The most prestigious title tournament in Czech Go, the Go Baron, was held in the last weekend of November, 24-26. The top Czech players of today and of yesteryear were invited for the preliminary tournament. Only 12 players have the possibility to challenge for the Go Baron title. The tournament is generously sponsored by its founder and director Ing. Josef Němec. The prize pool is three gold ounces, i.e. more than 3500€, based on the current price of gold. The double-elimination tournament, which is played using AGA rules, and with Fisher time of 45 minutes main and 20 seconds per move. Since 2015, there are also prizes for players eliminated in the Losers' bracket and the Dark Horse prize - which is a prize for the most unexpected win (that with the biggest rating difference).
During the weekend of 8-10 December, Jan Šimara 6D, the unbeaten winner of the double-elimination tournament is going to challenge the current holder of the Go Baron title, Lukáš Podpěra 7D. The final challenge match is the best of 3 games. Just like the games from the preliminary tournament, title matches will be live streamed on KGS and Ustream. The winner will receive 2 ounces of gold (2200€), the defeated player will receive 1 ounce of gold (1100 €).

Unfortunately, several top players were not able to participate in the tournament. Jan Hora 6d and Klara Zaloudkova 3d left the country to attend the 25th International Amateur Pair Go Championship in Japan. Jan Prokop 6d and Ondřej Kruml 5d (Czech Go Championship 2017 medalist) went for a long planned holiday in New Zealand. However, the former holder of the Go-Baron title (2012-2014) and also the Czech champion, Ondřej Šilt 6d, took part in the tournament. After almost a two year break from playing go, he tried to find retribution for his dethronement by Lukáš Podpěra, but the loss of his form was so remarkable that he was was stopped in his tracks by two defeats from Radek Nechanický. Radek was eventually stopped in his own winning streak by Jan Šimara (European Champion 2012) in the last round. You can check the complete qualification results at EGD. The ranking of the side tournament was Radek Nechanický 5d, Ondřej Kachyňa 3d, Petr Kouba 3d.
Sponsor:
Josef Němec - played go in the 1980s, then had a long break until he showed up at the Prague Go Club in March 2012 with the idea to organize a generously-sponsored Japanese-style title tournament. Every year the title holder defends his title against the challenger who emerges from the double-elimination tournament.

Organizer: Josef Němec in cooperation with Pagoda & CAGo

Venue: Caffe Do Větru - Prague, Czechia

Photos from Jaromír Šír
More photos (Jaroslav Kotowski), Tournament Bracket with game records