General News: 2007

8th July 2007:
4 dan Alex Selby 
4 dan Sam Aitken
2 dan Matthew Crosby
1 dan Ian Davis

January 2007:
6 dan Ben He
3 dan Felix Wang
3 dan Sam Aitken
3 dan William Brooks

December 2006:
1 dan Paul Tabor
1 dan Matthew Crosby

British Championship 2007

The title match is between the top two in the Challengers' League. In 2007 they were Alex Selby from Cambridge and defending champion Bei Ge from Buckingham.
Game 1 was held in Oxford on 21/07/07, with live commentary by Matthew Macfadyen on KGS. It was won by Alex.
Game 2 was held in Cambridge on 04/08/07. It was won by Bei Ge by 11.5 to equal the match at one all. This guarantees game 4 at Milton Keynes in October will be a crucial game.
Game 3 was held in Oxford on 15/09/07. It was won by Bei.
Game 4 was on 07/10/07 during the Milton Keynes Tournament. It was won by Bei who became British Champion for a second year. He also won the first prize of £350; the runner up received £150.

Youth Grand Prix 2007

The Youth Grand Prix started after the 2006 London Open. The BYGC counted double points. It ended after the 2007 London, but the only late change was Maria Tabor moving from 7th to 4th by 1 point. Final points are:

1. William Brooks (3 dan)        780
2. Ken Dackombe (9 kyu)          566
3. Matthew Hathrell (6kyu)       496
4. Maria Tabor (5 kyu)           357
5. Hai Xia (3 kyu)               356
6. Hamzah Reta (18 kyu)          342
7. Steven Donlon (6 kyu)         320
8. Costas Televantos (12 kyu)    294
9. Roella Smith (30 kyu)         264

1. William Brooks      30
2. David Ward          23
3. Francis Roads       17
4= Alan Thornton       16
   Sam Aitken          16
6. Ben He              15

Professional Visits

Guo Juan was the teacher at the 2007 London Open.

Korean Pros

Two Korean Baduk professionals visited the UK from 5th March 2007 to 10th March, following a hectic European tour. The two players were An Young-Kil (5p), and Lee Jung-Woo (6p). Both players are in their mid 20s, have been professionals for about 10 years, and are keen to make contact with Go players in the UK. Starting in that Autumn, Mr An was planning to live here for six months, both to study English language, and to continue with his work as a Baduk professional, but could not get a visa. During most of their tour of UK they were accompanied by Prof Hahn Sang-Dae, who visited the UK in 2006 with two other Baduk professionals. Visits were arranged to south-east Go clubs - Oxford on 6th, St Albans on 7th, Nippon Club London on 9th and New Malden, south-west London, on 5th and 8th.

Japanese Pro

From 1st to 3rd June 2007 Kobayashi Chizu (5p) was at the Gardening Scotland Exhibition, at the Royal Highland Centre at Ingliston near Edinburgh . She played some games against a team of locals, and friendly games were played by the locals to attract the passers by.

Pros at MSO

An Young-Kil was part of the group visiting the Korean Ambassador's Cup during the MSO at Potters Bar on 27th August 2007. The other pro with him was Lee Kang-Wook (3p), a former winner of the World Amateur (in 2004).

Go on TV

On "University Challenge", BBC2 24/09/07, the Newcastle University team failed to recognise a picture of a Go board, saying it was Chinese Checkers (they also didn't recognise Chinese Checkers).

On US comedy "Arrested Development" (BBC2 03/09/07) Korean boy Annyong was seen playing Go against Maeby at the end of the episode.

On Five's "Paul Merton in China" on 04/06/07 there was a brief glimpse of Go being played in the garden of a tea house in Chengdu.

On BBC2's "Eggheads" quiz on 18/04/07, a contestant called Ken was introduced as the winner of the quiz event at the first Mind Sports Olympiad. He explained that the MSO featured traditional board games such as Chess and Go, and other games less well known.

In the first episode of "Criminal Minds", shown on Channel 5 on 07/09/06 (repeated 25/08/07), the FBI agents find a Go board in a suspect's house. They derive that he was playing himself (as it is on a turntable) and that his player profile is extreme aggressor.