The first two rounds of the European Go Federation (EGF) / CEGO Pro Qualification Tournament were held on Friday May 23 at Strasbourg, with four of the 16 who started in this double-elimination Swiss tourney no longer in the running to achieve professional status this year: Viktor Lin 7d of Austria, Timur Sankin 6d of Russia, Dusan Mitic 6d of Serbia and Juri Kuronen 6d of Finland, who all lost both games.
One of the four who won both their games at Strasbourg and who goes on to win both games at Amsterdam on May 29 will become the first-ever European Pro (under this EGF/CEGO procedure). Those four are: Pavol Lisy 7d (left) of Slovakia, Thomas Debarre 6d of France, Mateusz Surma 6d of Poland and Cornel Burzo 6d of Romania.
The remaining eight, who have so far won one and lost one, all still stand a chance of becoming the second new European professional. That could be one of those eight who wins both his games at Amsterdam (where four more will be knocked out of the running) and then both games at Vienna on June 20. Those eight are: Benjamin Teuber 6d of Germany, Fredrik Blomback 6d of Sweden, Lukáš Podpera 6d of Chechia, Csaba Mero 6d of Hungary, Jan Hora 6d of Chechia, Cristian Pop 7d of Romania, Ali Jabarin 6d of Israel and Jan Simara 6d of Chechia.
The games are all being broadcast live with professional commentary by Korean website WBaduk. For full details of the tournament, including results table, player profiles and links to tournament rules and constitution, visit the EGF’s European Pro Qualification webpage.
Report by Tony Collman. Photo courtesy EGF/CEGO website.
Correction (5/27): In the 3rd paragraph, second sentence, “That will be the one of those eight” has been corrected to “That could be…” It could also be one of the four who won two games at Strasbourg the other day.
