The Grandslam Qualification, held on the end of previous week in Bratislava, was followed by the 2nd Kedros Cup week-end tournament on the 16th to 17th March. Both events took place in the same location, a small hotel in the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava. The tournament attracted quite a big number of participants - 70 in total, from 15 countries. The event therefore became the biggest one in Slovakia, not only by the number of participants, but also its prize pool of more than 1000 euros.

     The 2nd Kedros Cup was also the first Slovak Go tournament to become a part of European Grand Prix, more specifically a Bonus Point Level C tournament (you can find more information about that here). Amongst other things, the participation in the Grand Prix system enhanced the standards of the tournament by broadcasting the games on KGS (under account EGF1) and the presence of a professional player Pavol Lisý 2p.

     Before the tournament, there was no clear favorite to win since the players in the top group, which consisted of 14 people from ranks 5d to 7d, were very close to each other in strength. After 3 rounds, there were only 2 unbeaten players: Cornel Burzo 6-dan from Romania and Lukas Podpera 7-dan from Czech Republic who then played in the 4th round, which in the end turned out to be the deciding game between 1st and 2nd place. This game also includes a short commentary by Pavol.
     In the end, Cornel managed to win the tournament with a clean sheet. He confirmed that he is in great shape in the last round, where Dominik Boviz 6-dan from Hungary was forced to resign against him after having to go out from a non-working ladder a few times as ko-threats.

Final results:
1st place: Cornel Burzo, 6 dan
2nd place: Lukas Podpera, 7 dan
3rd place: Dusan Mitic, 7 dan
You can see all results here.

Written by Soňa Lisá