Overseas Results: 2007

International Amateur Pair Go Championships, 10/11/07-11/11/07

Korea were again winners of the International Amateur Pair Go Championships in Tokyo. Their pair, students Kim Hye-Lim and Kang Chang-Bae, beat a Japanese Pair in the final. This was less than a month after Kang's win in the KPMC. Japanese teams came second, third and fourth. Fifth was Taipei and sixth was Russia's Natalia Kovaleva and Dmitriy Surin whose 4 wins was one of Europe's best ever results (Hungary were 4th in 2003). France were 10th, Germany 13th and Finland 16th with 3 wins. Scoring 2 were Austria, Czechia, Spain and Poland. Gunn Larsen and Oystein Vestgarden of Norway won 1 game and the best dressed prize. Other results: US and China won 3, Canada, Thailand and Singapore 2, Costa Rica, Australia, Philippines 1 and Peru 0. There was no UK pair this year.

Korea Prime Minister Cup International Baduk Championship, 14/10/07-16/10/07

66 countries were represented at the second International Baduk Championships in Suwon, Korea. Winner with a clear 8 points was Korean student Kang Chang-Bae (7 dan). Hu Yu-Qing of China only lost to Korea to come second for a second year running. On 6 wins were Chinese Taipei, Japan, Frank Janssen of the Netherlands, Cristian Pop of Romania, Vietnam, Australia and Ralph Spiegl of Austria. UK's Bei Ge was 19th with 5/8 and Ireland's John Gibson won 3 to come 56th. Bei lost to Belgium, Australia and a 10-year old from New Zealand.

Bratislava Tournament, 05/10/07-07/10/07

127 players attended the Casino Tournament in Bratislava, which this year was part of the Pandanet Go European Cup. Last time's winner Pal Balogh (6 dan Hungary) topped the group on 5 wins to retain the title. Second was Cornel Burzo (Romania) and third was Seul-Ki Hong from Korea. The Korean from Germany, Cho Seok-Bin (7 dan), was again placed fourth by the tie-break, from Silt and Mero.

European Team Championships, 01/10/07-03/10/07

8 teams from 5 countries took part in the European Teams in Leipzig, Germany. A team of German Chinese were winners with 9 points. Second and European Champions were Russia with 8 points. Netherlands were third with 6. In the Pandanet Go European Cup tournament, just before it, winner was one of the German Chinese, Zou Jin, with 4 wins and a triple ko. The Netherlands team took the next four places.

Brno Tournament, 31/08/07-02/09/07

Again the Czech event in Brno was a major in the now Pandanet Go European Cup. 148 players attended (4 more than last year). Cho Seok-Bin (7 dan), the Korean from Germany, was again the winner with 6/6, putting him near the top of the Grand Prix rankings. Hungarian 6 dan Pal Balogh ended second with 5 out of 6. Romanian professional Catalin Taranu topped the group on 4 wins.

World Youth Goe Championships, 06/08/07-12/08/07

The 24th World Youth Goe Championships were organised in Waltham near Boston, MA, USA on behalf of the Ing Foundation. After five rounds the top four players in each of two age groups play knock-out. This year in the seniors three Europeans won 3 games: Artem Dugin (Russia), Dusan Mitic (Serbia) and Artem Kachanovskiy (Ukraine). The Russian made the cut, but lost to China and then Chinese Taipei in the finals stage to place 4th. Ming Sang-Yeon of Korea was the Champion followed by China and Chinese Taipei. In the Juniors the winner was Han Seung-Joo of Korea. China was second, followed by Chinese Taipei and Japan. Playing for the UK, Chin-Yin Woo won 2/5.

European Student Go Championship, 06/08/07-08/08/07

The third European Student Go Championships was held in Stockholm, Sweden, following their Leksand camp. 31 students from 11 countries took part in a six round McMahon Three players ended on five. After tie-break the order was first Benjamin Papazoglou (5 dan France), second Martin Jurek (4 dan Czechia) and third Merlijn Kuin (6 dan Netherlands). Top female was again the 3 dan from Germany Manuela Marz (formerly Lindemeyer). UK's Vickie Chan (1 kyu) and Xinyi Lu (5 kyu) ended on 2 points each.

European Go Congress, 14/07/07-28/07/07

The 51st European Go Congress was held at the Conference Center Villach in the south of Austria. 573 players took part in the main tournament, including some strong Koreans. Open champion was Hong Seok-Ui on 9/10, second and third were Park Jong-Wook on 8/8 and Cho Seok-Bin on 8/10, all from Korea. The new European Champion is Ilya Shikshin (Russian 6 dan) who won 7 games and was placed ahead of Alexandr Dinerchtein by second tie-break (SOSOS). After Shikshin and Dinerchtein, the other player on 7/10 was Hong Seul-Ki, also from Korea. Top Brit was T Mark Hall in 47th with 5/10. Paul Blockley (12 kyu) won 6/10. The 366-player Weekend Tournament was won by Hong Seok-Ui with 5 wins (the top three was as in the Open). Of the Brits, Sue Paterson (4 kyu) won 4/5 and Peter Harold-Barry (14 kyu) won 5/5. Hong also won the rapid tournament with 7/8. Runner up was Antti Tormanen (4 dan Finland) on 6/8.

European Masters, 21/07/07-22/07/07

Held at the weekend of the EGC in Villach, 8 of the top European players played the fourth European Masters to determine who would play in pro events in the orient. Missing this year was the defending title holder, Svetlana Shikshina, who had given birth to a baby son on 01/07/07. The final was between her brother Ilia Shikshin and Alexandr Dinerchtein. Dinerchtein, the pro from Russia, was the champion. Csaba Mero and Cristian Pop were equal third.

The Russian Go Congress was held on a cruise ship between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. It was won by Alex Dinerchtein, 1 dan pro. The European Pair Go Championship was held alongside with representatives from 7 countries (plus Japan as ghosts). Russia took the top two, with Natalia Kovaleva and Dimitrij Surin the winners and Elizaveta Kalsberg and Viktor Bogdanov in second. Poland was third. After the trip arrived in Saint Petersburg the European Womens Championship was held with Natalia Kovaleva winning on tie break from Aigul Nareeva (also Russia) and Klara Zaloudkova (Czechia), the 2006 champion.

World Amateur Go Championships, 28/05/07-31/05/07

Again 68 countries took part. It was held at Nihon Kiin in Tokyo. After 4 rounds China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan were unbeaten, and these went on to take four of the top five places. Unbeaten champion was Shan Ziteng, the 13-year old from China. Winning seven games were Woo Dong-Ha of Korea and Mori Hironobu of Japan. Topping the group on 6 wins was Cristian Pop from Romania. Next were Lai of Taiwan, Yang of Canada, Merlijn Kuin of Netherlands, Andy Liu from USA and Ondrej Silt from Czechia. Andrey Kulkov of Russia topped the group on five wins in 10th place. UK's Bei Ge was in 16th on five wins. He lost to 16-year old Andy Liu in round 1 but then beat Chile, Norway and Spain, lost to Russia, beat Slovakia and Germany, and lost to Korea. Ireland's Noel Mitchell ended 44th on three wins (against Morocco, Costa Rica and Slovenia).

Hamburg Tournament, 26/05/07-28/05/07

The Hamburg Affensprung (Monkey Jump) was attended by 182 players; it was a major in the Pandanet Go European Cup. It was Germany's Chinese 5 dans who dominated the event. Zou Jin (Leipzig) won all seven games. Yan Haito (Stuttgart) topped the group on five wins which contained Radek Nechanicky (6 dan Czechia) and Wang Yue (Gelsenkirchen).

Amsterdam Tournament, 17/05/07-20/05/07

Amsterdam was a Pandanet Major in the new Pandanet Go European Cup and was held at the European Go Centre. 109 players took part this year in the 36th edition sponsored by Allshare, including UK's Roger Murby (3 kyu) who won 4/6 and David Ward (4 dan) whose 4 wins placed him 9th earning 3 Cup points. Robert Rehm (5 dan) from Netherlands was winner on tie-break from fellow Dutchman Merlijn Kuin (5 dan) and Czechia's Ondrej Silt (6 dan).

Visegrd Tournament, 12/05/07-13/05/07

The first event of the new Pandanet Go European Cup was in Hungarian spa town of Visegrd. Cristian Pop (7 dan Romania) won with 5/5. Two Hungarian 6 dans won 4/6: Pal Balogh and Csaba Mero. 68 players took part.

Toyota - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour Rankings

Cho Seok-Bin, the 7 dan from Korea who has been living in Germany, won the Tour with 130 points and so collecting the 1500 euro. Second and third were taken by Hungarians Csaba Mero (102.07) and Pal Balogh (91.67). Ondrej Silt from Czechia was pushed down to fourth from second (91.24). Hwang In-Seong scored enough points before leaving Europe to be fifth. The rest of the places went to Merlijn Kuin, Andrej Gomenyuk, Radek Nechanicky, Nakano Yasuhiro (Paris winner), Cornel Burzo, Christian Pop and Motoki Noguchi. Just outside the money places in 13th was Vladimir Danek and best players resident in the UK were Li Shen and Ben He in 14th.

Paris Toyota - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour Finals, 07/04/07-09/04/07

Only 291 took part in the 35th Paris Open. Star of this edition was 29-year old pro 7 dan from the Kansai Kiin, Nakano Yasuhiro. He took first winning all 6 as expected. Cho Seok-Bin, the Korean from Germany, was second and local Japanese player Noguchi Motoki was third, both with 5 wins. The group on 4/6 were Fan Hui, Merlijn Kuin, Csaba Mero, Jeff Seailles, Cornel Burzo and Pal Balogh. Best UK player was Harriett-Olivette Wills (19 kyu Hampstead) with 3/5 against some of the large party of Ukrainians.

Velden Tournament, 31/03/07-01/04/07

77 players attended the Velden Tournament, the Austrian entry and the penultimate event in the TOYOTA - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour. Four players ended on 4 wins and had to be split by tie-break. In order they were Pal Balogh, Radek Nechanicky, Csaba Mero and Cho Seok-Bin.

Irish Open, 09/03/07-11/03/07

The 18th Irish Open, held in the Teachers' Club in Dublin, was the biggest ever with 47 participants from 15 countries, despite several of the regular supporters being missing. Winner by tie-break was local Korean player DK Kim (2 dan). Second was Roman Pszonka (3 dan Poland) and third was Milan Jadron (1 dan Slovakia). Ambassador Hayashi of Japan attended to present the new Japanese Ambassador Cup. Winning all 5 games were Julio Martinez (5 kyu Barcelona) and Patrik Macek (8 kyu Bratislava). Winning 4 were Elinor Brooks (8 kyu Swindon), Dave O'Reilly (9 kyu Ireland), Tony Pitchford (10 kyu Chester), Joni Tammi (15 kyu Finland) and Patrick Ridley (16 kyu Chester).

Held on the Friday evening was the 27-player Irish Rapid. After five rounds, Roman Pszonka (3 dan Poland) was the unbeaten winner. On 4 wins were Claas Roever (1 kyu Galway), Edwin Brady (3 kyu St Andrews) and Julio Martinez (5 kyu Barcelona).

European Youth Goe Championships, 08/03/07-11/03/07

This took place in Zandvoort in the Netherlands. 98 under-18s and 49 under-12s took part, including a large party from the Ukraine. Much fun was had by the children as the weather was warm and sunny so they could enjoy the seaside holiday camp setting. Winner with a perfect 6 was Russia's Artem Dugin (5 dan). Second was Dusan Mitic (4 dan) from Serbia, on tie-break from Ondrej Fidrmuc (4 dan Czechia) and Oleg Nikishin (1 dan Russia). Winner under-12 was Theodor Toma (2 kyu) from Romania with 6 wins; second was Chun Yin Woo (1 kyu), from Hong Kong and representing the UK, with 5 wins.

Ing Memorial, EGCC, 02/03/07-04/03/07

24 of Europe's top players travelled to the European Go Centre in Amstelveen for the Ing Chang-Ki Memorial. The last two rounds were held on a floating Chinese restaurant by Amsterdam Central Station. First for a third year was Fan Hui (from China but living in France), again with a clean 6 wins. Second was Catalin Taranu (Romania) with 5/6. The group on 4/6 was Dinerstein, Silt, Pop, Guo, Surin, Shikshin and Kulkov.

16 representatives from several continents took part in the fifth World Student Oza Championships in Tokyo. Winner was Lee Yeon-Ho from Korea, who beat Chinese female Wang Yu Qiao in the final (placed 3rd). Murakami Fukashi of Japan was second. Best of the three European players was Pal Balogh from Hungary who won two out of four (the others were Ewa Mos from Poland (15th) and Merlijn Kuin from Netherlands (14th)).