BLITZED IN AMSTERDAM: The next round in the Amsterdam Blitz Championships is this Thursday, March 18 (“A” on the map ; the next day is Queen’s Day in Holland, when Amsterdam turns into one big party. The club will be open all day and offer free instruction out in the open air and an international tourney as well.
– Peter Dijkema
KARLSRUHE BACK ON TOP IN BUNDESLIGA: Karlsruhe has taken over the lead in the top division of the German Bundesliga – or Team League — with their win last week over the Frankfurt Dragons. Karlsruhe is just 2 board-points, or one won game ahead of HH-Hebsacker and the two teams will meet next month. Hamburg Pauli defeated the Berlin Blunders, moving into third place and next face the Dragons to battle over the bronze medal. The final round will be in May. Hebsacker has won the Bundesliga once, while Karlsruhe — a mostly Chinese team with Guo Shengda 4d as captain and Wei Xi 6d at board 1 — has dominated all other years. German Go Journal editor Tobias Berben 4d leads Hebsacker and Benjamin Teuber 6d is their top player. Former German champion Egbert Rittner 6d is Pauli’s top-board player, with EGF President Martin Stiassny 3k on the bench in the dugout. Teamleader Per Kannengiesser 4d of Berlin Igoist enjoys the luxury of having Hwang In-seong topping his line-up, the only 7d in the league.
– Peter Dijkema, after stats at dgob.de
TERWEY & KRÄMER WIN IN CASTROP: Matthias Terwey 4d topped the 26th Castroper Turnier and Lukas Krämer 4d narrowly kept his national youth title — his third consecutive — at last weekend’s Youth championships in Castrop-Rauxel. Krämer won his third title in a row as national youth champ. Click here for youth results and main tourney results
– Peter Dijkema, after dgob.de
LAATIKAINEN TOPS JAAKKO MUNKKI MEMORIAL: Vesa Laatikainen 5d topped the Jaakko Munkki Memorial last weekend in Helsinki, Finland, with a 4-1 score. Lauri Paatero 4d was second and Tuomas Hella 3d third. Click here for full results.
– Peter Dijkema, after EGD, where Laatikainen uploaded results
TWO LOCALS TOP FRYDEK-MISTEK: Locals Petr Valasek 2d and Ivan Kostka 4d topped the A-group round robin in Frydek-Mistek (Czech republic) last Saturday, 4-1 each. Young Lukas Podpera 3d from the capital Prague was third at 3-2. ‘Outsiders’ also took top honors in B-group – Ondrej Kachyna 4k of Brno won 5-0, ahead of Tomas Bartonek 7k of Ostrava (4-1) and local Michal Zubalik 5k. Young local hopeful Petr Miculka 19k also went home undefeated. Click here for full results.
– Peter Dijkema, after ‘Flatline’ submitted tables to EGD
MACFADYEN SKYE HIGH: Matthew Macfadyen finished two points clear of nearest rivals Francis Roads and Yohei Negi at the Skye go club’s first tournament. Skye is an island in the Inner Hebrides chain, just off the coast of Scotland. The newly formed go club held its first tournament this year and attracted 32 players. Top local was Jurriaan Dijkman in 17th place.”
– Ian Davis, Irish Correspondent for the E-Journal
SMUD SWEEPS BIG MOUNTAIN: Local strongman Mladen Smud 1k went undefeated 4-0 in the Veliki zimski velickogoricki go-turnir, or ‘large global big-mountain tourney’, a one-day event in Velika Gorica (‘Big Mountain’) in Croatia last Saturday, where 20 Croatians played. The tourney is part of the Croatian League. Vigor Grego 1k lost only to Smud to finish in second place. Click here for full results.
– Peter Dijkema, after EGD, where Smud uploaded results
STATE RULED BUCAREST SCHOOL-179: Silvestru State swept the first week of the school-179 tourney in the Romanian capital of Bucarest last month. Alexandru Nae was second with 4-1. Also Andreea Crit 20k went undefeated. Click here for full results. The following week, State was undefeated again, ahead of Rares Ghioc (4-1) and Nae (3-2). All are 6k and from the capital. Click here for full results of 28 children.
– Peter Dijkema, after EGD, where Iulian Toma (‘dr. Toma’) uploaded results
ARTEM92 TAKES OVER LEAD IN KGS LEAGUE: Artem92 from Ukraine has grabbed the lead in the March Korean Insei League on KGS. Artem had won the first league in January, but in February he was second to danigabi (Argentina), who skipped in March. While Fredda from Sweden built an early 4-0 lead, Artem92 took revenge for his unexpected loss last month to ha of France and played League founder and teacher Alex Dinerchtein, winning both lessons. Next a win over Maroncsan (Hungary) brought him on even and he next challenged Fredda and won. Artem now leads 5-0, but has not yet played OohAah (Israel), who follows at 6-1. Fredda 4-1 is third. Ha 3-3 and Hungarian Maroncsan 2-2 are on even. In the B League, Fedor (Russia) leads 4-0, ahead of Elvina Karlsberg (rus172) at 6-1 and remake (Sweden) with 12-4. AGA e-journal editor Chris Garlock is in fourth place at 2-1.
– Peter Dijkema, from EuroGoTV.com
KID’S TOURNEYS EASY & FUN: In the latest German Go Journal, Steffi Hebsacker writes about how easy it is to organize a youth event. Hebsacker had noticed the joy of many children and their parents at the Kido-cup last September and the Rahlstedt Tengen in November, both held in Hamburg. To keep the rhythm until the March Harburg event (see last week’s report) she proposed holding another tourney on January 17. It took her less than seven hours of preparation and ten hours during the tournament, which drew over 30 kids. Divided into round-robin groups of up to six, the best four, all single-digit kyu players — played slower games. Hebsacker’s helpers were TD’s for every group and a few parents to help with catering. A small investment of time and energy, Hebsacker concludes for so much fun.
– Peter Dijkema, after DGoZ 85-1
Dai to finish for silver. Favorite Hwang In-Seong 8d had to settle for bronze on sos. Also with four wins: French Championne Yanqi Zhang 6d, Christian Pop 7d (Romania) and Pal Balogh 6d (Hungary). The latter won the overall classement of the Pandanet season this year. The field was very strong, like last week’s Shusaku Cup in Romania and attendance was similarly high: 224 took part. Between rounds, Dai autographed copies of his new book on the middle game. Click here for the full results.
