ROMANIA SWEEPS EURO TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS: Catalin Taranu 5P led the Romanian team to crush all their opponents 4-0 in at the European Team championships in Pitesti, Romania on October 9-11. Along with Kido-Cup winner Christian Pop on Board 2 and successful six-dans Dragos Bajeneru and Cornel Burzo, the Romanians were heavy favorites, despite strong teams from neighbours like Southern Serbia which took silver and Hungary, which took the bronze. A majority of the teams from 11 nations came from Romania — Romania 3 took 4th, ahead of team 2 — but Bulgaria sent two. Click here for team results and click here for more detailed results.
– Peter Dijkema, EJ European correspondent
GIEDROJC WINS LODZ: Krzysztof Giedrojc 4d swept the Lodz elimination tourney for the Polish title league on October 17-18, ahead of the only other high-dan player, Radek Jachym 4d. Maciek Lubinski 1d and Krzysztof Urtnowski 
1d led a pack of four players on 3-2, but only they made it into the final league of eight. In Lodz 18 players had won the right to take part. Click here for results. The title tourney is set for November 26-29; Leszek Soldan is the defending champion “Mistrz Polski.” The Polish go association’s website go.art.pl has announced three new features: a link to photo galleries, an ability to comment on news and a fast section with mini-news. The Szczecin Go Club took part in the 3-day “Japan Fest” that ended October 17, with go exhibitions.
– Peter Dijkema, based on go.art.pl
GERLACH ’09 DEUTSCHER MEISTER: Christof Gerlach 6d won the German title – “Deutscher Meister” – in the final league of eight in Frankfurt on Main, October 15-17. Gerlach only lost to defending Champ Franz-Josef Dickhut 6d, who took bronze, with Benjamin Teuber 6d collecting the silver medal. Click here for results. This is the third national title for Gerlach, behind Dickhut’s 8; he won his first in 1991 and his second in 1998. Gerlach is also known in Europe as the author of a popular pairing program for large tournaments and as editor-in-chief of the German magzine DGZ as well as EGC bulletins.
– Peter Dijkema, from dgob.de and sensei.xmp.net
BUDAHN BEATS BERLIN: Michael Budahn 3d beat all his Berlin opponents in the “Herbstturnier” (‘Autumn Tourney’) on October 10. Also on the winner’s podium and sharing the prize money: Judith Conradi 2d and Oliver Goerling 9k with 
3-1 each. Sixteen players took part, with a quarter of them young female players, who each won a small prize and an official “Urkunde” (= diploma?). Click here for full results.
– Peter Dijkema, after a report at www.dgob.de
TRAXLER SWEEPS SALZBURG: Yorick Traxler 2d won all five games in Salzburg – Zell am See on October 10-11. Wolfgang Kremes 1d (4-1) and Michael Winkler 2d (3-2) completed an all-Vienna podium. This is Traxler’s first tournament win. Thirty players from Austria, Germany and Italy took part. Click here for results. In September, Traxler did even better, when he defeated two 4d’s to take second place (4-1) after Viktor Lin 5d, who swept the Seewinkel tourney on September 12-13, where 39 played from Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Aoki 9P was present for comments and teaching games. Click here for results.
– Peter Dijkema, based on reports on www.goverband.at
STRONG LINE-UP FOR BRUSSELS: Hwang In-Seong 7d, Dai Junfu 7d, Zhang Yanqi 5d, Antoine Fénech 5d and GoGod’s T. Mark Hall 4d top the 63 early registrants for the 24th Brussels tournament, scheduled for October 24-25 in the “Palais du Midi.” Click here for more information and to sign up.
– Peter Dijkema
BRITS BUILD ONLINE TEAM LEAGUE: The British Go Association (BGA) is following in the steps of their German colleagues at the Deutsche Go-Bund (DGB), which has set up a very successful system of online leagues for club teams. Ten British teams have already registered, while Durham captain Sandy Taylor is recruiting members for an 11th team. Some familiar names among the BGA captains are Matthew Macfadyen at Leamington, Helen Harvey heading up Chester A and Toby Manning managing Tigers Mouth from Leicester. Click here for more teams.
– Peter Dijkema
BIG PRIZE ATTRACTS TOP PLAYERS TO LILLE PANDANET: A prize of 600 Euros in the upcoming Pandanet tournament in Lille, France has attracted top players like Fan Hui 2P, Noguchi Motoki and current “Championne 
National” Zhang Yanqi. Click here for details on the December 12-13 tournament or email TD Sébastien Dewidehem at seb.dewi@hotmail.fr
– Peter Dijkema
time to come,” said Waldron in an open letter to other AGA volunteers. “The AGA doesn’t do a great job of supporting its volunteers, so let me say it once from my side: thank you for all of your hard work, both in helping me personally and the nation’s go players.” Waldron said he’ll “be in this position for a few more months, and even after that I’ll be happy to provide advice to those who care to listen. I look forward to seeing you all at the next Congress and perhaps a local tournament or two as well.”
