From Friday 20 to Sunday 22 October the European Go Cultural Centre in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, celebrated its 25th anniversary. For this occassion, many special guests were invited. Not just for a celebratory go tournament, but also for a European Go Teachers' Day and an evening reception. 

Teachers' Day

The EGCC's festivities started in the morning of Friday 20 October, surprisingly early and with a surprisingly serious twist. Set up by Rob van Zeijst and Kalli Balduin, eighteen driven go teachers fom seven different countries came together for a full day of seminars, discussion, presentations and brainstorming. On the menu? Topics like: the professionalisation of Western go education, the mindset of the teacher and his students, the do's and don'ts of go teaching, obstacles for go teachers and how to overcome them, and the everlasting question "how to best promote our sport?". All with the final goal in mind to realise a website for go teachers and for those who wish to teach, but do not necessarily have any experience. 
Special guests Yamashiro Hiroshi 9p (vice-president of the Nihon Ki-in) and Cătălin Țăranu 5p were present as representatives of the Japanese Go Association and shared their insights of teaching, acquired through many years of experience.

Celebratory Anniversary Reception

"Reception", when you think about it, is just a fancy word for party. On Friday evening, not long after the end of the Go Teachers' event, a festive gathering took place. The present go teachers, employees and former staff of the go centre, sponsors, loyal users of the building and people that were important for the EGCC throughout the years, were all invited. 

Several distinguished guests were also present and opened the reception with congratulative speeches:

• Mr. Hiroshi Yamashiro, vice-president of the Nihon Ki-in (Japanese Go Association).
• Mrs. Setsuko Kawahara, minister of the Embassy of Japan in the Netherlands.
• Mrs. Maaike van Veeningen, alderman of the city of Amstelveen.
• Mr. Kenji Saito, chairman of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce (JCC) in the Netherlands.
• Mr. Martin Stiassny, president of the European Go Federation.
• Mr. Han Ellenbroek, president of the Dutch Go Association.
  
  

An extensive photo album of the Teachers' Day and the Reception can be viewed here.

Anniversary Go Tournament

In preperation for the 25 Years EGCC Anniversary Go Tournament, a team of three fanatics cursed themselves with the task of cleaning all the go equipment in the European Go Cultural Centre. A task that was long overdue. Michał Łukasiewicz, Justyna Klęczar and Kim Ouweleen took several days to clean 54 kaya and katsura go boards of 5.5 centimeters thick, 20.000 slate and shell go stones and not to forget all the go bowls that come with them.

Extensive photo albums of the go material cleaning can be viewed on the EGCC's facebook page:
- first part (34 photos)
- second part (16 photos)

On Saturday 21 October, their hard work was rewarded: the EGCC Anniversary Go Tournament kicked off at 11:00 AM. When entering the playing room, one could not escape the shine and smell of freshly waxed wood and the clicks of clean, fancy go stones filled the air.
A total of 87 go players from 15 different countries, of which no less than 38 were dan players, competed for the title. After five games, the top six finishers would be rewarded with money prizes up to 750 euros. Additional money prizes of 125 and 75 euros were awarded to the top two female finishers in the tournament. Schaak & Go winkel Het Paard from Amsterdam was present with a stand of go books and go equipment on site and kindly sponsored the tournament with book prizes for players that scored 4 or more wins; Marianne Diederen 2k, co-owner of the shop, could not resist playing a few tournament games herself. On top of that, players that did well could win vouchers for Guo Juan's Internet Go School.  

EuroGoTV live broadcast the top two boards on KGS. After two rounds, the favourites for the title were still undefeated: Seong-jin Kim 8d (South Korea), who played one AlphaGo inspired opening after the other, proved too strong for Sinan Djepov 5d and Geert Groenen 5d. Artem Kachanovskyi 1p (Ukraine) was victorious over Schayan Hamrah 5d in the first round and went on to defeat Dominik Bővíz 6d in a very tight second match, closing it out by just 2,5 points in his favour. Two other players in the top group joined Kim and Kachanovskyi on two points and were still in the race: Lukáš Podpěra 7d (Czech Republic) and underdog Michiel Tel 5d (the Netherlands).

On Saturday evening, all participants enjoyed an Indonesian style dinner and could afterwards take part in several fun side events. Artem Kachanovskyi 1p, who was invited by the EGCC to be the tournament's official EGF professional, and Cătălin Țăranu 5p, representing the Nihon Ki-in, provided simultaneous teaching games. Many participants had pre-registered for the simultaneous event, so to make the professionals' lives easier Seong-jin Kim 8d and Stanisław Frejlak 6d joined as extra teachers. 

Simultaneously with the simultaneous (yes, think about that), a poker tournament also unfolded, on the ground floor of the building.

Saturday evening was all fun and games, but on Sunday morning everyone was back to business. In the third round, Seong-jin Kim 8d faced fellow two-pointer Lukáš Podpěra 7d in a thrilling match. Perhaps the best match of the tournament, as Podpěra came the closest of anybody to an upset over Kim. After a series of risky looking moves (21-49), which were nevertheless proclaimed by the online spectators as a joseki of sorts, a large scale structure had been carved out in the corner. It seemed that most of the opening was already finished. Soon after, in the late stages of the opening, everything slowly shifted Kim's way, until he played move 70. This was a questionable peep by Kim, threatening to cut off seven of Podpěra's stones, which were only worth about eighteen points of territory. It was a rare slip by the Korean, which Podpěra confidently exploited; at move 71 he slammed his tenuki down onto the board. It was also a peep, but one on the left side, severely pressuring white's two weak stones.
During the rest of the match, a close game unfolded and the audience remained unsure who had the slight lead. Perhaps it was Podpěra. It was Kim, however, who turned the game to his hand in the endgame. His masterful tesuji combination of move 202 and 204 allowed him to decrease Podpěra's territory by a few points in sente, which turned out to be just enough: Kim had won by 1,5 points and stared silently at the board. Podpěra, who was very gracious in defeat, couldn't help but conclude: "somehow I feel black should have won this game".

Artem Kachanovskyi 1p won his third round against Jonas Welticke 6d, leaving only himself and Kim with three wins in the super group. The fourth game was deciding for the outcome of the tournament, when the two titans clashed. At move 8, Kim played an AlphaGo-esque attachment to Kachanovskyi's ogeima shimari, and followed it up with a shoulder-hit on the other side of the board. Artem Kachanovskyi responded in his own characteristic calm style of play, resulting in what appeared to become a moyo game. At move 34, Kim replied to Kachanovskyi's keima on the lower side with a keima of his own in the centre, building a big framework. The move that followed, influenced the course of the game considerably: Kachanovskyi daringly played on tengen, right in the middle of his opponent's sphere, sandwiching Kim's keima in between two of his stones. It looked like a plausible strategy, but after thirty moves or so it had resulted in a rock solid chunk of territory for Kim on the left side of the board and a thick group of his in the centre. Kachanovskyi had made life with his invasion and found the opportunity to reinforce the lower and right sides with extra moves. His territory, however, proved not as solid as Kim's had become, and white optimised any aji he could find to reduce the area. In an attempt to capture Kim on a large scale, Kachanovskyi set up an all or nothing ko to salvage his territory, but it turned out to be futile. At move 170, all the most important points had been occupied, leaving little room for extra territory or severe reduction. Kachanovskyi was about 20 points behind and he resigned. Kim was now sure of the title!

The fifth and final round was important for places two to six, as four players had three points each: Artem Kachanovskyi 1p, Lukáš Podpěra 7d, Stanisław Frejlak 6d and Sinan Djepov 5d.
On board 1, Stanisław Frejlak 6d faced Seong-jin Kim 8d. Especially the opening of this game was remarkable, with many interesting attachments and confusing exchanges. On board 2, Sinan Djepov 5d, a talented youngster of just 17 years old, was in a hopeless position against Artem Kachanovskyi 1p, after a huge group of his got captured at move 69. An online high-dan spectator jokingly remarked: "Artem should be careful. He is so far ahead that he might actually lose!" As if he had predicted what was to come, the match escalated in late middle game, when Kachanovskyi allowed Djepov to play a beautiful sequence of moves inside his territory. With moves 150 to 194, Djepov's dead group had suddenly sprung to life. A gigantic ko appeared inside Kachanovskyi's territory, and even though Kachanovskyi threatened to capture a group of Djepov on the upper side, which was worth about 45 points, it was not big enough. Djepov took the ko on the left, and what had been about 55 points of territory for Kachanovskyi, was now 22 points of territory for Djepov instead. A local turn-around of more than 70 points! This meant that Kachanovskyi, who had been far ahead, suddenly found himself slightly behind.
It looked like the match was heading for a spectacular upset, but in the endgame Kachanovskyi worked his magic. One tiny moment of inattentiveness cost Djepov dearly; his opponent found the beautiful double peep of move 279, blowing up white's territory on the lower side. A few moves later, Djepov resigned. 
This meant that Artem Kachanovskyi 1p claimed second place on SOS-points, closely followed by Lukáš Podpěra 7d on third place, who had defeated Jonas Welticke 6d in his final game. Both Kachanovskyi and Podpěra had four wins and had only lost to the number one. Places four to seven were all shared by three-pointers, with their order decided by SOS-points as well: Stanisław Frejlak 6d, Sinan Djepov 5d, Dominik Bővíz 6d and Schayan Hamrah 5d.

The first prize for best female player went to Tereza Kotowski 1k (Czech Republic), who had an excellent tournament with 4 wins out of 5 games. Second place in the women's category went to Marika Dubiel 2d (Poland). 

The 25 Years EGCC Anniversary Tournament was the last event of the 2017 European Grand Prix and counted as a Level C Bonus Tournament. The prize giving ceremony was ended by EGF president Martin Stiassny, who officially declared the end of the 2017 European Grand Prix and announced its winner: Artem Kachanovskyi! He received the symbolic gift of a 2016 European Go Yearbook, and more importantly the right to represent Europe in prestigious Asian go championships.

Full results of the tournament can be viewed in the European Go Database.

All in all, the anniversary of the EGCC was a great success. Many players complimented the organisers, Harry van der Krogt and myself, and enthusiastically expressed their interest in the next international tournament in Amstelveen, which will take place from 10-13 May 2018. Save the date!

You can find an extensive photo album of the EGCC Anniversary Tournament at the Facebook page of the EGCC (157 photos).

Game Records