Foreign Tournament Report

All the games in the UK team's third match ended in resignation. Unfortunately it was three-one in Croatia's favour, with Bruno's long game ending with him being the only UK winner. This loss moved the team down from third to seventh in the B-League. Italy won again (against Finland) to stay at the top, with Netherlands beating Lithuania to take second place.

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The UK team played well against a very strong Netherlands team in the second match of the season, but lost three games to one, with Damen Woo being the only winner and Bruno's long game ending with him half a point behind. This meant losing the top position in the B-League earned in round one.

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The UK team was promoted to the B-League of the Pandanet Go European Team Championship and ended round one in first position! They played Austria on Tuesday 15th October and won four games to nil, despite Austria having the strong player Victor Lin on board one. Second placed is Croatia who beat Netherlands despite a triple ko in one game. Italy beat Serbia to take third, earning penalty points for a no-show on board one. The other matches were drawn.

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With the UK already promoted they just had to turn up and avoid a match point penalty. Unfortunately Scott Cobbold tried to arrange his game against Victor Chow on the Sunday before, but failed to make the game and the team occurred a two board point penalty. The others did show up with a win for Des Cann and close losses for Jon Diamond and Alison Bexfield, allowing second placed South Africa a three-one win to finish just one match point behind the UK and earn the play-off place.

The UK won their sixth match in row to put them in an unbeatable lead at the top of the C-League. They beat Slovenia by three games to one, with wins for Bruno, Scott and Tim. Their last match will be against South Africa who beat Denmark to stay three points behind, but only one point ahead of Spain.

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The fifth match of the C-League season was a five o'clock kick off against Kyrgyzstan. Scott, Jon and Tim won, but Bruno lost, meaning the team again won 3-1. As South Africa only drew with Slovenia, the team moved three points clear at the top of C-League with two matches to go.

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The fourth match of the season was against Spain. Bruno, Scott and Des won, but Toby lost, meaning the team again won 3-1. This cemented their lead at the top of C-League.

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Bruno Poltronieri wrote: I won my game by 17.5 against Ignacio Cernuda. I was slightly ahead after the opening after the result on the bottom side, but started a questionable fight on the left. My opponent played some equally questionable moves and we came out of it roughly even. I then gained my lead gradually in the endgame.

The third match of the C-League season was against third-placed Denmark. Bruno, Scott and Alison all won, but Tim lost, meaning the team won 3-1. South Africa drew with Kyrgyzstan so we moved up from second to first place.

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The 7th European Grand Prix Finale was held alongside the London Open at the London Go Centre on the weekend of 28th-31st December.

Ten top players, who had won places at qualifying events, took part, split initially into two groups. The UK's Damen Woo (shown here against Mateusz Surma with game broadcaster Tony Claasen) won his group unbeaten, as did Lukas Podpera in the other.

The second match of the C-League season was against Slovakia. Scott, Alex and Jamie all won, but Bruno lost, meaning the team won 3-1. South Africa also scored a second match win (against Norway) to put them top, with us just behind in second.

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