American Go E-Journal » Europe

Upcoming European Tournament: 29th Gothenburg Open

Sunday September 15, 2013

goteborg open 2013One of the largest tournaments in northern Europe, the annual 29th Gothenburg Open will take place November 1-3. As a five-round standard McMahon tournament, each player is guaranteed five games arranged to be as even as possible. The standard entry fee is 30 EU. However, players 10k or less can register for half price and first-time Gothenburg Open players play for free. Players are also welcome to stay at the venue at no extra charge. To register or for more information including schedule, venue, and official rules, please visit the official Gothenburg Open website.
— Annalia Linnan; for complete listings, check out the European Tournament Calendar; photo courtesy of Gothenburg Open

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EuroGoTV Update: Netherlands, Hungary, Czech Republic

Saturday September 14, 2013

BRNO tournament 2013Netherlands: At The Delfts Toernooi on September 8, Filip Vanderstappen 5d defeated Rene Aaij 5d and Gelmer Bouwman 3d placed third. Hungary: The Kispesti Nadydij Goverseny also finished September 8 in Bupdapest with Dominik Bovis 4d in first, Peter Marko 4d in second, and Gabor Szabics 5d in third. Czech Republic: In Prague, Jan Simara 6d (left) took the Brno Tournament on September 8. Behind him were Lukas Podpera 6d and Ondrej Silt 6d.
– Annalia Linnan, based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news

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China Calls For Return of Ancient Go Manuscript

Monday September 9, 2013

Wang Runan 8P, the President of the Chinese Weiqi Association, last week asked the British to return the Weiqi Classic, also known as the Dunhuang Go Manual, to China. The manuscript, which dates back to the ninth century, is  a copy of  the earliest known manual of go, known as weiqi (or weichi) in China, where the game originated; the original manual is thought to have originated in the sixth century. It was taken from the “Library Cave” in Dunhuang, China in 1907 by Aurel Stein and is now in the collection of the British Library in London.

Wang was speaking at a press conference at the British Museum on September 5 to publicize British-Chinese Weiqi Cultural Exchange Event held on September 7 at the museum, hosted by the UK Research and Development Centre for Chinese Traditional Culture and the East Midland Youth Chinese Organisation, in cooperation with the British Go Association (BGA).

A partial English translation of the fascinating text of the Weiqi Classic, with notes, can be found in the Library’s database entry for the item.

Report by Tony Collman, British Correspondent for the E-Journal. Photos: BOTTOM LEFT: Wang Runan, by Tony Collman, displaying fan with calligraphy spelling out 10 principles of weiqi; TOP RIGHT: The Weiqi Classic (beginning),  courtesy of the International Dunhuang Project, British Library. NOTE: this report has been updated to reflect that Wang Runan is President (not Vice Chairman) of the Chinese Weiqi Association.

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Categories: Europe,Go Art,Go News
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EuroGoTV Update: Germany, Croatia, England

Sunday September 8, 2013

koelner go-turnier 2013Germany: The Koelner Go-Turnier 2013 finished September 1 in Koeln with Lukas Kraemer 5d (left) in first, Benjamin Teuber 6d in second, and Jonas Welticke 4d in third. Croatia: Also on September 1, Zoran Mutabzija 5d won the Croatian Championship 2013 – Final 6 in Zagreb. Sead Bacevina 2d came in second and Lavro Furjanic 1k in third. England: Isle of Man hosted two tournaments on August 18, a main tournament and an afternoon tournament. The main tournament wrapped up on August 23 with Matthew Macfayden 6d in first followed by Matthew Cocke 5d in second and Shigehiko Uno 4d in third. However, Uno dominated the afternoon tournament while James Hutchinson 1d took second and Toby Manning 2d placed third.
— Annalia Linnan, based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news

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London Club Issues Appeal for International Teams

Saturday September 7, 2013

The Central London Go Club is appealing for American — and other foreign — nationals living in the UK to help put the “International” back into the London International Teams Tournament on October 6.

The twice-yearly event has in recent times barely lived up to its billing, with the Nippon Club — the event’s host — the only non-British team in the Spring 2013 tournament. The trophy (pictured) that time was taken by a team from the land of “Cambridge” (see 4/19 EJ) to the amusement of team captain and British Championship 2013 challenger Andrew Simons.

Click here to download flyer with full details and entry form.

Tony Collman, British Correspondent for the E-J. Photo courtesy of the British Go Association’s website

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Fan Hui Wins French Open

Wednesday September 4, 2013

Fan Hui won the Open French Championship on September 25, near Perpignan in the south of France. There were 30 participants; Thomas Debarre took second, and Fred Donzet (left) was third. The selection for the 2014 WAGC will be at Rouen later this year, from the eight higher active players of the moment (although Fan is now a French citizen, as a professional he cannot represent France at the amateur event). Click here for more information (in French), including results and photos.
– Laurent Coquelet, French Correspondent for the E-Journal. NOTE: the player on the right is Cesar Lextrait, not Fan Hui, as originally reported. photo by Claire Rioualen.

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EuroGoTV Update: Netherlands, Croatia, Poland

Sunday September 1, 2013

Centraal PlaatsingstoernooiNetherlands: Bert Vonk 1d bested Jan Bol 2d (left) at the Centraal Plaasingstoernoii on August 25 in Amstelveen; Ger de Groot 1d placed third. Croatia: The 5th Memorial-tournament Ivica Kuhar finished August 24 in Veliki Grdjevac with Stjepan Mestrovic 1k in first, Vlimir Kuhar 5d in second, and Robert Jovicic 2k in third. Poland: Stanislaw Frejlak 4d won both the first and second week of the Summer Go School Marathon tournament in Przystanek Alaska. Week one finished on August 16 with Andrew Kay 4d in second and Tomas Kozelek 4d in third. During week two, Kay held his post while Marcin Majka 2d placed third.
— Annalia Linnan, based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news.
This post was updated 9/4 to indicate that the photo is of Jan Bol 2d, not Bert Vonk 1d. 

 

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EJ & Ranka Coverage of 34th WAGC To Start 9/1

Thursday August 29, 2013

China and Korea are favorites again this year to win the 34th edition of the World Amateur Go Championships, which will be held on September 1-4 in Sendai, Japan. Beginning September 1st,  Ranka Online and the American Go E-Journal will provide full daily coverage of the championship.

The field of 62 players from as many countries will range in age from 14 to 57 and in official rank from 7 kyu to 8 dan. Yuqing Hu will represent China and Hyunjae Choi is playing for Korea; those two countries have not dropped a single game to any other country in this event since 2006. The players from perennially strong Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Hong Kong (Wei-shin Lin, Kikou Emura, and King-man Kwan) will also bear watching, particularly 14-year-old Lin, who will move on from the World Amateur to a pro career in Taiwan.

These Asians will be challenged, however, by a strong European contingent, led by Slovakian prodigy Pavol Lisy, who finished runner-up to former Chinese pro Fan Hui in this year’s European Championship. Joining Pavol will be four other young finalists from the European Championship: Thomas Debarre (France), Ilya Shikshin (Russia), Artem Kachanovskyi (Ukraine), and Nikola Mitic (Serbia). Also competing will be such established European stars as Ondrej Silt (Czechia), Csaba Mero (Hungary), Cornel Burzo (Romania), Merlijn Kuin (Netherlands), and Franz-Josef Dickhut (Germany).

Challenging the Asians and Europeans will be a pair of North American students: Curtis Tang (US), a UC Berkeley student who trained for a year at a go academy in China, and Bill Lin (Canada), who played in the World Mind Games last December and is coming off a 3-1 defense of his Canadian Dragon title.

The Southern hemisphere will be represented by Hao-Song Sun (Australia, 11th place at the 2008 World Mind Sports Games), Xuqi Wu (New Zealand, 12th place at the 2009 Korea Prime Minister Cup), and a pack of hopeful new players from South America and South Africa.

In the past the World Amateur Go Championship has been held in the spring, but this year the schedule was moved back because of the effects of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. Thanks to support from all over the world during the past two years, most of the regions hit by the earthquake are now recovering. It is hoped that through the game of go this tournament will give the world proof of the recovery and encourage the local people to press ahead with the long recovery process.
Ranka Online
NOTE: This report has been updated to reflect Curtis Tang’s status as a college student, not high school.

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Taylor Wins Gold at London’s Mind Sports Olympiad

Wednesday August 28, 2013

Paul Taylor 2d of the St Albans Go Club, UK took the gold medal for 19×19 go by just half a point at the 17th Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) in London on Sunday August 25 (Mind Sports Olympiad Under Way in London, 8/18 EJ).

British Go Association (BGA) VP Tony Atkins 1d (right) of Reading, UK, who also organized the go events and ran a free introduction to the game, as well as acting as arbiter for the games, had to content himself with the second place silver medal. Michael Webster 1d of the Central London Go Club took bronze after a tie-break with Alistair Wall 1d of Wanstead Go Club, UK. Click here for full results.

In the previous afternoon’s 13×13 event, Chris Volk from Germany took gold, while the silver medal went to Jay Rastall. Martyn Hamer won the bronze, but only after a tiebreak playoff with Matthew Hathrell, who nevertheless won medals in several other events. Click here for full results.

Click here for full MSO medal awards.

Tony Collman, British Go Correspondent for the E-J. From a report for the BGA by Tony Atkins. Photos courtesy of Atkins’ website.

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MacFadyen Sweeps Isle of Man Go Festival Main Tourney

Monday August 26, 2013

The 11th Isle of Man International Go Festival finished up on Friday August 23, bringing an end to a week of go and social activities for about fifty players. The Festival, which opened on August 18, hosted three tournaments, the Main, Afternoon and Handicap.

The Main was taken with a 5-game sweep by  former British and European  Champion Matthew MacFadyen 6d of Leamington, UK, with Matthew Cocke 5d of Epsom, UK in second and Piers Shepperson 4d, also of Epsom, third. Click here for full results.

In the shorter Afternoon tourney, Shigehiko Uno 4d of the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo prevailed with a full three wins, while James Hutchinson 1d of Belfast took second place and Toby Manning 2d of Leicester, UK third. Click here for full results.

The handicap tournament was won by young Edmund Smith 15k of Milton School, who beat Oscar Selby 11k in the final round. Richard Hunter 3d of Bristol won the 13×13 event. The Japanese husband and wife team of Shigehiko Uno 4d and Keiko Uno 20k won the rengo.

The event took place at the Cherry Orchard Apartments in Port Erin on the Isle of Man, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. Although it is one of the British Isles, it is not strictly part of the UK, being a self-governing British Crown Dependency. It is perhaps most well-known internationally for the TT motorcycle races.

Click here for the preliminary report on the British Go Association website, and here for an updated report of prize-winners and side events.

Tony Collman, British Correspondent for the E-J. photo by Seamus Whelan, courtesy of Cherry Orchard Apartmentswebsite.
NOTE: this post was updated 8/27 with several corrections and the handicap tourney results.

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Categories: Europe
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