American Go E-Journal » Europe

Imagine a group of go players walking – or driving — through their community, stopping here to play for a while, then continuing to another place to play some more, finishing the evening playing in a local restaurant or pub. That’s the idea of “Go Public,” a project proposed at the European Go Centre that aims to literally bring go to the general public. “Places can include shopping streets, bars, restaurants etc.” says Andreas Neumann of the Bochum Go Club in Germany, who proposed the project. “It is important though that these places attract public attention…People on the streets or people in bars/restaurants are expected to be at least curious about what is going on. Therefore the players should be prepared for any interested person to provide explanation or information material. The impact of the project increases with the number of players who implement the idea… The passion for go is enough to illuminate the flame which can spread this project.” Bochum Club members successfully tried out the idea on April 15, playing in the street, in a bookstore and in a pub; click here for the Bochum report and photos.
– photos by Sascha Hempel 

Rhone-Alpes Challenge (5/24): The Rhone-Alpes Challenge, played on 5/20 in Valence, France, was won by Moran Guennou 1d…Turniej Majowy (5/24): The Turniej Majowy, played on 5/20 in Warszawa, Poland, was won by Pawel Koziol 7K…Scottish Open (5/24): The Scottish Open, played 5/19-20 in Dundee, United Kingdom, was won by Matthew Crosby 3d…Nevers Spring Tournament (5/24): The Nevers Spring Tournament, played on 5/12 in Nevers, France, was won by Augustin Avenel 2k…Bracknell (5/22): The Bracknell, played on 5/20 in Wokingham, United Kingdom, was won by Andrew ‘the Great Destroyer’ Kay 4d…Deutsche Damen-Go Meisterschaft: The Deutsche Damen-Go Meisterschaft, played 5/19-20 in Giessen, Germany, was won by Barbara Knauf 3d…ATARI Cup Braila-Junior (5/22): The ATARI Cup Braila-Junior, played on 5/19 in Braila, Romania, was won by Theodor Toma 2d (photo at right)…Vetruse Cup (5/22): The Vetruse Cup, played 5/19-20 in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic, was won by Ondrej Silt 6d (photo at left)…ATARI Cup Braila- Catholic School (5/17): The ATARI Cup Braila- Catholic School, played on 5/15 in Braila, Romania, was won by Dan Andrei Staicu 16k…Cambridge Barlow (5/17): The Cambridge Barlow, played on 5/6 in Cambridge, United Kingdom, was won by Florian Borchers 3k…Paluba Club Handicap (5/16): The Paluba Club Handicap, played on 5/13 in CZ Praha, Czech Republic, was won by Lukas Kucera 17k…Youth Week Tournament (5/16): The Youth Week Tournament, played on 5/12 in Kranj, Slovenia, was won by Sreco Camernik 2k…21st Slovak Championship (5/16): The 21st Slovak Championship, played 5/4-8 in Stakcin, Slovakia, was won by Pavol Lisy 5d…
– excerpted from EuroGoTV, which includes complete winner reports, crosstabs and photos.

Britain Seeks New Leader: (5/7) After racking up 25 British Championship titles, Matthew Macfadyen has decided, for now, to retire from the UK Championship. The race is now on to see who will replace him…Apeldoorn 2012: The Apeldoorn 2012, a class C tournament, played May 6 in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, was won by Rudi Verhagen 5d (left)…Danish Championship 2012: The Danish Championship 2012, a class A tournament, played May 5-6 in Copenhagen, Denmark, was won by Per Marquardsen 2d…Korean Ambassador Cup 2012: The Korean Ambassador Cup, a class A tournament, played May 5-6 in Praha, Czech Republic, was won by Pal Balogh 6d (right)…449th Velika Gorica weekend-go-tournament 2012: The 449th Velika Gorica weekend-go-tournament, a class C tournament, played on May 5 in Velika Gorica, Croatia, was won by Zvonko Bednjanec 3k…Gosente Mini Handicap Tournament 2012: The Gosente Mini Handicap Tournament, a class C tournament, played on May 4 in Riga, Latvia, was won by Karina Stanislavska 10k…
– excerpted from EuroGoTV, which includes complete winner reports, crosstabs and photos.

Croatia: Robert Jovicic 2k won the 448th Velika Gorica Weekend Go Tournament, played on 4/21 Velika Gorica; second was Mladen Smud 1k and in third Nikola Primetica 4k. Result table.

France: The Ile-de-France League organized the Youth Championship on March 24. This competition is the qualifier for the French Youth Championship held on May 5-6 in Cachan, a suburb of Paris. The League decided to call this event the “Zaza Cup” in honor of the memory of Michel “Zaza” Zaltzman; this edition of the Zaza Cup was accommodated by the Antony Club which was a big supporter of the organisation. Every player won a diploma and lessons for participating and  the winner in each category won a private lesson with one of the official teachers of the French Go Federation, Fan Hui or Motoki Noguchi. Cups were also awarded to the first three players in each category. The “Under 12” category was won by Guillaume Ougier 5k, second came Jin-De Takashi Jen 14k, third was Alexandre Pauvers 15k. The two first players qualified for the National competition. Result table.  

Germany: The China Cup Berlin, played from 4/14-15 in Berlin, Germany, was won by Jin Zou 6d (l); second was Johannes Obenaus 5d and third was Michael Palant 5d. Result table.

Italy: Alessandro Pace 2d won the 2012 Campionato Italiano Rapid, played 4/14-15 in Reggio Emilia, Italy. In second was Julian van Den Busken 1k and third was Andriy Zakharzhevskyy 2d. Result table .

Poland:  Stanislaw Frejlak 3d won the Young Masters League – Qualification, played on 4/14 in Bielsko-Biala, Poland. In second was Marcin Majka 2d and third was Stanislaw Zambrzycki 4k. Result table.  The Side Tournament, also played on 4/14 in Bielsko-Biala, was won by Pawel Stepnowski 2k, second was Bogdan Kruk 4k and third was Lukasz Oles 5k. Result table.

Russia: The three winners of the 17th European Youth Championship 2012, held April 12-16 in St. Petersburg Russia, are Lukas Podpera 5d, Czech Republic (Under 20); Valerii Krushelnytskyi 2k, Ukraine (Under 12):  Yurii Mykhalyuk 3d, Ukraine(Under 16).

Slovakia: The Spring Tournament, played 4/14-15 in Porac, Slovakia, was won by Pavol Lisy 5d (r); in second was Bronislav Snidal 2d and third was Jakub Berka 10k. Result table.

Spain: The second Nam-Ban Cup 2012, played from 4/13-14 in Madrid, Spain, was won by Andres Dominguez 1k, second came Fernando Holgado 4k and third was Antonio Egea 3d. Result table .

Slovenia:  Ondrej Silt 6d won the Slovenian Open 2012, played from 4/13-15 in Maribor, Slovenia; second came Guochen Xie 6d and third was Lothar Spiegel 4d. Result table.

– excerpted from reports on EuroGoTV.com

Winning both the main event and the lightning tournament at the 2012 British Go Congress, held in Durham on April 20-22, Andrew Kay 4d now has four British tournament triumphs for the year. Second and third places in the Open went to Andrew Simons 3d and Toby Manning 2d. Full results of the British Open are here; results of other events and further details are here.
– adapted from reports by the BGA and IGF.

Romania: In-Seong Hwang 8d (right) won the 2012 Shusaku Cup Romania, winning all six games in the March 30-April 1 tournament. Hwang donated 200 Euro of his 1,200 Euro winnings to Romanian youth players. In second was Artem Kachanovskyji 7d (left) from Ukraine, who only lost to In-seong in an epic battle watched by more than 550 on KGS. Third place was won by another young talented Ukraine player, Arii Kravets 5d who bested many favorites like Cristian Pop 7d, Ondrej Silt 6d, Csaba Mero 6d and Pal Balogh 6d. Click here to see the deciding game between Hwang and Kachanovskyji.  Results

The Bistrita Spring Cup, played from 3/23-24 in Bistrita, Romania, was won by Denis Dobranis 4k (left), second came Daniel Haja 6k and third was Tudor Berende 5k. Result table. 

Croatia: The 445th Velika Gorica weekend-go-tournament, played on 3/31 in Velika Gorica, Croatia, was won by Robert Jovicic 2k, second came Mladen Smud 1k and third was Marko Ugarcina 6k. Result table . 

 Austria: The Linzer Go Turnier 2012, played March3/24-25 in Linz, Austria, was won by Pavol Lisy 6d (photo), second came Lothar Spiegel 4d and third was Lukas Podpera 5d. Result table .

 Poland:  The Warszawa, played on March 25 in Warszawa, Poland, was won by Arkadiusz Kindziuk 1d, second came Karol Cieslak 1d and third was Stefan Wroclawski 3k. Result table.

 The Netherlands: The 39e Keizer Karel Toernooi Zwitsers tournament, played from 3/17-18 in Nijmegen, Netherlands, was won by Paul Haanen 10k, second came Nicole de Beer 10k and third was Mark de Groot 10k. Result table.

 Serbia: The Serbian Championship, played March from March 23-25 in Kragujevac, Serbia, was won by Nikola Mitic 5d ( photo ), second came Misa Alimpic 3d and third was Dragan Mitic 3d. Result table

 Italy: The Yama no Kaze 3 tournament, played from March 24-25 in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, was won by Carlo Metta 3d ( photo ), second came Viktor Bogdanov 4d and third was Alessandro Pace 2d. Result table .