Durham Go Tournament took place at St John's College on the 9th and 10th June. It was won by Matt Cocke, 5 dan, of York, with a resounding six wins.
The tournament commenced socially on the Friday evening in the Victoria Hotel, where players from near and far gathered to start the event with a bang, or at least a lot of beer and card games.
On Saturday morning, an unprecedented number of Go-playing bassoonists - four, to be precise - met at a private location to jam.
The tournament proper started at 1pm and proceeded according to a results table which will be online shortly.
After three rounds, with Matt Cocke and Will Brooks tied on three wins each and due to play the next morning, 20 of the tournament attendees retired to the Dynasty All-You-Can-Eat Chinese Buffet and back again to the Vic. A good deal of Pits was involved, with Will Brooks winning.
Sunday morning started "bright" and "early" at 10:00 with some extra players arriving to play just one day. Matt Cocke having beaten Will Brooks in round four and therefore looking ever-more-unlikely-not-to-win, he provided a game commentary for Jenny Radcliffe's round six loss at the Scottish Open.
Rounds five and six proceeded apace with no enormous surprises: Matt won all his games, the Norwegian Sveinung Fjær, entering his first tournament at 13-kyu, won all of his; Will Brooks came in second with five wins.
Over the course of the tournament, assorted people had played small board and lightning games: Sveinung Fjær won the Lightning and Durham's Rich Bentley (7-kyu) and Andrew Thurman (12-kyu) jointly won the 13*13. (Andrew's dedication in playing so many games in spite of playing only on the Sunday is to be particularly applauded.)
As usual, the prizes of Durham Brewery beer (pairs of bottles of Evensong and Cloister, this year) were snapped up first; credit must particularly be given to the stall in the Durham Indoor Market, who, upon hearing that the beer was being bought as prizes for a Go Tournament, gave us a discount.
Prizes for four wins went to Tim Hunt, Allan Scarff, Christian Scarff, Andrew Jones and Lars Eirik Danielsen. Lars Eirik was also awarded a prize and a heart-felt and clamorous round of applause for "Furthest-Travelled Attendee", having come all the way from Norway for his first-ever tournament.
The tournament organiser wishes to thank many people: everyone who came along, especially Matt for his lunchtime talk (the organiser being the one whose game was reviewed, of course, she particularly benefited!); Will Hornby and the St John's College staff for a splendid venue (we intend to return next year); David Miles for providing the draw computer; assorted Dunelmians including David Miles, Jonathan Raymond, Chris Barnett and Matthew Bell for helping to bring refreshments; David Miles, Rich Bentley and Matthew Bell for ghosting; Tessa Holden for any amount of efficient helpfulness and most especially for zesting lots of oranges for the biscuits; Edwin Brady, Will Brooks and Ian Davis for all sorts of advice about decisions beforehand; Geoff Kaniuk for sending an up-to-date rating list in enough time for it to be used ... probably lots of other people she's forgotten.
The tournament ended as it began - in a pub. This time, The Bridge, which is very close to Durham Station, so people could trickle out to their trains at the very last minute.
The Durham Tournament, at St. John’s College, attracted an attendance of 38, including some players from Norway. Guest lunch speaker Matthew Cocke, 5d, won all six games to take the first prize. William Brooks only lost to him to come second. Norway’s Sveinung Fjaer, 13k, was un-stoppable winning all 6 and Lars Eirik Danielsen, 11k, won four. Also on four were dan players Tim Hunt, Christian Scarff, Allan Scarff and Andrew Jones. Sveinung Fjaer won the Lightning and Durham’s Rich Bentley, 7k, and Andrew Thurman, 12k, jointly won the 13x13. Prizes were bottles of local Durham Brewery’s best.
(British Go Journal no 142, Autumn 2007, p6)
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