American Go E-Journal

The fourth season of the online European Team Championship kicked off on September 17 with the first round in League C, followed by the first A-League round on September 24. This year 32 national teams — a record number — will compete, with Greece and Iceland entering for the first time in League C, which now comprises 12 teams.

The British team hit the ground running on the 17th, with a 4-0 win over newcomers Greece, giving impetus to hopes of reversing last season’s demotion from the B-league (see EJ of 6/6). Click here to see British Go Association report, with game records. However, Switzerland (against Iceland) and Turkey (against Kazakhstan) also won all four games.

Looking forward to the new season, European Go Federation President Martin Stiassny, predicted “a brilliant competition” in League A, with France new possible favorites for the championship as they field a very strong team comprising 2013 European Champion Fan Hui 8d on board one and Thomas Debarre 6d and Remi Campagnie  5d (currently studying go in Beijing) on boards two and three. This makes them now as strong as both Czechia, last year’s winners and Russia, who won the first two championships. Stiassny also marked out Romania, with Catalin Taranu  5p now on board one, as likely be stronger than last season, though in fact in Round One they lost 3-1 to the French.  Ukraine, who beat Sweden 3-1 in the first round, will also be one to watch according to Stiassny.

The Championship is sponsored by Pandanet and played with the new client GoPanda2 on IGS/Pandanet on Tuesdays, normally starting at 8p (time-zone UTC+1) in the EuropeanTeamChamp  room. Click here for full results.