American Go E-Journal » Europe

This year’s edition of the Amsterdam International Go Tournament includes a Rapid (Speed Go) Tournament that will be played on a boat that travels through/around the city of Amsterdam. The tournament – the 41^st edition – runs Thursday, May 17th – Sunday, May 20^th and is being presented by The Amsterdam Go Club, in cooperation with the European Go Centre – celebrating it’s 20^th anniversary — the Dutch Go Association, the EGF and EuroGoTV. This year’s tournament is part of the European Cup, level 5, the highest level, allowing top European finishers to earn points for the European Cup system. A large field is expected, with many players already pre-registered, including players from Belgium,  Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Korea, Poland,  Romania, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey. In case of sufficient participants and interest commentary on the top  games will be given by Cho Seokbin 7P from Korea. Discount for online pre-registration before May 1. Free and cheap lodging is available; for details see the tournament site and click here for photos from previous tournaments. photo: at the 2008 Amsterdam Tournament; photo by Judith van Dam

“European Chess Competitions To Be Less Sexy With Strict New Cleavage Rules” reported Gawker on March 8. “Strict new rules govern the accepted wardrobe for woman’s matches,” the report continued, referencing a more detailed report in Chessbase News. “The European Women’s Championship is the first where the new ECU Dress Code regulations apply,” according to the March 7 Chessbase report. “They are quite specific: regarding décolletés (in the US ‘cleavage’): ‘the second from the top button may be opened.’ And skirts may be no shorter than 5-10 cm above the knees.” Explained ECU General Secretary Sava Stoisavljevic, “We came up with that idea because we noticed that during the games many of the players were not wearing proper clothes… It’s nice to see chess players with short skirts – they are very pretty girls. But I believe there should still be some limit.” Other dress code rules specify that “clothing should be crisp, show no excessive wear, no holes and shall be free of body odor” and that while sunglasses, glasses or neck ties can be worn during the games, no caps or hats or permitted, “except for religious reasons.” American Go Association President Alan Abramson said unequivocally that “We have absolutely no intention of even considering” such a dress code in AGA-sanctioned tournaments. And at the European Go Federation, President Martin Stiassny told the EJ that “EGF has other problems than thinking about such nonsense. For sure no plans in this direction as long as  I am president of the EGF.”
– thanks to Steve Colburn for passing this along.

Dimitris Regginos 1D (left in photo) won the Cyprus 2012 Friendship Go Tournament, held March 17-18 in Nicosia. Though just nine players participated, the tournament included some tough and interesting games. Runner up was Argyris Fellas 1k and Phedias Christodoulides 3k took third place. In the under-18 category, first place went to Lilia Regginou 12k, second place to Christoforos Kassianides 13k and third place to Markos Merkouris 13k.
– Nicholas Roussos, EJ Cyprus Correspondent 

Cyprus: Dimitris Regginos 1d won the Friendship Go Tournament, held March 17-18 in Nicosia, Cyprus. In second was Argyris Fellas 1k, and third was Phedias Christodoulides 3k. Click here for results.

Croatia: The 443th Velika Gorica weekend-go-tournament, played on 3/17 in Velika Gorica, Croatia, was won by Robert Jovicic 2k, in second was Mladen Smud 1k, and third was Mirko Primetica 10k. Click here for results. The first mini Tournament Karlovac 2012, played on 3/10 in Karlovac, Croatia, was won by Mladen Smud 1k; second was Lovro Furjanic 1d, and third was Vladimir Ribicic 20k. Result table .

Slovenia: Kyu turnir, played on 3/17 in Kranj, Slovenia, was won by Peter Gaber 1k; in second was Borut Zaplotnik 1k and third was Dusan Marcetic 5k. Result table .

European Go Congress 2012 update March: The Youth Hostel Bonn has now decided to allow booking of rooms for Go players until April 16th.There are mainly rooms with four beds still available in the Youth Hostel, that can be booked via the accommodation page on the www.egc2012.eu website.

Hungary: The Kondor Dragon Cup Group 3 tournament, played on 3/11 in Budapest, Hungary, was won by Bulcsu Fajszi 15k; second was Csongor Sebestyen Katona 15k, and third was Miklos Csizmadia 15k. Result table . The Kondor Dragon Cup Group 4 tournament, played on 3/11 in Budapest, Hungary, was won by David Fazekas 20k; second was Nikoletta Toth 20k, and third was Aniko Tothne Temesvari 20k. Result table . Kondor Dragon Cup Group 2 tournament, played on 3/11 in Budapest, Hungary, was won by Laszlo Boviz 9k; second was Csaba Katona 12k, and third was Janos Fiala 12k. Result table . Kondor Dragon Cup Group 1 tournament, played on 3/11 in Budapest, Hungary, was won by Dominik Boviz 1d; second was Renato Tolgyesi 2k, and third was Domonkos Albrecht 1d. Result table .

Romania: The CSRB Club tournament, played on 3/10 in Bucuresti, Romania, was won by Sergiu Dan Iugulescu 2d; second was Constantin Ghioc 5d (photo at left), and third was Rares Ghioc 3k. Result table . The Drobeta Tr. Severin- Romanian Cup- local competition, played from 3/3 to 3/4 in Drobeta Tr. Severin, Romania, was won by Irina Stefania Ionica 9k; second was Vasile Grecu 15k, and third was Cosmin Tutunaru 11k. Result table .

United Kingdom: The Trigantius, played on 3/10 in Cambridge, United Kingdom, was won by Andrew Simons 3d; second was Alex Rix 3d, and third was Jon Diamond 4d.
( photo Francis Roads 2d place 4 of 51 ) Result table .

Turkey: The 7. Hacettepe Go Tournament, played from 3/10 to 3/11 in Ankara, Turkey, was won by Ozgur Degirmenci 2d; second was Bertan Bilen 2d, and third was Giray Erdi 1d. Result table .

Serbia: The Radnicki Club Tournament, played on 3/10 in Kragujevac, Serbia, was won by Lazar Manojlovic 5d; second was Zoran Jankovic 4d, and third was Misa Alimpic 3d. Result table .

Germany: The Berliner Winterturnier 2012, played on 3/10 in Berlin, Germany, was won by Tobias Wahl 4k; second was Timon Dohnke 20k (photo at right), and third was Daniel Krause 1k. Result table .
– excerpted from reports on EuroGoTV.com; edited by Wayne Schmittberger

Hungary’s Csaba Mero 6D (at right in photo) won the Confucius Cup at the Irish Go Congress, held March 2-4 at the Teachers’ Club in Parnell Square, Dublin. The Confucius Cup is sponsored by the UCD Confucius Institute. A total of 48 players took part in the tournament, with Mero’s 5-0 wins extending his lead in the European Cup. In second place was Guochen Xie 8D, who is studying in Boston. Kim Ouweleen 4D of the Netherlands edged out UK student Chu Lu 4D by 1 SOS point to take third place. Players winning 4 games were Diana Blaszczyk, Frank Tan, Marek Gutkowski and Paul Kelly. Julien Renaud 1D won the Rapid Tournament on Friday night. The hard work of organisers Rory Wales, Arthur Cater, and Colin MacSweeny was much appreciated by all. Full results are available at this link. Click here for a photo album.
– reported by Ian Davis, EJ Irish Correspondent

Czech Republic: The Paluba Club Handicap tournament, played on 2/18 in Prague, Czech Republic, was won by Petr Sykora 12k. Results.
Denmark: The OGK-SATURDAY tournament, played 2/18 inOdense,Denmark, was won by Ari Hietanen 2k. Results.
Hungary: The 6th Rabbity Six handicap tournament was played on 2/25 in Budapest, Hungary. Domonkos Albrecht 1k topped the A Group and David Fazekas 20k won Group B. A Group results; B Group results. (photo at left: Gyorgy Zahonyi 9k place 4 of 23 )
Poland: The zjAva tournament, played on 2/19 in Warszawa, Poland, was won by Kamil Chwedyna 4d. Results.
Spain: The 30^th Barcelona Go Seigen tournament, played 2/18-19 in Barcelona, Spain, was won by In-seong Hwang 8d (right), in second was Csaba Mero 6d and third was Cornel Burzo 6d. Results. The ETSII Semana Cultural tournament, played 2/22 inSevilla,Spain, was won by Jaime Cornejo 2k, second came Victor Ramirez 7k and third was Javier Rodriguez-Vivas 14k. Results. The La Carboneria tournament, played on 2/18 in Sevilla, Spain, was won by Ulrich Gottwald 2k. Result.
Sweden: The Vaesteraas Open tournament, played from 2/18-19 inVaesteraas,Sweden, was won by John Karlsson 4d. Results.
Ukraine: The Open Championship of Rivne, played 2/25-26 inRivne,Ukraine, was won by Vladyslav Verteletskyi 2d. Results.
UK: The Nottingham, played on 2/25 in Nottingham, United Kingdom, was won by Sin-Voon Chin 3d. Results. The Oxford tournament, played on 2/18 inOxford,United Kingdom, was won by Lingjun Miao 4d. Results.
– excerpted from reports on EuroGoTV.com 

Lithuania: The FORAS 2012, played on 2/16 in Moletai, Lithuania, was won by Andrius Petrauskas 4d; Result table. 
France: Junfu Dai 8d (right) won the Paris & Antony International Tournament, played 2/4-5 in Antony, France; Result table.
Germany: The Erdinger Go-Turnier, played 2/4-5 in Erding, Germany, was won by Lothar Spiegel 4d; Result table. The Goettinger San-Ren-Sai Gruppe A (2/11-12) in Goettingen, Germany, was won by Volkmar Liebscher 2d (Result table);  Klaus Blumberg 2k won Group B (Result table).
UK: The Cheshire Open, played 2/11 in Frodsham, United Kingdom, was won by Tony Atkins 2d; Result table. Kathleen Timmins 13k (left) won the Cheshire Handicap (Result table).
Spain: The LaPedra Handicap Febrero, played on 2/4 in Barcelona, Spain, was won by Carles Mitjans 10k; Result table. Raul Aguilera 7k won the La Carboneria, played 2/11 in Sevilla, Spain; Result table.
– excerpted from reports on EuroGoTV.com 

The 2012 European Go Congress is scheduled for July 21 to August 5 in Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Germany. Nearly 300 have already signed up for the 2-week Congress, which will take place in the Bad Godesberg municipal hall and the city offers all kinds of stores as well as bars, restaurants and hotels, with the Rhine River just a few minutes walk. Several main tournaments and lots of side events, plus pros, local sight-seeing and more.