DAI JUNFU MEIJIN IN PARIS: Dai Junfu 7d (left) took top honors at the 27th Paris Meijin on November 21-22. 
French Champion Zhang Yanqi won silver. Youth champ Thomas Debarre scored a remarkable win in Round 2, knocking out defending champion and top seed Fan Hui 2P. Guillaume Attia 3k of Alègre club swept the B section. A week earlier, Robin Chauvin 7k won the C-group. Both weekends up to 64 took part. Click here for the tourney page with winners pictures, links to tables and a gallery of more photos.
– Peter Dijkema, after a report by TD Jerome Hubert
BRITAIN: Healey-Macfadyen Best-Dressed at Pair Go Champs; League Standings: Kirsty Healey 1d and Matthew Macfadyen 6d (right) were the best-dressed winners at the recent amateur Pair Go championships in Japan. In the British League, Cambridge leads Division 1 and haven’t dropped a single game in two matches so far. Cornish Rogues share the lead in Division 2 with Newcastle. Both won 2-1 twice. Durham Blue leads in 3, while in 4 no games have been played yet. Click here for the current tables.
– Peter Dijkema
LAITIKAINEN RETAKES FINNISH TITLE: Vesa Laitikainen 5d retook the Finnish title from Antti Törmänen 5d, who lost the final match 2-1 on November 13-14. The 2009 Championship is Laitikainen ‘s 19th Finnish national title. Click here for details of the play-off and finals, with links to the games.
– Peter Dijkema, after a report on EuroGoTV.com
ROEVER TO PLAY DAVIS IN IRISH FINAL: Defending Irish Champion Claas Roever beat Noel Mitchell in a playoff game on KGS to see who would join Ian Davis for the 2009 Irish Championship Final.
– Ian Davis, Ireland Correspondent
REGGINOS WINS CYPRUS: Dimitris Regginos 1d was the top winner in the Cyprus Go Championship (right) last weekend. 
Lilia Regginou 25k won the Cyprus Youth Go Championship, which was held simultaneously. Thomas Gaebler, visiting from Finland, was a special guest at the tournament was. Gaebler has appeared in several tournaments on the European scene, with his last appearance in Munich in April. Winner’s Report: Main tournament: 1st: Dimitris Regginos 1d; 2nd: Giannis Kassinopoulos 4k; 3rd: Thomas Gaebler 4k. Youth tournament: 1st: Lilia Regginou 25k; 2nd: Charalambos Mavrommatis 25k; 3rd: Nika Regginou 25k.
– Nicholas Roussos, Cyprus Correspondent
HWANG AND DICKHUT WIN IN GERMANY: Hwang In-Seong 7d of Berlin won the 10th “Go to Innovation” in 
Berlin November 20-22 8-0, ahead of Llouis Oh 6d of Barcelona, who was 7-1. EuroGo TV broadcast the top board, and 102 participated in the tournament. Vladimir Danek 3rd (Prague) and Viktor Lin (Vienna) 4th – both 5d won 5-3 under the tough Hahn-scoring system: as you win more, you give a higher handicap next game. Thus, in the final round Hwang faced Alexander Kurz 3d at 6 stones. Kurz opted for 77.5 komi, but Hwang still won by 117 points. Among 41 players, only Florian Mömmikes 2k also won 7-1. Click here for results In Düsseldorf, Franz-Josef Dickhut 6d (Mönchengladbach) (right) repeated his 2008 victory, sweeping the third Japanese General Consul’s Cup five straight. Michelle Geilenberg 8k won the ladies award, also 5-0, while the youth prize was for Niilo Syvänen 9k 4-1. Because he was a repeat winner, Dickhut was not eligible for the free ticket to Japan, and Matthias Terwey 4d (Münster) was the lucky winner of the ticket, winning a nigiri with Bernd Radmacher 5d (Meerbusch) to decide the matter.
– Peter Dijkema, based on reports at EuroGoTV and dgob.de
POLAND: TORUN PLAYERS SWEEP IN SZCZECIN & BYDGOSZCZ: Two players from Torun have swept 
tournaments in Szczecin and Bygoszcz. Lukasz Pater 2k of Torun swept the 1st anniversary tourney of Porfirion in Szczecin 5-0, ahead of Artur Chmielowski 4k from Starogard. In the Polish harbor-town 18 took part November 14-15. Click here for results and a gallery of pictures. Meanwhile, Robert Oczkowski 4k, also of Torun – Copernicus’ hometown — swept the 14th Bygoszcz tourney 4-0 on November 14th, where 11 took part. Before that, Tomasz Slazok 2d offered a simul on November 12 in the “Pokój Polski” (‘polish room’) of KGS, to publicize his proposed Wintergo school in the North-West of Poland.
– Peter Dijkema, after go.art.pl
BORKUM ISLANDERS REACH OUT: Local players organized “Let’s Go Borkum” (right) on the German island of Borkum on 
November 13-15. Borkum is the largest and westernmost of the East Frisian Islands in the North Sea, due north of the Dutch province of Groningen. The Emder Go-Gruppe organized the event to foster good contacts between players in Germany and The Netherlands and the 21 participants had such a good time they’ve already decided to return next year on November 12-14, 2010. Click here for more photos and a report in German.
– Peter Dijkema, European Correspondent
YOUNG PLAYERS INVITED TO GOODWILL TOURNEY IN THAILAND: Young players are once again being invited to attend the Go Goodwill Tournament. The second annual tournament – organized by the World Chinese Weiqi Federation in cooperation with the Go Association of Thailand — is set for January 30 – February 3 in Bangkok. Children from 11 countries — China, Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the United States and Thailand — are being invited. “We can send up to three players as a team in any of four divisions,” reports AGA President Allab Abramson. The divisions are High Dan (3-4 Dan); Low Dan (1-2 Dan); High Kyu (1-4 Kyu); and Low Kyu (5-8 Kyu). “Young players who wish to attend this fun tournament should have their parents contact me before December 2.” Email Abramson at President@usgo.org.
WESTERN KOREAN-STYLE INSEI LEAGUES ON KGS: Teachers and top European players Aleksander 
Dinerchtein 3P and Ilya Shiksin 7d (right) hope to launch Korean-style insei leagues on KGS early next year. Leagues would consist of ten players who would play a maximum of 44 games, including four with each teacher, for a monthly fee of $95 US. Group winners would collect $200 and participants would receive reduced rates for game reviews. The project will proceed if at least 3 leagues can be fully filled. The minimum level to enter is 9k KGS.
– Peter Dijkema
in the best-of-five-games defense of his Tengen title on November 19th to make the score 1-1. Cho, who holds “only” four titles now, after losing the Meijin to Iyama Yuta 9P, won this title last year for the first time, taking it from Kono Rin 9P who held it for three years. Kono took it from Yamashita in 2005, and Yamashita was unable to regain it despite being the challenger the next two years. Yamashita had held the title for only one year. The third game in the title match is scheduled for December 3rd. Cho is also currently engaged in defending his Oza title against challenger Yamada Kimio 9P. Cho won the first game of that match and the second of the best-of-five-games event will be on November 24th.
Cup title match on November 17th against title holder Park Yeonghun 9P to make the score 2-0 in the best-of-five-games match. Cho, who is not as accomplished as Park, won his most recent title, the Chunwon, in 2006. Park won the international Fujitsu in both 2004 and 2007. The next game in the title match will occur on December 2nd. The GS Caltex Cup has the highest winner’s prize among Korean tournaments.
