Foreign Tournament Report

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.

League Page with game records

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.

League Page with game records

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.

League Page with game records

The first match in the new season of the C-League was against Norway. Bruno, Scott and Tim all won, but Jon Diamond was a no-show meaning the team won 3-1. Slovakia beat Slovenia and South Africa beat Spain, both 3-1, but our penalty point for the no-show pushed us down to third. Kyrgyzstan and Denmark drew their match.

League Page with game records

As they ended second in the C-League, the UK team had to play a five-board play-off match against B-League’s Finland. The opposition fielded three 5d players and so seemed likely to win, and in fact did so by winning all five boards. So Finland stay in B-League, joined by Ireland who replace demoted South Africa. [See here for League Page with game records.]

The UK went into the last round of the Pandanet C-League with a slim chance of the top spot. This would occur if the team beat bottom of the league Georgia and leaders Ireland lost to Bulgaria. The UK team did their bit winning their match 3-1, with wins for Bruno, Alex and Jamie, whilst Scott lost. However Ireland managed a draw, after wins for Karl Irwin (played earlier) and John Courtney, but losses for Philippe Renaut and Matei Garcia.

The UK team was matched against Slovenia in round six and won three games to one. Ireland beat Norway, with wins for Karl Irwin, Philippe Renaut, John Courtney and Matei Garcia, all by resignation. So Ireland stayed two points clear at the top of the C-League, with the UK still second and only one match remaining (against Georgia). [See here for League Page with game records.]

The UK team was matched against Denmark in round five and won three games to one; as Ireland also beat Spain 3-1 the UK remains second in League C behind Ireland, with two matches to play. [See here for League Page with game records.]

The UK team was matched against Ireland, the other top C-League team, in round four. The teams agreed to play three of the games early, on the Monday, to avoid playing on Saint Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately the Irish team won all three and this left Tim Hunt to try and salvage a single game on the day itself. He kept the crowd entertained for a couple of hours until finally the massacre was complete. This put Ireland back on top and moved UK down to second or third on tie-break. [See here for League Page with game records.]