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Durham Go Club was excited to host the 2025 European Student Go Championship. The weekend started with cultural events, beginning with a tour of Durham's UNESCO World Heritage Site - including the 900 year old Cathedral and Castle. Guests then enjoyed an evening in a typical British pub, with the opportunity to play Go and meet some of the Durham student players.
The Championship was a 5 round Class A McMahon tournament based in some Durham University buildings adjacent to the fascinating Oriental Museum, which includes in its collection several ancient Go related artefacts. We were particularly delighted that Lukáš Podpěra (7d) from Prague in the Czech Republic was able to join us and offer reviews and teaching across the weekend.
Entering the tournament were players from a wide range of European countries - including from England, Scotland, Ireland, Czechia, Israel, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Serbia. Their ranks were from 18k to 4d.
The top board was live streamed on YouTube and OGS (thanks to Ai Guan for transcribing the games). We were also fortunate to have Mateusz Surma (3p) offering live commentary for the last round of each day. All the videos and games are available online for watching after the tournament.
Some members of the Durham club ran an outreach session at the Oriental Museum while the tournament was in progress. Not only did we live stream the top board for visitors to the museum, but taught several visiting families how to play Go. No one went away empty handed, as we gave everyone one of our free giveaway Go sets containing a 9x9 board, stones, and basic instructions. Several of the participating children were also very excited to receive a cupcake which had been decorated for the European Student Go Championship.
On the Saturday evening participants joined the rest of Durham Go Club for a Pizza Party in Durham Students' Union, which included a traditional tea ceremony and a lecture from our guest teacher Lukáš where he reviewed one of the tournament games. Lukáš did a fantastic job of engaging his audience, comprising everyone from strong Dan players to near beginners.
The tournament was won by Ondrej Kralik (4d, Kosi, Slovakia), who was also the only person to win 5/5. Ondrej was delighted - if possibly a little confused - to be presented with a Durham Goat Ornament for winning the Go Tournament. It seems that this amusing pun works better in English!
As well as the Goat Ornament, he and other winners received a selection of local beers, chocolates, tea, sweets, and other produce. The other winners (all on 3/5) were Frederic Schlattner (3d, UCL, Switzerland), Mihailo Jacimovic (3d, KGRa, Serbia), Adriana Podperova (2d, TFMi, Czech Republic), Michal Almasi (3k, Kosi, Slovakia), and William Lindved (7k, Edinburgh, Scotland). No one left empty handed - everyone was given a free Durham Go tote bag.
Results: https://www.britgo.org/results/2025/esgc
Photos: https://www.britgo.org/esgc25/gallery
Streams from the games: https://www.youtube.com/@durhamgoclub2358
Kifus at: https://online-go.com/player/656151/ (demos)
Replay of the comments by Mateusz Surma (available for 3 months):
https://www.twitch.tv/europeangofederation
Big thanks to the organisers for this great event!
