Spring is a wonderful season, with chirping birds and flowers popping up everywhere under the delicate touch of the sun’s rays. It is also a great time for Go, with so many events that it’s becoming difficult to choose which one to attend.

If you couldn't make up your mind for the weekend of April 11 between, for instance, the British Go Congress or the crazily beautiful landscapes of Bled in Slovenia, a stroll in the Alcazar of Sevilla, or perhaps even going to Poland with some EGC-related nostalgia... then, it might be that you will join us online for another event - the Rising Go Stars, Ukraine vs Japan Match!

Fun fact, even if you attend one of the above-mentioned nice tournaments, as our exciting time is in the early morning, you can still join partly (at least a tiny little bit?).

As suddenly there is on average no more reason not to grab your morning coffee/tea and tune in on Twitch on the 11th, let's jump into the joseki details ('cause we talk, we talk but it's been many lines already, and we still don't know the players).

Tadah!

Ukraine VS Japan Match!

Indeed, on April 11 at 8 AM, there will be a match between promising players from Japan and Ukraine, with the aim to strengthen international ties and global go growth.

For Ukraine:

Andrii Kravets 3p, one of the best EGF pros: European Champion 2023, 2024 and European Pro Champion 2025 and 2026.

Valerii Krushelnytskyi 7d - Valerii was runner-up in the 2025 European Championship and is a very serious contender for the 2027 pro qualifiers, if he takes part in it!

Larion Syrotkin 3d - Improving at speedlight, Larion is the newly crowned 2026 European U12 Champion and will surely join the top level of European Go in the next years.

For Japan:

The Japanese team is made of young players who are freshly pro or to-be pro, trained by Fujisawa Kazunari 8p. His students are usually pretty strong at some point...

Toma Yoshida 1p - Toma joined the pros at the Nihon Ki-in in 2026, he is a pupil of Kazunari Fujisawa 8p, captain of the Japanese team.

Nanami Fujisawa 1p - Nanami joined the Kansai Ki-in pros in 2026, she is the daughter of Kazunari Fujisawa 8p (and thus the half sister of the very famous pro player Rina Fujisawa).

Ren Ogawa, a young insei from the Shinjuku Children Go Classroom.


Thanks to Akira Fukushima-Maekawa (organizer), the Fujisawa Kazunari School Supporters’ Association (sponsor) and Pandanet and EGF for the support.

Schedule

All times in CEST.

Game 1 (team captains) - 8:00 AM Andrii Kravets 3p - Toma Yoshida 1p

Game 2 - 10:00 AM Valerii Krushelnytskyi 7d - Nanami Fujisawa 1p

Game 3 - 12:00 Larion Syrotkin 3d - Ren Ogawa insei

Time Control:
30 seconds per move, plus 10 periods of 60-second byo-yomi (NHK style)
Rules: Japanese rules

Prizes:
Captain & Vice Captain games: Winner JPY 50,000; Loser JPY 20,000
Third Board game: Winner earns the right to play a Fujisawa-school professional at a later
date

Live broadcast

The games will be played on IGS (Pandanet Internet Go Server).

Two hosts will review the games with guests, live from 8 AM:

- Mateusz Surma 4p on Twitch for the EGF:https://www.twitch.tv/europeangofederation 
- Akira's Go on Youtube for the Japanese-speaking audience: https://www.youtube.com/@GoLifeinGermany

So...See you on the 11th!