PAIR GO ROUNDS OFF SUCCESSFUL WEEK
The final appearance of six-year-old Chinese prodigy Liao Xingwen and his "go mother", Liu Yajie 2-dan pro, at MSO4 brought them a cheque for fourth place in the Pair Go event, but they missed out on a medal after losing by half a point in the third-place playoff.
It has been a very successful Olympiad for go, particularly because of the massive publicity Xingwen generated, but also because the events attracted so many strong players. The friendly atmosphere and the efficient organisation of the British Go Association officials were big factors, too.
Winners of the Pair Go gold medal and £600 were the Chinese pair of Guo Juan and Du Jingyu, both 7-dan. Silver (and £400) went to Sylvia Kalisch 2-dan from Germany and Lee Hyuk 7-dan of Korea. Winners of the third-place playoff (£200) were the trio of Alison and Simon Bexfield and their future baby.
| Pair Go Tournament |
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Gold
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Guo Juan (China)
Du Jingyu (China)
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First |
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Silver
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Sylvia Kalisch (Germany)
Lee Hyuk (Korea)
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Second
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Bronze
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Alison Bexfield (England)
Simon Bexfield (England)
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Third
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Cash prizes among the lower grades were also awarded to Anna Griffiths 8-kyu and Tony Atkins 2-dan and to Shawn Hearn 8-kyu and Nicola Hurden 12-kyu.
For those unfamiliar with Pair Go, teams of a female and male play each other, each playing a move alternately. The woman on each side always starts. There is no conferring, except on whether to resign. Either player can press the clock. Rules covering errors in order of play vary slightly, but the rule at MSO4 was typical: the side playing out of turn gives 3 points to their opponents.
We give here a game from Round 2 in which Sylvia Kalisch and Lee Hyuk beat Liu Yajie and Liao Xingwen. The latter pair resigned on the verge of losing on time, Xingwen also having played out of turn once White 154). Fans of Richard Hunter's fabulous articles on capturing races in the British Go Journal (and now in a Kiseido book) will find an interesting example here.
The go tournaments at MSO4 are run by the British Go Association (www.britgo.org).
Xingwen is here for the entire Olympiad. He will play in the Lightning tournament, the youth tournament, and the main tournament. He and Yajie will also team up for the Pair Go. He is also likely to give a simultaneous display (not for the first time - he has already played six boards). Why not come and see him for yourself.
