Go in Britain: 2010

Summary

The 2010 tournament scene had no dominant players and was the first year when the new generation really made their mark. Especially welcome was young Vanessa Wong making a splash both internationally and in the British Championship.

Scotland was at the forefront with the British held in Edinburgh and a new event on Skye, to go with Fife and the Open in Dundee; however the Edinburgh Christmas event was postponed due to snow.

The Isle of Man Go Week was on again, as was the MSO and the usual Youth events. The Nottingham Tournament returned after a gap off more than 20 years.

Gerry Mills ran Shrewsbury for the last time and announced his retirement as BGA Book Seller. He was rewarded with the presentation of a portrait, painted by Jiri Keller, at the East Midlands tournament.

Again there were the usual outreach events, including a successful stall at an anime exposition, and several of the University clubs were reporting growth. Unfortunately during the year we lost Clive Hendrie, who died after serious illness.

British Go Congress

The British Go Congress was held in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. The Lightning was again held in a pub on the Friday evening; this time it was in The Canon's Gait on the Royal Mile. Nick Krempel beat David Lee in the final. The British Open was held at the Student Union building, Teviot Row House and had 74 players. The Champion was Andrew Kay and BGA President Jon Diamond was the runner up. The Nippon Club Cup was won by the local club.

Having won lots of games over the previous twelve months, the winner of the Stacey Trophy for most wins during the year was Matthew Macfadyen with Yohei Negi a close second.

Regional Tournaments

Matthew Macfadyen was again the top winner taking four events: Coventry, Wanstead, Skye and Arundel. Yohei Negi took three titles, holding the Welsh, Durham and Scottish titles (though Durham was tied with Matthew Crosby and Matt Reid).

Players of the older generations winning events were Alex Selby winning Nottingham and the Isle of Man, Toby Manning winning Cornwall and Isle of Man afternoon, Jon Diamond winning Maidenhead and East Midlands, Alistair Wall winning Swindon, Matthew Cocke winning the Three Peaks for a third time and David Ward winning Cheshire. Handicap events were won by Sue Paterson (West Surrey), Peter Collins (Man) and Tony Atkins (Cornwall). David Lee won Fife and became Scottish champion. Belfast was won by David Phillips.

New generation winners were Andrew Kay winning Wessex, Andrew Simon the National Small Board, Charles Fisher winning Shrewsbury and James Murray the Barlow, together with the two winners at the British Go Congress mentioned earlier. Even younger players winning events were Barney Shiu winning the Manx Lightning and Oscar Selby winning the Manx 13x13 and Manx Rengo (with Matthew Cocke).

Overseas players won five events: Robert Mateescu (Romania) won the Trigantius, Mathieu Delli-Zotti (France) won Milton Keynes, Ivan Wong (China) the Northern, Paco Garcia de la Banda (Spain) won the MSO 13x13 and Bulent Tuncel (Turkey) won the MSO Open.

Cambridge won the first online league and Dundee won the second. The spring London team match was won by the Oriental team, and the autumn one was won by the Nippon Club team, aided by Miss Mannami Kana (4p) who was visiting to help celebrate the club's fiftieth anniversary. Bracknell Club was the winner of Thames Valley team title.

Pair Go

Matthew Macfadyen and Kirsty Healey did not win the British Pair Go title, the title this year going to Matthew Cocke and Natasha Regan who beat the Bexfields in the final. In the handicap group the winners for a second year were father and daughter from Cambridge Paul and Kelda Smith. The event was again at Boars Hill in Oxfordshire.

British Championship

The Candidates' Tournament was again at Selwyn College, Cambridge. Vanessa Wong won and several of the new generation players were amongst the list of qualifiers: Andrew Simons, Matthew Scott and Nick Krempel, plus Richard Hunter, Tim Hunt and Kiyohiko Tanaka. In the League, held at the Nippon Club in London, Matthew Macfadyen won and Vanessa won a play-off against Richard to be the Challenger. At the end of the year the best of five match stood 2-1 in favour of Matthew. Early in 2011 Matthew won the fourth game to retain the title.

International

Piers Shepperson played in the KPMC International Baduk Championship in Korea coming 43rd, whilst Belfast's Ian Davis represented Ireland and came 25th. T Mark Hall played at the WYGC, held only for the second time in China, ending 41st place.

Vanessa Wong narrowly missed on winning the European Women's Championship, second on tie-break to Pei Zhao, and was also second in the U16 section of the European Youth. Anson Ng, also from Hong Kong, came first in the European U12 section - the best ever results for UK players. They both got to play the World Youth and both won two games in their age groups.

Another player doing well in Europe was William Brooks who was third in the European Student Championship. Yohei Negi was our best player at both the Paris PGEC Finals and the European Go Congress in Finland.

The UK team in the B League of the new Pandanet European Teams, started the season with a loss to Poland and a win against Belgium, at the end of 2010.

Youth Events

The Youth Championship was held at Loughborough and attracted 22 players, a disappointing drop in numbers. Tian-Ren Chen stayed the Youth Champion, also winning under-16, ahead of Mazhar Warraich. Jamie Taylor won under-18. The other age groups were won by Jack Drury, Thomas Meehan, Barney Shiu and Sophie Broad. The Castledine Trophy was won for a second year by Loughborough.

The Youth Grand Prix continued with sisters from Cambridge Roella and Kelda Smith taking first and third. Second place went to Jamie Taylor from Leeds.

The eighth UK Go Challenge went ahead with finals at St Mary's Harringay in London. 29 players from the heats took part. Gold was won by Roella Smith, Silver by Barney Shiu and Bronze by Peran Truscott. Top junior school was St Ann's, also in Harringay, and St. Mary's were best in the Challenger's section won by their Ernel Bodi.

London Open

The London Open ended the year as usual. 99 players took part, held as usual at ISH and a Major tournament in the Pandanet Go Euopean Tour. The previous year's runner up, Wei Wang (6d), was the favourite to win, but he lost to the eventual winner Antti Tormanen (also 6d). Antti was part of a strong Finnish group who also claimed 3rd place with Tuomo Salo winning 5. Fourth was France's Arnoud Knippel and fifth, topping the group on 4 wins, was UK's Andrew Kay (4d). Visiting teacher Guo Juan won the Pair Go partnering Ian Davis, as in 2008. Winner of the Lightning was Jukka Jylanka (9k Finland) who beat Andrew Kay (4d UK) in the final. Prizes were awarded by Emma from sponsors Winton Capital management.

More BGA history