Competing on the other side, there are 5 professional players from Europe:
Pavol Lisy 1p from Slovakia, who reached 7 dan level in 2013 and became the first European pro in 2014. He is well known on the internet as cheater where he plays many fast games with quite a fighting style. His most notable achievements are 2 times European champion under 20, 2nd place in EGC 2013 and countless times Slovak Champion.
Ali Jabarin 1p from Israel, who was the second to become European pro, also in 2014. He has been in China many times to study Go and his most notable achievements are two times Runner-up in EGC 2015 and 2016 and winning the 2nd Grand Slam, a prestigious tournament opened to all Pros from Europe.
Mateusz Surma 1p from Poland, the third to become European Pro in 2015. When he was younger Mateusz went few times to Korea to Study Go. His most notable achievements three times European youth champion under 12 and under 16, 3rd place in the 2013 EGC and runner-up of the 1st Grand Slam Tournament.
Ilya Shikshin 1p from Russia, fourth player to become European Pro in 2015, Ilya has been on the top of the European Scene for the past 10 years. He is also well known on the internet as Roln111, he has a strong fighting style with a very sharp reading. His most notable achievements are 4 times European Champion in 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2016, winning the 1st Grand Slam and countless times Russian Champion.
Artem Kachanovskyi 1p from Ukraine, the fifth and last player to have become European Pro in 2016. Known for his very calm and natural style, Artem is well known on the internet as Artem92. His most notable achievements are Youth European Champion in 2008, European Student Champion in 2011 and Runner-up of the 2010 EGC. He also qualified for 2017 Sankei cup main tournament by beating 3 Japanese pros.
SCHEDULE:
January 14th | Kim Seung-Jun 9p vs Pavol Lisy 1p |
January 21st | Kim Seung-Jun 9p vs Ali Jabarin 1p |
January 28th | Kim Seung-Jun 9p vs Mateusz Surma 1p |
February 4th | Kim Seung-Jun 9p vs Ilya Shikshin 1p |
February 18th | Kim Seung-Jun 9p vs Artem Kachanovskyi 1p |
Starting on January 14th, Blackie will play with one professional player once a week (except for February 11th because of the European Pro Championship) and each game will be played on the TYGEM server at 2pm CET. The main thinking time will be 40 minutes + Byo-yomi 3 x 30s and all professional players from Europe will be given 1 handicap stone.
After each game, Blackie will be reviewing them shortly. It will be open for everyone on the TYGEM TV, as well as Youtube Live and Facebook Live. You can follow TYGEM Baduk on Facebook or download TYGEM in English here (available only for Internet Explorer).