The 41st World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC) took place in Russia, Vladivostok from June 3 till June 9. It was the first time for this event to take place outside of Japan, Korea, or China.

Each IGF member country has a right to line up one representative for the WAGC. This year the total number of participants was 57.

Due to the COVID-19 traveling restrictions, participants who could not reach Vladivostok were allowed to play online with anti-cheating measures applied.

After six rounds of intense struggle, Ma Tianfang 7d from China won the title of world champion. He was followed by Chan I-Tien 7d from Chinese Taipei and Kim Dabeen 7d from South Korea.

The best result among European players was demonstrated by Lukas Podpera 7d from Czechia who took 4th place. He lost only to the champion, Ma Tianfang.

Stanislaw Frejlak 7d finished 5th in the final standings. He demonstrated impressive performance by defeating Morikawa Shunji 5d from Japan on round three and the champion Ma Tianfang on round four. Stanislaw was close to beating a record of European players at the WAGC – 3rd place (Ronald Schlemper in 1991 and Artem Kachanovskyi in 2013). Unfortunately, Stanislaw lost the 5th game to Chan I-Tien 7d from Chinese Taipei and the 6th game to Lukas Podpera 7d from Czechia.

The victory of Stanislaw against Ma Tianfang was the second time when a European player defeated a representative of China at the WAGC. Ronald Schlemper did it for the first time in 1991.

Below you can view the record of the game between Stanislaw and Ma Tianfang.

 

 

Report by Artem