There were many different events for European go in year 2019. This article aims to cover the most important of them, thus making a summary of the passing year.

It became a tradition already that the year starts from the Grand Prix Finale. During the calendar year European players collect so-called ‘bonus points’ by taking top places in a series of competitions called the ‘European Grand Prix’. At the start of the year, the Grand Prix Finale brings together the top players from the bonus points standings of the previous year, with the purpose of determining the winner of the European Grand Prix. The European Grand Prix Finale 2018 was held on 24—27 January 2019 in Olomouc, Czechia. The winner was Ilya Shikshin 3p (Russia) and the runner-up Pavol Lisy 2p (Slovakia).

The next significant event was the European Professional Championship 2019.
It took place on March 6—8 in Jena, Germany. This time only the EGF-certified pros participated, so it was a competition of six players. The winner was Artem Kachanovskyi 2p (Ukraine), with three players sharing the second place: Ilya Shikshin 3p (Russia), Mateusz Surma 2p (Poland), and Andrii Kravets 1p (Ukraine). Aside from determining the champion, the tournament had one more purpose: qualification to the European Team that plays in the Chinese C League. The first three players listed above were selected.

This year we had one truly unique event. For the first time in go history, a match between American and European professional players was organised. The name of the event was Transatlantic Professional Go Team Championship. Both teams had five players, and the tournament was held in a ‘win and continue’ format. The tournament was played online, with the first round on April 7. At first Mateusz Surma 2p (Poland) demonstrated a great performance by bringing three consecutive wins to Europe, thus making the score 3:0. Then Eric Lui 1p (USA) made the score even again by defeating three European pros in a row. The last two rounds were won by the European pros Artem Kachanovskyi 2p (Ukraine) and Ilya Shikshin 3p (Russia), so in the end the score was 5-3 in favour for Europe.

The most prestigious tournament in Europe is the Grand Slam. The winner gets €10.000, which is the biggest prize money in all of the European tournaments. European pros qualify for the competition automatically, while the rest of the players have to pass a qualification. Grand Slam 2019 took place in Berlin on April 25—28. The winner was Mateusz Surma 2p (Poland) and the runner-up Artem Kachanovskyi 2p (Ukraine).

Since 2017, the Professional Qualification tournament is organised only once every two years. So, 2019 was the year for selecting the European professional player number seven. The Pro Qualification Tournament 2019 took place on May 16—19 in Strasbourg, France. 16 selected players participated in the competition. The winner was Tanguy Le Calvé 6d from France, thus becoming EGF-certified 1p. For more information you can read the following articles:

• Pro Qualification Tournament 2019, Round 1
• Pro Qualification Tournament 2019, Rounds 2 and 3
• Pro Qualification Tournament 2019, Quarter and Semi-Finals
• Pro Qualification Tournament 2019, Final
• Interview with Tanguy Le Calvé, the 7th European Pro

The IMSA World Masters Championship 2019 was held in Hengshui, China on May 12—19. Europe was represented by a team of five players:

• Ilya Shikshin 3p (Russia)
• Pavol Lisy 2p (Slovakia)
• Mateusz Surma 2p (Poland)
• Natalia Kovaleva 5d (Russia)
• Ariane Ougier 4d (France)

An interview with each of the team members is available on the EGF website.

The Chinese C League 2019 was held in Quzhou, China on June 13—23. Europe was represented by the following team:

• Ilya Shikshin 3p (Russia)
• Pavol Lisy 2p (Slovakia)
• Mateusz Surma 2p (Poland)
• Artem Kachanovskyi 2p (Ukraine)

This time the European team got a new achievement: a match victory. The total score was: 1 victory, 2 draws, 4 losses.

The biggest event of European go is the European Go Congress. The European Go Congress 2019 was held from July 20 to August 4 in Brussels, Belgium. As traditional, it started with the Pandanet Go European Team Championship Final 2019. This year the winner was the team of France, and the runner-up was Russia. Next followed the European Championship 2019 (individuals). 32 selected participants were fighting for the title of the European Champion. Ilya Shikshin 3p (Russia) remained undefeated in all of his games, thus becoming the European Champion 2019. The runner-up was Artem Kachanovskyi 2p (Ukraine).

The first stage of the 4th MLily Cup was held on 10—12 October 2019. Europe was represented by Ilya Shikshin 3p (Russia) and Artem Kachanovskyi 2p (Ukraine). In the first round, Ilya brought a sensational victory for Europe. His opponent was Yi Lingtao 7p (China), at that moment ranked as number 54 in the world rankings according to goratings.org.

The 6th Silk Road Tournament was held in Europe this year, for the first time. It took place in Vienna, Austria on November 1—3. In total 60 players from Europe and Asia participated. Having a large prize fund, the tournament brought together all the top European players and some strong Chinese amateur players. The winner was Artem Kachanovskyi 2p (Ukraine) and the runner-up was Li Jiaqi 6d (China).

Aside from the listed competitions, a new project was launched in the European go this year. It’s called the ‘SEYGO Tour’, a series of go events dedicated exclusively to the youth. It’s something like a European Grand Prix for the players in categories U12, U16, and U20. This year the series had five of tournaments held in different European countries. Next year more are coming. For more information you can read an interview with Catalin Taranu 5p, the leader of the project.

Year 2019 was full of bright competitions and events. The next year is starting soon, and indeed for European go it’s going to be exciting.

Happy New Year, go lovers!

Below you can see the records of the games which in my opinion we could call Europe’s ‘games of the year’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Report by Artem