Website of The International Go Federation

Overview of European Go in 2021

After the COVID-19 pandemic started, most European tournaments moved online. Major competitions organised by the EGF, such as the European Championship and the Grand Prix Finale, had to adapt to the online form as well. In the recently concluded 2021, however, international travel restrictions were smoothly loosened, and starting from summer we observed a significant rise of face-to-face go events.

At the beginning of June, the 41st World Amateur Go Championship took place in Russia. For the first time in the history of this event, one of the EGF member countries hosted it. The tournament was organised in a mixed form, with a part of participants playing in Vladivostok, while those who could not attend the event in person were allowed to join online.

The final of the Pandanet Go European Team Championship took place online in August; the team of France won it for the third year straight.

Dina Burdakova 5d won the online European Women’s Championship in September.

Natalia Kovaleva 5d and Dmitrij Surin 6d won their seventh European Pair Go Championship, which took place in Niš, Serbia, in September as well.

The European Youth Go Championship was played out online in October, bringing together 131 participants.

Lukáš Podpěra (left) playing against Stanisław Frejlak in the final of the 6th Pro Qualification

October also saw the EGF certifying a new professional player, Stanisław Frejlak, who won the 6th European Professional Qualification Tournament in Leksand, Sweden.

The European Championship took place online in November and December. Ilya Shikshin won this tournament for the eighth time, matching the record of Jürgen Mattern who claimed his eight championships between 1965 and 1979. Ilya has also won the online Grand Prix Finale at the beginning of the last year.

The cherry on the cake was the Grand Slam tournament in Belgrade: after a break of almost two years for most of the top European players, they have finally met over the board again. The winner was Artem Kachanovskyi 2p.

Besides the listed major go competitions, a lot of smaller go events took place in Europe last year: various summer go camps, Moyo Open in Pardubice, Dutch Open in The Hague, Grand Slam Qualification, Helmut Wiltschek Memorial in Vienna, etc.

To sum up, this was a bright and successful year for go in Europe, giving go players hope of seeing each other more often in real life. To learn more about the tournaments mentioned here, visit the EGF website.

Report by Artem

Otake Hideo, popular among go players for his thick style of play, also called the ’Otake aesthetic,’ retired on December 15, 2021. Aged 79, he holds the Honorary Gosei title.

Mr Otake said that he made his decision to retire in November and informed his family. His reason: ’When I face the go board, the variations that I think up are more meager than what I aspire to.’ Next year, he will turn 80, but he seems to believe that it’s better to retire before reaching that landmark.

In 1951, at the age of nine, he became a disciple of the late Kitani Minoru 9-dan.

In 1975, he won the Meijin title from Ishida Shuho, 24th Honinbo, a junior fellow disciple of Kitani, and held it for a total of four terms. He also did well in other tournaments, winning among others the Gosei title for six years in a row and the Judan title five times. Together with his great rival Rin Kaiho, honourary Tengen, who was also born in May 1942, he built the ’Chikurin (=Otake/Rin) Age’.

When queried about his retiring before Rin, he responded: ’If he had not existed, I would not have become what I did.’

From 2008 to 2012, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nihon Ki-In. During that period, from 2009 to 2010, he also served as president of the International Go Federation, and from 2010 to 2011 as president of the All Japan Federation of Go, which was founded by three bodies: the Nihon Ki-In, the Kansai Ki-In, and the Japan Pair Go Association. During his term of office, the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, were held in November 2010, with go players competing for the first time.

Asked about retirement plans, he answered with a smile: ’I want to travel all over Japan, holding exchange with local people and spreading the enjoyment of go.’

Otake Hideo

• Born in North Kyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, on May 12, 1942.
• Became a disciple of the late Kitani Minoru 9-dan at the age of nine. Became professional 1-dan in 1961.
• Won his first title in 1969, taking the Judan title from the late Sakata Eio.
• Has won 48 titles, fifth in the all-time list, including the Meijin title four times, the Gosei title seven times, the Judan title five times, etc. His lifetime results are 1319 wins (fourth highest in Japan), 846 losses, five jigo, and one no-contest.
• In 2004, he was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon and in 2015 the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon.

Photos by Nihon Ki-In

The European Championship is one of the highlights in the European go calendar. Traditionally it is held in summer during the European Go Congress (EGC). However, as this year’s EGC was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Championship was organised online, same as last year.

This year’s edition of the tournament started on the 23rd of November with the group stage: four groups of four players were to decide the eight players who join the other eight players qualified for the final stage automatically. In the final stage, the sixteen strongest European players battle in a knockout for the champion’s title.

The games are commented live on the EGF Twitch channel by European professionals.

Four professionals certified by the EGF made it to the semi-finals: Ilya Shikshin 4p plays against Ali Jabarin 2p and Pavol Lisy 2p plays against Artem Kachanovskyi 2p. Starting from the semi-finals, each match is played as a best-of-three.

The final will take place on December 3–5.

You can find more information on the European Championship 2021 web page.

Report by Artem

Stanislaw Frejlak playing in the Pro Qualification

The European Professional Qualification Tournament took place in Leksand, Sweden from the 25th until the 31st of October. It was already the sixth edition of this competition. The previous five iterations generated seven European professionals:

• 2014 – Pavol Lisy, Ali Jabarin
• 2015 – Mateusz Surma, Ilya Shikshin
• 2016 – Artem Kachanovskyi
• 2017 – Andrii Kravets
• 2019 – Tanguy Le Calve

The 6th Pro Qualification brought together 16 top European amateurs. It was played out in a single-elimination mode, with each pair of opponents playing a match of a best of three. The games were commented live by the European professionals on the EGF Twitch channel.

The finalists were Stanislaw Frejlak 7d from Poland and Lukas Podpera 7d from Czechia. After losing the first game, Stanislaw won the second one by half a point and the third one by resignation. Thus he won the final match and became the eighth European professional go player.

Game records, tournament charts, and more information you can find on the 6th Pro Qualification web page at the EGF website.

Below you can find a record of the third and final game between Stanislaw Frejlak and Lukas Podpera.

 

 

Report by Artem

Dmitrij Surin 6d and Natalia Kovaleva 5d

This year the European Pair Go Championship (EPGC) took place on 25–26 September in Niš, Serbia. A total of 15 pairs from six countries took part in the competition.

After six rounds, two Russian pairs were on the top of the tournament table with only one defeat: Ajgul Fazulzjanova 3d with Alexander Dinerchtein 3p and Natalia Kovaleva 5d with Dmitrij Surin 6d. The pairs’ first tie-breaker, the sum of opponents’ scores (SOS), was equal, so the fate of the first place was decided by direct confrontation. The Kovaleva-Surin pair beat their fellow countrymates in the third round, so they claimed the champions’ title.

It was the seventh time for Natalia and Dmitrij to win this tournament together.

Report by Artem