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The first time it was held in 2011 in Bucharest and it was a really good event. Noticeably, the winner of the senior group was no other than Ke Jie, now one of the very top world masters.
Maybe another prodigy of world class will play in this year’s event too. It is surely a great incentive to come to Vatra Dornei, Romania, and find out.
The 39th WYGC will be held at the gorgeous Casino building during 26th-29th August in the remote but beautiful town of Vatra Dornei, Romania.
Detailed information on the event can be found at: https://asociatiadornago.com/wygc2024
We would like to give a chance to every player from Europe to visit and enjoy this unique event, so we are organizing an Open side tournament.
Detailed information can be found here : https://asociatiadornago.com/wygc-open-tournament
The first two days will see hectic fighting for the right to qualify in the semifinals, which will be held on the 29th August.
Even if Go activities seem to capture the bigger part of the day, we still plan to provide ways to relax for participants, in the form of football matches (Vatra Dornei versus The World), tennis, table tennis, basketball, billiard and other entertaining physical activities. Everyone will be welcome to join the organization team in the evenings as they plan and party on the top of the Veverita (squirrel) hill.
We plan to hold a special seminary for Go instructors. At least 6 active instructors confirmed participation to this event. Our special guest will be Mr. Yang from the ING Foundation who has worked on teaching materials for more than 20 years and would like to present his work to European Go teachers.
28th August is a free day and we plan a special trip bent on exploring the beauty of Dorna land. WYGC participants will have the opportunity to try a 12km course of river rafting, eat a rustic lunch then relax for a few hours in a brand new Spa center that just opened this July. All locations benefit of unforgettable scenery and we believe that this day will leave a long lasting impression. Of course, those activities are not restricted to the WYGC group only and all other guests are welcome to join in.
Back to Vatra Dornei, the semifinals and final games will be held on the 29th August and it would seem that the players that were knocked out of the tournament have nothing left to do. Well, they actually have a lot of things to do because a new event is starting that day: The days of Japanese Culture in Vatra Dornei. With many activities planned, workshops and exhibitions of Ikebana, Japanese Calligraphy, Origami, Manga, Japanese drums, Kimono dressing, Tea ceremony, Japanese movie and anime projections, Japanese martial arts as Kendo, Iaido, Jodo, Kyudo, Judo, Karate and Aikido, Go players will surely ask themselves if it’s wise to register for the Japanese Ambassador’s Go Cup and lose parts of the festival that is unfolding outside the playing halls.
Surely, accompanying persons who don’t play Go and are usually quite bored when attending Go events with their children or relatives will have something to do this time.
In the evening our 50 people organization team will migrate to Veverita hill to eat and continue the evening party tradition. We plan movie and anime projections there as well as karaoke party so the only hard decision people will need to take is when to go to sleep.
The full information on the Go tournament starting on the 29th august can be found here : https://asociatiadornago.com/japanese-ambassadors-cup-6th-edition
Most of the WYGC participants will leave on the 30th August but our event will go on until the evening of 31st August when everything will finish with a big party, once again on the top of the Veverita hill.
We plan to build a tradition with the Japanese culture festival so you will surely get an invitation to this special event next year.
I should mention that we are planning to organize the EYGC 2025 at the same location, so for us this will be an important test of how the building holds and how events are managed. We didn’t have yet the opportunity to organize a Go tournament in the building, but recently a rather big chess tournament was held there and we carefully studied every aspect of it. The way everything worked out gave us great confidence for the organization of the WYGC and also the EYGC.
More than that, the building is central, surrounded by at least 9 hotels and some guest houses. It is also possible to find private apartments at good prices. Restaurants are plentiful.
Since EYGC will be held during middle of March, prices for accommodation will be quite good.
With the three most important aspects of organization: venue, accommodation and meals in a very good spot, we are really confident that EYGC 2025 will be a great success.
Who are we: Mihaela and Catalin Taranu, who built a very active Go community in Vatra Dornei during the last 8 years or so. We train a large number of youth and organize tournaments and events frequently. Our very friendly cooperation with Go clubs from Cluj, Bucharest, Bistrita and Timisoara is building up a healthy youth community, a future for the Romanian and European Go community.
Looking forward to welcome you in Vatra Dornei!
Catalin Taranu 5 dan pro, main organizer of 39th edition of the WYGC.
