The SENKO CUP 2026 takes place in Tokyo, Japan, on March 13, with three European players! It is organized by the Nihon Kiin and sponsored, for already a quite considerable number of years, by SENKO Holdings, providing us with a big show on the women go scene.

It is a prestigious women's tournament in which european players qualify to play based on their result in the European Women's Go Championship. It runs in parallel to the "pro" SENKO Cup, which sees a fierce battle between the best 4 japanese players, best of Korea, China, Taiwan and the winner of the amateur Senko Cup.

Actually, last year (you can read about it here), Rita Pocsai 5d from Hungary won the Amateur SENKO Cup, but as she couldn't participate this year, it is Dawn Sum 4d from Singapore who will join the pros.

All information (Japanese) https://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/special/senkocup/2026/

This year, the participants of the Amateur SENKO Cup are:

Europe:
Manja Marz 4d (Germany)
Olesia Malko 4d (Ukraine)
Nyoshi Cao 3d (France)

US: Seowoo Wang 5d
Australia: Amy Song 5d
Thailand: Pinyada Sornarra 4d
Vietnam: Quynh Anh Ha 6d
Malaysia: Qing Yong 4d

Introducing our players!

Here are a few lines about our representatives in this event.

		Olesia 4d, from Ukraine, is the youngest, so we will start with her! She will play the SENKO Cup already for the second time in a row. She was 3rd at the European Women's Go Championship (2025). She is also the European Youth Go Champion in the U18 category (2025). So... strong, yes! Just back from a study time in China, it will be interesting to see how much she improved and if it will be enough to win. Good games!
		Manja 4d, from Germany, is also there for a second time in a row as she ended 2nd at the EWGC 2025. Manja is a strong player with good experience of international tournaments, never refusing a complicated fight. It will be interesting to see her games this year, as she may play opponents she already knows!
		Nyoshi 3d, from France, is in the SENKO Cup for the second time but not in a row. She qualified as she finished 4th (and 3rd amateur) in the EWGC. Nyoshi has quite a quiet style usually, but if the opponent is asking for too much, she may smash a stone on the board and punish. On paper, Nyoshi is the weakest player of the tournament, but that's good news, because she's better against stronger opponents!

The opponents

US: Seowoo Wang 5d
Seowoo is quite strong, and a regular of the SENKO Cup. She studied in Korea for a time and has a very solid playing style. She won the North American qualifiers for the SENKO Cup.

Australia: Amy Song 5d
Amy is one of the favourites for the title, as she has already won the SENKO Cup before! We've seen her in Pair Go too, and overall, she's pretty impressive on the go board.

Thailand: Pinyada Sornarra 4d
Thailand's strongest women amateur, Pinyada is a regular of the SENKO Cup but also of the World Pair Go events, so she starts to be well known by Europeans. She is a tough 4d improving steadily, not to be underestimated for sure.

Vietnam: Quynh Anh Ha 6d
Probably the mega-favourite. Quynh Anh won the Amateur SENKO Cup countless times (perhaps, every time she participated), and usually the chance to win it, for others, is when she's playing the Pro SENKO Cup (the winner of the amateur one is invited to the pro one of the next year).
She is overall one of the strongest players, the hope of Vietnam, and passionate about Go. She participated in the Samsung Cup, winning the world division, and was even invited to play the Shinhan World Bank Championship this year!
Will she win again, or did the others prepare enough to face her?

Malaysia: Qing Yong 4d
Qing Yong is Malaysia's strongest amateur female player and, just as Pinyada, often seen in Pair Go as well. 

Tournament information

The tournament is a direct elimination format, the games are played in Japanese rules with a NHK time setting of 30 sec/move and 10 periods of 1 minute.

This special setting means that when it's your turn, you have 30 seconds to play, then if you "lose" that period, you have 1 minute byo yomi periods, then you play, your opponent plays, and again you have 30 seconds as a first period followed by 1 minute periods. Thus, the last period is 30 seconds.

The games will be broadcast on the Nihon kiin Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK0rB4ZhYGo

The tournament table:

Schedule - March 13

1st round - 2:00 AM CET  [10 AM local time]
2nd round - 5:00 AM CET
3rd round - 7:30 AM CET


All information (Japanese) https://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/special/senkocup/2026/ 

We will post updates once available.

Thanks to Alexander Kiel for the photos and to the players for the updates!