The European Go Championship or Congress (EGC) is the annual and main event organised by the European Go Federation for players of the board game Go. It consists of a 2-week open competition, one round per day, making a total of 10 rounds with a champion ultimately emerging – the player with the most (or best) wins. The Congress has taken place in a different European city each year,[1] since the first contest in 1983. During these two weeks, the best Go players in Europe fight for the title of European Champion. The number of participants in recent years has ranged from a low of 290 to a high of 718 players.[2]
The first European Go Championship was held in 1938.[3] The current annual series begun in 1957, with the first championship held in Cuxhaven, Germany. Germany has been quite dominant at the championships.[4]
In 1961 the 5th European Go Championship was held in August in Baden, where Japanese professional players Kensaku Segoe and Utaro Hashimoto gave exhibitions.[5]
In 1976 European Go Congress was held in Cambridge with 150 European players vying for titles among five separate tournaments which varied the games played, and including a tournament at the game of 'Lightning Go,' where the game must be played far more rapidly than in a traditional match.[6] The festivities were described by United Press International, reporting on the event, as a "two week orgy of go."
In 1977 the 21st championship was held in Rijswijk in the Netherlands.[7] Although not allowed to play in the competition, two Japanese professional players attended and provided instruction and engaged in simultaneous exhibitions. Seminars were given in go theory, computer go and lightning go.
In Prague, Alexandre Dinerchtein won against Cătălin Țăranu in the 5th round.[8]
In Frascati, Alexandre Dinerchtein lost against the 2001 Champion Andrei Kulkov in the 6th round.
Svetlana Shikshina won the title.[9]
In Villach, Ilya Shikshin[10] won the title, despite losing to Alexandre Dinerchtein in the 8th round.
In Leksand, Ondrej Silt from the Czech Republic beat Cătălin Țăranu in Round 4.In Round 5, Alexandre Dinerchtein won against the 2006 Champion Svetlana Shikshina.Cătălin Țăranu beat the 2007 Champion Ilya Shikshin in Round 8.The 5-dan Go professional Cătălin Țăranu became the second Romanian player to become European Go Champion.[11]
In Groningen, the young 5-dan Thomas Debarre from France defeated Cătălin Țăranu in Round 4. In round 5, the 3-times European Champion from the Netherlands, Rob van Zeijst, lost against Alexandre Dinerchtein. Round 9 saw victory by the 2008 Champion Cătălin Țăranu against Alexandre Dinerchtein. Alexandre Dinerchtein remained ahead on tiebreak to win the title,[12] his seventh time as European go Champion.
In Tampere, as a first act of the championship, Cornel Burzo from Romania beat the reigning champion, the Russian professional Alexandre Dinerchtein.[13] Cătălin Țăranu won against Rob Van Zeijst in the 3rd round. The fourth round featured a very long game between Taranu and Ilya Shikshin. These two players were undefeated since the beginning of this year's competition. Shikshin finally won the game, to continue his consecutive victories (6 winning rounds).
The young Artem Kachanovskyi from Ukraine stopped the winning ascension of Shikshin at the seventh round. The next rounds were a fight for the title for these two players. Kachanovskyi led first by beating Csaba Mérő at the 8th round, and the 2009 European Youth Champion, Ali Jabarin, in the 9th round, but he lost his final game against Kim JungHyeop, a Korean player. Shikshin won the title by beating Cristian Pop in the 8th round and Dinerchtein in the final round.During this tournament, the two leaders won games against Korean players.This is the second European title for Ilya Shikshin.
The Championship was held at the "University of Bordeaux I" campus in Talence, from July 23 to August 6.The number of registered players exceeded the 800 expected players, meaning already that European Go is healthy.These amateur players were from all European countries, ranked from 30 kyu to 7 dan, professional players from Asia will also participate (e.g. Japan, China and South Korea).[14] The French hosting organisation was the Fédération française de go (FFG).[15] The pre-registration board showed the participation of previous champions and possible future title-holders such as:
This edition also accommodated the first Pandanet Go European Team Championship, a new competition where Romania, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine will try to obtain the first title.
As a side-event, a professional competition was held - some games of the China Weiqi League were played.
Yumi Hotta, Hikaru no Go-writer, attended for a conference during the event.
The EGC is reliant on generous international sponsorship. For the third consecutive year, Zhuyeqing Tea - the official sponsor of the Chinese national Go team - are the main sponsor of the Congress.[16]
The 2012 EGC was held by the river Rhine, in the municipal hall of Bonn-Bad Godesberg, from 21 July to 4 August 2012.[17]
Olsztyn in Poland was the host for the 2013 Congress.[18]
The 2014 EGC was held in Sibiu, Romania, a former European Capital of Culture.[18]
The 2015 EGC was held in Liberec, Czech Republic.[18]
The 2016 EGC was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia.[18]
The 2017 EGC was held in Oberhof, Germany with the highest number of participants in history.[18]
The 2018 EGC was held in Pisa, Italy.[19]
The 2019 EGC was held in Brussels, Belgium.[20]
In both of these years, the EGC did not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Championship was held online in its place.
The 64th EGC took place from 23 July to 7 August in Vatra Dornei, Romania.[21]
The 65th EGC took place from 22 July to 5 August in Markkleeberg, Germany.[22] It had 751 registered participants.[23]
The 66th EGC took place from 26 July to 10 August in Toulouse, France.[24]
European Go Congresses, at which the European Go Champion is decided, are planned a few years in advance to cater for up to 800 players. Each year, the hosting country's Go association plays a large part in the organisation. Below are the planned future locations.
As recorded in the European Go Federation web-site:[26]
| Year | Winner | 2nd | 3rd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center | 1957 | Fritz Dueball | Fritz John | Leonard Grebe |
| align=center | 1958 | Fritz Dueball | Lenz | Fritz John |
| align=center | 1959 | Fritz Dueball | Paech | Kramer |
| align=center | 1960 | Günter Ciessow | Leonard Grebe | Fritz Dueball |
| align=center | 1961 | Wichard von Alvensleben | Leonard Grebe | Fritz Dueball |
| align=center | 1962 | Wichard von Alvensleben | Jürgen Dueball | Jürgen Mattern |
| align=center | 1963 | Wichard von Alvensleben | Jürgen Mattern | Max Rebattu |
| align=center | 1964 | Wichard von Alvensleben | Jürgen Mattern | Eduard Ekart |
| align=center | 1965 | Jürgen Mattern | Max Rebattu | Jürgen Dueball |
| align=center | 1966 | Jürgen Mattern | Manfred Wimmer | Max Rebattu |
| align=center | 1967 | Zoran Mutabzija | Manfred Wimmer | Max Rebattu |
| align=center | 1968 | Jürgen Mattern | Zoran Mutabzija | Jürgen Dueball |
| align=center | 1969 | Manfred Wimmer | Jürgen Mattern | Zoran Mutabzija |
| align=center | 1970 | Jürgen Mattern | Manfred Wimmer | Max Rebattu |
| align=center | 1971 | Zoran Mutabzija | Henk de Vries | Max Rebattu |
| align=center | 1972 | Jürgen Mattern | Max Rebattu | Jon Diamond |
| align=center | 1973 | Jürgen Mattern | Michael Katscher | Zoran Mutabzija |
| align=center | 1974 | Manfred Wimmer | Michael Kitsos | Tony Goddard |
| align=center | 1975 | Jürgen Mattern | Manfred Wimmer | Patrick Merissert |
| align=center | 1976 | Patrick Merissert | Tony Goddard | Jon Diamond |
| align=center | 1977 | Wolfgang Isele | Helmut Hasibeder | Ronald Schlemper |
| align=center | 1978 | Helmut Hasibeder | Max Rebattu | Matthew Macfadyen |
| align=center | 1979 | Jürgen Mattern | Ronald Schlemper | Robert Rehm |
| align=center | 1980 | Matthew Macfadyen | Jürgen Mattern | André Moussa |
| align=center | 1981 | Rob van Zeijst | Helmut Hasibeder | Robert Rehm |
| align=center | 1982 | Ronald Schlemper | Robert Rehm | André Moussa |
| align=center | 1983 | Janusz Kraszek | Terry Stacey | Matthew Macfadyen |
| 1984 | Matthew Macfadyen | Pierre Colmez | Egbert Rittner | |
| Robert Rehm | ||||
| 1985 | Ronald Schlemper | Matthew Macfadyen | Pierre Colmez | |
| André Moussa | ||||
| 1986 | Ronald Schlemper | Frank Janssen | Donzet Frederic | |
| Egbert Rittner | ||||
| 1987 | Matthew Macfadyen | Aleksey Lazarev | Donzet Frederic | |
| Rob Van Zeijst | ||||
| 1988 | Tibor Pocsai | Ronald Schlemper | Valeri Soloviov | |
| align=center | 1989 | Matthew Macfadyen | Ruslan Sakhabudinov | Valeri Soloviov |
| align=center | 1990 | Rob van Zeijst | Hans Pietsch | Jürgen Mattern |
| align=center | 1991 | Aleksey Lazarev | Gilles van Eeden | Vladimir Danek |
| align=center | 1992 | Aleksey Lazarev | Gilles van Eeden | Geert Groenen |
| align=center | 1993 | Rob van Zeijst | Juan Guo | Aleksey Lazarev |
| align=center | 1994 | Juan Guo | Guangji Shen | Manfred Wimmer |
| align=center | 1995 | Juan Guo | Christoph Gerlach | Pierre Colmez |
| align=center | 1996 | Juan Guo | Rob van Zeijst | Laurent Heiser |
| align=center | 1997 | Juan Guo | Vladimir Danek | Pei Zhao |
| align=center | 1998 | Robert Mateescu | Franz-Josef Dickhut | Christoph Gerlach |
| align=center | 1999 | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Ion Florescu | Dmitrij Surin |
| align=center | 2000 | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Pei Zhao | Franz-Josef Dickhut |
| align=center | 2001 | Andrey Kulkov | Christoph Gerlach | Emil Nijhuis |
| align=center | 2002 | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Dmytro Bohatskyi | Mykhailo Halchenko |
| align=center | 2003 | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Aleksey Lazarev | Cornel Burzo |
| align=center | 2004 | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Cătălin Țăranu | Cristian Gabriel Pop |
| align=center | 2005 | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Cătălin Țăranu | Ilja Shikshin |
| align=center | 2006 | Svetlana Shikshina | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Andrey Kulkov |
| align=center | 2007 | Ilya Shikshin | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Cristian Gabriel Pop |
| align=center | 2008 | Cătălin Țăranu | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Ilya Shikshin |
| align=center | 2009 | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Cătălin Țăranu | Csaba Mérő |
| align=center | 2010 | Ilya Shikshin | Artem Kachanovskyi | Cătălin Țăranu |
| align=center | 2011 | Ilya Shikshin | Cătălin Țăranu | Artem Kachanovskyi |
| align=center | 2012[27] | Jan Simara | Ilya Shikshin | Pavol Lisy |
| align=center | 2013[28] | Hui Fan | Pavol Lisy | Mateusz Surma |
| align=center | 2014[29] | Hui Fan | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Ilya Shikshin |
| align=center | 2015[30] | Hui Fan | Ali Jabarin | Ilya Shikshin |
| align=center | 2016[31] | Ilya Shikshin | Ali Jabarin | Lukáš Podpera |
| align=center | 2017 | Ilya Shikshin | Mateusz Surma | Artem Kachanovskyi |
| align=center | 2018[32] | Pavol Lisy | Ilya Shikshin | Ali Jabarin |
| align=center | 2019[33] | Ilya Shikshin | Artem Kachanovskyi | Lukáš Podpera |
| align=center | 2020[34] | Ilya Shikshin | Ali Jabarin | Artem Kachanovskyi |
| 2021[35] | Ilya Shikshin | Artem Kachanovskyi | Ali Jabarin | |
| 2022[36] | Benjamin Dréan-Guenaïzia | Artem Kachanovskyi | Fredrik Blomback | |
| 2023[37] | Andrii Kravets | Ali Jabarin | Ashe Vázquez | |
| 2024[38] | Andrii Kravets | Thomas Debarre | Fredrik Blomback |
From 1984, the Championship became open, allowing participants from outside Europe. This attracted strong players from China and Korea, who have regularly finished in the top spots. Until 2010, the highest finishing European national would be declared "European Champion", with the highest finisher of the tournament being declared "European Open Champion"; the latter title was often won by Korean nationals.
From 2011 onwards, the tournament format was changed. The tournament now consists of 7 rounds of MacMahon, followed by a 3-round single elimination knockout between the top 8 eight European nationals. The winner of this knockout is declared European Champion; the player with the most wins after 10 rounds is declared European Open Champion.
| Year | Winner | 2nd | 3rd | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center | 1984 | Tay-You Hong | Jong-Su Yoo | Matthew Macfadyen | |
| 1985 | Ronald Schlemper | Matthew Macfadyen | Pierre Colmez | ||
| André Moussa | |||||
| 1986 | Ronald Schlemper | Frank Janssen | Donzet Frederic | ||
| Egbert Rittner | |||||
| 1987 | Matthew Macfadyen | Alexei Lazarev | Donzet Frederic | ||
| Rob Van Zeijst | |||||
| 1988 | Tibor Pocsai | Kazuki Hondo | Ronald Schlemper | ||
| align=center | 1989 | Toshiyuki Sogabe | Matthew Macfadyen | Chikako Nakamura | |
| align=center | 1990 | Rob Van Zeijst | Shu-Tai Zhang | Hans Pietsch | |
| align=center | 1991 | Shu-Tai Zhang | Alexei Lazarev | Juan Guo | |
| align=center | 1992 | Takashi Matsumoto | Wataru Miyakawa | Shu-Tai Zhang | |
| align=center | 1993 | Rob van Zeijst | Naoyuki Kai | Juan Guo | |
| align=center | 1994 | Juan Guo | Guangji Shen | Manfred Wimmer | |
| align=center | 1995 | Juan Guo | Wataru Miyakawa | Yasuyuki Sumikura | |
| align=center | 1996 | Juan Guo | Rob van Zeijst | Hyuk Lee | |
| align=center | 1997 | Hyuk Lee | Wataru Miyakawa | Juan Guo | |
| align=center | 1998 | Hyuk Lee | Robert Mateescu | Franz-Josef Dickhut | |
| align=center | 1999 | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Ion Florescu | Dmitrij Surin | |
| align=center | 2000 | Hyuk Lee | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Pei Zhao | |
| align=center | 2001 | Andrei Kulkov | Kiyoshi Fujita | Christoph Gerlach | |
| align=center | 2002 | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Dmytro Bohatskyi | Mykhailo Halchenko | |
| align=center | 2003 | Seul-Ki Hong | Bi Jang | Sung-Kyun Park | |
| align=center | 2004 | Kwang-Sun Young | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Cătălin Țăranu | |
| align=center | 2005 | Alexandre Dinerchtein | Seok-Bin Cho | Jong-Wook Park | |
| align=center | 2006 | Chi-Seon Park | Ki-Bong Lee | Svetlana Shikshina | |
| align=center | 2007 | Seok-Ui Hong | Jong-Wook Park | Seok-Bin Cho | |
| align=center | 2008 | Jong-Wook Park | Seok-Ui Hong | Yu-Cheng Lai | |
| align=center | 2009 | Eun-Kuk Kim | In-Seong Hwang | Joon-Sang Kim | |
| align=center | 2010 | Ilya Shikshin | Artem Kachanovskyi | Chae-Lim Kim | |
| align=center | 2011 | Young-Sam Kim | Ilya Shikshin | Cătălin Țăranu | |
| align=center | 2012 | Jun-Hyup Song | Young-Sam Kim | Jan Simara | |
| align=center | 2013 | Hui Fan | Antti Tormanen | Pavol Lisy |
| Year | Winner | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Cartsen Klaus | T.Mark Hall | Christoph Gerlach |
| Daniela Trinks | Frauke Kuhn | Sabine Collin | |
| 1993 | Rob van Zeijst | Gruang-Ji Shen | Deaconu Lucian |
| Juan Guo | Zhao Pei | Giorgia Lucia | |
| 1994 | Matti Groot | Guido Tautorat | Karsten Ziegler |
| Juan Guo | Daniela Trinks | Britta Trepczik | |
| 1995 | Rob Kok | Jef Seailles | Robert Mateescu |
| Juan Guo | Rafaella Giardino | Adrian Ghioc | |
| 1996 | Laurent Heiser | Julien Roubertie | Hiroshi Shima |
| Hao-Jiang Zou | Astrid Gaultier | Keiko Watanabe | |
| 1997 | Hyuk Lee | Olivier Besson | Henk Hollmann |
| Juan Guo | Aude Friren | Kirsten Hollmann | |
| 1998 | Wataru Miyakawa | Hyuk Lee | Saijo Masataki |
| Steffi Hebsacker | |||
| Ruxandra Ilie | Svetlana Shikshina | Ildar Almouchametov | |
| Olga Mejova | |||
| 1999 | Marcin Wolak | Cătălin Țăranu | Emil Nijhuis |
| Marta Natecz | Renee Frehe | Gaelle Desportes | |
| 2000 | Dionisia Barrasa | ? | ? |
| Hong-Mei Fu | ? | ? | |
| 2001 | Niek van Diepen | Bela Nagy | Emil Nijhuis |
| Annemarie Hovingh | Lisa Ente | Yu-Won Choi | |
| 2002 | Hirobumi Ohmori | Ronald Verhagen | Joachim Beggerow |
| Olga Mezhova | Tabasa Nagai | Katrin Bade | |
| 2003 | Sung-Kyun Park | Cornel Burzo | Andrey Sovetkin |
| Na-Yeon Kang | Geraldine Paget | Ilsia Samakaeva | |
| 2004 | Piotr Wisthal | Lionel Fischer | Christoph Gerlach |
| Alexandra Urban | Helene Alby | Lara Skuppin | |
| 2005 | Dong-Chan Kim | Zbynek Dach | Tae-Hyun Kim |
| Se-Young Kim | Klara Zaloudkova | Jong-Uk Park | |
| 2006 | Christian Gawron | Bernd Radmacher | ? |
| Monika Reimpell | Karen Schomberg | ? | |
| 2007 | Yury Pliushch | ? | ? |
| Maria Zakharchenko | ? | ? | |
| 2008 | Seung-Geun Lee | Marc Stoehr | ? |
| Daniela Trinks | Meien Kurebayashi | ? | |
| 2009 | Siu-Hong Chung | Liu-Zhi Lin | ? |
| Cheng-Ping Chang | Juan Guo | ? | |
| 2010 | Chin-Seok Mok | Ilya Shikshin | Tomas Bartonek |
| Klara Zaloudkova | Laura Avram | Ha-Jin Lee | |
| 2011 | Jan Simara | Cornel Burzo | Sung Kim |
| Rita Pocsai | Adelina Sora | Klara Zaloudkova | |
| 2012 | Manja Marz | Jan Simara | Jesse Savo |
| Huai-Yi Chang | Barbara Knauf | Laura Avram | |
| 2013 | Cezary Czernecki | Young-Long Park | Bin Lu |
| Ha-Jin Lee | Agnieszka Kacprzyk | Ting Li |