UK Tournament Report

The London International Teams Autumn edition was held at the London Go Centre on the same weekend as the new T Mark Hall Rapid. 18 players in six teams came together on the Sunday to battle in reduced handicap games for the trophy and a cash prize. Two strong teams of Chinese dominated the event. It was Team China (shown right) that won two matches to come first, their Tunyang Xie (5d) winning all three games. Team Mango was second with one win and six games won, with their Peikai Xue (1k) winning all three. The team London Organisers was third, ahead of Nippon Club and Cambridge; Epsom came sixth.

Results Photos

Although spanning 25 years, the Swindon Tournament reached its 20th edition. Despite other events on the same day, a clutch of late entries pushed the attendance up to 27. As in recent years the venue was the back room of the Conservative Club in Swindon's old town, with the weather bright and sunny if players wanted to wander to the Town Gardens between games.

Winner was London's Chao Zhang (6d), pictured right against Christian Scarff. Chao then beat Simon Shiu (3d) in round two and then Alistair Wall (1d) in the final. The only other player to win three games was Jil Segerman (10k Arundel). The third trophy awarded went to young Ryan Zhang who won the 13x13 and the Fighting Spirit Prize.

Results

All was sweet at the Sheffield tournament, held as before in Greenhill Library. The entry of 39 was dominated by a minibus from Cheadle Hulme School, and the organiser recognised their contribution by giving all the juniors Pringles and their choice of chocolate. Winning all three games, Robin Dews (7k Nottingham) was rewarded with Ferrero Rocher, as were Adam Sharland (20k Nottingham) for playing some tough handicap games at his first event and Italy's Tommaso Pardi (4k Sheffield) for winning two out of two.

The top player was London's Chao Zhang (6d) who won £75 and a large box of chocolates.
Prathan Jarupoonphol (1d Sheffield) and Peikai Xue (1k London) were second to win cash and more chocolates. The top DDK - Kathryn Ball (11k Manchester) - also received £25.

Results

It was two students from London who dominated the 19th Cornwall Tournaments. Held in Penzance in The Lugger, as usual, the event proved attractive for those seeking a weekend away and the weather did not disappoint. However only 14 players took part in the Cornish Handicap on the Saturday afternoon, and 15 in the Open on the Sunday.

As usual the Saturday started with a teaching session in which Toby Manning, Paul Massey and Tony Atkins gave a game review, taught joseki and some of what was taught at the recent youth camp on shape. Winner of the four-round Cornish Lightning Handicap was Peikai Xue (1k), one of the students. He beat Elinor Brooks (9k Swindon) in the final, despite the handicap being the usual plus two.

A sunny day greeted a record 32 players to the Arundel Football Club for Sussex's premier Go event (the previous record was 30 in 2010). The top player this time was Lucretiu Calota (4d St Albans), who previously won the event in 2015. He beat Chao Zhang into second place in the final. Their game was noteworthy as Luc sacrificed a 15 stone group for a ponnuki. The only other player with three wins was Tim James (6k Brighton). Prizes for winning their first two games went to Chao Zhang (5d London City), Toby Manning (1k Leicester), Paul Barnard (3k Swindon) and Steve Smith (10k Arundel).

Results

It was all Go on the first two days of the 22nd Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO). As in recent years, it was held at JW3, the modern Jewish community centre in London's NW3 district. Many games enthusiasts had travelled from around the world, to play the many traditional and proprietary board games on offer, such as Boku, Othello, Gomoku, Poker and Memory Tests, Countdown, Marco Polo, Settlers of Catan and Colour Chess.

24 players, mostly from London but also visitors from France, Germany and New Zealand, entered the MSO Go Open, a four-round McMahon tournament. Gaoge Wang 5d, shown in the picture playing the final, won all her games to take the Gold medal and the £200. Sharing the second place prize and also each getting Silver were Yousun Yang and Gong Cheng, with 3/4.

The 26th Welsh Open proved to be a hot one - both in the air temperature approaching 30C and the fierce competition for overall winner. The regular organisers & tournament directors Helen and Martin Harvey apologised the previous year for ineffective sun-dancing leading to rain. This year the TDs sought forgiveness - for over-zealous sun-dancing, however. The resultant queuing at the bar at least kept the hotel-owner happy, and meant we could avoid the queues if players wanted hot drinks or - in many cases - cold water.

Held in its constant, scenic coastal town of Barmouth since 1993, the event again passed off smoothly and enjoyably. A slight increase meant that 33 played in at least one of the six rounds, including three shodans and down to a 17-kyu. Participants once more travelled from across the UK – from Dundee, Cambridge, London and yes, two from Wales! Numbers and conversation at the evening meals were enhanced by non-playing partners.

Twenty-four players contested the Scottish Open 2018 over two days at the Offices of Skyscanner in the centre of Edinburgh. Thanks to Skyscanner, as well as hosting the event, the participants were fuelled throughout the contest with drinks and copious pizza. Also on the Saturday evening the movie "The Surrounding Game" was shown.

Local player Boris Mitrovic (2d) retained the title by winning all his games. On four wins out of six were Neil McLean (1k), Toby Manning (1d), Alistair Wall (1d), Rob Payne (6k) and Roger Daniel (7k). James Richards (2k Edinburgh) won the 9×9 small board contest.

Results

The 2018 Durham Go Tournament was held at the Oriental Museum for the second year running. Numbers continue to increase, and the 35 entrants ranged from 20k to 4d, reported organiser Andrew Ambrose-Thurman.

As usual, the Durham tournament has a number of opportunities for socialising - including our annual all-you-can-eat Go BBQ. Luckily the weather was sunny and warm (far better than it has been in previous years!), and there were 25-30 people playing Go on picnic blankets (as shown in the picture) and garden tables, including some who hadn't been able to attend the tournament itself.

The top board games were broadcast live over the internet and shown on a big screen in the side room (where there were refreshments available and boards for reviews and side events), although sadly this didn't work properly for some of the games.

The 38th British Pair Go Championships was held as the last few years at the Red Lion in Hatfield, who always make us welcome and sell a good lunch. 16 pairs played, split as usual into two sections, and it was again pleasing to see so many young players in the handicap group. To select the top Championship group it looked like the three pairs at 3.5 kyu would have to be split, but in the end the pair of Andrew Simons and Yansai Noeysoongnoen sadly had to withdraw because of illness.

The battle for first place was then expected to be between three former champion pairs and a pair of strong Chinese from London. However Alison and Simon Bexfield beat Kirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyen, and then beat Xiao Yu Gong and Ho Yeung Woo to reach the final. Joanne Leung and Bruno Poltronieri beat Natasha Regan and Matthew Cocke, to also reach the final. After a tough game, it was Joanne and Bruno who became the champions for the second time.