American Go E-Journal » Europe

Andrew Kay Holds British Championship: November 29, Andrew Kay defeated Alex Kent to retain the British Championship by three games to nil. The game will be made available shortly, with commentary from Matthew Macfadyen.

Local Winner at Warwick: The Coventry Tournament at the University of Warwick had a local winner for the second year in a row. Philip Leung (5d) took first at the tournament organized by former winner Bruno Poltronieri. Second was Wu Ruizhu (5d) also from Warwick and third was Alison Bexfield from Letchworth. 32 players took part.

UK Youth Go team triumphs over Italy: The UK Youth Go team is one of 13 teams signed up to the European Youth Go Team Championship 2014/15. In the second round of matches, the UK team beat Italy on Sat. 29th November. Congratulations to the team for their 4-1 win, which places the UK currently 6th out of the 13 teams taking part. The next round is scheduled for Saturday 13 December.

Race for 2014 Youth Grand Prix reaches final month: December – the final month of the 2014 Youth Grand Prix. The three winners, who will receive cash prizes of either £50, £30 and £20, are predicted to be among four talented youths. There are still 3 tournaments in UK, with plenty of opportunities for other players to rise to the top.
– compiled/edited by Amy Su, based on reports on the BGA website 



Sincerely,
Amy Su

Chimin Oh 7D, a former go instructor from Korea who now lives in England, won the €1000 first place prize in the November 14-16 “Go to Innovation” tournament which drew fifty-five players from around the world to Berlin, Germany.  Viktor Lin (5-dan, Austria) came in second and won €500 and Zebin Du (6-dan, China) won €250 for third place. Rita Pocsai (4-dan, Hungary) won  €500 from Omikron Data Quality GmbH, for best performance by a female player. She also won the €100 prize for her 10th place finish. No one won the jackpot prize for winning eight games. In fact no one managed to win seven games. Click here for complete results and a photo gallery.

There were eight rounds and the Hahn Pointing system, developed by Professor Sang-Dae Hahn of Myongji University, was used to determine tournament winners. Instead of assigning 1 or 0  for a win or loss , the Hahn system awards points from 0 to 100 based on the difference in game counts. Close games with a  difference between .5 to 10 points in game counts results in the winner receiving 60 points and the loser 40 points, but a decisive win with a difference of 40 points or more  results in the winner receiving all 100 points and the loser receiving nothing. This encourages fighting, aggressive games.

– Larry Eclipse, based on a report by James Davies on the IGF News Feed; photos by Jaromir Sir

Gerry Gavigan Takes Second Place in Cork: Gerry Gavigan 13k from South London took second place in the 2014 UCC Tournament, held in the Mardyke Pavillion of University College Cork.

President Closes Out the Spanish Inquisition: In the Pandanet Go European Team Championship, the UK’s match against Spain on 18th November was split 1-1, so Board 1 was played a day later, with BGA President Jon Diamond winning to give the UK it’s third win of the season and second place in the C-League behind Bulgaria.

12 Tapped for European Youth Online Team Tourney: A dozen young players have been selected to represent the UK at the first European Youth Go Team Tournament on KGS. They played their first match against Romania on 15th November, posting a 1-4 loss. The second match is against Italy on 29th November.

Fun and Games at Letchworth Rapid Play: 26 players attended the first Letchworth Rapid Play event held at the Central Methodist Church in Letchworth Garden City. Tim Hunt 2d took first with six wins in the Open Section, the Major Section was won by Ben Ellis 3k, Minor Section winner was John Collins 10k, Junior Section winner was Melchior Chui 9k, and Greg Briscoe won the Novices Tournament. photo: Paul Smith losing to Tim Hunt

Matthew Cocke Regains Three Peaks Title: Matthew Cocke won the Three Peaks title for the fifth time, sweeping all five games at the Commodore Inn in Grange-over-Sands. Runners-ups were Roger Huyshe 4k and David Cantrell 6k, each with four wins. 31 players took part, including organizer Bob Bagot.
– compiled/edited by Amy Su, based on reports on the BGA website