Stanislaw Frejlak 1p Wins European Grand Prix Finale

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

The European Grand Prix is an annual series of tournaments, in which participants collect so-called ‘bonus points’ for high performance. The bonus points list is then used for selecting sixteen players for the Grand Prix Finale, a tournament that concludes the series.

This year’s Grand Prix Finale took place in Grenoble, France on January 25–27. Stanislaw Frejlak 1p was the winner: having lost to Lucas Neirynck 6d in the first round of the group stage, he won all the following games of the group and knockout stages, including the final game against the same Lucas Neirynck 6d. You can find a record of that game below.

For more details, such as tournament table and game records, visit the 2022 Grand Prix Finale web page.

 

Download SGF

 

Report by Artem

Overview of European Go in 2022

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by


Group photo of the European Youth Go Team Championship in Prague, March 2022

In the year that has just concluded, European Go players finally had a chance to attend numerous face-to-face tournaments after a long break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Youth Championship – the biggest event after the European Go Congress (EGC) – took place in March in Prague. The winners were: U20 – Arved Pittner 5d, U16 – Vsevolod Ovsiienko 4d, U12 – Bende Barcza 3k.

After three years of break, the main event of the European Go scene, the EGC, took place in Vatra Dornei, Romania. Traditionally, the European Championship and the Pandanet European Team Championship were held as parts of this event, and the winners were Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia 7d and the team of Ukraine, respectively. Besides claiming his first European Championship, Benjamin also won the European Pair Go Championship, held in October in Strasbourg, together with Ariane Ougier 4d.

Rita Pocsai 5d won the Women’s Championship in September in Budapest, and the Student Championship was claimed by Martin Ruzicka 4d the same month.

The year concluded with Jonas Welticke 6d winning the Grand Slam, the most prestigious European tournament, in Niš in December.

Let’s hope that the coming year will be as bright for the European Go scene as the passed one!

Report by Artem

EGC 2023 to Take Place in Markkleeberg, Germany

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

Next year’s European Go Congress (EGC) will take place in Markkleeberg, a city near Leipzig, Germany.

The EGC is the main event of the European Go scene, consisting of major tournaments such as the European Championship, final of the Pandanet Go European Team Championship, Open European Championship, as well as many smaller competitions.

The website of the EGC 2023 already works and the organisers of the event invite players from all around the globe to register. The ‘activities and free time’ page also describes impressive attractions available around the playing venue, so participants of the congress will not be disappointed.

Report by Artem

New North American Pros Top the 2022 China–North America Youth New Pro Tournament

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

Kevin Yang 1P won the 2022 China–North America Youth New Pro Tournament by defeating Alexander Qi 1P in the final round. The 2022 China–North America Youth New Pro Tournament was hosted and organised by the Chinese Weiqi Association as part of the 2022 Youth Weiqi Forum.

A total of four professional players under the age of 16 were invited to the tournament – Kevin Yang and Alexander Qi from North America, and Haozhe Yang 1P and Youjia Deng 1P from China. The players competed in a single-elimination tournament over five days between 11–15 December 2022. The matches were played online on Yike Go Server, with an online proctoring system.

See this article on the North American Go Federation’s webpage for more.

Jonas Welticke 6d Wins Grand Slam Tournament

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

The seventh edition of the Grand Slam took place in Niš, Serbia, on December 1–4. The sixteen strongest European players gathered to struggle in a knockout for the largest winner’s prize money in the West – €10,000.

Jonas Welticke 6d made a sensation and won this year’s Grand Slam tournament, defeating Artem Kachanovskyi 2p in the semi-final and Pavol Lisy 2p in the final.

Fredrik Blomback 6d demonstrated great performance as well, beating Mateusz Surma 2p in the quarter-final and Artem Kachanovskyi 2p in the match for third place. It’s worth noting that Fredrik took third place in this year’s European Championship, too.

Final standings, top four:

  1. Jonas Welticke 6d
  2. Pavol Lisy 2p
  3. Fredrik Blomback 6d
  4. Artem Kachanovskyi 2p



For more details, see the web page of the CEGO Grand Slam 2022.

Below you can see a record of the final game between Pavol and Jonas.

 

Download SGF

 

Report by Artem

Grand Slam Tournament to Begin Soon

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by


2021 Grand Slam final in Belgrade: Artem Kachanovskyi 2p vs. Tanguy le Calve 1p

The seventh edition of the Grand Slam – the most prestigious European go competition – will take place in Niš, Serbia, on December 1–4. Sixteen top European players will battle in four rounds of knockout for the winner’s prize of €10,000.

The winners of the past editions are:

  • Berlin, 2015: Ilya Shikshin 1p
  • Berlin, 2016: Ali Jabarin 1p
  • Berlin, 2017: Artem Kachanovskyi 1p
  • Berlin, 2018: Ilya Shikshin 2p
  • Berlin, 2019: Mateusz Surma 2p
  • Belgrade, 2021: Artem Kachanovskyi 2p



For the list of participants, schedule, and more information, visit the 2022 Grand Slam web page.

Report by Artem

European Youth Go Team Championship Starts

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

The 9th European Youth Go Team Championship (EYGTC) started on November 12, with 16 teams playing in the first round.

Traditionally, this event has four rounds, scheduled from November to February of the next year with one game per month. For each round, the national youth teams nominate five members: one player from the U20 category and two players from each of the U16 and U12 categories. When two teams face off, players from the same age category are paired up. The games are played online on the OGS.

For more information, visit the web page of the 9th EYGTC.

Below you can find a record of the game played on round 1 between Lubin Wilhelm 2d (France) and Stjepan Medak 1d (Croatia).

 

Download SGF

 

Report by Artem

13th Pandanet Go European Team Championship Starts

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

The 13th Pandanet Go European Team Championship (PGETC) brings together 36 teams, split into leagues from A to D. In each league, teams play out an online round-robin, ending in the spring next year. The top four teams of the A league qualify for the face-to-face final, traditionally held at the European Go Congress in July. For more information, visit the web page of the PGETC.

The first round of leagues A and B took place on October 18th. The results of the first round in league A are:

Ukraine v. Serbia: 4-0
France v. Austria: 2-2
Czechia v. Netherlands: 3-1
Poland v. Israel: 1-3
Romania v. Hungary: 2-2

The draw between the teams of Austria and France was unexpected since the latter is one of the traditional favourites of the tournament. Below you can find a record of the game between Viktor Lin 6d (Austria) and Dai Junfu 8d (France).

 

Download SGF

 

Report by Artem

European Pair Go Championship 2022 in Strasbourg, France

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by


The champions, Ariane Ougier 4d and Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia 7d

This year’s European Pair Go Championship took place on October 8–9 in Strasbourg, France, and brought together 21 pairs from various European countries.

After six rounds, Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia 7d and Ariane Ougier 4d remained undefeated, thus becoming the new European Champions. It’s worth noting that Benjamin also won the individual European Championship earlier this year.

For more details, see the article on the EGF website.

Below you can find a record of the deciding game that was played on the fourth round.

 

Download SGF

 

Report by Artem

Rita Pocsai 5d Wins European Women’s Go Championship

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

This year’s European Women’s Go Championship took place on September 24–25 in Budapest and brought together 40 participants.

After five rounds, three players topped the tournament table with four wins. According to tie-breakers, the final order was the following:

  1. Rita Pocsai 5d
  2. Ariane Ougier 4d
  3. Manja Marz 3d



Thus, Rita Pocsai 5d became the new European Women’s Champion.

Below you can find a record of the game between Anna Melnyk 2d and Rita Pocsai 5d, played on the third round.

 

Download SGF

 

Report by Artem