Belgian Go Federation

The 2011 Belgian Go Camp took place from Sept. 8th to 11th in Berkelhoeve. The teachers this year were In-Seong Hwang, Korean 7d teaching Go in Switzerland, and Lucas Neirynck, our Belgian champion. Abiding by very tight schedules (they had prepared much more lessons than what we are used to), they offered a very intensive training experience that all students were eager to take.

It was the first time that In-Seong Hwang teached Go in Belgium, but he's been doing a great job, following his motto "I only have three days to teach you and I want you to improve". I guess this wish has been fulfilled, thanks to his extensive lessons which covered opening, use of common patterns, endgame counting, tesuji-shapes and how to use them, tsumegos, simultaneous games, practical workshops and regular homework to make sure we could remember everything. I think all students were amazed by the quality of his classes, and we're all looking forwards to invite him again.

The teachers were very busy on Friday, but still agreed to take part to the Blitz tournament in the evening; quite expectedly, even subscribing at 8d, In-Seong took the first place, followed by Lucas Neirynck.

On Saturday night after the barbecue, we played a giant go-related game enhancing team spirit and fast reading; it had been created on purpose for the Belgian Go camp and it was a success.

On Sunday afternoon, after an unexpectedly fast cleaning, we had the chance to follow the last workshop before In-Seong took his flight back to Geneva: we followed a live commentary of Lucas Neirynck vs Benjamin Gigot. It was a very exciting game, especially because they played most of the moves that we had learned in class with In-Seong, and we could apply what we had just learned.

In-Seong and the Swiss Go Federation have many projects that they would like to share with Belgium, which can be very interesting given that we are similar associations working with a common goal of developing Go.

About the camp organization,
- The place (Berkelhoeve) was really nice, exactly adapted, beautiful, convenient; 2-person bedrooms are much better than what we experienced before; as it is in the countryside, if we decide to keep that place by next year, we'll organize some cars to drive people from and to the station of Herentals.
- There was a small lack of food, which will obviously be corrected next year.

The next Go camp will probably take place around the same date next year (second weekend of September) and I'm looking forwards to take part to it!

For the camp participants: I sent the class content by email, if you didn't receive it please contact me!

Pictures here