Eric and CHS Youth win Inaugural South Manchester Tournament

The first-ever South Manchester tournament was held on Sunday 19th March 2017. Despite the drizzle, much fun was had by all. Cheadle Hulme School (CHS) kindly allowed use of their dining hall for the day, and nine of their students enjoyed free tournament entry.

There were two non-playing organisers on hand all day: Mike Winslow (Head of Physics) welcomed attendees and presented prizes, while Martin Harvey of Manchester Go Club ran impromptu teaching lessons for some non-players. To accommodate several 10-15-year-olds, two separate tournaments were run on the same day. The Main tourney was a 3-round affair, while the Fast tourney consisted of 6 rounds.

In the Main tourney, run by Helen Harvey, Manchester Go club provided half the 20 players, and greedily ensured that none of the three prizes awarded left Manchester! Overall winner was Yangran Zhang (aka Eric, 3d), who pipped Xinyi Liu (aka Sugar, 3d) in the final round. The second player to win 3/3 was Michael Kyle (8k), with Alan Stokes (10k) winning 2.5.

The Fast tourney, run by Chris Kirkham, saw a team of 5 young CHS students emerging as 11 games to 7 winners against a 'Rest of the World' team. Three from CHS won prizes for winning most of their games, but the star prize went to local 'RotW' Kathryn Ball, for an amazing 6 wins out of 6, despite 9-stone handicaps plus 3-figure komi. RotW's Doug Haynes won the Fighting Spirit prize, for making up for Kathryn's score! All the CHS team won at least one game. RotW's Rohan Neelala, a 12-year-old from Manchester Grammar School, was playing in his first-ever tournament, and said he had had a really enjoyable day, despite just one win.

Thanks of course go to CHS, teacher Mike, three organisers, the five RotW players (who also offered well-received reviews to the youngsters) and to all those attending, from clubs both near (Liverpool) and far (Cambridge). It was everyone's hope that this event might become an annual regular on the North West calendar.

Results from both tournaments