Website of The International Go Federation

The first stage of the 7th European Professional Qualification took place in Brno, Czechia, on February 25–26. The eight invited participants played out the best-of-three quarter-final matches:

• Lukas Podpera 7d 2 – 1 Elian Grigoriu 6d
• Oscar Vazquez 7d 1 – 2 Jan Simara 6d
• Cornel Burzo 6d 1 – 2 Benjamin Teuber 6d
• Jan Prokop 6d 0 – 2 Dominik Boviz 6d

The second stage – the semi-final and the final – will take place at the same location on March 10–11. Same as in the first stage, the games will be broadcast live and commented on the EGF Twitch channel. For more information, visit the web page of the event.

Below you can find a record of the third game of the quarter-final match between Elian Grigoriu 6d and Lukas Podpera 7d.

Report by Artem

The International Society of Go Studies (ISGS) held their founding ceremony on February 17th at the Korea Baduk Association (KBA) in Seoul, Korea. The event was attended by about 60 people, including many officials of Go organizations, such as the former president of the IGF, Park Jungchae; Secretary-General of the Asian Baduk Federation, Kim Hyuanghee; Secretary-General of the Korea Baduk Association, Yang Jaeho 9p; the president of the Korea University Baduk Association, Kim Jinhwan; the president of the Korean Women’s Baduk Association, Lee Kwangsoon; and the head coach of the Korean National Team, Mok Jinseok 9p, to mention only a few.

Nam Chihyung, dean of the department of Go Studies at Myongji University, was inaugurated as the president of the International Society of Go Studies. In her inauguratory speech she said, ‘So many people in Korea and abroad contributed to founding the society. I would like to thank all who have helped us including today’s distinguished guests.’ Along with her thank-you message, she explained the background and reasons for the establishment: ‘Upon facing the crisis of the possible closing of the Department of Go Studies, we have been encouraged and supported by Go lovers around the world, which made us realize that Go Studies is not just for Korea, nor just for the Go department at Myongji University. This has led us to decide to establish the ISGS.’

Photo: ISGS president Nam Chihyung (Courtesy of Oh Myeongjoo/KBA)

The new society succeeds the Korean Society for Baduk Studies (KSBS) which actively promoted Go research from 2003 to 2018. Following the footsteps of the KSBS, the newly founded International Society of Go Studies aims to promote academic research on Go, activities that help spread and teach Go, host academic research presentations, publish an academic journal, as well as foster exchange among research institutes, organizations, and businesses. The inaugural volume of the Journal of Go Studies consists of six research articles in Chinese, Korean, and English, along with an essay, and a book review of an academic Go book. The journal is expected to be published twice a year, with the next volume to be published in August.

Photo: Founding ceremony of the International Society of Go Studies (Courtesy of Oh Myeongjoo/KBA)

Former KSBS presidents Lim Seongbin, Park Woosuk, and Jeong Soohyun will serve as ISGS Honorary Advisors, and endorsed the new organisation’s endeavors in their speeches. Additionally, foreign video congratulatory speeches were conveyed from ISGS Vice-President Sun Yuan 3p (China), Honorary Advisors Tanioka Ichiro (Japan) and Korsak Chairasmisak (Thailand), LG Cup winner Chou Chun-hsun 9p (Chinese Taipei), and directors Xu Ying 5p (China), Wu I-Chen (Chinese Taipei), and Silvia Lozeva (Australia).

Quite differently from the KSBS, the ISGS executive is of international background, as listed below:

• President Nam Chihyung (Korea)
• Vice-Presidents Sun Yuan 3p (China) and Ohashi Hirofumi 7p (Japan)
• Auditor Kang Nayeon (Korea)
• Secretary-General Kim Chaelim (Korea), Secretary Kim Donghan (Korea)
• Honorary Advisors Lim Seongbin, Park Woosuk, Park Jungchae, Jeong Soohyun, Kim Dalsoo (Korea), Thomas Hsiang (USA), Tanioka Ichiro (Japan), Korsak Chairasmisak (Thailand)
• Directors (Korea, China, Chinese Taipei, Canada, Croatia, Australia)

For the complete list of the executive and other information on the ISGS, contact Secretary-General Kim Chaelim at badukstudies@gmail.com, or check out the website (to be opened soon).

Report by Daniela Trinks (Dep. of Go Studies, Myongji University)

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

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.

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