Upcoming Tournaments on the Continent

[Charlie]

I feel like I am returning to my old strength (of around 4 kyu, KGS) and possibly in a place where improvement might once again be possible. I am currently resident in Nürnberg, Bayern, and I am looking for tournaments nearby.

On the EGF's calendar, three have caught my eye:
[list=]
[*]The Brussels Open at the end of this month
[*]Japanese Consul General Cup Duesseldorf in Nov.
[*]The Vienna Open in Nov.
[/list]

I'd really appreciate further infos from anyone who knows more about these specific events or these specific venues.

Firstly, am I allowed to participate? I have never played an EGF tournament before and have no EGF rank.

Is it worth participating? As far as I understand, they're McMahon without handicap so it would probably only be fulfilling if there is a class of kyu players. (Not that playing even against stronger players isn't fulfilling... just perhaps not something I am going to travel and pay accommodation for.)

What sort of price am I looking at for 1 or 2 nights accommodation, within public-transport distance from the venues? I can look, online, but recommendations are always preferable to online searches so anyone with local knowledge, please help!

Deutsch kann ich sprechen. English is my mother-tongue. Dutch might as well be Greek to me. Will language be a problem for any of these events?

[HermanHiddema]

I have never been to any of these specific tournaments, but I've been to plenty of tournaments around the continent. In my experience:

1. Yes, you are allowed to participate. An EGF rank not required, and is in fact based on your tournament results, so you'll have to play at least one tournament to get one.

2. Yes, it is worth participating. Most any tournament has a significant number of SDK players. If you want a feel for the kind of field of players a tournament attracts, look at some previous editions in the EGD. E.g:
* Brussels 2015
* Duesseldorf 2015
* Vienna 2015

3. Some tournament organizers can arrange for you to sleep at the home of one of the local players if you bring a sleeping bag and air mattress or similar. That would be free of charge and the cheapest option. If they can't arrange that, they're still the go-to people to get info on local accommodation.

4. German will do fine at Duesseldorf & Vienna, English should suffice at Brussels.

[Charlie]

Thanks!

I'm fairly set on the Düsseldorf one, at the least.

[Charlie]

I see that there's also this: http://mannheimer-go.jimdo.com/mannheimer-aji/

On the same weekend as the Brussels one. It's a LOT closer to me and seems to have a field of SDKs already.

(I just found THIS calendar: http://senseis.xmp.net/?EuropeanGoTournamentCalendar)
(Are there any comprehensive ones? The EGF's one only lists "major" tournaments.)

[schawipp]

There is also a tournament calender on the German Go website http://dgob.de/ (click on "Turnierkalender"). It seems to list even a bit more local tournaments than in the EGF calender.

[Charlie]

Now THAT is useful. I'm now thinking Brussels is far away. Mannheim and München are closer. Arguably, I wouldn't even need accommodation for the latter.