UK Tournament Report

34 players took part in the first stage of the 2010 British Championship at the Diamond at Selwyn College, Cambridge; 26 of the players joined in a meal at the Bella Italia restaurant.

Vanessa Wong (5 dan) won the tournament at her first attempt, winning all 6 of her games. This was Vanessa's first UK adult title, having previously won the Under-12 Championship. Andrew Simons (2 dan Cambridge) and Matthew Scott (1 dan Newcastle) both won five games proving the next generation is starting to snap at Matthew Macfadyen's heals. Matthew, as champion, did not have to play, but was on hand for intensive analysis of games. Richard Hunter (4 dan Bath), Tim Hunt (3 dan Milton Keynes) and Nick Krempel (3 dan London) took the next three places in the Challenger's League. The final place went to Kiyohiko Tanaka (3 dan London) who just squeezed out Alex Sleby (4 dan Cambridge) on second tie-break.

Results

Bar-Low, Cambridge

19 players from 1 kyu to 19 kyu attended the Bar-Low kyu-players only tournament in Cambridge. This year it was again part of the mind sports weekend and held in Whewell's Court of Trinity College. James Murray (2 kyu London) was the winner with four out of five. Second on tie-break was Graham Philips (1 kyu Cambridge), who only lost to the winner. Third was Benjamin Ellis (5 kyu Leicester) who actually beat the winner but lost to two other players. Roella Smith (14 kyu) from the Cambridge juniors also won 4 games.

London International Teams

Unfortunately Cambridge had to withdraw at short notice, so only two teams attended the spring International Teams match. As usual it was held at the Nippon Club in Piccadilly. Each team member played all the members of the other team. It was the Oriental team of Chinese and Japanese players that were the best. Their players Felix Wang and Gunji Takao won all 5 games, and they won 17 games overall. The Occidental team scored 8 and settled for second place.

The 43rd British Go Congress was held in Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh. 74 players took part in the British Open, held at the University Union building, Teviot Row House. Andrew Kay (4 dan Cambridge) won with 6/6. Jon Diamond (4 dan Silver Springs) was in second place with 5/6. Also winning 5 was local player Boris Mitrovic (8 kyu).

In this handicap event the winners were Bracknell (3/3); runners up were Maidenhead (2/3).

Players winning 3/3 were Ian Marsh, Edmund Shaw and France Ellul.

Tony Atkins won the 10x10 side tournament.

Full results

Arundel Tournament

The second Arundel Tournament was held at the football club, in the shadow of the castle. 30 players took part and the winner was Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan Leamington). Second was Matthew Cocke (4 dan Epsom) and third Alistair Wall (3 dan Wanstead). Steve Bailey (5 kyu West Surrey) and Malcolm Law (13 kyu Brighton) won 3/3 and Neil Cleverly (7 kyu Bournemouth) got a prize for winning his first 2. Xinyi Lu (5 kyu Maidenhead) won the 9x9 and the Brighton Belles were the best team.

Fife Tournament

21 players took part in the 2010 Fife Tournament, held as usual in the Age Concern Hall in Cupar. The top three players had to be separated by a tiebreak. Winner on 3 wins was David Lee (2 dan Dundee); in second was Sandy Taylor (1 dan Durham) also on 3 wins, followed by Martha McGill (3 kyu Edinburgh) on 4 wins. Also on 4 wins was Jenny Radcliffe (5 kyu Durham) and on 3 wins was Donald Spy (10 kyu Dundee).

Cambridge have won Division 1 of the BGA Online League on its first running with one round to spare, and therefore hold the newly donated GoGoD Shield .

British Youth Go Championships

The 2010 Youth Championships had 22 competitors aged from 6 to 19, with strengths from 1 kyu to 35 kyu. The library at Loughborough Grammar School served as a fine venue. Tian Ren Chen from Loughborough retained the youth champion with 5 straight wins including beating Aston's Mazhar Warraich.

Nottingham Tournament

Nottingham University hosted the 7th Nottingham after a 22 year break. 42 players took part. Winner was Alex Selby (4 dan Cambridge) despite losing his last game to Sandy Taylor (1 dan Durham). As well as Sandy, the players who won all 3 were Ben Ellis (6 kyu Leicester) and Pat Ridley (10 kyu Chester). Elliot Mintz from Nottingham University got the fighting spirit prize. The Go-word quiz was won by Ingrid Jendrzejewski and Alistair Turnbull from Cambridge.