American Go E-Journal » Events/Tournaments

David Lee 3d of Dundee scored a perfect six wins to take the Scottish Open Championship 2014, which ran Sat May 24 to Sun May 25 at the Gilchrist Postgraduate Club, University of Glasgow. Runner-up was Francis Roads 1d of Wanstead with four wins. Bob Scantlebury 8k of Sheffield distinguished himself with five wins and Joseff Thomas 10k of  Glasgow and Carel Goodheir 9k of Skye also won four of the six rounds. Twenty-five took part in all, ranging from 3d to 17k. Click here for full results.

The tournament benefited for the first time this year from generous sponsorship from the University’s branch of the Confucius Institute, so as well as the Champion receiving a trophy and a pewter quaich (a shallow two-handled drinking cup or bowl), all 14 players on three or more wins selected a book from the British Go Association (BGA) bookstall and everyone took away a bottle of Isle of Skye Go Beer or a box of chocolates.

The event was organized on behalf of the BGA by Michael Comerford (venue and sponsorship) and Donald Macleod (tournament direction).
Report by Tony Collman, British correspondent for the E-Journal; photo (right) courtesy of Joseff Thomas: David Lee (right) is presented with the trophy by Donald Macleod. photo at left: Joseff Thomas (left) against Michael Comerford, by Gwenllian Thurstan

The first two rounds of the European Go Federation (EGF) / CEGO Pro Qualification Tournament were held on Friday May 23 at Strasbourg, with four of the 16 who started in this double-elimination Swiss tourney no longer in the running to achieve professional status this year: Viktor Lin 7d of Austria, Timur Sankin 6d of Russia, Dusan Mitic 6d of Serbia and Juri Kuronen 6d of Finland, who all lost both games.

One of the four who won both their games at Strasbourg and who goes on to win both games at Amsterdam on May 29 will become the first-ever European Pro (under this EGF/CEGO procedure). Those four are: Pavol Lisy 7d (left) of Slovakia, Thomas Debarre 6d of France, Mateusz Surma 6d of Poland and Cornel Burzo 6d of Romania.

The remaining eight, who have so far won one and lost one, all still stand a chance of becoming the second new European professional. That could be one of those eight who wins both his games at Amsterdam (where four more will be knocked out of the running) and then both games at Vienna on June 20. Those eight are: Benjamin Teuber 6d of Germany, Fredrik Blomback 6d of Sweden, Lukáš Podpera 6d of Chechia, Csaba Mero 6d of Hungary, Jan Hora 6d of Chechia, Cristian Pop 7d of Romania, Ali Jabarin 6d of Israel and Jan Simara 6d of Chechia.

The games are all being broadcast live with professional commentary by Korean website WBaduk. For full details of the tournament, including results table, player profiles and links to tournament rules and constitution, visit the EGF’s European Pro Qualification webpage.
Report by Tony Collman. Photo courtesy EGF/CEGO website.

Correction (5/27): In the 3rd paragraph, second sentence, “That will be the one of those eight” has been corrected to  “That could be…” It could also be one of the four who won two games at Strasbourg the other day.

Natasha Regan and Matthew Cocke of Epsom (right) regained the title of British Pair Go Champions at the 24th British Pair Go Championship on Saturday May 17. They had lost it last year to Kirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyen, but the 2013 Champions were unable  to defend the title due to a prior diary fixture*. The clinching game of the three-round tournament was against Ingrid Jendrzejewski and Alex Selby and ended with both pairs having less than two minutes left of their allocated 45 before sudden death could decide it. Nevertheless Regan and Cocke won by a comfortable margin.

A separate handicap competition was won by Jil Segerman and Pat Ridley, four pairs contending. Fighting Spirit prizes went to Edwina Lee and Charles Leedham-Green (main) and siblings Roella and Edmund Smith (handicap). The latter pair’s sister Kelda and father Paul Smith won the quiz, and local pair Sam McCarthy and John Collins took the prize for Best-Dressed Pair. The prizes (below, left) were paired items of Japanese handicraft from the Japan Centre, the prize-winners being invited, in order, to make a selection from amongst those remaining.

Francis Roads organized the event on behalf of the British Go Association (BGA) and it was held this year at a new venue, the function room of the Red Lion Public House – also the home of the Welwyn Garden City Tournament. Roads bemoaned the fact that none of the pairs who had previously complained of the difficulty of reaching the old venue by public transport had in fact taken advantage of the easy accessibility of the Tournament’s new home. With so few attending, Roads made an ad hoc adjustment to the rules so only six pairs competed for the title, not the full eight qualified pairs who should have. Reporting this deviation to the BGA Council, Roads wrote:

“The entry was disappointingly low at ten pairs. I decided to deviate from the official rules and draw only six pairs in the even game section. To have done otherwise would have led to even games between grossly mismatched pairs, and only two pairs in the handicap division. I suggest that the rules be revised to allow for such a possibility.”

Click here for full results, and here to see our correspondent’s photo album of the event.

*Happy Birthday!

Tony Collman, British Correspondent for the E-Journal. Photos: British Pair Go Champions, (L-R) Matthew Cocke and Natasha Regan, play round 3; Prize table. Thanks to John Collins for loan of camera.