A few simple rules ... limitless possibilities

Match now completed between Manchester and UK Youth in Division 2. The winner of the match was Manchester.

The 60th European Go Congress closed in St Petersburg with the closing cermony on Saturday 6th August, just after the end of the European Open. Of the 597 players in this Kim Young-Sam, 7d Korea, was the best taking the Open title on tie break.

Like last year 22 countries sent a representative to the assembly. With different numbers of votes for each country, the majority was reached at 26 votes. Some countries have only 1 vote because of a reduced membership fee, most countries have 2 votes and the bigger countries like Russia, Germany, France and Holland have 4.

Ilya Shikshin became the 60th European Champion by beating Ali Jabarin in the final at the EGC in St Petersburg.

The 60th European Go Congress got under way on 23rd July in Saint Petersburg. 456 players took part in round one.

Pandanet Go European Team Championship, with over-the-board finals played at the European Go Congress in St Petersburg, Russia, was won by Ukraine.

The Samsung Cup Preliminary was held in Korean Baduk Association's building in Seoul. 12 players from all over the world, including 4 Europeans, came to Korea to try to qualify for the Samsung Cup.

The third annual World Collegiate Weichi Championship, organised and sponsored by the Ing Foundation, was held in Toronto/Kanada from 8-12 July 2016. The playing venue and accommodation were located on the University of Missassauga campus.

The Utrecht Go Tournament 2016, one of the bigger tournaments in the Netherlands, took place in the weekend of 25-26th of June. The top three players all won 4 out of 5 games: Filip Vanderstappen 5d took first place, followed by Robert Rehm 5d in second place and Michiel Eijkhout 6d placing third.

Merlijn Kuin 6d qualified to represent the Netherlands at the Korean Prime Minister's Cup that will take place in Buan from 3-9 September 2016. Kuin defeated Geert Groenen 6d in the finals of the Dutch elimination tournament that took place on the 2nd of July in the European Go Cultural Center in Amstelveen.

At the European Go Congress 2015 in Liberec, together with Prof. Mei Wang (WHU, Otto-Beisheim-School of Management, Germany), I conducted a survey among the participants. Here, I would like to summarize the main results

Google DeepMind announced the non profit recipients of the $1 million prize fund from the AlphaGo vs Lee Sedol tournament today. The fund will be split between UNICEF UK, Raspberry Pi/Code Club, the American Go Association, the European Go Federation and the Korean Baduk (Go) Association.

The 3rd edition of the Silk Road International City Weiqi International Tournament will be held in Urumqi, China, from 1 to 6 September. In order to commemorate the historic trading route, the Silk Road, this tournament invites up to 30 European players (3 dan and stronger) as well as Chinese amateur players.

On May 21th a great record was made in St. Petersburg – more than 200 people played Go in the city center. This day, the simultaneous games took place: 27 strongest Go players from all over country were fighting with 191 participants.

40 kids from all over Germany took part in this year's championship – a new record! The tournament was integrated into the Darmstadt Go-days, which meant four days of Go activities, including a whole day of Go lectures, excursions, BBQ, rapid Go and lightning Go tournaments.

Vienna International Go Tournament took place this week-end (May 28th - 29th) in Vienna, Austria. The tournament was held in its usual place, the Vienna Waldorf School. This agreeable area offers a lot of space for playing, but also accommodation and home-made meals for players.

This event has attracted many top European players as well as go enthusiasts with its friendly and entertaining atmosphere and a total amount of 10.000 Euro as prize, including cash prizes and attractive Go equipments from Hebsacker Verlag Go Shop.

The league A of the 6th Pandanet Go European Team Championship has already finished and so we know which four European team will play the finals this summer. In this tournament, national teams play in a league system on the Pandanet – IGS server.

Thomas Debarre 6d (France) won the Amsterdam International Go Tournament with a clean slate. He was victorious in all six games, leaving Dominik Boviz 6d (HU), Tanguy Le Calvé 6d (FR), Stanisław Frejlak 5d (PL) and Yaqi Fu 6d (CN) behind in shared second place.

After three rounds of severe competition, Ali Jabarin defeated Artem Kachanovskyi, became the 2nd champion of the European Go Grand Slam tournament. The 3rd place came Pavol Lisy, after winning against Mateusz Surma.