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3rd European Go Grand Slam Tournament and 8th China Cup Berlin Part 2
By Tony Claasen | News | 07.05.2017 16:07| Views: 5317
As a scribe I spent most of my time with the players of the Grand Slam Tournament.

As told in part one, my first game as scribe was the game between the two old timers Catalin Taranu and Alexandre Dinerchtein, a game which Alexandre won.

Because of this result Catalin was able to play in the team tournament together with his friends Cristian Pop and Cornel Burzo.

My first action for this Romanian team was not as scribe for the preliminary round that Catalin played, but rather it was as travel-agent, organizing a private sleeping place for the team.
After some conversations with people from Berlin I was able to organize them a Bed and Breakfast with Sabine Wohnig.
Here follows a short impression from Cornel:

The 8th China Cup Team tournament was held in Berlin at the same time as the 3rd European Grand Slam and it gathered some strong teams in the top group.

I joined a team with Catalin Taranu 5p and Cristian Pop 7d of Romania.

We called ourselves 'The Dudes' and we finished 3rd in the competition with 3 wins and 2 losses out of 5 rounds.

In case we don't qualify for the next Grand Slam edition, we will try harder next time to win this side event.Cornel Burzo
The second clash that was mentioned in part one was a French clash, the winner Tanguy gives us a small impression of his first participation in the Grand Slam Tournament:

It was my first Grand Slam, and that was a great experience :)
Well, as an underdog my plan was to win at least the first round in order to qualify for the rest of the tournament.
Sadly, I had to beat my friend and compatriot Thomas in the first round, and I was lucky enough to get the victory.
After this French tragedy, I had to do my best for the sake of honour. I ended up with 2/4 in 6th place, just behind the professional players so this was quite an okay tournament for me :)
Beside this, the place was really nice, we didn't have to wake up super early for the games which improved considerably the level of the tournament, and the Chinese food was pure gold.
Thanks for organizing and see you next year I hope!Tanguy Le Calvé

The winner of the old timer clash was Alexandre Dinerchtein, every day he was one of the first to arrive at the tournament site with his biggest fan, his girlfriend. After the preliminary round, he was connected to me as scribe until the Final of the tournament when he was promoted from board two to board one, where he than lost against Artem. Here follows his short impression of the Grand Slam Tournament:

Before the tournament on the website of the Moscow Go Federation we published a series of opinions of some Russian top players.
I stated that Artem is the hardest opponent for me, because of his style. I wrote that I have no chance to beat him, if I play peacefully. I tried to fight, but was not able to make the game complicated and in yose he is much better than me.
Anyway, I am happy with my performance. Not only because of my 2nd place, but also because of unusual josekis, which appeared several times. I like to try new things in my games.Alexandr Dinerchtein

And finally the winner of the 3rd European Go Grand Slam Tournament in Berlin, Artem Kachanovskyi. The first time I met him was in Baden Baden where he became professional shodan. His short story about the tournament follows here:

The tournament was very tense for me. I barely won the first 2 of my games by 1.5 points with black, a minimal margin. Before the tournament I was thinking that it would be just great to get into the final. Then it will not matter already, to win or lose. So in the final game I played a little more relaxed, and was able to win that game by 5.5. There were many mistakes in all of my games and I think that I had a very good experience. There is no other tournament with such long and serious games. Many thanks to the organizers of the tournament and its sponsors, of course. Because of these people we can have such an event.Artem Kachanovskyi

All things put together I had a great time during this long weekend (four days).
I was able to see some nice and firey clashes on the board, I was able to meet some old friends, drink some beers, and last but not least was meeting new friends.

I will be available again next year as a scribe, photographer and online reporter.
3rd European Go Grand Slam Tournament and 8th China Cup Berlin Part 2

This article was written by Antonius Claasen

Born 31th of January 1962, in 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands
started playing go 1979
Promotion to 1 Dan in 1981, after the Go Congress in Linz.
Promotion to 4 Dan in 1985 After the Go Congress in Terschelling.
Eurpean Champion 13X13 in 1984
European Team Champion in 1985, together with Frank Janssen and Joost Cremers.
I have 5 children and live at the moment in Hamburg Germany.

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