The European Go Championship or Congress (EGC) is the annual and main event organised by the European Go Federation for players of the board game Go. It consists of a 2-week open competition, one round per day, making a total of 10 rounds with a champion ultimately emerging – the player with the most (or best) wins. The Congress has taken place in a different European city each year, since the first contest in 1983. During these two weeks, the best Go players in Europe fight for the title of European Champion. The number of participants in recent years has ranged from a low of 290 to a high of 718 players.EGF congress history.

History

The first European Go Championship was held in 1938. The current annual series begun in 1957, with the first championship held in Cuxhaven, Germany. Germany has been quite dominant at the championships.

In 1961 the 5th European Go Championship was held in August in Baden, where Japanese professional players Kensaku Segoe and Utaro Hashimoto gave exhibitions.

In 1976 European Go Congress was held in Cambridge with 150 European players vying for titles among five separate tournaments which varied the games played, and including a tournament at the game of 'Lightning Go,' where the game must be played far more rapidly than in a traditional match. The festivities were described by United Press International, reporting on the event, as a "two week orgy of go."

In 1977 the 21st championship was held in Rijswijk in the Netherlands. Although not allowed to play in the competition, two Japanese professional players attended and provided instruction and engaged in simultaneous exhibitions. Seminars were given in go theory, computer go and lightning go.

Recent highlights

Czech Republic 2005 In Prague, Alexandre Dinerchtein won against Cătălin Țăranu in the 5th round.

Italy 2006 In Frascati, Alexandre Dinerchtein lost against the 2001 Champion Andrei Kulkov in the 6th round.

Svetlana Shikshina won the title.

Austria 2007 In Villach, Ilya Shikshin won the title, despite losing to Alexandre Dinerchtein in the 8th round.

Sweden 2008 In Leksand, Ondrej Silt from the Czech Republic beat Cătălin Țăranu in Round 4. In Round 5, Alexandre Dinerchtein won against the 2006 Champion Svetlana Shikshina. Cătălin Țăranu beat the 2007 Champion Ilya Shikshin in Round 8. The 5-dan Go professional Cătălin Țăranu became the second Romanian player to become European Go Champion.

Netherlands 2009 In Groningen, the young 5-dan Thomas Debarre from France defeated Cătălin Țăranu in Round 4. In round 5, the 3-times European Champion from the Netherlands, Rob van Zeijst, lost against Alexandre Dinerchtein. Round 9 saw victory by the 2008 Champion Cătălin Țăranu against Alexandre Dinerchtein. Alexandre Dinerchtein remained ahead on tiebreak to win the title, his seventh time as European go Champion.

Finland 2010 In Tampere, as a first act of the championship, Cornel Burzo from Romania beat the reigning champion, the Russian professional Alexandre Dinerchtein. Cătălin Țăranu won against Rob Van Zeijst in the 3rd round. The fourth round featured a very long game between Taranu and Ilya Shikshin. These two players were undefeated since the beginning of this year's competition. Shikshin finally won the game, to continue his consecutive victories (6 winning rounds).

The young Artem Kachanovskyi from Ukraine stopped the winning ascension of Shikshin at the seventh round. The next rounds were a fight for the title for these two players. Kachanovskyi led first by beating Csaba Mérő at the 8th round, and the 2009 European Youth Champion, Ali Jabarin, in the 9th round, but he lost his final game against Kim JungHyeop, a Korean player. Shikshin won the title by beating Cristian Pop in the 8th round and Dinerchtein in the final round. During this tournament, the two leaders won games against Korean players. This is the second European title for Ilya Shikshin.

France 2011

The Championship was held at the "University of Bordeaux I" campus in Talence, from July 23 to August 6. The number of registered players exceeded the 800 expected players, meaning already that European Go is healthy. These amateur players were from all European countries, ranked from 30 kyu to 7 dan, professional players from Asia will also participate (e.g. Japan, China and South Korea). The French hosting organisation was the Fédération française de go (FFG). The pre-registration board showed the participation of previous champions and possible future title-holders such as: Cătălin Țăranu Ilya Shikshin Svetlana Shikshina Alexandre Dinerchtein Artem Kachanovskyi Cristian Pop

This edition also accommodated the first Pandanet Go European Team Championship, a new competition where Romania, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine will try to obtain the first title.

As a side-event, a professional competition was held - some games of the China Weiqi League were played.

Yumi Hotta, Hikaru no Go-writer, attended for a conference during the event.

The EGC is reliant on generous international sponsorship. For the third consecutive year, Zhuyeqing Tea - the official sponsor of the Chinese national Go team - are the main sponsor of the Congress.

Germany 2012 The 2012 EGC was held by the river Rhine, in the municipal hall of Bonn-Bad Godesberg, from 21 July to 4 August 2012.

Poland 2013 Olsztyn in Poland was the host for the 2013 Congress.

Romania 2014 The 2014 EGC was held in Sibiu, Romania, a former European Capital of Culture.

Czechia 2015 The 2015 EGC was held in Liberec, Czech Republic.

Russia 2016 The 2016 EGC was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Germany 2017 The 2017 EGC was held in Oberhof, Germany with the highest number of participants in history.

Italy 2018 The 2018 EGC was held in Pisa, Italy.

Belgium 2019 The 2019 EGC was held in Brussels, Belgium.

2020 and 2021 In both of these years, the EGC did not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Championship was held online in its place.

Romania 2022 The 64th EGC took place from 23 July to 7 August in Vatra Dornei, Romania.

Leipzig/Markkleeberg 2023 The 65th EGC took place from 22 July to 5 August in Markkleeberg, Germany. It had 751 registered participants.

Toulouse 2024 The 66th EGC took place from 26 July to 10 August in Toulouse, France.

Planned Congresses European Go Congresses, at which the European Go Champion is decided, are planned a few years in advance to cater for up to 800 players. Each year, the hosting country's Go association plays a large part in the organisation. Below are the planned future locations.

2025 – Warsaw, Poland.

Past champions As recorded in the European Go Federation web-site:

European individual champions YearWinner2nd3rd1957 Fritz Dueball () Fritz John () Leonard Grebe ()1958 Fritz Dueball () Lenz Fritz John ()1959 Fritz Dueball () Paech Kramer1960 Günter Ciessow () Leonard Grebe () Fritz Dueball ()1961 Wichard von Alvensleben () Leonard Grebe () Fritz Dueball ()1962 Wichard von Alvensleben () Jürgen Dueball () Jürgen Mattern ()1963 Wichard von Alvensleben () Jürgen Mattern () Max Rebattu ()1964 Wichard von Alvensleben () Jürgen Mattern () Eduard Ekart ()1965 Jürgen Mattern () Max Rebattu () Jürgen Dueball ()1966 Jürgen Mattern () Manfred Wimmer () Max Rebattu ()1967 Zoran Mutabzija () Manfred Wimmer () Max Rebattu ()1968 Jürgen Mattern () Zoran Mutabzija () Jürgen Dueball ()1969 Manfred Wimmer () Jürgen Mattern () Zoran Mutabzija ()1970 Jürgen Mattern () Manfred Wimmer () Max Rebattu ()1971 Zoran Mutabzija () Henk de Vries () Max Rebattu ()1972 Jürgen Mattern () Max Rebattu () Jon Diamond ()1973 Jürgen Mattern () Michael Katscher () Zoran Mutabzija ()1974 Manfred Wimmer () Michael Kitsos () Tony Goddard ()1975 Jürgen Mattern () Manfred Wimmer () Patrick Merissert ()1976 Patrick Merissert () Tony Goddard () Jon Diamond ()1977 Wolfgang Isele () Helmut Hasibeder () Ronald Schlemper ()1978 Helmut Hasibeder () Max Rebattu () Matthew Macfadyen ()1979 Jürgen Mattern () Ronald Schlemper () Robert Rehm ()1980 Matthew Macfadyen () Jürgen Mattern () André Moussa ()1981 Rob van Zeijst () Helmut Hasibeder () Robert Rehm ()1982 Ronald Schlemper () Robert Rehm () André Moussa ()1983 Janusz Kraszek () Terry Stacey () Matthew Macfadyen ()1984Matthew Macfadyen ()Pierre Colmez () Egbert Rittner () Robert Rehm ()1985Ronald Schlemper ()Matthew Macfadyen () Pierre Colmez () André Moussa ()1986Ronald Schlemper ()Frank Janssen () Donzet Frederic () Egbert Rittner ()1987Matthew Macfadyen ()Aleksey Lazarev () Donzet Frederic () Rob Van Zeijst ()1988 Tibor Pocsai () Ronald Schlemper () Valeri Soloviov ()1989 Matthew Macfadyen () Ruslan Sakhabudinov () Valeri Soloviov ()1990 Rob van Zeijst () Hans Pietsch () Jürgen Mattern ()1991 Aleksey Lazarev () Gilles van Eeden () Vladimir Danek ()1992 Aleksey Lazarev () Gilles van Eeden () Geert Groenen ()1993 Rob van Zeijst () Juan Guo () Aleksey Lazarev ()1994 Juan Guo () Guangji Shen () Manfred Wimmer ()1995 Juan Guo () Christoph Gerlach () Pierre Colmez ()1996 Juan Guo () Rob van Zeijst () Laurent Heiser ()1997 Juan Guo () Vladimir Danek () Pei Zhao ()1998 Robert Mateescu () Franz-Josef Dickhut () Christoph Gerlach ()1999 Alexandre Dinerchtein () Ion Florescu () Dmitrij Surin ()2000 Alexandre Dinerchtein () Pei Zhao () Franz-Josef Dickhut ()2001 Andrey Kulkov () Christoph Gerlach () Emil Nijhuis ()2002 Alexandre Dinerchtein () Dmytro Bohatskyi () Mykhailo Halchenko ()2003 Alexandre Dinerchtein () Aleksey Lazarev () Cornel Burzo ()2004 Alexandre Dinerchtein () Cătălin Țăranu () Cristian Gabriel Pop ()2005 Alexandre Dinerchtein () Cătălin Țăranu () Ilja Shikshin ()2006 Svetlana Shikshina () Alexandre Dinerchtein () Andrey Kulkov ()2007 Ilya Shikshin () Alexandre Dinerchtein () Cristian Gabriel Pop ()2008 Cătălin Țăranu () Alexandre Dinerchtein () Ilya Shikshin ()2009 Alexandre Dinerchtein () Cătălin Țăranu () Csaba Mérő ()2010 Ilya Shikshin () Artem Kachanovskyi () Cătălin Țăranu ()2011 Ilya Shikshin () Cătălin Țăranu () Artem Kachanovskyi ()2012 Jan Simara () Ilya Shikshin () Pavol Lisý ()2013 Hui Fan () Pavol Lisý () Mateusz Surma ()2014 Hui Fan () Alexandre Dinerchtein () Ilya Shikshin ()2015 Hui Fan () Ali Jabarin () Ilya Shikshin ()2016 Ilya Shikshin () Ali Jabarin () Lukáš Podpera ()2017 Ilya Shikshin () Mateusz Surma () Artem Kachanovskyi ()2018 Pavol Lisý () Ilya Shikshin () Ali Jabarin ()2019 Ilya Shikshin () Artem Kachanovskyi () Lukáš Podpera ()2020 Ilya Shikshin () Ali Jabarin () Artem Kachanovskyi ()2021Ilya Shikshin ()Artem Kachanovskyi ()Ali Jabarin ()2022Benjamin Dréan-Guenaïzia ()Artem Kachanovskyi ()Fredrik Blomback ()2023Andrii Kravets ()Ali Jabarin ()Ashe Vázquez ()2024Andrii Kravets ()Thomas Debarre ()Fredrik Blomback ()2025Mateusz Surma ()Valerii Krushelnytskyi ()Artem Kachanovskyi ()

Open European individual champions From 1984, the Championship became open, allowing participants from outside Europe. This attracted strong players from China and Korea, who have regularly finished in the top spots. Until 2010, the highest finishing European national would be declared "European Champion", with the highest finisher of the tournament being declared "European Open Champion"; the latter title was often won by Korean nationals.

From 2011 onwards, the tournament format was changed. The tournament now consists of 7 rounds of MacMahon, followed by a 3-round single elimination knockout between the top 8 eight European nationals. The winner of this knockout is declared European Champion; the player with the most wins after 10 rounds is declared European Open Champion.