Wed, 31/12/2014 – 15:45 — jennyradcliffe

London Open

International Students House, London

The 41st London Open Go Congress took place at International Students House at the end of December 2014. As well as the main seven-round tournament, there were Pair Go, Doubles, Lightning and Rengo side events, and the tournament culminated in 40 participants attending a New Year’s Eve Dinner.

The main tournament was won by Chi-Min Oh (7d, Durham, UK) on seven wins, and prizes sponsored by the British Go Association were also awarded to YoungSam Kim (7d, BIBA, Korea) coming second with six wins, Mateusz Surma (7d, Dzimierz, Poland) coming third with five wins and Xiao Ma (7d, Nuremburg, Germany) coming in fourth with four wins.

The David Ward Cup was awarded for the first time, in memory of long-standing UK player David Ward who sadly died late in 2013. It was donated by his widow, Helen Ward, and presented by professional Hajin Lee from Korea to Matthew Cocke, who was the highest-placed UK player in the tournament on three wins above the bar.

Prizes were awarded, by sponsorship from the Central London Go Club, to the two best-placed players who started below the bar; these went to Mikko Siukola (4d, Yligo, Finland) who came in eighth overall, and Andrew Kay (4d, Birmingham, UK) who came in 15th overall.

A prize sponsored by the City of London Go Club was awarded to the best-placed player who had started as a double-digit kyu player by European Ranking; this was won by Gudrun Breitenbauch (11k, Hamburg-Harburg, Germany).

Certificates were awarded to Johannes Siven (3k, Central London, UK) on six wins and to those on four and five wins.

The thirty-player Lightning tournament was won by Chi-Min Oh (7d, Durham, UK), with second prize to Zebin Du (5d, China).

The Pair Go tournament was won by Chi-Min Oh (7d, Durham, UK) and Lova Wåhlin (2k, Stockholm, Sweden), with second prize to Hajin Lee (3p) and Benjamin Teuber (6d, Hamburg-Harburg, Germany).

The Doubles section was won by Jitka Bartova (1d, Prague, Czech Republic) and Ngoc-Trang Cao (2d, 67se, France).