TACTICIANS gathered for an intense competition over an Oriental board game.

The Oxford City Go tournament took place at St Edmund Hall at the weekend, with 93 people taking part.

Go is similar to chess and originated in China more than 2,500 years ago.

The board is marked with a grid of 19 lines by 19 and at the start of the game it is empty.

Two players participate, one with a supply of black stones, the other a supply of white. The object is for a player to use their stones to surround a larger total area of the board than their opponent.

Oxford Brookes anthropology student Josh Smith, 31, who participated at intermediate level, said: “The event seemed to be a resounding success.”

The top Oxford University player was Lipei Li, who came fifth, while Yu Tao was the top Oxford City player, finishing seventh. On Sunday in a varsity match, Oxford beat Cambridge 11-10.