Life In 19x19

So, who do you think is going to be European Go Champion this year?

I'm rooting for my teachers, Antti Tormanen & Juri Kuronen (I think Antti has better options, but Juri can easily be the surprise )

I'm rooting for Mateusz and Antti, I have no idea how much Mateusz improved in Korea since last year, so I don't know who have bigger chances:P

I'd think Ilya Shikshin and Fan Hui probably have the best chances of winning. Alexandre Dinerchtein is also quite high up there, but hasn't been the most convincing is some recent tournaments I've watched on KGS.

Antti is who I'm also rooting for, and he also is definitely one of the top guys. The question is, how well has he been keeping up with (and improving) his go studies since coming back from Japan. He hasn't participated in many tournaments (but his blog shows that he hasn't been idle either) so his current strength is a bit of a question. I don't know much about Mateusz, but if he's an insei(?) in Korea he's one to watch out for as well.

Anyone can surprise us, though

At the NGA summer camp of last week (managed by Antti, Juri, Su Yang and a few more finns, I was there as student) Antti played a 1 dan pro Korean player that had been visiting (he lost by time I think, maybe resigned) Made a small misread that turned the game from his to hers at the beginning but kept fighting till the end to try to win a huge semeai. Awesome fighting spirit (and go technique)

Round 1 results can be found here: http://egc2013.go.art.pl/EGC2013_main.html

Looking at the poll:

Breakfast ================= Lost (/Dusac Mitin)
Fan Hui ================== Won (/Lukas Kramer)
Ilya Shikshin ============== Lost (/Viktor Lin)
Cornel Burzo ============== Lost (/Aleksandr Vashurov)
Thomas Debarre =========== Won (/Yue Li)
Ali Jabarin ================ Lost (/Jun Tarumi)
Csaba Mero =============== Won (/Juri Kuronen)
Pavol Lisy ================= Won (/Remi Campagnie)
Ondrej Silt ================ Won (/Robert Jasiek)
Antti Tormanen ============ Won (/Ondrej Kruml)
Mateusz Surma ============ Won (/Bernd Randmacher)
Ion Florescu -> I don't see him on the result sheet so apparently he's not participating.

I'm a bit surprised that both Alexander and Ilya lost their first round matches. I don't know much about their opponents though.

Results after round 2: http://egc2013.go.art.pl/EGC2013_main.html

Poll:

Fan Hui ================== Won | 2W/0L
Thomas Debarre =========== Won | 2W/0L
Pavol Lisy ================ Won | 2W/0L
Ondrej Silt ================ Won | 2W/0L
Antti Tormanen ============ Won | 2W/0L
Mateusz Surma ============ Won | 2W/0L
Breakfast ================= Won | 1W/1L
Ilya Shikshin ============== Won | 1W/1L
Ali Jabarin ================ Won | 1W/1L
Csaba Mero =============== Lost | 1W/1L
Cornel Burzo ============== Lost | 0W/2L

Additionally at 2 wins in the top group are:

Artem Kachanovskyi
Andrii Kravets
Viktor Lin

Isn't it a mistake that Ondrej is listed with an MMS of 35 after two rounds?

hyperpape wrote:Isn't it a mistake that Ondrej is listed with an MMS of 35 after two rounds?

Apparently he didn't start in the supergroup. Maybe he's not planning to play all rounds?

Hmm, according to his registration info he should be there for the entire tournament.

HermanHiddema wrote:

hyperpape wrote:Isn't it a mistake that Ondrej is listed with an MMS of 35 after two rounds?

Apparently he didn't start in the supergroup. Maybe he's not planning to play all rounds?

Ah, I didn't know that's how it worked (whether or not that's the case for Ondrej).

hyperpape wrote:Isn't it a mistake that Ondrej is listed with an MMS of 35 after two rounds?

Ondrej apparently didn't hand in the the super group contract (which states he will be playing all rounds) in time. So he wasn't allowed to play in the top group. Luckily he still has chances to contend even with starting one MMS short.

I was rooting for Sandmann after the strong start but with the loss to Lisy I guess I will pull for him if Viktor can not make a comeback.

Results after round 3: http://egc2013.go.art.pl/EGC2013_main.html

Poll:

Pavol Lisy ================ Won | 3W/0L
Fan Hui ================== Won | 3W/0L
Mateusz Surma ============ Won | 3W/0L
Antti Tormanen ============ Won | 3W/0L
Ondrej Silt ================ Won | 3W/0L (1 point less than top group)
Thomas Debarre =========== Lost | 2W/1L
Breakfast ================= Won | 2W/1L
Ilya Shikshin ============== Won | 2W/1L
Ali Jabarin ================ Won | 2W/1L
Csaba Mero =============== Lost | 1W/2L
Cornel Burzo ============== Won | 1W/2L

So far our collective guess of the stronger players this year has been pretty accurate. But still 7 more rounds to go.

Looks like next round we'll see Pavol vs. Antti and Fan Hui vs. Mateusz if I've understood right how the pairings work. I'm looking forward to seeing Antti and Mateusz (former/current? inseis in Japan and Korea) play each other, so here's hoping they both win or lose on round 4

Go, Antti! Btw, Juri Kuronen also won today (2/3.) I still have faith on him!