BGC Returns to Cambridge

The British Go Congress returned to Cambridge this year, hosted in the spacious School Hall of the Stephen Perse Foundation Senior School. 66 players competed in the British Open, with a further 7 joining for the Lightning only, making this one of the largest Congresses in recent years.

The Congress opened with a revamped British Lightning Championship. This year's five-round Swiss format replaced the traditional knockout to guarantee all entrants a full set of games. The event was fully handicapped, with a fun twist: above 9 stones, White could choose between giving 15 reverse komi per stone or allowing extra handicap stones, leading to much strategic debate amongst the stronger White players. Michael Cheung (5d) emerged as the undefeated champion with a perfect score. Particularly notable were the performances of Kai Dhamari (15k) and Fane Dhamari (16k), who finished second and third respectively and were awarded Rising Stars titles for spectacular performance above their grades. Jason Qian (4d) took fourth place. British Lightning Results

Over the weekend in the British Open, Yuanzhen Li (6d) claimed first place, with Dohyup Kim (8d) second, Xi Wu (5d) third and Yifan Bao (5d) fourth; Michael Cheung (5d) was the top British player in fifth. Further down the field, Mingyang Hu (3d) was the top player below the bar, while Grzegorz Kudla (1k) took the top kyu prize. A new category was introduced this year for players below 1900 rating – the qualification cut-off for the Aspirants tournament accompanying the British Championship – with Daniel Guest (3k) taking this inaugural prize. Also finishing on five wins were Lukasz Kudla (4k), William Lindved (6k), and David Baldwin (7k). British Open Results

Every player had a shot at prizes through a raffle of chocolate and wine, with one ticket for entering plus one per win... reminding us that while skill may decide the games, sometimes luck still has the final say. All the various prize winners, and myself, are shown in the photo above. Other photos of prize and raffle winners are available in this gallery.

The Terry Stacey Trophy, awarded for the most above-bar wins over the past year, went to Changhao Huang (5d).

Thanks go to local coffee shops for agreeing to provide caffeine and food at discounted rates, and to Martin and Helen Harvey, Bruno Poltronieri and Phil Beck for bringing equipment.

We hope to see many of you again next year! Ai Guan