UK Tournament Report

On Saturday 7th June around 40 Go players descended on Elvet Hill House for the 2025 Durham Go Tournament. Ranks ranged from 7d down to a 30k player who played his second ever 19x19 game in Round 1, and there was also a good range of ages - including several youth players as well as a number of university students. Players came from across the UK, from London to Cardiff to Edinburgh.

On 28th and 29th June, Barmouth's Dragon Theatre was again the venue for the Welsh Open. 43 players - 13 up on 2024 - took advantage of the two-day tournament - a rarity on the BGA calendar. The higher numbers enabled the hiring of a separate room, where many reviewed their games and non-players could relax and mingle. A standout feature for 2025 was that no fewer than 10 players were from the Welsh clubs of Cardiff (9) and Aberystwyth (1) - surely a record?

The British Pair Go Championship moved to Nottingham for the first time this year, with the tournament being sponsored by Threedy Printers Limited.

In another first we saw new first-time champions of Ai Guan and Damen Woo, with Alison and Simon Bexfield taking second place and Lauren Hindmarch and Bjorn Eurenius taking third spot.

This Early May Bank Holiday saw 43 players gather in the Leicester County Bridge Club (St Oswalds) for a long weekend of Go.

The 3rd Lancaster Go Tournament was held on Saturday 8th February, this time returning to the Lancaster University Welcome Centre, a former venue of the British Go Congress. The event drew 49 players, matching the turnout of the inaugural Lancaster tournament, with large contingents from the nearby Cheadle Hulme School (CHS), Manchester and Durham, and spanning the most impressive range of ranks yet - from 7 dan to 37 kyu!

The first tournament of 2025, on Saturday 25th January, was the Coventry Tournament. Warwick Go Society hosted the annual event in the Faculty of Arts Building at Warwick University, which provided a modern and eye-catching venue for the 44 entrants. This year the event ended with joint winners: Yifan Bao (5d) and Chenhe Yuan (5d), who both won all three wins. They are shown here with organiser Xiheng Yao (left).

On the weekend of 14th and 15th September 2024, Yaoling Yang beat Ho-Yeung (Damen) Woo 2-0 to win his first British Go Championship!