Sunday November 8, 2015
No free massages or tacos (a la the Cotsen Open) but next weekend’s 18th “Go to Innovation” tournament in Berlin does offer free draught beer 
in the cafeteria starting at noon on Saturday. Ting Li 1P, Pavol Lisy 1P and Ilya Shikshin are among the players slated to compete for over 3,000€ in prizes including a 500€ Omikron Data Quality GmbH-Prize for the best female gamer and a 500€ Jackpot for 8 wins.
– photo from the 15th Go to Innovation; Jaromir Sir
Tuesday November 3, 2015
maintain their title by defeating the 13 challengers? Grenoble 1 had added Motoki Noguchi — who was unavailable last year — to their squad as a replacement for Denis Karadaban, who is studying in Korea. Logically they were in an excellent position to keep their title, their mean rank of 6 dan being three ranks above their nearest rivals. We note however, the increase in the number of teams with a mean rank of 2 to 3 dan, presented serious challengers for the podium places in Rennes, Lyon, Jussieu, Grenoble 2 and 3.
reigning champions and vice champions, got off to a rotten start. It was Grenoble 2 who took the lead in as they disposed of Jussieu – would they manage to upstage their club mates Grenoble 1? Monday October 26, 2015
The recent 20th anniversary celebration at the Seattle Go Center attracted over 100 people, including two professionals from Japan, Hiroshi Yamashiro 9P, vice president of the Nihon Ki-in, and Yuma 6P, who is also known as Kuma-sensei in Seattle. The October 3 evening reception and concert featured a short speech from Consul General Masahiro Omura from the Seattle Japanese Consulate, who noted that Kaoru Iwamoto’s purchase of the Go Center building for use by the U.S. go community was a good symbol of the continuing reconciliation between Japan and the United States since WWII. Go Center Board President Lee Anne Bowie reported that the late Iwamoto-sensei’s vision to extend go internationally and promote mutual understanding and friendship through the game of go has been upheld at the Seattle Go Center. Harry van der Krogt, Manager at the European Go Cultural Center, another Iwamoto-funded center, extended his congratulations to the Seattle Go Center, and hoped for increased international cooperation to promote go in the future. Andy Okun, president of the AGA, noted that the Seattle Go Center has a strong base of volunteers.
While Mr. Yamashiro had to return to Japan the day after the party, Kuma-sensei gave lectures and played simultaneous games for the next four days at the Seattle Go Center. This was his second visit to Seattle. Sunday’s lecture consisted of reviews of games from the Saturday tournament (Seattle Go Center 2oth Anniversary Tournament Draws Big Crowd 10/20 EJ). His Monday lecture was for the “Double Digit Kyu Class,” which is usually taught by Nick Sibicky. Kuma-sensei explored the double low approach to the 4-4 stone, and did a very good job of keeping his explanations simple enough for kyu players. On Tuesday, he played simultaneous games with eight players while others watched, and then gave short lessons as each game finished. As usual on Tuesdays, there were more than 30 players visiting the center. On Wednesday, Kuma taught the “Single Digit Kyu Class”, with Andrew Jackson hosting. Kuma-sensei also had time to see more of Seattle, and to enjoy Northwest seafood. Photos: (top) Hiroshi Yamashiro 9P giving greetings from the Nihon Ki-in, (left) Fumi Tagata soprano, (right) Kuma-sensei playing simultaneous games. More photos here.
– Report/photos by Brian Allen
Monday October 19, 2015
The 19th Israeli Go Championship took place in a quiet residence area in Ramat Gan, Israel. During an extended weekend October 15-17, the 6-
round tournament brought strong and young players from all over the country. The calm atmosphere outside was in great contrast to the fierce fights on the board. Amir Fragman 5D (right) defeated defending champion Jonathan Lidor and a veteran champion Leonid Entin with five straight wins to secure the title. Second was Ofer Zivony and third Reem Ben-David. Half the participants were dan level players.
Click here for full results and more photos.
– report by Shavit Fragman
Saturday October 17, 2015
This year, the French Pair Go Championship took place in Strasbourg on the weekend of the 10th and 11th of October. Fourteen pairs were
present. Would the pair of Nyoshi Cao and Antoine Fenech, reigning national champions for the past two years, be able to add to their tally? Many pairs were hoping to claim their title: Monique Berreby and Olivier Clergue, Marie-Claire Chaine and Farid Ben Malek, and Zhao Pei and Baptiste Noir.
After a fierce competition, Cao-Fenech met Pei-Noir in the grand final (right). After a difficult opening, Nyoshi and Antoine headed into a thunderous endgame and ate a big group to clinch as 3-time champions. In second place, there was a tie between Zhao Pei-Baptiste Noir, Laura Lebastard-Jérôme Salignon and Charlotte Vielfaure-Thomas Debarre.
This year, Dominique Cornuejols and Denis Karadaban will represent France at the International Amateur Pair Go Championship.
– Ian Davis, based on the original article in the Revue Française de Go by Simon Billouet
Monday October 12, 2015
The Seattle Go Center held a large tournament to celebrate their 20th anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 3. It was the largest fall tournament they have had in many years, with 48 players participating. The well organized TD’s, Bill Chiles and Dan Top, kept the event on schedule despite the large crowd. The players were smoothly distributed in terms of strength, so that most of the handicapped games used small handicaps. (88% of the handicapped games used two stones or less.) The next day, Kuma Sensei 6P from the Nihon Ki-in gave a lecture reviewing tournament games.
The Open Section had 8 players and was won by longtime Northwest champion Edward Kim 7d. Edward bested Chanseok Oh, Jeremiah Donley, and Peter Nelson in his three games. Peter Nelson placed 2nd in the Open Section.
Chris Kirschner won all his games in the Dan Handicapped Section, winning that section. Chris is one of the founders of the Go Center, and one of its most active volunteers. Ben Hakala placed 2nd. Jung Doo Nam won the Single Digit Kyu Player Handicapped Section, with David Snow placing second. Mark Richardson won the Double Digit Kyu Player Handicapped Section, with Lucy Wang placing second.
Photo Captions: (Top) Andy Okun, President of the AGA, playing Harry van der Krogt of the European Go Cultural Center in a friendly game in the tatami room of the Seattle Go Center. (Bottom) First round of the tournament. Photos and report by Brian Allen.
Tuesday October 6, 2015
Junfu Dai 8D (Paris) won the French Championship on October 3-4 in Lyon, topping the field of right of the strongest active amateur French 
players and becoming the French representative to the next World Amateur Go Championship. Thomas DeBarre 6D (Strasbourg) and Alban Granger 4D (Rennes) took second and third places. Click here for complete details.
Meanwhile, the tournament of Lyon, with about 80 players, was won by Motoki Noguchi 7D (Grenoble), ahead of Florent Labouret 3D (Lyon) and Florent Rioland 3D (Marseille).
– Laurent Coquelet, FFG secretary and French Correspondent for the E-Journal; photo: Dai, at left, in the final, playing Thomas DeBarre
Wednesday September 30, 2015
The French Open Championship took place on the 21st to the 23rd of August. Motoki Noguchi, of the Grenoble club, gave a brilliant
performance to win the title. Continue reading…)
Monday September 21, 2015
A touchscreen go board built in the middle of a pedestrian shopping street in Vienna won this year’s World Wide Iwamoto Award from the European Go Center. Second place was taken by Will Lockhart and Cole Pruitt for their feature length documentary about go, “The Surrounding Game.”
The Public Touchscreen Go Table project was the work of a team led by Daniel Bösze, board member of the Austrian Go Federation, who wrote the software and negotiated with the city of Vienna to install the board. The project about a year and a half from start to opening ceremony and cost about $20,000 out of pocket, not including donated project planning and coding time, including $11,000 for the board itself. Since it opened in October 2014, the table has been averaging about 100 games a day, benefiting from a location on one of the busiest shopping streets in Mitteleuropa, Mariahilfer Straße. The board has room for two games at a time and is shielded from sun and rain by two large parasols. Bösze was awarded €1,000 for first place.
Pruitt and Lockhart meanwhile were awarded second place and a €500 “encouragement award” for their film, with which EJ readers are familiar. It is currently being finished up so it can be submitted to film festivals this fall and winter. It will premiere in Spring 2016.
Third place, also €500, went to Proyecto Gakko no Go, which since 2008 has taught go to low-income children at in the Jesús Maestro School in Petare, Caracas, Venezuela, one of the more marginalized and dangerous favelas in the country. The project was organized by Sister Marsela Mujica of the Catholic organization Fe y Alegria, who became enchanted by the Hikaru no Go manga. Starting with essentially nothing, she received support from the Venezuelan Go Association, Fe y Alegria, the Thai Go Association, Sociedad de Intercambio Internacional de Go, the Colegio Japones de Caracas and the International Go Federation, along with teaching visits from Argentinian player and organizer Fernando Aguilar.
“My congratulations to the three winners and hats off all the people who submitted projects,” said AGA president Andy Okun, who along with Aguilar and a half dozen other go officials and organizers, served on the Iwamoto Award jury. “It is amazing what people can do when they are tireless and dedicated.” The Iwamoto Awards seek to encourage projects that promote the spread of go. They are named for the late Japanese champion Iwamoto Kaoru, a tireless advocate for go for many decades, and are run by EGC with support from the European Go Federation and Nihon Ki-in.
Details of all the submitted projects can be found on the EGC website.
– Andy Okun
Sunday September 6, 2015
was composed by Fan Hui 2p, Thomas DeBarre 6d, Benjamin Drean-Guenaizia 6d and Tanguy le Calve 6d. Click here for more info.