Oxford win Varsity match

The 2013 Oxford-Cambridge Match was held in St Edmund Hall, Oxford, on Sunday 17th February, the day after the Oxford Tournament.

The Match consisted of two rounds, 50 mins each, with 30/5 Canadian overtime, and 7.5 komi for even games.

All games were played using handicaps - one less than the normal correct handicap, so giving the advantage to the stronger player/team. 14 of the 21 games were played even.

There were 11 players on each side. Cambridge had the strongest player (Li Shen), and Oxford the weakest. The playing strengths ranged from 5 dan to 12 kyu, with a majority of the players being dan level, and an average of about 1 kyu. On average, Oxford was 1/2 a stone stronger than Cambridge. Cambridge did better among both the weakest, and the strongest players, while Oxford were more successful in the middle of the range.

After round 1, the score was Oxford 4 - 6 Cambridge, but the 7 - 4 result in round 2 led to the final result of a narrow win over all for Oxford, 11 - 10.

Cambridge won the University Match fairly convincingly (7/13 vs 4/10, and direct games 5 - 2), while Oxford won the Gown Match convincingly (7/11 vs 3/8, and direct games 3 - 1).