Belgian Go Federation

Thomas Connor (4d) won the 2020 Belgian champion of quick (blitz) games with 6/7, ahead of Jan Ramon, 4d (5/7). Marie Jemine (2d) completed the podium (4/7). Four players got 3 wins: Sven Cuyt (1k), Michael Silcher (4k), Guillaume De Keijser (6k) and Jean-Denis Hennebert (4k). Xavier Bael (10k) ended with 1 point.

This edition was played online on OGS go server.

The Belgian Go Federation organizes the 2020 Belgian Rapid Games Championship (15 min per player) on Sunday 29/11 from 2 PM to (max) 7 PM.

IMPORTANT: tournament reserved for the 2020 member of the BGF !

No registration fees.

It will be played ON LINE on the OGS server.

Register on OGS by joining sending an e-mail to blitz2020@gofed.be with your name-surname and your ranking (kyu-dan) according to the Belgian rating list https://www.gofed.be/rating(*)

(*) you may register at a stronger level, if you think you have become stronger meanwhile.
if you are a BGF member and do not find your name in the rating list, contact your club responsible or the BGF board (board@gofed.be) to get a ranking.

Rules:
- if more than 8 participants: 7 rounds Swiss (each round pairs players with same number of wins; everyone in the same starting group); up to 8 participants: round-robin (everyone meets everyone)
- 15 minutes per player (no extra time - sudden death)
- Handicap - 2 (reference = ranking - kyu/dan - according to the Belgian rating list, or at a stronger level if you prefer)

PS:
- the games won't count for the rating
- only a Belgian player may get the title of "Belgian rapid games champion".

Palmarès Belgian blitz championship: https://www.gofed.be/node/261

Surpringly, Belgium team, even if "on paper" much stronger than the Swiss team, lost to the Helvetes (Lucas - (!) , Jan -, Lucman -, Gabriel +).

Belgium occupies now the last position in the B-league ! :-(

Results of the round here: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/676

Standings: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps

Lucas Neirynck is doing well lately: after his win to Alexander Dinerstein, and shortly after having won his 10th title of champion of Belgium, he became also...champion of France (open, as he has not the french nationality). Lucas lives presently in Paris.
He managed to win (among others) against pro Tanguy Le Calvé and against Benjamin Dréan-Guénazia, a strong 6-d.
Results here: https://cdf.jeudego.org/rondes-et-resultats/

By winning the final against Ali Jabarin (2-1), Ilya Chikchine became European Champion for 2020.
This is already his 7th European title (he was already champion in 2007, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017 and in 2019).
Only Jürgen Mattern (DE) has won more titles (8, in the years '60 and '70) than Ilya.

Complete results of the European Go Championship here: https://www.eurogofed.org/egc/2020.html

Registration till 01/11/2020.
https://www.eurogofed.org/tm/uploads/tournaments/Corona%20Cup%202020%20-...

On 20/10/20, Belgian team (Lucas Neirynck -, Jan Ramon -, Lucman Bounoider +, Gabriel Mercier -) lost to United Kingdom in the 1st round of the new season of the European Team Championship.

Results of the round here: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/675

Standings: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps

From 19th October 2020 on, each Monday always at 8.30 pm (CEST), the "Jena International Go School" will have Go News in English streamed on Twitch.
www.twitch.tv/jenainternationalgoschool

It is supposed to always last 30 minutes, including Go News from the world (who won which tournament, what is currently happening in the Go world), various interviews with Go players, but also about Go politics and looking sometimes behind the scenes. There will also be tsumego competitions etc. in which everybody can participate and win prices.

Nearly all the best European players participated in the 2020 European Championship (among the pros, only Pavol Lisy was missing).

This edition is of course organized on-line to due the Covid-Crisis, in a knock-out formula, with sided players.

We already told you that Lucas Neirynck won twice (once against Dinerstein), but he has been finally beaten by Andrei Kravets in the 1/8 of finals.

The quarters of finals were (winners in 1st place):

Ilya Shikchine - Andreii Kravets
Mateusz Surma - Anton Chernykh (an amateur)
Artem Kachanovskij - Tanguy Le Calvé
Ali Jabarin - Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia (another amateur)

Semi-finals:
Ilya - Mateusz: 2-1
Ali - Artem : 2-1

Final:
Ilya - Ali: 2-1

Complete results: https://www.eurogofed.org/egc/2020.html

In the 2nd round of the European Championship, Lucas Neirynck realized the most impressive feat in his life: he managed to defeat a professional player, Alexander Dinerstein.

Alexander Dinerstein became pro in 2002 in the Korean Baduk Association. He has been 7 times European champion (between 1999 and 2009), and is still one of the strongest European players (8th in the last European Rating).

It was a very tight game from the beginning to the end, that Lucas finally won by...1,5 point !
It was also a very high level game: according to the website "AI sensei" (with which you can analyse games with the help of some of the strongest programs), the 2 players made (each) only one mistake of >3 points !

To download the game: see "sgf file" in red here: https://www.eurogofed.org/egc/2020.html

In the next round, Lucas will play another pro: Andreii Kravets.

PS: I advice you to look at the spectacular game Lucas won in the 1st round against Sinan Djepov, wherein he managed to survive in the moyo of his opponent before delivering a nice tesuji as "coup de grace".