Matthew Macfadyen retained his British Go Championship in decisive fashion by winning straight games in the best-of-five match held this year at the 4th Mind Sports Olympiad. This year the Olympiad is being held at Alexandra Palace in London.

The results were a win by 4.5 points and then two victories by resignation, over the challenger Des Cann 4-dan; Macfadyen, 6-dan, is currently rated 2589 on the European list, the on-form Cann 2429 (above the 5-dan watershed of 2400). Thus Macfadyen has held the title for four years since regaining it in 1997, when Zhang Shutai 7-dan stepped down. The match followed the pattern of recent times, with a game close enough to keep the contest interesting. Matthew Macfadyen (left) takes on Des Cann for the British Go Championship. (Picture courtesy of Kirsty Healey/BGA)

Interviewed about the match, European Champion Lee Hyuk said the play seemed to be of quite a high standard. He was less familiar with Cann than with Macfadyen, whom he played at Helsinki this year (see Ing Memorial report), but thought the challenger's chance in Game 1 was a real one, from a position that was definitely superior at one stage. After that, the need to come back from behind probably made Cann's task harder. Click here for a commentary on Game 1.

A Prophet without Honour?

Talking about Macfadyen's strengths and weaknesses, Lee said first that Matthew was one of the strongest amongst the European national champions. His ability was most marked on the theoretical side. His knowledge of opening theory (joseki and fuseki) was good. He was also strong at shape, and reliably found the vital point in positions. What could be criticised in his play was mainly a lack of accuracy in fighting.

The interest of these comments lies in the way they are diametrically opposed to the received thinking, especially in Britain, about Macfadyen's play. He is most often seen as a combative and pragmatic player, with reading power his main strength.

Lee, himself ranked 7-dan but probably at a level with some accredited professional players, speaks about Go from a perspective which stands clear of European strivers. Last year, quoted in the British Go Journal, he had the comment that European players in general seem weak in profound knowledge of life-and-death and joseki, matters that were first put on the agenda a generation ago.

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Des Cann (4 dan) will challenge Matthew Macfadyen (6 dan) for the title of British Go Champion in the best-of-five match to be held at this year's Mind Sports Olympiad. He emerged from this year's bruising eight-player round-robin Challenger's League, held in London May 26 to 29, with a perfect seven wins, ahead of the higher-rated young hope Matthew Cocke and veteran Korean Young Kim.

Cann, a contract programmer currently working for BA at Heathrow, is probably the strongest British player not yet to have appeared in a British Championship final. He is one of the most familiar faces on the one-day tournament circuit, where he has won many events, with a careful and accurate style. He will relish the long time limits of the match games (three hours each, plus overtime). In recent years Macfadyen has seemed increasingly to rely on experience to get himself out of trouble; but since he has played in the match for the past two decades, with a short hiatus in the 1980s, he will be the favourite. (See the BGA's British Go Championship history page, with downloadable game records for recent years.)

Cann and Macfadyen both belong to the Leamington club and know each other's games very well. Des took up Go while a student at nearby Warwick University nearly 25 years ago, and was immediately attracted by the intricacy, human factors and sudden revelations to be seen in pro-level games. His favourite professional is the brilliant but flawed Fujisawa Shuko. With long thinking times on offer and the intimate familiarity of the opponents, there will be no holds barred when the players clash in August.