UK Results: 2006

London Open 28/12/06-31/12/06

142 players attended the first day of the 33rd London Open, held again at ISH, Great Portland Street. Again it was run by Geoff Kaniuk and the others from CLGC and BGA, and the main tournament was a major in the Toyota - IGS-Pandanet European Go Tour. The top two boards in round 1, featuring two of the 6 dans (Cornel Burzo from Romania and Vladimir Danek from Czechia), were broadcast over the Internet using IGS-PandaNet.

Game Record Round 1 Board 1 - Burzo v Jantunen (B by 16.5)
Game Record Round 1 Board 2 - Danek v Mueller (B by Res)
Game Record Round 2 Board 1 - Silt v Burzo (B by Res)

On day two the total number in the event was 149. After 3 rounds just Li Shen, Ben He, Say Boon Ng and Omdrej Silt were unbeaten. The round 4 draw was re-paired after it started; Silt played and beat Li Shen, and Ben He played and beat Ng. Other favourites Danek and Burzo were in the group on 3 wins.

Game Record Round 3 Board 1 - Li Shen v Benjamin Papazoglou (W by 11.5)
Game Record Round 4 Board 1 - Ben He v Say Boon Ng (B by Res)
Game Record Round 4 Board 2 - Li Shen v Ondrej Silt (W by Res)

During the evening 58 players sat down on 8 tables for the Lightning Tournament. After this 8 played knock-out. Arnaud Godet (19 kyu France) beat Jiri Keller (3 kyu London) in the final.

On day 3, Ondrej Silt lost to Ben He; Ben He went on to beat Matthew Cocke to end the day on 6 wins. Ondrej Silt and the other favourites won their afternoon games so were not far behind.

Game Record Round 5 Board 1 - Ben He v Ondrej Silt (B by Res)
Game Record Round 6 Board 1 - Matthew Cocke v Ben He (W by 8.5)
Game Record Round 6 Board 2 - Ondrej Silt v Benjamin Papazoglou (B by 25.5)

Because of having to move all the equipment to different rooms for the last day, it was impossible to post results after Round 6.

In the evening 16 couples took part in a Pair Go competition. It was won by Natasha Regan and Matthew Cocke. Second were Suvi Leppanen and Teemu Rovio, and third were Jenny Radcliffe and Matt Reid.

On day 4, Li Shen beat Ben He and Ondrej Silt won, so there were only those three players on 6 as they went into the last round. They all played players on 5 wins and won (Li Shen only by half a point). So the three on seven had to be split on SOS:

1. Ondrej Silt
2. Li Shen
3. Ben He
4. Benjamin Papazoglou
5. Say Boon Ng

Game Record Round 7 Board 1 - Li Shen v Ben He (B)
Game Record Round 8 Board 1 - Ondrej Silt v Thomas Hunert (B by res)

A total of 150 took part in the Open. All players on 5 wins got certificates and 6 and 7 wins got a paperweight. The 9x9 was cancelled due to lack of interest.

Photographs

5th Scottish Barlow 16/12/06

There was a good turnout of 35 players this year. Neil Mitchison (1 kyu), recently returned from Italian exile to work in Edinburgh, made his mark here with a convincing 4/4. Lukasz Rudnicki (11 kyu Edinburgh) also had 4 wins. Piotr Wisthal (1 kyu Aberdeen) got a bit lost in Edinburgh and missed the first round, but went on to win 3/3. He received a prize, as did the other seven on 3 wins: the defending champion Neil McLean (1 kyu Elgin), Pierre Ballesta (6 kyu Edinburgh), Donald Spy (11 kyu Dundee), Kasia Modrynska (13 kyu Edinburgh), Michael Smith (15 kyu Edinburgh), James Armstrong (17 kyu Durham) and Colin Simpson (20 kyu St Andrews).
The three highest placed Scottish residents enter the Scottish championship semi-finals as follows: Robbie Miller (Edinburgh, champion) v John O'Donnell (Glasgow, 3rd), and Neil McLean (Elgin, 1st) v Adam Heslop (Edinburgh, 2nd).

West Surrey Handicap 03/12/06

24 players took part. Ken Kneller (11 kyu Wanstead) was the winner, beating Matthew Crosby (2 dan Bristol) in the final. As well as Matthew, Andy Price (11 kyu Leamington) won his first three games but lost the last. Also winning 3/4 were Tony Atkins (3 dan Bracknell), Edwina Lee (3 kyu Maidenhead), Xinyi Lu (6 kyu Maidenhead), David Hall (7 kyu West Surrey) and Kay Dackombe (11 kyu Farnborough Village). The prize in the 13x13 competition went to Ken Dackombe (11 kyu Farnborough Village) for 8 wins. The language quiz would have been won by Miguel Carrion, but he had left, so the prize went to Tony Atkins. The geography quiz was won by Ken Kneller.

On the previous day some 14 students were taught various subjects by teachers Brian Brunswick, Christian Scarff, Tony Atkins and Matthew Crosby. Ron Bell was the best at Pits card game.

British Small Board 26/11/06

Cambridge was again the host of this event at the Meadows Community Centre, Cambridge. 19 entered the main event and William Brooks (3 dan Cambridge) was winner of the national title on 13x13 boards. He beat Paul Smith in the final. Prizes were awarded for best scores out of 9 (including handicap games). Paul Smith (2 dan Cambridge) and Alex Selby (3 dan Cambridge) scored 6.5, Ruth Horry (24 kyu Cambridge) and Nick Krempel (1 dan Cambridge) won 6, Ken Dackombe (11 kyu Farnborough village) won 5.5, and Andrew Kay (5 kyu Cambridge) and Matthew Harris (17 kyu Cambridge Juniors) won 5. For the 60 Junior Chess players in the parallel event, there was also Go teaching and a competition organised by Ben Morris.

Swindon Tournament 19/11/06

The 10th edition of the Swindon tournament was held, like last time, at the Even Swindon Community Centre. Swindon club ran it well, despite a late start and early hot water shortage, and despite original organiser Paul Barnard not being available due to recent serious injury of his daughter. 53 players entered and were able to watch previous winner Bei Ge playing Matthew Macfadyen in the fourth British Championship game (won by Matthew). Trophies were awarded for three wins to Matthew Crosby (2 dan Bristol), Alan Thornton (2 dan St. Albans), Paul Tabor (1 dan Epsom), Peter Collins (3 kyu Bristol), Brian Dackombe (3 kyu Farnborough Village), Gary Gibson (11 kyu Wanstead), Paul Tipper (11 kyu Lancaster) and Reg Sayer (19 kyu Unattached). The winner on SOS tie-break, despite losing to Matthew Crosby, was Alex Selby (3 dan Cambridge), with William Brooks (3 dan Cambridge) the runner up.

Three Peaks 11/11/06-12/11/06

Tony Goddard (6 dan Sheffield) made it three in a row at the Three Peaks. He won all 5 games, including a win in round 2 over Edmund Shaw (5 dan Bracknell) who was second with 4 wins, like last year. 50 players took part and Paul Trebbett (6 kyu Walsall), won all 5 games. Those winning 4 were: Claas Roever (2 kyu Ireland), Helen Harvey (3 kyu Manchester), Roger Murby (4 kyu Cambridge), Richard Bentley (10 kyu Teesside) and Karl Naylor (13 kyu Edinburgh). The tournament was held as usual in the Marton Arms in the beautiful North Yorkshire country.

Wessex 29/10/06

The Wessex Tournament saw a new three round format and a new venue of the J.N. Fear Institute in Keynsham near Bristol. It was, however, still the day the clocks went back. Winner was Mike Charles (2 dan St Albans). Second was Matthew Crosby (2 dan) tied with Natasha Regan and Matthew Cocke playing as a pair. Players winning 3/3 were Helen Harvey and Martin Harvey (both 3 kyu Manchester), Steve Bailey (5 kyu West Surrey), Ron Bell (5 kyu Reading), Andrew Smith (7 Kyu), Duncan Fowler (12 kyu) and Patrick Ridley (16 kyu Chester). 48 players took part.

Fife 07/10/06

The second Fife Go tournament attracted 16 players to the Age Concern Hall in Cupar, a perfect number for a four round handicap tournament. The deciding match saw Neil McLean (1 kyu Elgin) defeat Pete Clinch (12 kyu Dundee) in a hard fought 9 stone+24 komi game; other players winning prizes for 3/4 were Donald Macleod (3 kyu Glasgow), Phil Blamire (8 kyu Edinburgh) and Karl Naylor (12 kyu Edinburgh). The third game of the British Go Championship title match was taking place at the same time in Cambridge. Many players took a keen interest in this game between rounds, with the match being relayed to Cupar with the help of KGS, Geoff Kaniuk, Ian Davis and a makeshift network connection.

Milton Keynes 24/09/06

46 players attended the Open University for the 18th Milton Keynes Tournament. Ge Bei, the local oriental 5 dan, was playing Matthew Macfadyen in the Title Match so there was a new tournament winner. This was Alex Selby (3 dan Cambridge) who beat Granville Wright (2 dan Brighton) in the last round. Winning 3/3 were Simon Goss (2 dan Bracknell), Phil Beck (1 dan Cambridge), David Buckley (3 kyu Leamington), Elinor Brooks (8 kyu Swindon) and Kay Dackombe (12 kyu Farnborough Village) and on 2.5 was Xinyi Lu (6 kyu Maidenhead). The final game to finish decided that the best team was Farnborough Village (Brian, Kay and Ken Dackombe) with 7/9, just ahead of Cambridge on 10/14. The MK Go winner was Jonathan Englefield (7 kyu High Wycombe) with a perfect 7/7. In addition Sam Aitken was awarded his 1 dan and his 2 dan diploma, earned in April and June respectively, and at lunch time T.Mark Hall gave a talk on how to study professional games, as part of the Shodan Challenge.

East Midlands Tournament 17/09/06

With the help of several of the clubs in the East Midlands area, this was a new event that took place at the National Space Centre in Leicester. 36 players took part and had a chance to visit the exhibitions as well as play Go. Winner was Simon Shiu (4 dan Bristol), who often had won the former Leicester Tournament. Second were Alan Thornton (2 dan St. Albans) and Sam Aitken (1 dan Warwick). Two other players won 3/3 namely Edwina Lee (4 kyu Maidenhead) and Ken Dackombe (12 kyu Farnborough Village).

London International Teams 16/09/06

The autumn team event was held at the ISH, home of the Central London Go Club. The Central London Go Club team proved the strongest and won the event for the fourth time in a row, scoring 11 points. Cambridge scored 8, Nippon Club 6 and Wanstead 5. Winning all three games were Jim Clare, Nick Krempel and Barry Jay.

Cornwall Tournaments 09/09/06 - 10/09/06

23 players took part in the Cornish Handicap Tournament on the Saturday in Penzance. Winner of the Go Bowls trophy was local player Robert Churchill (16 kyu). He beat another local, Rob White (17 kyu West Cornwall), in the final. Five players won 3/4. Also 23 players took part in the Cornwall Tournament on the Sunday. Winner of the Devon Go Stone for the first time was Edmund Shaw (5 dan) from Bracknell who beat local John Culmer (1 kyu) in the final. Players winning 3/3 were Eric Hall (5 kyu Swindon) and Elinor Brooks (8 kyu Swindon).

Mind Sports Olympiad Open 02/09/06

Held at the Marylebone Road building of the University of Westminster, the 10th MSO had Go events on two days. The main Open Go event took place on the last Saturday. 16 players took part, including the arbiter Tony Atkins, which was disappointingly less than played Scrabble (according to the organisers). Winner again was Alistair Wall (4 dan Wanstead) with 3/3. Silver place and Junior Gold went to William Brooks (2 dan Cambridge). Bronze went to Brian Dackombe (3 kyu Farnborough Village) after beating Andrei Sokolov in the last round. Two lads from Norwich School took the other Junior places, Zaichen Lu (4 kyu) took the Silver and Henry Anderson Brown (10 kyu) took Bronze and also the prize for best kyu player on 3/3.

Mind Sports Olympiad Rapid 28/08/06

Held at the Marylebone Road building of the University of Westminster, the 10th MSO had Go events on two days. The main event on Bank Holiday Monday was the Rapid. Six players played all-play-all in the Rapid. Winner from Spain was Paco Garcia de la Banda (3 dan). In an exciting battle for Silver, Andrei Sokolov (3 kyu London) won by 3.5 points against Brian Dackombe (3 kyu Farnborough Village). Also in the morning was a beginners' event with three competitors, won by 17 year old Nicholas Calderwood from London who had only been playing 5 days.

Isle of Man Go Week 19/08/06-26/08/06

47 players took part in the main tournament of the Isle of Man Go Week. After five rounds players unbeaten were the winner for the third time in a row, Piers Shepperson (5 dan London), and Ingrid Jendrzejewski (14 kyu Cambridge). Players winning a wooden Go stone for four wins were: Simon Billouet (3 dan) and Anne Dicky (1 kyu) from France, Edmund Stephen-Smith (3 kyu Epsom), Edwina Lee (4 kyu Maidenhead), Ron Bell (5 kyu Reading), Wim Verstegen (5 kyu Netherlands), and Jenny Radcliffe (9 kyu Durham).

The 33 player afternoon tournament was won by Matthew Cocke (5 dan York) who was the losing finalist in 2004; this time he beat William Brooks (2 dan Cambridge) in the final. Only two others won all three games, namely Stuart Barthropp (2 dan London), placed second, and Wim Verstegen (5 kyu Netherlands).

The Handicap Tournament was split by SOS tie-break as four players won 4 out of 5. The winner was Simon Billouet (3 dan France), second was Demian Walvisch (11 kyu Belgium), third was Christian Scarff (2 dan Swindon) and fourth was Alex Selby (3 dan Cambridge). The Rengo (Pair Go) winners were Matthew Cocke (5 dan York) and Jenny Radcliffe (9 kyu Durham); they beat Geoff Kaniuk and Sue Paterson in the final. The 13x13 winner was Jonathan Englefield (7 kyu High Wycombe) and in the Continuous Lightning Demian Walvisch (11 kyu Belgium) won the play-off beating William Brooks (2 dan Cambridge) and stopping his four year reign on this title.

The quiz was won by "Off We Go" (Bailey, Bailey, Bell, Pusey and Kaniuk). Paul Barnard won the first entry prize and Charlotte Bexfield won the Sand Castle Competition.

Running in parallel to the Afternoon Tournament was the European Women's Go Championship.

Epsom Tournament 08/07/06

The fifth Epsom Tournament was held in July instead of the usual August and attracted 48 players. Winner for the third year running was young Li Shen (6 dan CLGC). He beat Alex Selby in the last round. All players on two and three wins got prizes thanks to sponsor Forbidden Technologies. Those with three were: Paul Trebbett (7 kyu Walsall), brother and sister Ken and Kay Dackombe (both 12 kyu Farnborough Village) and Harriss Cook (17 kyu Epsom). Harriss also won the 13x13 side event, and the 9x9 was won by Peter Fisher with 9/12. A special prize went to Ingrid Jendrzejewski for 6 wins out of 6 at 9x9. Cambridge won the team prize uncontested.

In a side room Bei Ge and Matthew Macfadyen were competing for the British Championship, with game one also being broadcast on KGS thanks to some of the players taking byes; commentary was by Guo Juan. After an early lead Matthew Macfadyen, playing Black, let things slip and Bei Ge won by 3.5 points. Bei then analysed the game after the tournament in the nearby Yates's.

UK Go Challenge Finals 02/07/06

26 of the best players from 10 school heats and other youngsters met for the finals of the third UK Go Challenge at Loughborough Grammar School. Section winners were:

U18 Boys  - William Brooks (Cambridge)
U16 Boys  - Matthew Hathrell (Finham Park School, Coventry)
U14 Boys  - Matthew Harris (Cambridge)
U12 Boys  - Owen Walker (Cambridge)
U10 Boys  - Richard Engel (Cambridge)
U8  Boys  - Jonathan Xue (Milton, Cambridge)
U16 Girls - Maria Tabor (Epsom)
U10 Girls - Aoife McCaul (Milton, Cambridge)
U8  Girls - Bridget Johnson (Milton, Cambridge)
Overall top place winners:
1st - William Brooks
2nd - Maria Tabor (Best Girl)
3rd - Matthew Hathrell

Champion School - Aston;
Champion Primary School - Milton, Cambridge

Top boy and girl won a LG Chocolate Mobile and all section winners won LG MP3 players kindly donated by LG Electronics UK Ltd. All section winners also got a framed certificate showing their achievement. There were many other prizes for those winning games, in fact something for all.

BGA KGS Tournament 01/06/06-30/06/06

Over 150 games were played in the third BGA KGS Tournament, played on the Kiseido Go Server during June and directed this year by Stuart Barthropp. The joint tournament winners were Alan Cameron (MacNala) and Andrew Simons (Uberdude). Steve Fawthrop (DrStraw) was the dan category winner, the player of the best move of the tournament and one of the players in the best game against William Brooks (twillo). Ian Davis (javaness) was placed third and won both the 1-15 kyu category and the roshambo nigiri exciting side event. Jenny Radcliffe (simpkin) won the 16-30 kyu category and also played the most games. The Fighting Spirit award went to Gedh - for spirited attacking play combined with nerve-wracking time management and an Honourable Mention went to Jesse Savo (Werfeus), a formidable Finnish 1 dan, who unfortunately did not complete enough official games.

Challengers' League 16/06/06-19/06/06

The Letchworth Settlement, an education centre, was the venue for the long weekend of the Challengers' League. The top players from the Candidates' joined with British Champion Matthew Macfadyen to decide who will play this year's title match. Two players took an early lead, Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington) and Bei Ge (4 dan Milton Keynes) getting ahead. They stayed ahead and Matthew won their encounter to take first spot. Bei was second and so will challenge Matthew for the British Champion's title. Neatly all the players beat the players placed below, so the rest of the ordering was: Matthew Cocke, Alex Rix, Des Cann, Francis Roads, Alistair Wall and Paul Christie. Geoff Kaniuk, Championship Organiser, was referee and ensured all went well.

Durham 17/06/06-18/06/06

Durham only found a venue for the tournament (the Shincliffe Room at St Aidan's College) with a week to spare and the Challengers' was on (results texted direct to Durham), so an attendance of 32 was pretty good. Guest lunch speaker David Ward (4 dan Cambridge) won all six games to take the first prize. Club mate Will Brooks (2 dan) only lost to him to come second and Alan Thornton (1 dan St Albans) was third with 4 wins. Some local players did well with Chris Barnett (4 kyu) coming fourth with 4.5, Andrew Thurman (15 kyu) winning 4/6 and Will Hornby (10 kyu) winning 3/4. York's Andrew Smith (10 kyu) was unstoppable winning all 6.

Welsh Open 10/06/06-11/06/06

The 14th Welsh Open at Barmouth was won as always by Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington) putting him on 68 wins unbeaten at that event. David Ward (4 dan Cambridge) was second on 4 wins out of 5. Prize winners for five wins were Phil Ward-Ackland (4 kyu West Wales) and Paul Trebbett (8 kyu Walsall). On 4 wins was Luke Oram (14 kyu Cardiff). 30 players took part and enjoyed the venue of the Min-Y-Mor Hotel, the glorious seaside sunshine and evening meals at local restaurants. A lecture by Matthew Macfadyen, on how and when to read, was well received (part of the Shodan Challenge). For the first time the draw was done by computer with no ill effects, apart from David Ward having to play down against Geoff Kaniuk (2 kyu) in the last round and having some scary moments against him.

Scottish Open 27/05/06-28/05/06

The Scottish Open moved south again this year to the Mason's Hall in the centre of Dundee. A big increase in attendance saw 38 players take part, with lots of new local players, as well as players from North-East England and some from even further away. The night before the tournament, a 14-player lightning small board handicap event was won by Peter Clinch with 8 out of 9. The winner of the Open was the strong Chinese from Glasgow, Ben He (5 dan), who won all six. Second on five wins was Jiang Dongming (1 dan Glasgow) and Neil McLean (2 kyu Elgin) was third like last year with 4 wins and a jigo. Players on 5/6 were Jean-Michel Fustin (11 kyu Aberdeen), Colin Maclennan (15 kyu Twickenham), Peter Clinch (16 kyu Dundee) and Markus Guhe (17 kyu Edinburgh). Thanks to sponsor Real Time Worlds, there were generous book token prizes and everyone went home with Dundee marmalade and jam.

British Pair Go Championships 21/05/06

This year the Pair Go Championships were held as usual at the Foxcombe Lodge Hotel, Boars Hill near Oxford. The plants selected as prizes by organiser Francis Roads were cacti and bamboo to avoid wilting, though it did not matter as the sun did not appear until it was time for the group photo at the end. Last year's winners Natasha Regan and Matthew Cocke lost in round two to Kirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyen. These two managed to hang on, beating new pairing Jenny Radcliffe and Tim Hunt in the final, to take the championship for the tenth time. Lizzy Abbott and Matt Scott got the fighting spirit prize at their first appearance. In the 7-pair handicap group the winners were Bournemouth's Jackie Chai and John Johnstone. Francis deserved the handicap fighting spirit prize for playing solo against the 23 kyu pairing, but it went to that pair, Pip and Patrick Ridley from Cheshire, for easily beating him on 26 stones. Best dressed pair was Elinor Brooks and France Ellul. Music quiz winners were Pauline and Steve Bailey with Jil Segerman with 35/40, and second was Alex Selby with 31.

Bracknell 14/05/06

Best of the 50 players was Roman Pszonka, the Polish 3 dan from Maidenhead. Second place (also on three wins) was local player Clive Hendrie (2 dan). The other winners of 3 games were Steve Bailey (5 kyu West Surrey), Stuart Parsons (7 kyu Staines), Ken Dackombe (13 kyu Farnborough Village) and Ruth Horry (26 kyu Cambridge). William Brooks won the caption contest and Jim Clare won the Go Puzzle competition. Ron Bell won the 13x13 and the new team prize was shared by Maidenhead and Brighton.

Bar-Low, Cambridge, 07/05/06

17 players (plus a dan-grade ghost) attended the Bar-Low kyu-players only tournament in Cambridge, part of the Mind Sports Olympiad weekend. Paul Tabor (1 kyu Epsom) was the overall winner with 5 wins. Ukrit Mankong (2 kyu) from Cambridge, came second with 4 wins. Third place was taken by Maria Tabor (5 kyu). Ken Dackombe (13 kyu Farnborough Village) won 4/5.

Candidates' Tournament, Cambridge 29/04/06-01/05/06

The Candidates' Tournament moved back to the May Bank Holiday and back to 6 rounds under the modified Championship system. Also reduced was the qualifying level, so that 28 players took part having achieved a rating at or above 1900 after an event in 2005. The venue this year was Cambridge, in Selwyn College. Winner with a straight 6 was Bei Ge (4 dan) from Milton Keynes. With 5 wins were Des Cann (5 dan) and Alex Rix (4 dan). The top four of the group on 4 wins also qualified: Matthew Cocke (5 dan York), Paul Christie (2 dan Bath), Francis Roads (4 dan Wanstead) and Alistair Wall (4 dan Wanstead). Reserves are Alex Selby (3 dan Cambridge) and Sam Aitken (2 dan Warwick).

London International Teams 23/04/06

Four teams of five players attended the Nippon Club in Piccadilly for the spring International Teams match. The Central London Club were the victors again, with 11 points, ahead of Cambridge (8), Nippon (7) and Wanstead (4). Piers Shepperson, Alex Rix, Stuart Barthropp, Brian Brunswick and Matthew Woodcraft won all 3 games.

Thames Valley Team Tournament, Bourne End 17/04/06

Eight teams competed for the Broken Go Stone Trophy and a handmade chocolate egg by Annie Hall. Edwina Lee hosted the event at Bourne End Community Centre on behalf of Maidenhead club who graciously combined their two teams to make an even number. They won the event, with a team selected from Paul Clarke, France Ellul, David Denholm and Xinyi Lu; they beat a guest team from Cambridge in the final (Alex Selby, Ingrid Jendrzejewski and Ruth Horry). Players on 3/3 were Alex Selby and Francis Roads; all on two wins had prizes too. Xinyi Lu won the 10x10 again, with 9.5 out of 11, with other prizes going to Paul Margetts, Anna Griffiths and David Hall.

British Go Congress Lancaster 07/04/06-09/04/06

Bob Bagot ran the 39th British Go Congress at Lancaster Grammar School. Accommodation was variously taken in local hotels in Lancaster or Morecambe. The British Lightning on the Friday evening was at the Gregson Community Centre, the local Go club venue. It was played with four tables of six and then knockout. Ben He (5 dan) from Glasgow won the British Lightning beating young Ken Dackombe (13 kyu) on high-handicap in the final. Losing semi-finalists were Chris Barnett (5 kyu Durham) and Ron Bell (5 kyu Reading).

The British Open had 48 players. Ben He was also clear winner of the Open with six wins. Equal second were Tim Hunt (3 dan Milton Keynes) and Alan Thornton (2 dan St. Albans). T Mark Hall (4 dan London) was fourth on tie-break. Winning 6/6 was Phil Ward-Ackland (6 kyu Barmouth) and winning 5/6 were Kay Dackombe (13 kyu Farnborough Village), Brian Timmins (5 kyu Shrewsbury) and Jenny Radcliffe (10 kyu Durham). Durham won the team prize, the Nippon Club Trophy. None of the top three in the Stacey Grand Prix were there, so Alistair Wall was the winner of the Stacey Trophy.

Leamington Tournament 26/03/06

After a gap of a year, the tournament was back in Leamington Spa, but the Candidates' Tournament was not being run in parallel. 30 players took part, with local star Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan) giving a teaching lecture at lunch time. However Matthew was not the star of the tournament as he lost in the last round. Bei Ge (4 dan) from Milton Keynes was thus the victor adding another title to his list. Alex Parsons (5 kyu Staines) and Ewart Shaw (8 kyu Leamington) both won 3/3. The team prize went to the Leamington Beards (John Lowe, Ewart Shaw, Dave Buckley and Jonathan Green).

British Youth Go Championships 19/03/2006, Birmingham

The 2006 Youth Championships had 38 competitors aged from 8 to 17, with strengths from 3-dan to 32-kyu at King Edward VI School, Aston. Two new faces were a boy from Birmingham, Hai Xia (1 kyu), and a girl visiting from Hong Kong, Vanessa Wong (2 kyu), plus some new faces from the East Midlands. William Brooks played a demonstration game against Mr Julius Wong from Hong Kong, analysed at lunch time. Prizes and places went to:

• Overall winner: William Brooks (Cambridge) 2nd: Hai Xia (Birmingham)
• U18: William Brooks (Cambridge) 2nd: Jonathan Englefield (High Wycombe)
• U16: Maria Tabor (Epsom) 2nd: Kelvin Xu (Aston)
• U14: Hai Xia (Birmingham) 2nd: Matthew Harris (Cambridge)
• U12: Vanessa Wong (Hong Kong) 2nd: Ken Dackombe (Farnborough Village)
• U10: Dominic Boston (Loughborough)
• U8: Thomas Meehan (Solihull)
• Castledine Trophy: King Edward VI School, Aston
• Team with most wins: Tent from Kent
• Winner of 13x13 side event: Sadhvik Vijay (Aston)
• Puzzle competition: Winner: Matthew Hathrell (Finham Park)
• Liar Dice: Divyesh Mandania (Aston)
• Irish Go Association prize: Christie Kelly (High Wycombe)
• Four wins: Matthew Harris, James Hoyle, Luke Gymer, Kelvin Xu, Kay Dackombe and Divyesh Mandania.

Cambridge Trigantius 05/03/06

66 players attended this year's Trigantius, plus another 18 in the Novices event, held again at the University Centre. Li Shen (6 dan London) failed to win a third year running as he lost to Ben He in the last round. This gave Ben He (4 dan Glasgow) his second win in a week. Only two other players won all three games: best kyu player Paul Tabor (1 kyu Epsom) and Ingrid Jendrzejewski (18 kyu Cambridge). All on two wins were acknowledged with a choice of prize and everyone else was allowed to take a prize from the collection of Chinese objects on offer. The team prize went to the combined Harvey and Tabor team called Tabveys with 66 percent. Jenny Radcliffe (Durham) won the continuous 13x13 prize and Anna Griffiths (Epsom) won the origami swan competition.

In the small board Trigantius Novices' tournament the winner was Tim Lachlan-Hope. The puzzle-solving prizes went to Varum Footring, Andrew Witcombe-Small and Philip Sansom.

New Malden Tournament 25/02/06

The second New Malden Amateur Baduk Championship was held at St. John's Church Hall in South-West London and attracted 41 players. It had four quite fast games and a very tasty Korean buffet lunch. Glasgow's Ben He (4 dan) was the unbeaten winner getting the cash prize of £200, thanks to the local Korean sponsors. Runner up was Li Shen (6 dan London), on tie-break from Piers Shepperson (5 dan London). Players winning 3 out of 4 were: Simon Goss (2 dan Bracknell), Byungil Suh (2 dan New Malden), Phil Beck (1 dan Cambridge), Paul Margetts (1 kyu Epsom), Hae Kueon Jeong (2 kyu New Malden), Peter Collins (2 kyu Bristol), Geoff Kaniuk (3 kyu London), Roger Daniel (4 kyu London), Edwina Lee (4 kyu Maidenhead), Peter Fisher (6 kyu Leicester), Xinyi Lu (7 kyu Maidenhead) and Jonathan Englefield (7 kyu High Wycombe).

Oxford Tournament 18/02/06

66 players attended the Oxford Tournament at St. Edmund Hall. Winner was the Chinese player from Milton Keynes, Bei Ge. He was presented with his 4 dan diploma at the prize-giving. He beat Jae-Kyung Shim (5 dan New Malden) in the last round. Players on 3/3 were John Hobson (2 dan Bath), Paul Tabor (1 kyu Epsom), Matthew Crosby (1 kyu Bristol), David Buckley (5 kyu Leamington), Henry McGuinness (10 kyu Oxford), David Scott (13 kyu Oxford) and Chris Chilvers (23 kyu Swindon). Prizes again were sponsored by Hoyles Games Shop.

Cheshire 11/02/06

27 players, including again a large and very successful team from Liverpool, attended the 9th Cheshire Tournament. This year it re-joined with the Chess Congress in the new venue of Frodsham Community Centre. Winner of the Open section was Yangran Zhang (3 dan Manchester); second was Tony Atkins (3 dan Bracknell). Winner of the Handicap section was Mark Sullivan (12 kyu Liverpool) on 5/5; he beat his sister Andrea Sullivan (11 kyu Liverpool) in the final. Also on 4/5 were Neil Leavesley (8 kyu Liverpool) and Peter Allen (3 kyu Liverpool). 10x10 winners were Dylan Carter (1 kyu Cardiff) with 9 wins and Pat Ridley (18 kyu Chester) with 8 out of 9.

Maidenhead 21/01/06

71 players attended the HQ of HITACHI Europe Ltd for the 15th Maidenhead Tournament. Nobody in the top group won 3/3 so the winner by second tie-break (sosos) was Piers Shepperson (5 dan Slough).

Several players won 3/3 including Tony Atkins (2 dan Bracknell), Sam Aitken (1 dan Warwick), Dylan Carter (1 kyu Cardiff), Neil Moffatt (6 kyu Cardiff), Ian Price (10 kyu Cardiff), Kay Dackombe (15 kyu Farnborough Village) and Chris Chilvers (23 kyu Swindon). In addition all on 2/3 won a prize thanks to generous sponsorship from HITACHI. A special prize went to Christie Kelly (30 kyu High Wycombe) who won a game at her first tournament. Team winners were Cardiff for a second year and 13x13 winner was Xinyi Lu (7 kyu Maidenhead) on 6/6, who was the 9x9 winner last time.

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