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About
Links2nd European Pro Qualification 2015
The European Go Federation is proud to announce that the certification of European professional Go players goes into the second year. It is a cooperation with CEGO our main sponsor and it was only possible thanks to their initiative and generosity.
Paralel to the pro qualification there will be the same training like last year except that this time it will be open for all young talents in Europe. Find more about the training on European Go Academy.
Last year we had the 1st Pro Qualification. We are very happy we've got a top participation field in it and of course we are very proud about our two first home grown pros Ali Jabarin and Pavol Lisy.
- The Qualification Tournament
- The Pairings
- Participating Players
- Rules & Constitution
- Invited Players List
- Photos
The Qualification Tournament
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Webpage : Pisa European Pro Qualification Tournament. Date : Friday, March 6-8, 2015 Place : Pisa, Stazione Leopolda Info : All 6 rounds will be played in Pisa. Sponsors: This tournament is supported by CEGO and the Ge Yuhong Go Academy. |
The Pairings
The Brackets
Fri 6th March: 09:30-13:30 first round
Fri 6th March: 16:00-20:00 second round
Sat 7th March: 09:30-13:30 third round
Sat 7th March: 16:00-20:00 fourth round
Sun 8th March: 09:00-13:00 fifth round
Sun 8th March: 15:00-19:00 last round
Participating Players
| Name : Ilya Shikshin Nationality : Russia EGF Rank : 7D I am 23. I am a student. I started playing go when i was 5 in 1995. My most notable results: Five times champion of Russia in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Three times champion of Europe in 2007, 2010, 2011 Two times winner of European Team Championship in 2011, 2012 Winner of European PairGo Championship in 2013 |
| Name : Mateusz Surma Nationality : Poland EGF Rank : 7D My name is Mateusz Surma, I am 18 years old high-school student. Currently living in a small Polish village - Dzimierz. I started to play go, when I was 6 and half (my dad taught me). At the age of nearly 14 I came first time to baduk school to Korea, I was going there a few times for about 3 months each, totally I was in Korea 2 years and 5 months (studying in King's Baduk Dojang, Yang-Jae Ho Dojang and Choong-Am Dojang). I managed to win European Youth Championships 3 times (in 2006 u12, in 2010 and 2011 u16). Last year I was 3rd in European Championships. After high-school I would like to go to university to the faculty of aviation and cosmonautics and become a pilot (and of course go-pro). |
| Name : Cristian Pop Nationality : Romania EGF Rank : 7D My name is Pop Cristian. I learned go in high school when I was 14-15 years old from a math teacher who, at that time, was 1D. My Go partner from the beginning was Catalin Taranu who is now 5D Pro in Japan. So we started to play go all day long, soon becoming stronger than our teacher. A few years later, we moved to Bucharest to study at university, there, of course, we kept playing Go, turning our room on campus into a Go club. Almost all strong Romanian Go players today were students too at that time. Almost all of us were so crazy about Go that we didn't go to university too much. |
| Name : Artem Kachanovskyi Nationality : Ukraine EGF Rank : 7D My name is Artem Kachanovskyi, I'm 22 years old. I live in Kyiv, Ukraine. In February 2015 I finished my studying in university, so now I am finally free. I started to play Go when I was 6 or 7, I think. I studied Go mostly by myself. Until I was 17, I think, I was dreaming to become pro. I read many books that were describing not only the games, but how professionals think and some details of their living. That was inspiring. From some moment I stopped feeling like it's necessary to become pro. I just play Go. As the university is behind now, I'll have more free time. I work as a programmer, so it's not so easy to play online each day, after staring almost all the day into a monitor. I think I'll pay more attention to reviewing pro games on a board, maybe playing online on weekends. |
| Name : Lukáš Podpera Nationality : Czechia EGF Rank : 6D My name is Lukas Podpera and I'm 19 years old and this year I graduate from high school. I learned Go from my father at the age of 7. Soon after that, Go became the main part of my life. Except Go I also do cycling or playing football. I got promoted to 6-dan at the end of last year. I have been studying in China for two months in 2010 and two times in Korea for one month in 2012 and 2013. With CEGO project I got a big chance to realise my dream which is to become pro. My best results: Czech Champion 2013, Czech Vice-Champion 2011 European Youth Champion U20 2012 and 2014 European Team Chmapion 2013 11th place on World Amateur Championship 2012 6th place on World Youth Championship 2010 |
| Name : Andrij Kravets Nationality : Ukraine EGF Rank : 6D 1999 - started to play 2002 - 1st place, Youth Go Championship in category under 12, Prague (Czech Republic) 2006 - Become 4 dan 2008 - Become 5 dan 2008 - Represent Ukraine in 1st World Mind Sports, Beijing (China) 2010 - 2nd place in Ukrainian Championship (High League), Kyiv(Ukraine) 2011, 2012, 2013 - third place in the European Team championship 2012 - Become 6 dan 2012 - 3rd place in 5th Shusaku Cup, Targu Mures (Romania) 2012 - 3rd place in European Iwamoto Memorial, Amsterdam (Netherlands) 2012 - 1st place In Ukrainian Championship (High League), Kyiv(Ukraine) |
| Name : Csaba Mero Nationality : Hungary EGF Rank : 6D Sometimes I wonder, why I still play go. I lost all my battles, and still keep on trying. I know I am not going to be world champion and I don't really have any special talent for go. I've passed my peak years ago. And I am still trying. Insane, isn't it? Started playing go in 1993. Studied as an insei in Japan 1999-2001. Student of Chizu Kobayashi. Working as a programmer/statistician. |
| Name : Cornel Burzo Nationality : Romania EGF Rank : 6D My name is Gheorghe Cornel Burzo and I was born may 3rd 1980 in Bistrita, a small town located in the north of Romania. I came across the game of Go for the first time at age of 10 when my grandfather bought a Go game set for me and my 2 brothers as a X-mas present but we couldn't really understand the rules from the flyer inside the box so I found the game boring and quit after trying a few 9x9 games.. Few years later I moved with my family in a bigger city Baia Mare also in the north of Romania and in 1993-1994 I started to join a local Go club which was ran by a 2kyu physics teacher Florin Berciu and once I got to learn the rules correctly I found the game fascinating and addictive and since then I took part in 220 go tournaments worldwide since 1996. You can check my player stats here. Among the numerous tourneys played in Europe, Usa and Asia I can mention a few notable results such as winning the National Championship in Romania in 2004, 2011, 3rd and 4th place in the European Championship in 2003, 2010 respectively and 5th place in the World Championship in 2008. As a recent tourney success I won the British Go Congress in march 2014. I got promoted to 6dan player egf in 2003 and besides playing many tournaments I've been very active as an online player on servers like IGS, KGS, since 2000 when I also started to teach online which is pretty much my main job. I am also studying pro games and playing often on tygembaduk and wbaduk servers. My hobbies are tennis, ski and poker ! |
| Name : Ondrej Silt Nationality : Czechia EGF Rank : 6D text |
| Name : Thomas Debarre Nationality : France EGF Rank : 6D Hi, I'm Thomas Debarre, I'm 21 years old and I live in Paris. I started playing go when I was 7 : my father had some friends who liked to play together and since I was very found of games, they taught me how to play go. A few months later, my father discovered he had a colleague who played go, so his son and I started going to the Strasbourg go club, which was great for kids like me since it was in a school and not in a bar. After that, I have improved rather steadily up to my current level, which I have reached in 2010. Because of my studies (I'm a first year student in an engineering school), I've almost stopped playing tournaments these last two years, but I'm starting to play a little more this year. Achievements : French champion 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 4th place at European championship 2012, 2013 4th place at WAGC 2011 |
| Name : Zhao Pei Nationality : Germany EGF Rank : 6D I started Go at the age of 8 and became Chinese Female Youth Champion at 11 unexpectedly. When I left for Germany at 13, I stopped my Go carrier but started enjoy a lot to play Go in Europe. I majored then in Business administration in the university and worked several years in China, Japan and Germany, until finally moved to France and stayed home with our two daughters. I hope my kids would like to play go so that we can enjoy travelling to tournaments in the future, and I am considering teaching Go at school for young kids as part of my future project. |
| Name : Dragos Bajenaru Nationality : Romania EGF Rank : 6D I am 34 years old, playing go since age 13. Have been insei for a year in Tokyo between 1997-1998 with Kobayashi Chizu as teacher. Working as a computer programmer for the past 10 years. My biggest achievements by far are my two kids - Stefania and Victor. In the future I am looking to improve my Go and to enjoy playing more tournaments. |
| Name : Dusan Mitic Nationality : Serbia EGF Rank : 6D Started to play go from 1997 Serbian youth 1st place 2005,2006,2007,2008 European youth 2nd place 2007 Serbian championship 1st place 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 Serbian individual cup 1st place 2011, 2012, 2013 European Go Congres, 7th place 2011 , 8th place 2013 European team championship 2nd place 2008, 2009, 2010 |
| Name : Timur Sankin Nationality : Russia EGF Rank : 6D My name is Timur Sankin. I am from Russia, Izhevsk city. I started playing Go at 6. My first teacher was Belyaev Jurii 3 dan, Kansai Ki-in. Also I studied Go in China by Li Liang 5 pro. They are Great Teachers! My best Go results: European Team Go Championship 2005 - 1st place, Russian National Go Championship 2013 - 1st place. Now I live in Moscow and partly work as Go teacher in my club - Leader Go. Don't worry guys, I am not a dangerous competitor, but my students are!... ;) |
| Name : Viktor Lin Nationality : Austria EGF Rank : 6D I am a 22 years old student living in Vienna. I speak Austrian German, Austrian English and Taiwanese Mandarin, and I'm currently learning French. When I was around 12 years old, I found the Manga Hikaru no Go. My father happened to know this game, so he taught me Go, with the same board we used to play Gomoku with. Today I am part of the Austrian Go Federation team as their secretary and also a KGS junior admin. notable achievements: Austrian champion 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013 |
| Name : Bohdan Zhurakovskyi Nationality : Ukraine EGF Rank : 6D I am 27 year old and at the present moment live in Kyiv, Ukraine. I have been playing Go since 11, and my best achievement is following:
2014 WAGC 5th place My favorite thing about the game is its "Mix of complexity and simplicity." |
Rules & Constitution
In the New Professionals in Europe – the qualification tournament you can find the setup of the qualification with more detailes about the selection criteria and the mode and rules of the qualification tournament. In the EGF Professional Go System Constitution you find all the details about the rights and duties of the new European go professionals.
Photos
2nd European Pro Qualification 2015