3rd Edition of Corona Cup Concluded

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

The third edition of the Corona Cup took place online from 8 March till 20 April. 400 participants from 39 countries took part in the competition – the tournament repeated the record achieved by the second edition (400 participants as well; the first edition had 361 participants). Most European countries were represented. Besides, there were participants from countries such as Argentina (1 participant), Brazil (2), Canada (1), Chile (2), China (3), India (2), Kyrgyzstan (1), Singapore (3), and USA (13). From all the countries, Germany had the biggest number of representatives: 63 players.

After six rounds, Kim Seong-Jin 8d remained undefeated, thus winning the third edition of the Corona Cup. Kim Young-Sam 8d was the runner-up this time, being defeated only by the winner. He was victorious in the first two editions of the Corona Cup. The third place went to Stanislaw Frejlak 7d.

Here are the top five places:

  1. Kim Seong-Jin 8d
  2. Kim Young-Sam 8d
  3. Stanislaw Frejlak 7d
  4. Lukas Podpera 7d
  5. Lucas Neirynck 6d


Below you can find a record of the game played in the 4th round between Kim Young-Sam 8d and Kim Seong-Jin 8d.

 

Download SGF

 

For more details see the tournament table in the EGD.

Report by Arterm

41st World Amateur Go Championship 2021 in Russia

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC) is an annual go event organised by the International Go Federation (IGF). Each IGF member country nominates one representative, and in total usually there are around 70 participants.

The WAGC is held since 1979. In 2020, for the first time in go history, the tournament was to take place in one of the European countries – Russia, Vladivostok city. Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the tournament was postponed till 2021. The new dates for the 41st WAGC are June 2–10, 2021. The location remains the same.

Unfortunately, the pandemic doesn’t seem to get any better even despite the vaccination. Due to this reason, the organisers of the 41st WAGC decided to allow online participation for those representatives who are not able to arrive in Vladivostok. In that case, national federations whose representatives play online must ensure the presence of a referee or an official of the federation in the playing-room and/or video monitoring of the competition process. More information on this aspect will be announced by the organisers later.

Representatives from 77 countries are invited to participate in the 41st WAGC:

  1. Asia: 17 countries and territories
    Brunei, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia,
    Mongolia, Nepal, DPR Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
  2. Near and Middle East: 3 countries
    Iran, Israel, Turkey
  3. Europe: 37 countries
    Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom
  4. Africa: 3 countries
    Madagascar, Morocco, South Africa
  5. North & Central America: 7 countries
    Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, United States
  6. South America: 8 countries
    Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela
  7. Oceania: 2 countries
    Australia, New Zealand


In case you are an official of the national go organisation in one of the listed countries, and you have not received an invitation yet – please use the following email address to contact the WAGC organisers: n.kovaleva@gofederation.ru (Natalia Kovaleva).

For more information see the 41st WAGC website: https://wagc2020.org/

Report by Artem

European Grand Prix 2021

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

The European Grand Prix is a series of tournaments held during the calendar year. Those participants who take the top places in these competitions collect so-called ‘bonus points’. At the beginning of the next year, the Grand Prix Final is organised by the EGF. The players who have won at least one Grand Prix tournament, plus several players who have a top score in the bonus points list, fight for the title of the winner of the Grand Prix. Besides, the two players who have the top score in the bonus points list are automatically qualified for the Grand Slam – the most prestigious competition in Europe with a main prize of €10,000.

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak almost all the Grand Prix tournaments were cancelled. The Grand Prix Final had to take place online. The winner was Ilya Shikshin 4p.

As the situation with the coronavirus doesn’t seem to get much better at the beginning of 2021, the EGF introduced several changes to the Grand Prix:

  1. From now online and mixed competitions are officially allowed to be a Grand Prix tournament, with a condition of applying strict anti-cheating measures.
  2. New level of Grand Prix tournament appeared – Level D. Level D tournaments provide half as many bonus points as Level C, and the winner gets ‘half of the seat’ in the Grand Prix Final – he has to win one more Level D competition in order to qualify. At the same time, it’s twice cheaper for the organisers to apply for the Level D event. This is the way to stimulate the organisers of relatively small online tournaments to apply for the Grand Prix – bonus points attract strong European players to participate, which in turn motivates the weaker players to take part as well.
  3. Grand Prix tournament organisers have to provide prize money for each bonus point won by the participants. The amount of the prize money depends on the level of the event.



Even though the pandemic restrictions are not getting better, this year there are several tournaments in the Grand Prix Calendar already.

Report by Artem

European Go Journal: New Project Begins

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by


Cover page of the first issue

The European Go Journal is a monthly journal about the game of go, officially supported by the European Go Federation. The author is Artem Kachanovskyi, a 2 dan professional of the EGF.

The journal consists of three sections:

  • Go news – focusing on Europe, including major worldwide go events. This section contains also game reviews.
  • Reading material: interviews and an ‘art and photography’ chapter.
  • Studying material – analysis of playing situations using AI, go problems, tesuji of the month.



The journal is distributed in two forms: digital and printed. It’s possible to subscribe to the journal on Patreon.

For more information see this article on the EGF website.

Report by Artem

European Youth Go Team Championship 2020/21

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

European Youth Go Team Championship (EYGTC) is an annual online Go competition. European countries are represented by teams consisting of youth players. Each round teams have to line up five players of different age categories:

  • one player U20
  • two players U16
  • two players U12


This year there have been four rounds. The team of Russia remained undefeated, thus winning EYGTC for the 6th time.

Last year the winner was the team of Germany, which was the only time when the team of Russia didn’t win the competition.

For more details please see the EYGTC 2020/21 webpage.

Report by Artem

European Professional Online Go League: Third Season Finished

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

The third season of the European Professional Online Go League started in December 2020. Six players participated this time:


After the round-robin stage, the top three places were distributed in the following way:

  1. Ilya Shikshin
  2. Pavol Lisy
  3. Tanguy Le Calve



In the semi-final match, Pavol lost the first game against Tanguy, but then he won the following two, thus qualifying for the final match against Ilya.

In the final match, Ilya won with a score of 3-1. By the way, Ilya was promoted to 4p after his victory in the European Grand Prix Finale 2020.

So, the winner of the third season is Ilya. Here are the winners of the first two seasons:

  1. Artem Kachanovskyi 2p (Ukraine)
  2. Ryan Li 1p (Canada)



For more details, please see the European Professional Online Pro League webpage.

Below you can see the game record of the last game of the Final.

 

Download SGF

 


Report by Artem

European Grand Prix Finale 2020

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

This year European Grand Prix Finale took place on the Online Go Server from January 8 till 31. Top 16 European players were fighting for the title of the Grand Prix Winner. The competition is a culmination of the Grand Prix – a series of tournaments held during the year 2020.

The group stage didn’t bring any surprise, with the favourites getting first or second places to qualify for the knock-out stage.

This year, as the competition was held online, all the knock-out matches had best-of-three format.
In the final, Ilya Shikshin 3p (Russia) defeated Artem Kachanovskyi 2p (Ukraine) with a score of 2:0.
Here are the top four places of the tournament:

  1. Ilya Shikshin 3p (Russia)
  2. Artem Kachanovskyi 2p (Ukraine)
  3. Pavol Lisy 2p (Slovakia
  4. Stanislaw Frejlak 7d (Poland)


For more details, please see the Grand Prix Finale 2021 webpage.

Below you can see the game records of the final match between Ilya and Artem.

 

Download SGF

 


 

Download SGF

 

Report by Artem

European Online Go News

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

11th Pandanet Go European Team Championship started in October 2020. Four rounds have been played already. At the time of writing the leader is the team of Ukraine, which unexpectedly defeated the favourite in the last round, the team of France. The next round will take place on February 2, the highlight of the round being the match between Ukraine and Russia.

In the third season of the European Professional Online Go League, the round-robin stage has come to an end. Ilya Shikshin 3p was undefeated and proceeded to the final by taking first place. Pavol Lisy 2p and Tanguy Le Calve 1p will play a match to determine who challenges Ilya for the title of the winner of the League.

European Grand Prix Finale 2020 has started on January 8th. At the time of writing the competition is in the semi-finals: Ilya Shikshin 3p v. Pavol Lisy 2p, and Artem Kachanovskyi 2p v. Stanislaw Frejlak 7d.

Report by Artem

5th Latin American Pandanet League Starts in January

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

As of January 24, fourteen Latin American countries divided in two leagues will be fighting to reach the top in the 5th Pandanet Go Latin American Team Championship.

Novel in this season is Cuba playing in League A and standing as a strong competitor for the Championship, as their top three boards rank as 5 dan and the team has an average level of 3 dan.

Meanwhile, in League B, we also find a strengthened Uruguay with the recent incorporation of Martin Benenati 5d, promising a close fight with Chile and Venezuela who are also trying to fight their way back to League A.

Showdown starts immediately on the first round with heavy matches like Argentina v. Mexico, who last season finished second and fourth, respectively, and Brazil v. Peru who finished first and third, respectively.

Follow the 1st round of the Championship on Sunday 24th at 19 hrs GMT-6 on the LatinAmericanTeam Champ room in Pandanet.

Report by Emil García

European Women’s Go Championship 2020

Website of The International Go Federation Posted on by

This year the European Women’s Go Championship took place online, similarly to the majority of the other competitions.

16 players from 8 different countries participated in the event. The tournament system was very similar to the one of the European Grand Prix Finale:

  • four groups of four players
  • round-robin in a group
  • two players from each group proceed to the play-off



The final had a best-of-three format. The two players who made it to the final were Manja Marz 3d (Germany) and Natalia Kovaleva 5d (Russia). Natalia won two games in a row, thus winning the European Women’s Go Championship 2020.

Here are the final results:

  1. Natalia Kovaleva 5d (Russia)
  2. Manja Marz 3d (Germany)
  3. Dina Burdakova 5d (Russia)
  4. Isabel Donle 1d (Germany)



For more details please see the tournament webpage: https://eurogofed.org/women/2020.html
Below you can view the second and decisive game between Manja and Natalia.

 

Download SGF

 

Report by Artem