Overseas Results: 1998

European Results

Belgrade was won by Ion Florescu (Romania), with second Viktor Bogdanov (Russia) and 3rd Csaba Mero (Hungary).

Brussels was by Geert Groenen (Netherlands), second equal were Vladimir Danek and Franz-Joseph Dickhut (Germany), fourth was Guo Juan (Netherlands). Britain's T.Mark Hall (4d) was 12th.

Gothenburg was won by Dickhut ahead of Emil Nijhuis (Netherlands) and Ulf Olsson (Sweden).

Kiev was won by Dmitry Jatsenko ahead of Dmitry Bogatskiy and third his father Arkadiy Bogatskiy (all Ukraine).

Fujitsu Cup in Amsterdam was won by Guo Juan who beat Catalin Taranu (3p) in the final. Losing semi-finalists were Gerlach (5d) and Pietsch (2p).

World Amateur Pair Go 22/11/98 & 23/11/98

Des Cann and Sue Paterson played for Britain and lost in round one. They then won 2/4 in the special handicap. Norway, Finland and Russia all survived round one, but China did not. Winners this year against strong Japanese competition were the Korean pair of Sung-Kyun Park and Miss Se-sil Kim (aged 10). Runners up were Nagai/Takanashi and third were Taga/Goto. Canadian son and mother pair, Philip and Jean Waldron, won the special handicap section. Also playing in the special handicap was Tony Atkins playing with Mrs Seki (formerly of London) who also won 2/4.

Ing World Computer Championship 21/11/98 & 22/11/98

This was held in Hendon College, London, and was organised by Nick Wedd. 1. Many Faces of Go 2. Wulu 3. Go4++ As usual the wining program was beaten easily by the Taiwanese boys brought over for that purpose.

7th World Women's Amateur 06/11/98-08/11/98

Helen Harvey (1k) was Britain's rep and came 12th with 3/6. Winner of the Sotetsu Cup was Japan's Chifumi Yamashita, second North Korea, third South Korea, fourth China and fifth Singapore.

European Results

The Obayashi Cup was held as usual in Amsterdam during the first weekend in September. Shutai Zhang, the Chinese living in London, was second this year behind France's Farid Ben Malek. Copenhagen was won by Vesa Laatikainen (5 dan Finland) and second was Vladimir Danek (6 dan Czech). Bucharest was won by Dragos Bajenaru (5 dan Romania) and Second was Ion Florescu (6 dan Romania).

US Go Congress

3 Brits attended the 14th US Go Congress in Santa Fe, New Mexico. High altitude meant dry heat to accompany the beautiful views, but the lack of air did not dampen the Brit's results. Tony Atkins won the 2 dan section, Francis Roads came 3rd in the 4 dan section and Jim Clare came 3rd in the 5 dan section, despite being British 3 dan. Britain won the Team Tournament beating Canada in the final. Francis Roads was second in the lightning from Jie Li (China) who also won the Open, ahead of Martin Mueller. No less than 16 professionals were present. Francis Roads also won first prize in the Bob High Memorial Song contest. Joanne Phipps won the World Amateur Women's Championship place and also the Pair Go with husband Ned.

European Go Congress

Only 360 people attended the 42nd European Go Congress in Mamaia Romania from 25/07/98 to 07/08/98. This was a hot holiday resort on the Black Sea adjacent to Constantza, with no air conditioning and the occasional mad dog that attacked some players. None of the 7 British players won more than half their games. Winner of the main event was Lee Hyuk, the Korean from Moscow, who scored 10/10. On 8/10 were Robert Mateescu (Romania) who is the European Champion now and Franz-Josef Dickhut (Germany). Next placed on 7/10 were Sumikura, Gerlach, Khmyrov and Jannsen. The Weekend event was also won by Lee Hyuk on tie-break from Sumikura Yasuyuki.

European Grand Prix

Final placings for 1997-1998 after the European Congress: 1 Viktor Bogdanov (86),
2 Vladimir Danek (81),
3 Guo Juan (76),
4 Csaba Meroe (69),
5 Lee Hyuk (57),
12 Matthew Macfadyen (32.5),
15 Shutai Zhang (27).

The 1998 GP Tournament winners were: Russia - Lee Hyuk, Finland - Bogdanov, Poland - Danek, Croatia - Matoh, Germany - Guo, Netherlands - Guo, Hungary - Bogatskiy, Italy - Bogdanov, Slovenia - Meroe, Austria - Danek, Ireland - Macfadyen, Spain - Kong, Czech - Soldan.

World Amateur

The results of the World Amateur held in June in Tokyo have not been reported here yet. A summary is:
1. Kim Chan Woo Korea 8-0 (first time Korea won),
2. Hiraoka Japan 7-1,
3. Zhao China 6-2,
4. Chou Chinese Taipei 6-2,
5. Mun DPR Korea 6-2,
6. Wang Hong Kong 6-2,
7. Janssen Netherlands 6-2,
8. Hsiang USA 5-3,
24. T.Mark Hall UK 4-4,
47. Chris Rafferty Ireland 2-6.
50 countries took part. T.Mark Hall's wins were Portugal, Norway, Brazil and Croatia, and losses were Mexico, Taipei, Singapore and Hungary. Japan lost to Netherlands and China lost to USA and Canada.

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).

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.