griffiths (8 kyu Furze Platt).

The main interest this year was in the under 12 and 10 sections. Here the new Cambridge prodigies battled it out for the trophies newly donated by Paul Smith. Tom Eckersley-Waites (13 kyu) won the under 12 ahead of his twin brother Adam (14 kyu), reversing last year's under 10 result. In the under 10 section it was just Williams as William Brooks (14 kyu) took the title easily beating William Bennett (34 kyu). Some folks are placing money on an under 14 dan player within two years, so watch out! Under 8 was won by Paul Blockley (Worcester) ahead of Luise Wolf (London) and Conor Breslin (Cambridge).

Brakenhale kept the Castledine Team Trophy unchallenged. Prizes were awarded to those who did well in the main event, the 13x13 continuous and for solving go puzzles, with a limit of one prize each, so over three quarters of those present went home clutching sweets or chocolates. Special mention must go to those on 5/6: Nola Fairbairn (Isle of Man), James Donald (Cambridge) and the two Williams. William Brooks was the best too at 13x13.

Oxford Tournament 07/02/98

Any memories of badly run Oxford Tournaments have been completely wiped away by the pleasant memories from the 1998 event. The town released control back to gown and the event returned to St. Edmund Hall after a long break. A very able group of students ran a very smooth tournament unlike the memorable disaster at the same college some years ago. Oxford Heritage Games Shop, conveniently sited across the road from the college, helped by running a book stall and providing some of the prizes. There was a slight worry that the playing areas were noisy, one being next to the television room showing rugby and the other being the college dining room, but this hardly bothered the 90 players taking part.

Winner this year was the British Champion Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan, Leamington). Others winning prizes for 3/3 were Simon Shiu (3 dan, Bristol), Bob Bagot (2 dan, Manchester), Ian Marsh (1 kyu, Bracknell), Martin Harvey (2 kyu, Manchester), Mathias Kegelmann (2 kyu, Birmingham), Peter Shiu (2 kyu, Loughborough), Yvonne Margetts (12 kyu, Epsom Downs), David Pearce (20 kyu, Oxford), Claas Roever (20 kyu, Oxford) and Oliver Edwards (26 kyu, High Wycombe). Malcolm Hagan (11 kyu, Portsmouth) also won a prize for 2.5/3.

Cambridge Trigantius 01/03/98

69 players took part in this year's event held, as usual, in the University Centre, on a pleasant sunny day. The strongest players were attracted by the prize money supplied by Hitachi and going to the winner and best kyu player. The tournament was won jointly by Matthew Cocke (5 dan), the defending champion, and by Des Cann (4 dan, Leamington Spa). They both beat local Korean players Seong- June Kim (6 dan) and Yongcheol Shin (4 dan). Matthew's third win was against Francis Roads (4 dan, Wanstead) and Des's was against Charles Matthews (3 dan, Cambridge). There were two winners as the organisers elected to have more than eight players above the bar.

The best kyu player was Ian Marsh (1 kyu, Bracknell). The other prize-winners (for 3/3) were Martin Harvey (2 kyu, Manchester), Jim Edwards (7 kyu, High Wycombe), Sarah Jackson (8 kyu, Hursley) and James Murray (18 kyu, Cambridge). The team competition was won yet again by a Cambridge team. The "Untouchables III" were Mark Dalgarno (5 kyu), Matthew Woodcraft (2 kyu), Mark Worthington (7 kyu) and Robert Salkeld (1 kyu). They finished on exactly 50% which was enough to beat the other 2 teams who bothered to enter. The continuous 13x13 competition was won by the national under-12 champion William Brooks (14 kyu, Cambridge). He won a massive 15 wins out of 18 and came close to winning a prize in the main tournament too. In the 12-player beginner tournament the winner was Simon Bray.

Barcelona GP 21/02/98 and 22/02/98

Three British players attended the new Spanish GP and met again the tour party that had visited London. Martin Smith (1 dan, London) played very well to win 4/5.

Ing Chang Ki Memorial Tournament and Ing Youth Championships, 28/02/98 & 01/03/98

> Hi Matthew (Macfadyen), did you have a nice time in Cannes?
Yes, very. Winter doesn't seem to be a concept on the Riviera.

> How did you get on?
I finished 7th with 4/6, losing to Guo Juan and Gilles van Eeden (NL, 5dan), but beating M. Eykhout (NL), L. Soldan (POL), T. Pocsai (HUN), R. Nechanicky (CZE). These 4 are graded 5, 5, 6 and 6 dan, but I've probably listed them in decreasing order of strength (Eykhout beat Guo in the Dutch Championship this year).

> Who won?
Nobody won all; Guo, Lee Hyuk and Miyakawa won 5/6, with Guo ahead on SOS.

> What about the Youth?
Brits were Tom Blockley and Paul Hyman. They got 3/7 and 2/7 which I would regard as pretty good considering the current state of European grades around 5 and 12 kyu. Many of their opponents are in large clubs of rapidly improving players. Overall winner was Dimitri Bogatskii (Ukr, 6 dan); there were 11 Ukranians. Rides to China went to Hungary, Russia, Netherlands and I can't remember the rest (probably available on EGCC page).

News

Japanese Touring Party

A Japanese tour party visited London in February on their way to the Spanish GP via Lisbon. On 17/02/98 a match between Japanese amateurs and London players was held at the Nippon Club in Piccadilly. This was won by the locals 10-5. The party was led by husband and wife professionals Okada Shinichiro (6 dan) and Okada Yumiko (4 dan) who played may local players three at a time for three hours.

Korean Go/Tourism Trip

KNTO are trying to organise a go/tourism holiday in Korea from 30/08/98 to 05/09/98. Visits will be made to historic sites in Seoul and Kyongju, plus visits to go clubs and to the Women's World Amateur Championships. Cost likely to be 400-500 USD plus cheap air fares. Details from Tony Atkins.

BGA AGM

This will be held at the British Go Congress Chester at 18:30 on 18/04/98. Agenda items include reports, elections and so on and discussions on the five- year eligibilty rule for the British Championship and whether BGA subscriptions should be allowed to start any quarter.

Promotions

The BGA has promoted John Hobson to 2 dan and Nick Mandache to 1 dan.

Go Tuition

[ This service is no longer available. ]

National Trainer Matthew Macfadyen is running private seminar days during and a scheme to teach by email.

Other events:

Women's coaching weekend 28/03/-29/03/98

Summer School Course at Marlborough School starting 19/09/97

BT Wireplay

[ This service is no longer available. ]

A commercial go service for those with pc/modem, but not needing internet access, is up and running as of 02/03/98. More information at the Wireplay web site under Mind Games (www.wireplay.com - does need internet access!) or via BGA web site, BT (cd available via freephone 0800 800883), or from Charles Matthews. Note that the BGA is supporting this new service but does not necessarily recommend it in preference to other go servers.

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