Polish Stanislaw Frejlak becomes the new (and 8th) European "home-made" professional by beating in final of the (6th) European Pro qualification tournament Lukas Podpera (CZ, 7-d).
What is this tournament ?
The 16 best European amateurs (according to the EGC ranking list) wishing becoming a go professional player competed in European Pro Qualification, a tournament organised +/- every 2 years.
It is a knock-out tournament in which every round was played as a "best of three".
The 2 great favorites were Frejlak and Podpera.
And they both effectively reached the final.
This final was rather dramatic: Lukas won the 1st game, a very long game (397 moves !), but lost the 2nd one ...by half a point. And the day after, Lukas also lost the 3rd (and decisive) game.
This is very unfortunate for him: he has already reached 3 times the final of a European Pro Qualification, and certainly he also deserves to also become a pro !
NB: "Our" Lucas Neirynck (ranked 13) lost in the 1st round to Frenchman Benjamin Dréan-Guénaizia (ranked 4).
