Belgian Go Federation

Kaku Maekawa, a Japanese 6-d studying presently a PhD in Köln, won unbeaten the 38th edition of the Brussels tournament.
Xinghong Chen (China) ended second with 4 wins, ahead of a groupe of 5 players with 3 wins.
Among these players with 3 wins, the best Belgian: Lucman Bounoider (3-d) (7th)
To be noted: Kevin Prist (2-d) managed to beat Koichiro Habu (5-d).

Beside these best finishers, there were 5 players with 4 wins (nobody got 5 wins except Maekawa): Louis Baudaux (1-k), Voja Stojanovic (5-k), Moad Boukricha (8-k), Jeffrey Nguyen (9-k) and Zidan Zha (9-k). Congratulations to them !

There were 53 participants.

Complete results: https://www.europeangodatabase.eu/EGD/Tournament_Card.php?&key=T241026E&...

The opening round of the 2024-2025 Pandanet Championship saw the Belgium team go head-to-head with Finland, resulting in a hard-fought 2-2 draw. This season brings a fresh look for Belgium, with stricter anti-cheating protocols reshaping the roster. The lineup for this first matchup featured Lucas, Lucman, Kevin, and Vincent, each ready to make their mark.

Board 1: Lucas Secures the First Win

Lucas (White) set the tone early, playing his game on October 11. After navigating a competitive start, Lucas took command from move 45 and never looked back. A decisive kill on a large dragon secured the first point for Belgium, putting them up 1-0 and establishing momentum.

Board 2: Lucman’s Comeback Falls Short

Lucman (Black) faced off in a game that had all the makings of a grind-it-out contest. Both players opened with solid shapes, but Lucman’s early attempt to invade the bottom left fell flat, putting him behind by komi. With the game slipping away, Lucman went on the offensive, launching a powerful invasion to split White's groups. White countered, giving up the corner while maintaining a narrow lead. Lucman’s relentless pressure brought the game within three points, but Belgium couldn’t seal the deal, dropping Board 2 to even the score.

Board 3: Kevin Edges Out the Twitch Sensation

In a marquee matchup against Twitch sensation Mikkgo, Kevin (White) put on a show. The game started with a high-stakes clash at the top, where Kevin emerged ahead by four points. Mikkgo wasn’t backing down, launching a left-side invasion that disrupted Kevin’s corner and white was able to make life and some points for his group. With the game still even, Kevin made his move—an aggressive invasion into Mikkgo’s framework. The gamble paid off, wrecking Mikkgo’s territory and swinging the lead back to Kevin.

But the drama wasn’t over. Mikkgo’s last-ditch invasion on the bottom left set up a ko capturing race (semiai) that had me on the edge of my seats. In the final moments, Kevin’s big one-eyed group outlasted Mikkgo’s, and with some clutch play, he clinched the victory, giving Belgium a 2-1 edge.

Board 4: The One That Got Away

With this board we had a chance to get our firs team win. Vincent (Black) took off to a good start, carving out a 14-point lead. For some moments, all signs pointed to a Belgium victory. But his opponnt played solid endgame. The 1-dan opponent mounted a comeback, and Belgium’s hopes for a win faded as Vincent fell short by just 2.5 points.

Final Score: 2-2 Draw Against Finland

In a round that had its share of highs and heartbreaks, Belgium walked away with a 2-2 split. The team's performance showed grit and flashes of brilliance, setting the stage for an exciting season ahead.

For those who want to relive the action, the game records are available on the Pandanet website.

https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/1111?tourname...

Infos and registration: https://www.gofed.be/node/1425

Attention: the number of places are limited !

We're excited to introduce the team representing Belgium in this year's Pandanet competition.

This year's lineup includes both experienced players and people who still need to have their first games in this competition:

Here is the linup with the European Database Ranking

Lucas Neirynck - 6 Dan
Jan Ramon - 3 Dan
Lucman Bounoider - 3 Dan
Kevin Prist - 2 Dan
Kiem Lam - 1 Dan
Vincent Quoilin - 1 Kyu
Guillaume De Keijser - 4 Kyu

We invite all Go fans to follow and support our national team over the next few months. Stay updated on their progress, match results, as they compete on the European stage!

The Chinese representative, Tianyi Liu, won unbeaten (7/7) the 19th edition of the KPMC.

Chen-en Chung from Taïwan ended 2nd and - thus the best Occidental player - Valerii Krushelnytskyi from Ukraine completed the podium. Both with a 6/7 score.

The Korean player ended at a desappointing 4th place, and the Japanese one was 5th; both with a 5/7 score (and with the 2 greatest tiebreaker scores among the players with 5 wins).

"Our guy" was Joost Vannieuwenhuyse (2-kyu). Joost won 3 games, among which one against a Danish 4-dan ! His other results were "logical": wins against Danemark, Brazil and Argentina; losses to New-Zealand, Croatia, Switzerland and Norway). He ended 41th out of a field of 60 competitors.

Complete results: https://kpmc.kbaduk.or.kr/us/2024/result

Dear fellow Go players,

You have Belgian nationality,
You are member of the BGF
You are ready to play maximum one Tuesday evening (online) each month (more likely one game every 2 or 3 months) with players from all over Europe,
Then, please read further:

The European Team Championship, also known as the Pandanet League, is expected to restart in October.
We need minimum 6-8 Go players to build a Belgian team.
For each match, the team captain will constitute a team of 4 players who are free and eager to play, among the ones players selected at the beginning of the season.
Usually dan players are preferred but many times in the past, our kyu players were able to score victories against dan players and were the heros of the team!
Thus, don’t be shy and ask for being a team member whatever your level is !

Further information about Pandanet League here: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps

If you are interested, please send an email to info at gofed.be before Friday 28th of September (deadline for registration of the Belgian team is 01/10 !).

Andreii Kravets, already European champion last year, became 2024 European champion by beating Thomas Debarre (FR, 7-d) in final of the European championship.

Frederik Blomback (Sweden, 7-d) took bronze medail by beating a surprising Denis Karadaban (FR, 6-d) in the « little »final.

Complete results: https://eurogofed.org/egc/2024.html

https://www.eurogofed.org/egc/2024.html

What a feat !
Lucas won against Tanguy Le Calvé (1-p) then he won against Lukas Podpera, 7-d
Then, he lost to Mateusz Surma (3-p).
But in the loser section, he won against Denis Dobranis (5-d) to qualify himself for the 1/4 of finals.
Friday, he will affront Andrei Kravets (1-p), 2023 European champion.
Last update: Lucas lost to Andreii (by 4,5 points). :-(

WHERE ?
Auberge du Tilff Esplanade de l’Abeille, 9 4130 TILFF
The building is an 18th century farm-manor house that can host up to 50 people and is located at the heart of the Ourthe Valley in the Ardennes.
The place is very nice, please look here: https://aubergedetilff.be/about-us/
To go there it's only 20 mn travel in train from Liège and 5 mn walk from the Tilff railroad station.

Motoki Noguchi: Our main instructor will be this year and for the first time the famous Motoki NOGUCHI 7d - reigning champion of France.
https://senseis.xmp.net/?MotokiNoguchi

WHAT ?
Scheduled program
Games, commented games, theory, exercices, mini-tournaments, fun...
Motoki will speak english.

WHEN ?
3 full days
From Thursday evening 26/09 (6 pm) or Friday 27/09 (10 am) to Sunday 29/09 (6 pm).
Note: Possible to come only the week-end !

HOW MUCH ?
180 € full pension all included (3 nights, all the meals, drinks, lessons by the instructor).
130 € if just for the week-end
For non-Belgian Go Federation members: extra 20 € to pay with the registration
Deadline registration: 18/09

Fee to transfer on the account of the BGF IBAN: BE24 7755 9621 2238.

Registration form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf2v5mppp8Keab-zQ0JebPOydaPLx-6...