Belgian Go Federation

Olivier Drouot wins this 2024 edition of Rapid Games Belgian Championship (12 min per player + 10 sec / move, handicap - 2).
Second and Belgian Rapid Champion is Lucman Bounoider.

A high level tournament with many Dan and high SDK players but only 7 participants (and half of the participants are board members...).
Still a lof of suspense for the win and many tense situations for games that have been confortably played from home.

Final result

1 - Olivier Drouot - 6 victories - Winner of the Rapid Belgian Championship !
2 - Lucman Bounoider - 5 victories - Belgian Rapid Go Champion !
3 - Jan Ramon - 3 victories
4 - Renaud Gaban - 3 victories
5 - Guillaume De Keijser - 3 victories
6 - Michael Silcher - 1 victory
7 - Jean-Denis Hennebert - 0 victories

The dreaded team Michael Silcher - Moad Boukricha wins this year again the Belgian Rengo Championship, undefeated, uncontested.

Congratulations for this win !
And see you next year with hopefully a little more competition.

Round 2: Belgium Secures First Victory in the Pandanet Team Championship!

The Belgium team has notched its first win of the 2024-2025 Pandanet Team Championship, taking down Switzerland in a commanding 3-1 performance. For the first time this season, our top lineup—Lucas, Jan, Lucman, and Kevin—hit the boards together, delivering a statement victory.

Board 1: Lucas Dominates the Rematch

Lucas (Black) faced John Walsh in what promised to be a tightly contested match. Despite being the favourite, Lucas knew better than to underestimate Walsh, who had previously bested him this year. But this time, Lucas was locked in.
After a solid opening, Black emerged with a 7-point lead by the first josekis at the top. Lucas then capitalized on a key mistake when White played away after move 64, allowing Black to cut and initiate a fight. The result? Lucas isolated White’s top stones and extended his lead to 20 points. By move 111, White’s biggest territory had collapsed, forcing a resignation. A masterclass from Lucas.

Board 2: Jan’s Fight Falls Short

Jan (White) took on Fabien Lips in a rematch with revenge on his mind. Both players opened with san-san, building frameworks with a mix of territory and influence. Jan applied pressure early, isolating a Black group with move 36. By move 90, Jan had the slight lead, leading by nearly 3 points.
However, the tide turned in a critical sequence from moves 110 to 119, even though Jan captured the cutting stones Fabien now had a territorial lead. From that point on, Jan couldn’t regain momentum. Despite the loss, Jan showed promise in an intense match.

Board 3: Lucman’s Magical Maneuver

Lucman (Black) went toe-to-toe with Josef Renner in a game full of fireworks. After an aggressive two-space low pincer, the players entered a complex variation. When the dust settled, Lucman held a 10-point lead and impressive board thickness.
Then came the magic. Lucman methodically reduced White’s options on the top side. With surgical precision, he left White’s group with no way out, forcing a resignation by move 113. A clinical finish and a vital point for Belgium.

Board 4: Kevin Shuts Down the Moyo

Kevin (White) rounded out the day with a strong performance against Arnaud Pilet. Using the same joseki as Lucman in the bottom right corner, Kevin built an early 15-point lead by move 59. Arnaud attempted to mount a comeback by building a central moyo, but Kevin stayed calm and in control.
Despite Arnaud’s efforts, the lead proved insurmountable. Kevin maintained his composure and cruised to victory, sealing Belgium’s 3-1 triumph.

Final Score: 3-1 Victory Over Switzerland

With our all-star lineup firing on all cylinders, Belgium secures its first win of the season and jumps to second place overall. The team’s resilience and strategic depth were on full display, and the stage is now set for an exciting season ahead.
For those who want to dive deeper into the games, the records are available on the Pandanet website.
https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/1111?tourname...

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 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

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). :-(

Kevin Prist (3-d) had not played any competitive game since 04/2016.
He came back last WE (06+07/07), winning the 2024 tournament of Ghent, ahead of Yannick Kuy (2-k) (4/6) and Voja Stojanovic (4-k)(4/6).
There were 8 participants.

Here are the complete results: https://www.gofed.be/webfm_send/630

In the 9th (and last round) of the European Team Championship, Belgium (Lucas, Gabriel, Sven, Larisa) lost heavily to Switzerland (0-4)
(Lucas lost to a mere 4-d; the others, to better ranked opponents).

Belgium ended 4th out of 10 teams.

Results of the 9th round: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/1009

Final standing: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps
(note there are only 2 points difference between the 3rd and the 8th team !).

PS: In A-league, Ukraine, France, Poland and Czechia are the 4 teams qualified for the finals (which will be played during the European Go Congress this summer in Toulouse).

For this year Belgian Championship the 3 favorites were Lucas Neirynck, Jan Ramon and Xin Shu.

Jan (4-d) has been champion 3 times and Lucas (6-d)...12 times ! The newcomer, Xin Shu (5-d), is a student from China who arrived in Belgium last year for studies.
On the belgian rating list, Lucas (6-d) was number 1 but Xin is very close behind. In the Paris tournament in which they both participated, Lucas finished 8th and Xin 7th. Lucas has won the Orsay tournament this year, and Xin Leuven and Lille. The participation of Xin therefore promised to provide a bit of suspense !

Saturday, in the second round Lucas met Xin and after a dense fight, Lucas took the first win between the two players.
Of course, Xin stayed in the championship with this only loss, because the final stage of the Belgian Championship is a double elimination tournament.

As a result this Sunday only 4 players were still qualified: Lucas, Xin, Jan and Guillaume.
Jan Ramon was sick this Sunday and therefore lost by forfeit.
Guillaume lost against Lucas, leading to the expected final: Lucas - Xin.

In this final, Lucas only had to win once to be the winner, while Xin had to win two games.

In the 1st game, after a flying dagger opening (!), Xin took a clear lead and kept it until the end of the game.

A second decisive game was thus needed to define the winner of the tournament.
It went into a complex middle game fight in which the hoshi wall of Lucas got attacked.
With a convincing play, Xin managed to secure the net around this big fish to kill it, winning the second game and the tournament.


Congratulations to Xin for winning the 2024 Belgian Championship !


As best player with the Belgian nationality, Lucas Neirynck retains his national title of Belgian Champion, ahead of Guillaume De Kijser (vice-champion) and Jan Ramon. Applause for everyone ! :)

During the post-game interview, we inquired about Xin Shu's secret.
He does 20-30 minutes of Go problems every day and 2 – 3 serious games at the club per week.

Games detailed report

Game 1 SGF on OGS commented by Xin himself !*

* If you don't see the comments, download the SGF and open it with your favorite SGF reader.

Nigiri gave Xin black stones. Both opened with a double Hoshi. On move 5 san-san invasion was played by and it went to a complex Flying Knife joseki. After a couple of mistakes at moves 40 and 42 and the turn of 43 (AI assessed it was a 16 point mistake), there were a few big moves, then a ko on the top left leading to a trade where Black takes the corner and splits the top and White manages to link underneath his weak stones - but this was not good enough for the AI. The lead did grow again a bit. Lucas then rolled up his sleeves and before move 156 the difference went to less than 8 points. Lucas got more solid territory, but black had great influence around the center. Luces said after the game that at this point he estimated that he got to go as deep as 156 to get a chance to come back. That didn’t make it back and at the end of the game Xin got his first victory against Lucas in this tournament.

Game 2 SGF on OGS commented by Xin himself !

After a short break before the final game of the competition, both players opened with Hoshi’s, and early 3-3 invasion by Xin again. This time Lucas chosed a more solid joseki than usual. Move 37 in particular is going for influence. After move 76 the game is still close but White has more cash, it’s on Black to go get some points. Lucas puts the pressure on with move 77. Xin replies with a powerful counter peep and defends actively - and a good defense is a strong offense, isn't it ? Strong pincer to black served also as base for his weaker stones. Xin defends and after the hane of 90 tenukis and gets a huge move at 92 first (AI estimates 7 point difference there). Lucas now got to solve a complicated tsumego, where every move is dangerous, Xin gets some more valuable stones on the outside. Move 133 Lucas managed to make an eye but in Gote and Xin goes for the kill. Lucas didn't make it through and after Xin played a nice tesuji to prevent a second eye, Lucas resigned.

The 44th World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC) was held on 19–22 May in Tokyo, Japan.

After eight rounds of intense games, Bai Baoxiang from China emerged victorious, clinching his fifth championship.
Bai has previously won the WAGC in 2011, 2016, 2017, and 2022.

Korea’s Kim Jeong-Seon (last year champion) came in second, and Japan’s Ōzeki Minoru was third.

Each one had a score of seven wins and one loss, with Bai having lost to Ōzeki, Ōzeki to Kim, and Kim to Bai.
SOS was used as tiebreaker, with Bai having the highest score, followed by Kim, and then Ōzeki.

Bai has a total of 37 wins and 1 loss in all the WAGC tournaments he has participated in, his game with Ōzeki being his only loss.

Top 6 places:
1. Bai Baoxiang (China) 7/8
2. Kim Jeon-Seon (Korea) 7/8
3. Ōzeki Minoru (Japan) 7/8
4. Pongsakarn Sornarra (Thailand) (6-d, 17 years old !) 6/8
5. Lo Sheng-Chieh (Chinese Taipei) (6/8)
6. Csaba Mero (Hungary) (6/8) (best Westerner, best European)

Our delegate was Renaud Gaban (1-k).
He ended 31th (out of 60 participants) with a 4/8 score
(logical losses to stronger opponents of France, Singapore, Croatia and Brunei; wins against Venezuela (a 2-d !), rep Dominican Republic, Kazakhstan...and against another 2-d competitor, from Norway (his land of residence for the being time).
Congratulations to him !

More info on: https://www.intergofed.org/igf-news-feed/bai-baoxiang-from-china-wins-44...