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Andrew Kay British Champion Again; David Lee Holds the Scottish Crown

Andrew Kay 4d retained the British Championship on Saturday November 23, after concluding a straight 2-0 victory over challenger Andrew Simons 4d in the best-of-three final. Kay first took the title in 2012, after manytime Championship winner Matthew Macfadyen 6d retired. This year the reigning Champion waived his right to bypass the initial qualifying Candidates' tournament, winning that round to enter the Challengers' League from which the finalists emerge (see Simons to Challenge Kay for British Championship, EJ 5/27).
In the first game of the final, played on November 16, Simons (B) resigned whilst in byo yomi. In the second, Kay (B) - known for his fast and combative play - once again squeezed Simons for time, pushing him into byo yomi with nearly an hour of main time (out of three) left on his own clock. Simons ran out of time in his fourth period of byo yomi. However, comments by referee Tim Hunt suggest Simons probably had about a four-point lead when his flag fell. Kay said of the decisive game, "Andrew Simons gave me a very tough game" and thanked the large number who watched and commented on the game as it was broadcast live on KGS. Click here for the Game 1 record, and here for the Game 2 record; game records contain unmoderated spectator comments. Click here for Guo Juan's professional audio analysis of Game 2. In other British news, David Lee 3d of Dundee won the separate Scottish Championship for the fourth consecutive year, beating Matt Crosby 3d (Edinburgh) in the final. Four players competed in a knockout on KGS in the final stages. The semi-finalists were Piotr Wisthal 1d (Aberdeen) and Crosby's initiate, Martha McGill 1k, also of Edinburgh. Report by Tony Collman, British correspondent for the EJ. Photo courtesy of Kay's website.