Singurul regret pe care il am: nu am apucat sa vizitez orasul Tg. Mures, asa ca de data aceasta vor fi numai poze de la concurs:

Deschiderea a fost interesanta si a continut un moment special, retragerea din activitate a lui Eric Puyt, cel care in ultimii 20 de ani a realizat proiectul European Go Centre (proiect de 1 milion de euro in care nici el nu a crezut initial), a fost presedinte al federatiei Europene de Go si s-a implicat in organizarea World Mind Sports Games.

A doua zi a inceput cel mai puternic concurs din istoria Ing Memorial, cu 5 profesionisti la start. In plan personal, rezultatul a fost unul deosebit de prost, 0 puncte din 6 partide. O experienta interesanta a fost partida cu Pierre Audouard 6 Dan, din Franta. Datorita faptului ca Pierre este complet orb, partida s-a disputat pe o tabla speciala, piesele se infigeau in intersectii, iar pietrele negre aveau un tamburus deasupra, pentru a putea fi diferentiate.

Alt moment interesant pentru mine a fost la runda a 4-a. Am inceput partida cu Vladimir Danek  5 Dan, dar dupa cateva mutari, arbitrul concursului, William Wandel, ne-a intrerupt, imperecherea a fost facuta gresit. Am continuat runda in compania lui Ivan Kulikovskij 5 Dan.

Festivitatea de inchidere a fost marcata de o veste trista, despre care am scris de asemenea in alt post,  incetarea contractului de sponsorizare dintre Fundatia Ing si Federatia Europeana de Go, fapt ce ar putea duce ca editia 2009 a Ing Memorial sa fie ultima.

In final, cateva fotografii.

Dear Friend,
as a go friend, Izuggo together with VenetoGo and Tortellino Go Club invites you to the 1st edition of the Delta Tournament which will take place on 1-2-3 May 2009 in Anita (FE), Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy. It will be a special chance to play go in a beautiful naturalistic area worldwide known, the Po Delta Park: besides the typical A class european tournament, you can enjoy organized excursions to discover the fascinating landscape of the Comacchio lagoon and taste delicius local food.
If this event might be of interest for your club, please visit http://www.izuggo.com/home/en and extend this invitation to your friends and members.

Thank you for your attention,
Leonardo Dal Zovo – Izuggo Organising Committee

PS. Maine dimineata decolez spre Amsterdam pentru a participa la Ing Memorial; daca am timp si acces Internet, poate va povestesc cate ceva

Si cateva poze de la Finala Campionatului National de GO 2008 (multumiri Liviu). Am ales pozele jucatorilor care au ajuns pe podium, in ordine Cristian Pop 7Dan, Cornel Burzo 6Dan si Dragos Bajenaru 6Dan (felicitari tuturor si pe aceasta cale ).

Am avut cateva partide grele, dar frumoase, iar atmosfera generala a fost OK.

Rezultatele complete le gasiti pe site-ul FRGO.

Pun si 2 poze, cea a premiantilor (multumesc Mihai Lita) si o fotografie cu castigatorul turneului, cehul Ondrej Silt.

How to make European tournaments more attractive?

Nowadays in Europe we have a very big problem. Top European players are not active at all and it’s hard to see them playing in Go tournaments. Most of European leaders are regularly teaching and playing Go on KGS, but they take part in maximum 2-3 offline tournaments a year. What is the main problem? We have tournaments with attractive prizes – 1000-3000 Euro for the first places, but European players ignore them. Usually it’s necessary to pay travel expenses, food and hotel, but they know that Chinese and Korean ex-inseis or professionals will come too and take all the prizes.
Here is the recent example. Paris Go tournament with 10 from 10 top places, occupied by Asian ex-inseis and professionals: http://paris2008.jeudego.org/?page=resultat

It’s a pity, but it’s true that Fan Hui, Cho Seokbin, Hong Seolki and other Asians are stronger than most of European 6-7 dans.

The problem was not so big in the past. Yes we had active Asian players, staying in Europe: Yoo Chongsu, Lee Hyuk, Guo Juan, Park Sangnam. They were also stronger than most of Europeans, but they did not play in ALL tournaments.

I counted the number of official tournaments, played by Cho Seokbin, 7-dan : 14 in 2007 and 20 in 2006! He won almost all of them!

Most of regular tournaments in Europe have good first prizes, but the prizes for 2-3rd places are not big enough for attracting European players – even whose who lives in these countries. As a result we see top Asian players competing with local 3-4 dan players. For example:
http://www.europeangodatabase.eu/Tournament_Card.php?&key=T071124B&pin=13833930

Top German players, such as Gerlach, Dickhut, Teuber, Felix_von Arnim and Marco Firnhaber ignored their home event. The handicap between Cho Seokbin and local 3-4 dan German players must be at least 3-4 stones and their not-handicap games are usually boring. Europeans lose them in first 50-100 moves. Nowadays it’s popular to broadcast the games on IGS or KGS and such games are not attractive, of course, for spectators. The game between Asians and top Europeans (Shikshin, Pop, Zeist, Balogh, Bajenaru …) are much more interesting, but we may see them only once a year during the European Go Congress.

I suggest changing the current system of European tournaments and making more invitational events for 8-16 players. They have lot of similar tournaments in chess – Linares or Veik-an-Zee, for example. Usually they invite several top players by rating, extravagant players with impressive playing styles, famous veteran players, probably one female master. The organizers invite one or two young players from the hosting country. If there is a B-league open to everyone, like in Veik-an-Zee, they invite the winners of such event from the previous year.

Such tournaments are usually very impressive and we can see lot of interesting games. All participants play each other and it’s usually possible to avoid any SOS/SODOS based problems, which we often see in Mac-Mahon. Also young and talented players are getting their chances of playing and learning something from European leaders – it’s a very important thing.

Just imagine such an event: Moscow, Russia -2009, invitational round tournament for 8 players.
1-2 – Fan Hui and Cho Seokbin as best Asians. 3 – Ilya Shikshin as European champion. 4- Matthew Macfadyen, representing veteran players. 5-6 – Kulkov and Lazarev as best players of hosting country. 7- Diana Koszegi as the only female. 8- Artem Kachanovskij as the European champion under 18. They will play 7 games each and I am sure that all of these games will be attractive. Lot of players will watch such translations on KGS.

I don’t think that we need lot of tournaments for kyu players. Just 3-4 events per year will be enough. They can learn a lot from books or private lessons, practice in local Go clubs or by internet.
It’s much easier to organize an event for 8-16 players, instead of 50-150, which we usually see in Europe. It’s possible to save time and money by renting smaller playing halls, inviting fewer referees, bringing less drinks and equipment. Saved money can be used for paying expenses for invited players and enlarging the prizes.

I am also sure, that these tournaments will be more attractive for sponsors. If the sponsor plays Go, we may ask him to choose the players himself or invite 1-2 of his favorite masters.

Parerea mea?
Suna interesant un turneu de felul celui prezentat de Alexander, dar sa vezi 3-4 concursuri pe an pentru jucatorii de nivel kyu imi suna aiurea rau de tot. Pentru un jucator de kyu, un ritm adecvat mi se pare de un concurs pe luna, mai putine ar reduce experienta, mai multe ar acumula oboseala. Desigur, poti invata din carti, poti juca amicale cu prietenii, poti juca pe IGS/KGS sau alte variante, dar nimic, repet, nimic nu se compara cu experienta pe care o capeti in concursuri live, la tabla, fata in fata cu partenerul tau, sa simti tensiunea si presiunea.

Parerea voastra? Astept comentariile indiferent de rangul vostru

Concursul in sistem MacMahon se va desfasura in Complexul Sportiv National Bascov (Comuna Budeasa, la 12 km de Pitesti). Accesul se poate face si din Autostrada Bucuresti- Pitesti, pe varianta autostrazii spre Rm. Vilcea.

Concursul este deschis tuturor jucatorilor nascuti dupa anul 1982 (inclusiv).

Premiile sunt oferite de catre organizatorul concursului S.C. Pro Finance SRL, prin Departamentul Domenii-Web.com, cu ajutorul sponsorizarii acordate de Dl. Eugen Dumitrescu.

Ion Florescu (6 Dan) va fi invitat special si va sustine o demonstratie pentru componentii Lotului National de Juniori care vor lua parte la CE Juniori in luna martie.

Premii principale:

Locul I -    400 RON
Locul II -   300 RON
Locul III – 200 RON

Alte premii: vor fi oferite premii pentru toti participantii care vor obtine minim 3 victorii:

5 victorii – 150 RON
4 victorii – 100 RON
3 victorii -   50 RON

Premiile pentru locurile 1, 2 si 3 se cumuleaza cu premiile pentru numar de victorii.

Conditii de joc:

Timp de gandire: 45 minute
(byo-yomi: 15 pietre / 5 min sau 1 mutare / 30 secunde)

5 runde, komi 6.5 pct, criterii departajare: MMS, SOS, SOSOS

Program de desfasurare:

Vineri 15 feb. 2008

Se va asigura cina si cazarea pentru sportivii sositi in cursul zilei

Sambata 16 feb. 2008

09.30 Inscrierea jucatorilor

10:00   Runda I
14:00   Runda II
17:00   Runda III

Duminica 17 feb. 2008

09:30   Runda IV
11:30   Runda V
14:00   Festivitatea de premiere

Conditii financiare:

Jucatorii vor plati o taxa de participare de 60 lei/pers/zi, care include cazarea si 3 mese/zi.

Cazarea se face in camere de 3 paturi, cu TV, frigider si baie proprie.

Transportul va fi decontat (partial) de catre Federatie, pentru toti sportivii inscrisi pina in data de 10 februarie 2008.

Inscrieri si rezervari:

Mihai Opris
Tel: 0744.341.682

Constantin Ghioc
Tel: 0723.275.490

Vor fi 6 runde impartite pe durata a 2 zile, in locatia obisnuita a clubului RATB de pe Str. Lipscani 21.

Detalii complete pe site-ul Federatiei Romane de Go.

Interviuri cu ocupantii primelor 3 locui (Ion Florescu, Cornel Burzo si Cristian Pop):

Festivitatea de premiere: