Four Go Tournaments in Spain on 2024
XLI Barcelona Go Seigen Tournament

My experience began the day before, because a preliminary event had been planned. On Friday afternoon, to warm up our engines, the organiser had prepared a tactics tournament on 13x13 boards. The main tournament itself was class A without handicap over five rounds. Main time of 60 minutes and 3 periods of 20 seconds of byo-yomi. On Saturday I played three games and I lost all of them.
Fortunately, as was the case for all the people who recorded their games, I had the opportunity to review my second game with Inseong Hwang and I learned a lot and also, more importantly, I had fun.

At night in the hotel, I had the opportunity to play a crazy-rengo game with my new friends from Murcia, Granada and Canarias. I was my first time and we enjoyed a lot. It was a funny way to close the first day of tournament

On Sunday we played the last two rounds. I managed to win the last one playing as black. After that we had a master class from Inseong Hwang where he commented the final game between Mateusz Surma and Stanislaw Frejlak.

Finally, Enrique Jimenez 3d distributes the prizes to the winners.



Mateusz Surma 3p, 1st place, Stanislaw Frejlak 1p, 2nd place, Virzhinia Frejlak 4d, 3rd place
XXV Seville Go Tournament 2024
This event was held on Saturday 6th April 2024. It was a unique experience with great organization; all the participants played with a handicap, which was a great incentive for many. The atmosphere was phenomenal in an incomparable setting: “La Carboneria”.
The tournament had a total of five handicap games in one day, it was very intense. In the first game, I had many handicap stones and therefore the false feeling of being ahead for a while. After some fatal errors, the game was won by Álvaro Gutiérrez 2kyu from Seville. In the second game, I lost against Carlos Moreno 2Kyu from Madrid. The morning session finished with another defeat against Giuseppe Punzi 11 kyu from Murcia but this time it was closer. Finally in the evening I won my last two games.

In the afternoon the awards ceremony was held for the winners and a gift was also given to each of the participants. The first place was for Junzhe Wang 4d, the second place was for Koichiro Habu 5d and the third place was for Pedro Mendez 1Kyu from Madrid who will compete this year in the KPMC.

Finally, we closed out the day with teaching games, Rengo games and other fun go activities in the garden and terrace of “La Carboneria”.

XXV Madrid Go Tournament


After losing the first game and winning the second one on Saturday, I was very tired. I lost the last three games against rivals of a similar level but stronger than me. I need to study more and prepare better if I want to improve my level of Go. However, right now my first priority is to play more than compete, meet people and understand the world of Go and live a complete recreational experience.

When the tournament was completed, the awards ceremony was held for the winners and a gift was given to the main winners. The 1st place went to Junzhe Wang 4d, the 2nd Peikai Xue 4d and 3rd was Vsevolod Ovsiienko 5d.
Both the Madrid and Seville tournaments this year marked their 25th anniversary, making them special editions for Go community in Spain. I dedicated myself to filming video sequences and conducting interviews for a documentary promoting Go that I was preparing. The documentary features the tournaments in Barcelona, Seville, and Madrid. You can watch the result at this link
https://youtu.be/dGjuJQc0s34

XIV Cadiz Go Tournament



On Sunday, after having rested better, I obtained two victories against inferior rivals who played well and have a lot of potential. It is clear that in a tournament everyone gives their best. And not only the players but also the organizers of the day who have to compete and manage the event at the same time. I want to thank the organizers: Eloy Martin 4 Kyu and Arturo de Celis 3 Kyu for their work so that we could all enjoy the experience of playing go.
This tournament was scoring for the Spanish Go Championship (CEGO) and also where the Spanish representative will be chosen for the Korean Prime Minister Cup (KPMC) in 2025. The 1st place was for Juan Carlos del Rio 1d, the 2nd was for Alejandro Guerrero 1d and 3rd was for Miguel Perez.


-- About the author
Joan Lluis i Rabassó is a 11k player, passionate of Go and Philosophy. He founded a go club in his city, Vilanova i la Geltrú, near Barcelona, and is very active on the Spanish go scene. He also contributed to the European Go Journal and wrote many articles for this blog :) !