American Go E-Journal » Europe

E-Journal photographer John Pinkerton stopped by the European Go Congress — now underway in Bordeaux, France — the other day and sent us these snapshots.
- photos by John Pinkerton; collage by Chris Garlock

The Zhuyeqing Tea European Go Congress started last Saturday in Bordeaux, France. You can follow the EGC games live on EuroGoTV1 and IGS. The EGC main tournament started Sunday and can also be followed on KGS. Click here for the complete schedule.

Adan Mordcovich from London was the new champion of the UK Go Challenge, held June 26 in Aston. He also won the Under-18 Boys section forcing Aston’s Mazhar Warraich to take second in the section and overall. Hamzah Reta, also from Aston, was third overall and Under-16 Boys Champion. Aston also won the schools trophy and their Ibraheem Mustafa won Under-12 Boys. Thomas Meehan from Solihull won the Under-14 Boys. Milton School players cleaned up in the younger age groups and won the Junior School Cup. Roella Smith was Top Girl winning Under-12 and her sister Kelda won Under-8. Their brother Edmund, aged 6, won the Boys Under-8 and Mark Slatter won the Boys Under-10. There were prizes too to many others for good results or solving puzzles. A special award of UK Go Challenge Meijin Organiser was given to Mr Mike Lynn for supporting the event from its start up to his forthcoming retirement. Click here for results.
- Tony Atkins

Benjamin Teuber 6d (r) swept the 2011 Amsterdam Go Tournament, held June 2-5. Click here for EuroGoTV’s coverage, which includes round-by-round reports, photos and game records.

For the first time in many years, the Scottish Open was won this year by a Scottish-born player. Local native Sandy Taylor 2d (Durham) won all five games to take his first tournament title at the Open, held May 28-29 in Dundee. The closure of long-term sponsor Real Time Worlds and a local wedding anniversary contributed to a drop in attendance, with 23 players participating. A new sponsor, Denki — a locally-based “digital toy factory” — ensured that, as ever, all players took away a jar of Dundee’s famous marmalade. Prizes were also awarded to David Lee 2d (Dundee) and Dieter Daems 9k (Leuven) for four wins out of five, and to Martha McGill 2k (Edinburgh), Boris Mitrovic 2k (Edinburgh), Tom Croonenborghs 1d (Antwerp), Eugene Kee-Onn Wong 4k (Glasgow) and Andrew Thurman 7k (Durham) for three wins. Edwin Brady 1k (St Andrews) and Sandy Taylor 2d (Durham) jointly won the Lightning tournament with three wins out of four.
- Tony Atkins, based on his report on the BGA website

Matthew Macfadyen, the 2010 British Champion, has won all seven games in the Challengers’ League May 27-30 to earn the right to defend his title. This year he will be playing Nick Krempel 3d (London), who won five games in the League, in a best-of-3 final. Hui Wang and Alistair Wall just missed out on playing for the title by one win each.
- Tony Atkins, based on his report on the BGA website

Ian Marsh, the organizer of the Bracknell Tournament, was also the winner. Marsh 1k (Bracknell) was the best of the 28 players at the May 15 UK tournament. Also winning all three were Xinyi Lu 4k (Maidenhead) and Laurence Anderson 7k (Bracknell). Poland’s Marcel Zantman 6k won two and then had a last round jigo. Bahareh Afshari won the problem solving, Mike Charles won the 13×13 and Peter Collins won the caption contest.
- Tony Atkins, based on his report on the BGA website

The 14th Russian Go Congress will be held in Saint-Petersburg from July 1-11. “All foreign go comrades are welcome,” says Maxim Podolyak. Click here for details.