There was a very exciting start to the British Go Championship Title Match on Saturday 26th September. It was between the top two players from the Challengers' League: Andrew Kay (5d) who is current Champion and Andrew Simons (4d). It was held in Cambridge, thanks to Geoff Kaniuk, with help of others from Cambridge Go Club, and was broadcast live on KGS.

By lunchtime, most people watching felt that Andrew Simons (playing black after winning nigiri) was comfortably ahead. However it was a quite remarkable game, with big exchanges and ko fights continuing right up to move 300.

Joanne Leung (2d) represented the UK at the European Students Go Championship, held at the Confucius Institute in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She won three games out of five, including a half-point win over a 5d, to take 6th place out of 14. As second-highest female, she earns a place at the World Student Pair Go Championships in Tokyo this December. Joining her there will be Julia Seres of Hungary, Alexandr Vashurov of Russia and the event winner Peter Marko from Hungary.

Peter Marko won the event on tie-break from Austria's Viktor Lin. Lin earned support to the World Collegiate next July in Canada. Third place was taken by Mateusz Surma, who as a European professional cannot play in these events.

Results

We played our first match of the new season in the Pandanet Go European Teams after being promoted back to the B-League. The match was against the strong team of Hungary. Chong Han's opponent, Pal Balogh, did not show up on board one, giving the UK a won board. Unfortunately the other three were losses: Alex Kent lost to Rita Pocsai and Sandy Taylor lost to Peter Marko, both by resignation, and Jamie Taylor lost a close game to Zoltan Fodi by 2.5 points. This left us 8/12 in the league table.

League Page with game records

Alistair Wall got his third tournament win of the summer by taking the Cornish Open title to add to those for Milton Keynes and the Northern. He won the Devon and Cornwall Go stone trophy for the fifth time by beating the previous winner, Toby Manning, in the final. Of the 21 players the others who won 3 games were West Cornwall players Ashlei Bevington (30k) and Jess Bevington (24k) and Jil Segerman (9k Arundel). Tony Atkins also won three games out of four, having played two games in round one. Results

The Saturday before the Open saw the usual teaching session in the morning, run by Toby Manning and Tony Atkins, and in the afternoon the Cornish Handicap rapid play.

Alistair Wall (3d Wanstead) was the overall £100 winner at the 2015 Northern - repeating his victory of 2005. Runner-up (£50) was Mark Baoliang Zhang (1k Manchester). Also awarded prizes for three wins (£15) were David Wildgoose (10k Sheffield) and Daniel Huynh (14k Birmingham). Thirty players took part, including 16 from the Manchester club, and the bar was at 2 kyu. As in 2014, the venue was generously provided by the Bank of East Asia, in the centre of Manchester, and the prizes were sponsored by SAM Properties. About a dozen players gathered after the event for a meal (and some more Go) in Chinatown.

Results

The Isle of Man Go Festival has ended for the last time. This edition was the 12th since the event started in 1991, but with the recent sad death of founder Leo Phillips it has been decided this will be the last.

Again the players assembled at the Cherry Orchard in Port Erin, including several families and players from as far away as Sweden and Japan. There were events daytime and evening on most days, including a music evening, and also the chance to explore the island in between. Players competed in the events for unique wooden trophies (illustrated right).

37 players took part in the Main Tournament played over five mornings. Piers Shepperson (4d Epsom) won all his games to take the title for the fourth time. Sandy Taylor (2d Bristol) won four to come second.

The 19th MSO at the JW3 on Finchley Road in London was dominated in the Go events by Aja Huang and Joanne Leung (shown right playing Lucretiu Calota).

In the first Go event, the 9x9 on the Sunday morning, Joanne Leung won all four games to take the gold medal. Silver went to the event arbiter Tony Atkins and bronze and junior gold went to Edmund Smith. Results

In the second event, the 13x13 on the Sunday afternoon, Aja Huang won the gold, pushing Joanne back to silver. London teenager Kapriel Chiarini took the bronze medal. Results

On the Bank Holiday Monday, 14 players gathered for the main 19x19 Go event. After three rounds the only players unbeaten were Aja Huang and Lucretiu Calota.

After a year's gap because of the British Go Congress and European Youth at nearby Bognor, the Arundel Tournament was back. This time 24 players met up to play, again at the football club.

The winner was Lucretiu Calota (4d Romania) who beat Jon Diamond (3d) in the final round. Also winning all three games were Peter Collins (4k Bristol) and Charlotte Bexfield (10k Letchworth).

The 9x9 side event was won by Edmund Smith (on 4/4) and second was Charlotte Bexfield (on 2/5).

Results

Karl Irwin was victorious in the recent twelve-player Belfast tournament with a perfect 5/5. He has been teaching Maths in China, and presumably also studying Go as he entered at 4d.

James Hutchinson (1d) was second, his seventh year in a row to make the top three without winning. In third place was visiting Louise Roullier (5k) from France. Jose Morales, 24k Belfast, won 4/5 handicap games.

Results

The European Go Congress in Liberec, Czechia, ended on Saturday 8th August. It was one of the biggest ever with 762 players in the European Open. Wang Zheming, 8d China, was unbeaten after 10 rounds to be European Open Champion.

The best 24 European players competed for the European Championship. In the semi-finals Ali Jabarin beat Ilja Shikshin and Fan Hui beat Thomas Debarre. Fan Hui beat Ali Jabarin by resignation in the final to retain the title.

Kim Young-Sam, 7d Korea, won the Weekend Tournament and Chan Yi-Tien, 7d Taiwan, won the Rapid by tie-break from Wang Zheming, 8d China.

There were the usual selection of side events, including Pair Go and a veterans tournament.

The top game-winner of the large contingent of British players was Matt Marsh, 7k, who won 7/10 in the Open and 7/9 in the Rapid.

Results