The European Pair Go Championship 2026 took place on April 25-26 in Bratislava, Slovakia.
20 pairs were competing in this 6 rounds event.
The Austrian pair, Ting Li 1p and Lothar Spiegel 6d, became the Open Champions, while Mirta Medak 3d and Stjepan Medak 6d from Croatia were runners-up, thus placing first among amateur pairs and will play for Europe in the International Amateur Pair Go Championship in Nagoya, Japan.

Final results:

🥇Ting Li 1p and Lothar Spiegel 5d (Austria) 6/6
🥈 Mirta Medak 3d and Stjepan Medak 6d (Croatia) 5/6
🥉Manja Marz 4d and Johannes Obenaus 6d (Germany) 4/6
4th Antonia Stanciu 1d and Ioan Elian Grigoriu 6d (Romania) 4/6
5th Milena Boclé 3d and Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia 1p (France) 4/6

*for the sake of precision, in fact, Stjepan meanwhile was 5d and, as we speak now, Lothar is 6d, but this is kind of irrelevant for Pair Go.

The tournament welcomed pairs from all over Europe with a bright sun for a first very intense day - 4 rounds, one after each other with a lunch break.
Although it looked like a packed day with no more room for anything else, as Pair Go is rather fast and the organizers managed the schedule with meticulous precision, all games lasted less than two hours, running on time, and the evening still had plenty of time for the participants to discover the wine specialties of the region in a relaxed way. 

At the end of the first day, the pair from Austria, Ting Li 1p and Lothar Spiegel 5d, was leading, undefeated. They had already got rid of their main challengers. But, as we say, in Pair Go, pretty much anything can happen! Just behind them were still a few pairs, from Germany, France, Croatia and Romania, looking eagerly for a surprising loss of the Austrians.

On the second day, Ting and Lothar didn't falter at all and won the remaining two games.
After the Romanian pair Antonia Stanciu 1d and Ioan Elian Grigoriu 6d had won against Milena Boclé 3d and Benjamin-Dréan-Guénaïzia 1p and the Croatian Mirta Medak 3d and Stjepan Medak 6d had beaten the Germans Manja Marz 4d and Johannes Obenaus 6d, a decisive "final" took place between the Romanian and Croatian pairs, as the winner would be the European Pair Go Champion among amateurs and be invited to play at the International Amateur Pair Go Championship in Japan this autumn.

Eventually, Mirta and Stjepan won!

Meanwhile on the other tables, last year's winners (Lova Whalin 3d and Charlie Akerblom 5d) lost against one of the Czech pairs (Alzbeta Kadlecova 1k and Tadeas Berkman 2d), illustrating very well how Pair Go is not just about rankings.

The first board was broadcast on OGS (account EGF1).

As expected from Pair go, the event managed to combine the excitement of serious games with a friendly atmosphere! Thanks a lot to the organisers for the warm welcome and great organisation, wine tasting and good mood! Thanks as well to all the contributors for the photos.