British Go E-Journal: January 2001

Issue 38       January 2001

Tournament News

Three Peaks (Yorkshire) 11/11/00-12/11/00

52 players met at the Marton Arms Hotel, Thornton-in Lonsdale. The winner on 5/5 was John Rickard (4 dan Cambridge), runner up was Lutz Mattner (4 dan Leeds) on 4/5. Prizes also for 5/5 to Jil Segerman (9 kyu Manchester), and for 4/5 to Mathias Kegelmann (1 kyu Birmingham), Richard Moulds (3 kyu Manchester) and Jason Fisher (8 kyu Birmingham). Proceeds from the tournament go to the Tim Hazleden Memorial Fund, which was supporting the local ambulance service in Ingleton, but now is supporting the repair fund for the local church.

National Small Board (Cambridge) 19/11/00

28 players, including nine aged 14 or younger, took part. It was part of a chess and go event with almost 120 competitors in total. Higher ranked players played even games until they lost two games when the joined the handicap section. Seong-June Kim (6 dan Cambridge) was champion with 8/9 despite losing a game to the runner-up Mike Charles (2 dan St Albans) who scored 6/9. Age group winners (all with 6/9) were: Under-15 - Shawn Hearn (9 kyu Berkshire Youth), Under-13 - James Heppell (20 kyu Norwich), Under-11 - Lasse Jakobsen (30 kyu Epsom), Under-9 - Ben Parker (35 kyu Cambridge). Other prize winners were Michael Lowe (6 kyu Norwich) with 7 wins and Sheila Parker (18 kyu Cambridge) with 6 wins.

Swindon 26/11/00

84 players took part. The winner was Simon Shiu (4 dan Bristol). Prizes for 3/3 to: Wenbo Mao (1 kyu Bristol), Eric Hall (3 kyu Swindon), Matthew Selby (4 kyu Epsom Downs), Shawn Hearn (9 kyu Berks Youth), Mogens Jakobsen (16 kyu Epsom Downs), Lene Jakobsen (25 kyu Epsom Downs) and for 2.5/3 to Tony Atkins (2 dan Bracknell). Team winners were Epsom Downs with 80%, and the 13x13 was won by Garry White (13 kyu Berks Youth).

West Surrey Handicap 03/12/00

The Teach-in was attended by some 2 dozen students from beginner to 1 kyu, with tutors Tim Hunt, Henry Segerman, Des Cann, Simon Goss, Paul Clarke and Tony Atkins. 54 players took part in the Tournament, played as handicap using to West Surrey rules. Winner was Des Cann (4 dan Leamington). Also on 4/4 were Edward Blockley (2 kyu Worcester) and Nicola Hurden (11 kyu Berkshire Youth). Trophies for 3/3 wins went to Seong-June Kim (6 dan Cambridge), David Ward (3 dan Cambridge), Mike Charles (2 dan St Albans), Gerry Mills (1 dan Monmouth), Henry Segerman (1 dan Oxford), Baron Allday (1 dan Barmouth), Barry Chandler (1 kyu Reading), Geoff Kaniuk (1 kyu Central London), Niall Cardin (2 kyu Oxford), Bill Streeten (4 kyu Wanstead), Tom Cooper (10 kyu West Surrey), Howard Sykes (12 kyu unattached), Pauline Bailey (14 kyu West Surrey), Will Segerman (15 kyu Manchester) and Mogens Jakobsen (16 kyu Epsom). The 13x13 tournament was won by Tim Hunt on 6.5. Best percentage Pauline Bailey on 67%, and persistence Shawn Hearn on 45 points

London Open TT 29/12/00-01/01/01

103 players took part in the London Open, held this year as a 7-round McMahon tournament. 45 of them found time to play at least one game in the 9x9 event, though no prizes were awarded in the unpopular continuous handicap event. First at small board go was Jim Sadler (1 dan UK), second Natasha Regan (1 kyu UK) and third Arnaud Knippel (1 dan France). The Lightning was held on the Saturday evening. First was Seong-June Kim (6 dan UK) and second was Malcolm Schonfield (1 dan France). Andrej Kralj (3 dan Slovenia) won the play-off for third against Tobias Klaus (9 kyu Germany).

In the main tournament various special prizes were given out as indicated below and the top five players received the Toyota Tour prize money. On 5/7 were Lasse Jakobsen (best junior at 25 kyu), Bettina Rehburg (best improver, German 9 kyu), Joakim Strom (4 kyu Sweden), Martin Gomilschak (4 kyu Austria), Albert Fenech (2 kyu France), Jim Sadler (1 dan UK), Malcolm Schonfield (1 dan France), Matthias Bahr (2 dan Germany) and Antoine Fenech (2 dan France 5/6). Parkpoom Lekhavat (12 kyu) from Thailand was the best novice. Top five were fifth Xiangdong Wang (4 dan UK), fourth Matti Siivola (5 dan Finland), third Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan UK on 5/7), second Masanori Tanaka (5 dan Switzerland on 6/7) and winner Seong-June Kim (6 dan UK) who was unbeaten. The only other player unbeaten was American 3 kyu Clay Smith who entered as a European 4 kyu and ended up beating three 1 kyu players, winning best kyu award.

Ing Computer Goe Championship

This year was to be the last for this competition, and it was held in Guiyang, China. 14 programs competed, and as usual, the top finishers have full time programmers. The lesson for the go programmers is that accurate life and death reading has become really important. Many games between the top programs were decided by life/death reading failures. The winner was Wulu, programmed by Lei Xiuyu (China), in 2nd place Goemate by Chen Zhixing (China), and 3rd was Go4++ by Michael Reiss (Great Britain).

Gothenburg TT 04/11/00-05/11/00

31 players took part at the Swedish Toyota Tour Tournament. Britain's own Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan) won first place yet again with 5/5. Second was Vladimir Danek (6 dan Czechia) with 4/5 and Li Xiangdong (3 dan Sweden) topped the group on 3/5 in third place.

11th International Amateur Pair Go Championships 18/11/00-19/11/00

Winners were Kwon Mi-Hyon and Rim Hyon-Chol, both students, from North Korea. They beat South Korea in the last round. On 4/5 were pairs from Japan, Taipei and South Korea. Best Europeans scoring 3/5 were France, Hungary and Poland. Germany won a best dressed prize. The event was held in Tokyo at the Hotel Metropolitan. The UK did not have a place this year.

Fujitsu Cup Amsterdam 08/12/00-10/12/00

24 top European players took part. Britain's Matthew Macfadyen beat Emil Nijhuis, Alex Dinerstein, Geert Groenen, but lost to Ion Florescu who had already beaten professional Catalin Taranu. The other semi-final was between Guo Juan who had beaten Christian Pop and Robert Mateescu who had beaten Rob van Zeijst. Guo won the final.

News

• Promotions: To shodan Matthew Woodcraft and Konrad Scheffler (both Cambridge).
• Youngest BGA Member: Congratulations to Alison and Simon Bexfield on the birth of their daughter Charlotte Alison on 03/11/00, weight 6 lb 1 oz (2.75 kg). Charlotte is not yet playing go but has already been enrolled as a BGA member under the family membership scheme.
• European Go Centre Award: 600 Euro are to be awarded for the best project on spreading Go, for example teaching beginners, publicity, improving a Go club. Entries must be submitted by April. For further information contact the Editor.
• "Japan 2001" Japanese Festival: The first event involving the BGA now is on 23/06/01 in Canterbury. We are hoping to attend many more festivals around the country. n the autumn we are hoping for two professional go players to visit with a team of amateurs.
• Mind Sports Olympiad: Volunteer(s) are wanted, to help plan and organise the BGA event at the MSO 2001 in London. Contact the BGA Secretary.
• Stacey Grand Prix: The current state (after London) is: 1st Francis Roads 21 points, 2nd John Rickard 20.5 points
• 2000 Tournaments: The average attendance at British events in 2000 was 58 the same as 1999, but there were two fewer events (23). Record average was 1990 when it was 92 over 15 events.

Small Ads

Nippon Club

[ This club is no longer meeting. ]

Now meets on Sundays 12:00-18:00 at Nippon Club Salon, Samuel House, 6 St. Alban's Street London SW1Y 4SQ (Near Piccadilly Circus tube station) All players are invited to attend. A Board Fee is charged. Contact: K Tanaka

Internet Tournaments

All British players are welcome to join the Polish Go Association's Internet Cup. Web site of the event is: www.pgaic.hg.pl or www.pgaic.gospecials.com. The main prize is a teaching game with a top pro. Prizes for other winners are Go books (up to 25 USD). They have players registered from 6 dan to 16 kyu from Poland, Japan, China, Spain, Romania, Canada, and so on.

The Wings Go Club

Their mission is to promote the enjoyment and fellowship of go, primarily over the Internet, in the form of matches, tournaments, game reviews, teaching and events. In addition, Wings produces English language go books aimed at serious players who wish to improve their game. Wings uses various existing go servers, such as KGS, the Zone and NNGS, to meet and to host events. The Wings Go Club is the first virtual chapter of the American Go Association. Membership is free. Their website is www.wingsgoclub.org and British players are invited to participate in their activities. They have various on-line tournaments planned for 2001. Contact John Stephenson

Asian Wanderer

[ This service is no longer available. ]

For Japanese cultural holidays including a home stay and sightseeing contact asianwanderer.co.uk

European 2001 - Help required

The BGA is helping to run the European Go Congress in Dublin later in 2001. Volunteers are needed to help run tournaments, registration and help with the Journal. The tournament runs 22/07/01-04/08/01 and sponsorship is being provided by Fujitsu-Siemens Computers.

Go Tuition

[ This service is no longer available. ]

National Trainer Matthew Macfadyen is running private seminar days and a scheme to teach by email or post.

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