Overseas Results: 2005

Kiev Tournament, 19/11/05-20/11/05

67 players attended the Kiev Tournament, the Ukraine entry in the TOYOTA - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour. Dmitrij Bogackij (6 dan) headed the group of local players on 4/5 to take first place. The others in the group were Bogdan Zhurakovskij (2 dan), Dmitrij Jacenko (3 dan) and Vasilij Skochko (4 dan). There were also 14 players in a children's tournament won by Irina Izotova with 7/7, who also managed to win 5/5 in the main event.

Tampere Tournament, 19/11/05-20/11/05

Three UK players attended the Tampere Tournament in Finland. Ian Davis won 2/5, Steve Bailey 1/5 and Pauline Bailey 2/5. The winner was Antti Trmnen.

European Cup 2005-2006

Five European Cup events had been held by late November. Lee Ki-Bong won the Luxemburg Tournament and Geert Groenen won the Moletai Cup in Lithuania in July. In August the Leksand Open in Sweden was won by Qi Xiaolou, with Martin Yao in second. In November the Rome Open was won by Chu Yulong and the Hamburg Rahlstedter Tournament was won by Cho Seok-Bin. So it was nearly all Korean and Chinese players dominating the top the points table. Geert was the only person to score in two events so far.

World Pair Go Championships, 12/11/05-13/11/05

Li Nian-Nian and Liu Fan from China won the World Amateur Pair Go in Tokyo. They beat a Japanese pair in the final. Best placed European teams were Germany (Pei Zhao and Christoph Gerlach) and Czech Republic (Jana Hricova and Ondrej Silt) in 8th and 14th (which ignoring duplicate Japanese teams is 4th and 6th best countries). Only 21 different countries took part as Cuba was unable to attend through sickness. New participants were Mexico and Azerbaijan. Tony Atkins was European guest official.

International Team Events

16 countries were represented at the International Team Baduk Championships in Korea. As natural the oriental countries topped the results. First were Korea, then China, Japan and Taiwan. North Korea won the similar city team tournament in China, taking the individual 2nd, 4th and 6th places. Home team, Hangzhou, was second with 1st, 3rd and 10th places.

European Student Go Championship, 21/10/05-23/10/05

The first ever European Student Go Championships was held in Helsinki. 36 students from 15 countries took part. Winner was Jan Hora (5 dan Czechia) and second was Csaba Mero (6 dan Hungary). Both won five games: Csaba lost to Jan in round 3 but lost to Merlijn Kuin (5 dan Netherlands) in the sixth and final round. This made Merlijn third. Top female was Manuela Lindemeyer (3 dan Germany). UK's Matthew Crosby (1 kyu Epsom) was 22nd. The top two men and top woman qualified for the world student games in Japan in February 2006.

Copenhagen Tournament, 15/10/05-16/10/05

23 players attended the Copenhagen Tournament, the Danish entry in the TOYOTA - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour. Unbeaten on 5 wins was the Korean from Germany, Cho Seok-Bin (7 dan). Second on 4/5 was Ulrik Bro-Joergensen (4 dan Denmark). Topping the group on 3 wins in third was fellow Dane Thomas Heshe (5 dan). UK players were Mark Todkill and Vincent Corlaix (who won 3 games at 3 kyu).

Bratislava Tournament, 08/10/05-09/10/05

94 players attended the Casino Tournament in Bratislava, the Slovakian entry in the TOYOTA - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour. This included six 6 dans and two 7 dans. Unbeaten on 5 wins was the Korean from Germany, Cho Seok-Bin (7 dan). Second on 4/5 was Pal Balough (6 dan Hungary). Topping the group on 3 wins in third was Romanian Cristian Pop (7 dan).

European Women's Goe Championship, 29/09/05-02/10/05

The European Women's Goe Championship took place in Taucha near Leipzig in Germany. 24 women from nine countries took part: Hungary, Russia, Germany, Czech Republic, Lithuania, France, Belgium, Ukraine, Denmark. The players were able to get lessons from professionals Haruyama Isamu, 9 dan, Shigeno Yuki, 2 dan from Japan, and also from Svetlana Shikshina. A handicap lightning tournament also took place in which Rita Pocsai (Hungary) finished first, ahead of Daniela Trinks (Germany) and Graldine Paget (France). Rita also did well in the main event beating Svetlana Shikshina to become joint European Champion with her and Zhao Pei.

1. Rita Pocsai (4 dan HU), Zhao Pei (6 dan DE), Svetlana Shikshina (1 pro dan RU)
4. Manuela Lindemeyer (3 dan DE)
5. Martina Simunkova (1 dan CZ)
6. Daniela Trinks (3 dan DE)
7. Alexandra Urban (1 kyu HU)
8. Marija Sironaite (5 kyu LT)
9. Graldine Paget (1 dan FR)
10. Ingrid de Doncker (2 kyu BE)
11. Liza Gorbunova (1 kyu UA)

Brno Tournament, 02/09/05-04/09/05

For the fourth year running the Czech event in the TOYOTA - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour was held in Brno. 145 players attended (slightly less than last year). Three players ended at the top with 5 out of 6. Romanian Cristian Pop (7 dan) was placed first, losing only to Cornel Burzo (6 dan Romania). Joint second was Cho Seok-Bin (7 dan) who only lost to the winner and Cornel Burzo who only lost to Cho. Winning four games were Csaba Mero (Hungary), Radek Nechanicky and Ondrej Silt (both Czechia).

World Youth Goe Championships, 21/08/05-26/08/05

The 22nd World Youth Goe Championships were organised in Barcelona on behalf of the Ing Foundation by the Spanish Go Association. After five rounds the top four players in each of two age groups play knock-out. In the senior section top Europeans were Antti Tormanen from Finland and Igor Nemly from Russia who both won 3/5. Igor lost to Korea in the semi-finals and China's Tang Wei-Xing beat Taiwan's Lai Yu-Cheng. Winner of the final was Song Sang-Min of Korea. In the Junior section, Na Hyun of Korea beat Joanne Missingham of Taiwan in the semis but, lost the final to Liao Xing-Wen of China (who beat America's Calvin Sun in the other semi). Liao visited the MSO in London in 2000 when he was 6.

US Go Congress, 06/08/05-13/08/05

The 21st US Go Congress was held in Tacoma WA with another big attendance. Jie Li won this year the US Masters and the Ing Cup. Open winner was Xuefen Lin. The Pair Go was won by Joey Hung and Cherry Shen. In the 4 dan section Francis Roads (UK) came fourth. He also won the song section of the Bob High Memorial Contest and both first and second in the poetry section of the same.

European Masters, 30/07/05-31/07/05

Held at the weekend of the EGC in Prague, the top 8 european players (apart from Guo Juan) played the second European Masters to determine who would play in pro events in the orient. Winner of the tournament was the 1p from the Korean Baduk Association, Alexandr Dinerstein. He beat Czech player Radek Nechanicky in the final. Third was Catalin Taranu, 5p, who had lost to Radek but who beat Svetlana Shikshina, 1p, and Ondrej Silt, 6 dan. Ondrej was fourth, followed by Cristian Pop, Andrei Koulkov, Svetlana Shikshina and Franz-Josef Dickhut.

European Go Congress, 23/07/05-06/08/05

The 49th European Go Congress has finished in Prague in the Czech Republic. Over 700 players played in the main tournament. A small party of 20 British players was among them, including most of the Isle of Man club. Top placed Brit was Piers Shepperson in 71st. Steve Bailey (3 kyu) won his first 4 games and ended on 6/10. Games were broadcast on IGS and KGS. At the end of the first week Alexandr Dinerstein from Russia beat the other top European pro, Catalin Taranu from Romania, to take an early lead. However a lot of very strong Koreans were snapping at his heels. Alexandr hung on despite two losses to become the European Champion again with 8/10. Second on SOS tie-break was Cho Seok-Bin. Third with 9/10 (starting below the supergroup) was Park Jong-Wook. Catalin Taranu and Ilja Shikshin also finished in the top 10, with 7 wins each.
Ondrej Silt, from Czechia, took an early lead in the daily Rapidplay event. However he started losing to the likes of Park and Cho who ended at the top of the list with lots of other Koreans.
At the weekend the top Europeans played in the European Masters, so the Koreas dominated the Weekend Tournament. First was Kim Jong-Min with 5/5. Next came Lee Ki-Bong, wheelchair-bound Lim Yeon-Sik and Park Jong-Wook on 4 wins. Fifth was Kim Dong-Chan and sixth was Ilja Shikshin from Russia. David Ward was placed 53rd out of 373 players.

Saint Petersburg Tournament, 07/07/05-09/07/05

The Russian TOYOTA - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour event in was held in Saint Petersburg immediately after the European Team event. This meant there were lots of strong foreign players there, with 82 competitors in total. Alexandr Dinerstein's perfect 6 gave him the title. Second on tie-break were Russia's Svetlana Shikshina and Czechia's Jan Hora, topping a large group on 4 wins.

European Team Championships, 03/07/05-06/07/05

The European Team Championships was held in Saint Petersburg, just before their Toyota - IGS-PandaNet Tour event. A record 18 teams took part from many countries including for the first time Israel and Azerbaijan. Russia dominated with their second team victorious on board-difference from Russia 1. The winning team were: Dmitri Surin, Alexei Lazarev, Rustam Sakhabutdinov and Timur Sankin. The Russia 2 team included 2 professionals: Alexandr Dinerstein, Svetlana Shikshina, Andrej Kulkov and Ilja Shikshin. Czechia were third, France fourth, Germany fifth and Russian Juniors sixth.

Warsaw Tournament, 25/06/05-26/06/05

The Polish TOYOTA - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour event in Warsaw was won by Ondrej Silt (6 dan Czechia). His perfect 5 gave him the lead in the Grand Prix points table. Second was Radek Nechanicky (6 dan Czechia) on 4 wins. Rita Pocsai (4 dan Hungary) lead the group on three wins, just ahead of her father Tibor Pocsai, Martin Kuzela, Leszek Soldan and Ivan Kostka. 65 players took part.

World Amateur Go Championships, 24/05/05-27/05/05

65 countries took part. This year it was held in a gymnasium alongside Nagoya Castle, Japan, during Nagoya's hosting of Expo2005. The final placings were: 1. Hu Yu Qing of China 8/8, 2. North Korea 7/8, 3. Taiwan, 4. South Korea, 5. Franz-Josef Dickhut of Germany, 6. Japan, 7. Thomas Hsiang of USA, 8. Hong Kong, 9. Canada, 10. Australia (all on 6/8). UK's David Ward was 44th with 3 wins (against Luxembourg, Guatemala and Mongolia, and losing to Czechia, Thailand, Norway, Croatia and Lithuania). Ireland's Bernard Palmer had a win against Panama and a bye to end 64th. The Asada Prize for fighting spirit went to the only female player, Tungalag Ravjir from Mongolia.

Budapest Tournament, 20/05/05-22/05/05

The Hungarian TOYOTA - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour event in Budapest was won on tie-break by Csaba Mero (6 dan Hungary), from Ondrej Silt (6 dan Czechia) and Tibor Pocsai (6 dan Hungary). The UK's Roger Peck and Jil Segerman were among the 79 players who took part.

Hamburg Tournament, 14/05/05-16/05/05

The German TOYOTA - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour event in Hamburg was won by the European Professional, Catalin Taranu from Romania with 7/7. Local player Felix Von Arnim (6 dan) was second with 6/7. Third on 5/7 was Czech player Radek Nechanicky (6 dan) and fourth by tie-break was fellow Czech Ivan Kostka (4 dan). Last year's winner Ondrej Silt (6 dan), also from Czechia, topped the group on 4 wins. 196 players took part (a little down on 2004).

Amsterdam Tournament, 05/05/05-08/05/05

Always a major in the TOYOTA - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour, Amsterdam always attracts visitors to the Go Centre. 110 players took part this year, including UK's Mark Todkill (4 kyu) who won 4/6. The winner (split by tie-break) was Vladimir Danek (6 dan Czechia), from Zhao Pei (6 dan Germany); both won 5/6. Ondrej Silt (6 dan Czechia) was third topping the group on 4 wins for the second year running. Also equal third was Li Zhou (5 dan Germany). Then came Franz-Josef Dickhut (6 dan Germany), Radek Nechanicky (6 dan Czechia) and Jan Hora (5 dan Czechia).

European Pair Go Championships, 23/04/05-24/04/05

A total of 24 pairs from 12 countries and including 12 pairs from the UK took part in the European Pair Go Championships held at Hitachi in Maidenhead, UK. After four rounds of tournament the leaders were the Czech pair of Jana Hricova and Ondrej Silt and Germany's Lisa Ente and Benjamin Teuber. The Germans won their clash in round 5 only to lose to the second German pair Manja Lindemeyer and Michael Marz in the last round. Also in the last round Czechia lost to the young Russians Natalia Kovaleva and Timur Sankin. So both Germany pairs and Russia ended on 5 wins. The tie was split by sos/sodos to make Ente/Teuber first, Lindemeyer/Marz second and Kovaleva/Sankin third. Czechia topped the group on 4 wins. Highest placed of the group on 3 wins overnight was UK's Matthew Cocke and Natasha Regan; they won one more to be fifth. Close behind were another UK Pair: Kirsty Healey and Matthew Macfadyen in sixth. Winners of the handicap section by close tie break were UK's Maria Tabor and Paul Tabor. Nudged into second were Italy's Alessandra Zarcone and Davide Minieri. The other prize in this section went to Portugal's Ines Teles de Menezes and Jose Teles de Menezes. All the top board games were broadcast live on IGS-PandaNet and video streamed.

Gallery

European Cup Rankings

The first European Cup season was not over but the last scheduled event was Zurich on 02/04/05-03/04/05. This was won by Vladimir Danek (6 dan Czechia) ahead of Viktor Bogdanov (6 dan Russia). The 9 points Vladimir gained put him up to second place over all on 36 points. Young Ondrei Silt (also 6 dan from Czechia) was the European Cup winner with 41 points. He had won Hamburg, Leipzig and scored points also at Leksand and Prague. Third on 31 points was Willem-Koen Pomstra from the Netherlands who had won Leksand and taken second at Arnhem. Fourth on 27 points was Lee Ki Bong who won three events including Tatapotku in Finland on 06/02/05. Fifth was Radek Nechanicky who was second in Leipzig and Hamburg. Other recent Cup event winners were Chu Yulong won won Rome on 31/10/04 and Geert Groenen who won Arnhem on 21/11/04. Neil Mitchison was the only Brit to win a European Cup point (at Rome).

Toyota - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour Rankings

Radek Nechanicky, the 6 dan from Czechia, just got enough points in the Paris Finals to win the tour and take the 1500 euro first prize with 109.97 points from 8 events. Young Ondrej Silt (also 6 dan from Czechia) was second with 103.33, as he was only allowed to hold 100 points before the finals, despite winning more. Third and fourth were two Hungarians: Tibor Pocsai and Diana Koszegi with 86.4 and 73.07 points. Next were Zhao Pei, Cristian Pop, Catalin Taranu, Benjamin Teuber, Fan Hui, Cornel Burzo, Noguchi Motoki and Guo Juan. Top UK players in 45th were Tony Goddard, Li Shen and Shi Tang.

Paris Toyota - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour Finals, 26/03/05-28/03/05

329 players took part in the 33rd Paris Open, six more than last year. 9 players were from UK; highest placed was David Ward in 29th (with 2/6). Winner yet again on 6/6 was Fan Hui (8 dan) the Chinese based in France. Local Japanese 7 dans were second and fourth: Noguchi Motoki won 5/6 and Miyakawa Wataru won 4/6. Topping the group on 4/6 in third was Benjamin Teuber (6 dan Germany). Also on 4/6 were Cristian Pop (Romania), Radek Nechanicky (Czech) and Tibor Pocsai (Hungary). Also taking the point places were Csaba Mero, Ondrej Silt, Christoph Gerlach, Pierre Colmez and Zhao Pei.

Velden Tournament, 19/03/05-20/03/05

76 players from many countries took part at the Austrian entry in the Toyota - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour in Velden. Unbeaten winner was Ondrej Silt (6 dan Czechia). Those coming second only lost to the winner: Tibor Pocsai (6 dan Hungary) and Pei Zhao (6 dan Germany). With the Paris Finals to go this put Silt on 100 points ahead of Radek Nechanicky (89.97) and Diana Koszegi (73.07).

Ing Memorial, Amsterdam, 11/03/05-13/03/05

24 of Europe's top players travelled to the European Go and Cultural Centre in Amsterdam for the Ing Memorial. Like last year, the top four players all ended on 5 wins and were sorted by tie break. First was Fan Hui (from China but living in France), second Catalin Taranu (Romania), third Alexandr Dinerstein (Russia) and fourth Guo Juan (Netherlands). The group on 4/6 were Dragos Bajenaru, Csaba Mero, Cornel Burzo and Zhao Pei. Representing the UK, Tony Goddard won 2 games to place 16th; he beat Jef Seailles (France) and Dmitrij Bogackij (Ukraine). A 54 player side event was won by Filip Vanderstappen (Netherlands) and also there was a 10 player lower kyu division.

European Youth Goe Championships, 03/03/05-06/03/05

This took place in Kosice in Slovakia. 94 under-18s took part. The best on tie break was Timur Dugin (4 dan Russia). Next placed were Bohdan Zhurakovsyy (3 dan Ukraine), Jun Tarumi (4 dan Germany) and Igor Nemly (3 dan Russia). UK's William Brooks (1 dan Cambridge) won a creditable 2/5.
There were 57 under-12s. Best was Mihai Serban (6 kyu Romania) with 5/5. Next placed were Joshua Chao (4 kyu Netherlands) and Oleg Kocherov (7 kyu Russia).

Irish Open, 04/03/05-06/03/05

The 16th Irish Open, held in the Teachers' Club in Dublin, was attended by 26 players of many nationalities, including an increased number of Irish residents. Yung Chen (Bert) a Chinese student won with 5/5. Second on 3/5 was Tony Atkins (3 dan Bracknell) on tie-break from D.K. Kim (2 dan Korea) on 2/3 and Paul Lecomte (1 kyu Netherlands) on 4/5. Ian Davis (3 kyu Belfast) and Michael Thai (18 kyu Galway) won 5/5.
        

Held on the Friday evening was the 15-player Irish Rapid. Winner for the second time was Tony Atkins (3 dan Bracknell) on tie-break from Ian Davis (4 kyu Belfast) and Yung Chen (1 kyu Dublin), all on 4/5.

There were prizes for all, in various categories, including for side events such as Liar Dice (Olivier Deme) and for the first ever game of "VertiGo" played on a "Giants Causeway" Go board.

World Student Championships, 26/02/05-27/02/05

16 representatives from several continents took part in the third World Student Oza Championships in Tokyo. Winner was Wen Jie from Nanjing in China, who beat Hu Yuqing from Shanghai in the final. Best of the three European players was Benjamin Teuber from Germany (the others were Natalja Kovaleva and Mikhail Galchenko).

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