The 2026 European Championship will take place in Ankara, Türkiye, this year, from July 25 (check-in) to August 2!
This tournament gathers 32 of the best players of Europe.

The ruling champion is Mateusz Surma 4p (PL), who will take him the crown (if anyone)?

To answer this question and anticipate, we are already consolidating the list of players and calling on strong players (5d+) to show their interest in participating.
The final list shall be decided with the last ratings change in June.

If you're considering participating and fit the requirements below, or if you are qualified but not playing, please fill the form. 

Take a look at the webpages of the European Championship 2026! 

Who can participate?

For 2026:

- 8 top players from last year EC and additional 4 from this year Grand Prix Finale
- 3 seats for the winners (or best placed player) of EYGC 2026 (U12,16 and U21) if GoR > 2400*
- 1 EGC wildcard
- 16 best ranked (peak GoR) players since last june and up to June this year

Any other joining player will be decided by ranking.

*As the rules for EYGC Championship were changed (age group change), it was decided to award not one but 3 seats to the European Championship, provided that the go level would be high enough.

All participants must be citizens from an EGF member country, must register to the EGC 2026 and pay the discounted fee, be there on the evening prior to the Championship (25.07), attend all the rounds and follow the tournament rules and requirements as asked from the organizer.

The current list is available here. The present information will be sent to the EGF Members as well.

System:

• Double knock-out, the classical bracket with Final and Small Final.
• 80 min with 40sec increment for all games (Fischer time)
• EGF general tournament rules with territory scoring (eu-japanese rules, komi 6.5) apply.
• Games parallel to the EGC main Open will be counted for it, more details later.

▾ Detailed information

[link to the Main tournament of the EGC will be confirmed later on]

The European championship shall be played during the first week (starting on Sunday) and second weekend of the EGC. 

Games played on the same day as the EGC shall be taken into account as well for the main EGC tournament (i.e. 5 games)

A final phase with 8 players shall take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday

It is a double knock-out tournament – hence, the players with two lost games in the preliminary rounds leave immediately the European Championship and may continue playing in the main EGC tournament.

Playing rules might be different to the EGC main tournament: the championship will be played with Fischer time 80mn basic plus 40 seconds additional*
[* for all games, contrary to what had been done at EC 2025]

There is no need to define 5th to 8th positions. Hence, the players may play the weekend tournament if they wish so. Only for semi-finals, the games for 3rd place and the final are played over the weekend.

Pairings:

 Pairings for the first round is based on EGF rating by mid-July except for a bonus point Grand Prix played just before the EC (after  mid July).


 Championship Schedule:

- 5 rounds played during the main EGC tournament on the first week

- 1 extra round played on Wednesday for the loser bracket

- 2 extra rounds played on Saturday and Sunday (2nd weekend) – semi-finals and finals.

Prize money:
1st Place: 4.000 €
2nd Place: 2.500 €
3rd Place: 1.500 €
4th Place: 1.000 €
5th-8th Place: 500 €

Schedule:

Date / Day	Time	Round
26.07 (Sun)	11:00 - 16:00	Round 1
27.07 (Mon)	10:00 - 15:00	Round 2
28.07 (Tue)	10:00 - 15:00	Round 3
29.07 (Wed)	10:00 - 15:00	Round 4
30.07 (Thu)	10:00 - 15:00	Round 5
31.07 (Fri)	10:00 - 15:00	Quarterfinals
01.08 (Sat)	11:00 - 16:00	Semi-Finals
02.08 (Sun)	13:00 - 18:00	Final

For reference, the rules of the EC can be found here.