Website of The International Go Federation

The impressive tournament venue

This year the European Student Go Championship took place on 28–29 September in my home town Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It was my pleasure to be present there both days, reviewing games for the participants and helping the organisers of the tournament.

Participants on a stroll after the tournament

I was a bit jealous of the participants for their being able to play in such luxurious conditions. All participants had free accommodation and there was €1.000 prize fund, but the winners also got prizes provided by the European Go Federation: trips to the World Student Pair Go Championship in Japan and the ‘College Championship’, sponsored by the Ing Foundation.

The winner of the tournament was Lukas Podpera 7d from Czechia. He won all the five games he played.

Here are the top three places:

• Lukas Podpera 7d (Czechia)
• Alexander Matushkin 5d (Russia)
• Valerii Krushelnytskyi 5d (Ukraine)

Besides the tournament itself, thanks to the sponsor there were many things to enjoy: e.g., pizza for lunch, free rides on an electrical scooter, and a party at a pub after the end of the tournament.

For more information please read an article on the EGF website.

Report by Artem

From August 19th to 25th the Chinese Weiqi Association (CWA) celebrated its 3rd Chinese Go Congress in the city of Rizhao, Shandong province, China.

‘New China’s Weiqi Achievements over 70 Years’ exhibition

On the last days of the Congress, from August 23rd to 25th, the ‘Worldwide Weiqi Organization Leaders Friendly Match’ took place. In it representatives of go associations from over 55 countries, including Japan and Korea, gathered for a shared presentation on history and development of go in their communities.

The three-day event started on the 23rd with the opening ceremony and a banquet dinner on the Landbridge Jinjiang Hotel bowl room. Welcoming words were given by Yi Wang, Vice President of the IGF and Secretary General of the CWA.

Final match between FineArt and Golaxy

Next on Saturday 25th, participants were taken to the Rizhao Technology and Cultural Centre, the Congress main venue. On the main hall, CWA President Mr Lin Jianchao gave a conference about China’s new perspective on go and their philosophy of the game.

After the conference, participants were taken to the exhibitions the congress venue offered such as the ‘New China’s Weiqi Achievements over 70 Years’ and the ‘New China’s Weiqi books over 70 years’ which consisted of a large photograph record and a book display. We found out there that Mr Lin Jianchao is actually a General of the Chinese Military.

Friendly match with Chinese officers and players

On this same day the final match of the ‘2019 China Securities Cup World A.I. Weiqi Open’ was being played between FineArt and Golaxy. The winner turned out to be FineArt by two games to three. You may check the kifus here. It’s also worth mentioning that the Golaxy team had its go android playing games with the assistants.

On the top floor games of the Huawei Cup China City League took place, where we had players such as Chen Yaoye and Ke Jie. On the other hall of the Centre, most of the space was for tables on which massive tournaments took place. In the remaining space a big vendor area offered several kinds of go equipment and supplies.

Associating activity

At the end of this day, a friendly match was played between the international leaders and Chinese officials and players. Some of them were professional and some other had bonds with the Chinese Weiqi Association. After the game, with the aid of translators, the international leaders got the chance to talk to their Chinese counterparts about ideas to promote go worldwide.

On the last day of the event a worldwide go leaders associating activity took place in the Landbridge Hotel bowl room. A round table setting was arranged so each country representative had the chance to talk about the history of go in his/her country and of what they are doing to promote the game.

At last at the Technology and Cultural Centre a closing ceremony with a Shaolin exhibit and Chinese opera took place and farewell words from General Lin were given.

Undoubtedly this turned out to be a great experience for all the Associations representatives and it raises a lot of expectations on the new role China intends to play in the international go scene.

You may look at a very extensive photo album on the Congress here.

Report by Emil García

The Go Teachers’ Workshop in Europe is a skills development course for teachers and instructors of the fascinating game of go, the oldest board game in the world. The course is open to anyone interested in teaching go.

The two-day workshop will be held at the Nihon Ki-in European Go Cultural Centre in Amstelveen, Netherlands on October 5–6, 2019.

Leading players and instructors from the go associations of China, Korea and Japan will join together to provide a broad range of techniques and know-how on go teaching methods. Focus will be on teaching beginners as well as on giving useful and effective classes on acquiring knowledge about go tools, history, and other topics of interest.

The workshop will be particularly interesting because participants have a unique opportunity to learn many characteristics and differences in teaching methods, style, and ways of thinking about go in China, Korea, and Japan.

For more information, please read The 2019 Go Teacher’s Workshop in Europe.

Click here to apply!

If you have questions, please contact office@go-centre.nl.

The main organisers (from the left): Vincent Lochen, Marie Jemine, and Gabriel Mercier

The European Go Congress 2019 was held in Brussels, Belgium from 20 July to 3 August. This year the venue of the congress was in the heart of Brussels, and its location turned out to be perfect for both playing and sightseeing. Even the famous statue, Manneken Pis, was just a stone’s throw away.

With over 800 participants, this year’s EGC was popular as ever, although it not quite as packed as the previous two congresses in Pisa, Italy and Oberhof, Germany, both of which had over 1,000 participants. Even so, everybody had a great time playing the game and meeting many friends (old and new), as well as trying out the famous Belgian beers.

This year there was a fierce fight in the decisive game of the European Championship. After a drawn-out battle, finally Ilya Shikshin 3p defeated Artem Kachanovskyi by the smallest of margins, half a point.

You can read more impressions on this year’s European Go Congress on the EGF website.

The final game: Ilya Shikshin 3p (left) and Artem Kachanovskyi

Ilya Shikshin 3p

European Championship is organised as a part of the European Go Congress. Starting from year 2018, European Championship is a competition of 32 top European players with a double elimination system until the quarterfinals. Starting from the quarterfinals, the tournament becomes single elimination. Selection of participants is based on European Go Database rating.

This year European Championship was held on July 21–28 in Brussels, Belgium. 32 players from 15 different countries participated, among whom were seven professional players. Live Twitch stream from the first board was organised, as well as a broadcast on the Pandanet Go server for the top boards.

Ilya Shikshin 3p from Russia remained undefeated in all of his games and won the title of the European Champion 2019. In the final he played against Artem Kachanovskyi 2p from Ukraine, and won that game by a minimal margin of 0.5 points. You can view the final game below.

All the details including tournament table and game records you can find at the official webpage of the competition.

For more information please read the following articles at the European Go Federation website, written by Antonius Claasen. He wrote a separate article about each day of the European Championship:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8

Report by Artem