Belgian Go Federation

It’s that time of year again! A new season of the Pandanet European Team Championship is about to begin, and we’re looking for players to represent Belgium!

Whether you’ve played for the Belgian team before or would like to take part for the first time, you’re very welcome to join. It’s a great opportunity to play serious games, meet players from across Europe and, of course, defend the Belgian colours!

Registration deadline: September 29th
Belgium will once again compete in League B
Games are played online on Pandanet

Who can join?

Players must have Belgian nationality and a Pandanet account.

Don’t have an account yet? You can create one here.

Due to the anti-cheating regulations in League B, participants are also required to join a face-to-face video call during their games. You can find more information about this requirement here.

Ready to join Team Belgium?

To register, fill in the registration form here or send an email to board@gofed.be.

You can also see the list of registered players here.

Every player helps make the Belgian team stronger. Whether you’re aiming for the top boards or simply want to challenge yourself in an international competition, we’d be happy to have you on the team.

Let’s make the 2026–2027 season a great one for Belgium. See you on soon!

Andreii Kravets (UKR, 3-p) wins his 3rd European title (2023-2024-2026) in Ankara, where the European Congress was organised this year.

He won against Ali Jabarin (3-p) in final (poor Ali lost in final of the European Championship for the 5th time !).

Mateusz Surma (PL, 4-p), last year's winner, had lost surprisingly in 1/4 of final against Denis Dobranis (RO, 6-d).

A short report: https://www.eurogofed.org/andrii-kravets-3p-is-the-european-champion-202...

***

In the main tournament (open), some strong Korean and Chinese 7-d amateurs have dominated as usual (1st European player ended 7th with a 6/10 score).
Unbeaten winner is Korean Ahn Yonho, with the perfect score of 10 wins in 10 rounds.

https://www.egc2026.com/en/events.html#/main_open/standings

NB: still, Ahn dropped one game in the WE tournament (to Chinese Li Yuanzhen):
https://www.egc2026.com/en/events.html#/week-end/standings

***

There were no Belgian participant this year. :-(

Dear members and Go enthusiasts,

As our game and Federation evolves, to serve you better we are thrilled to give you an exclusive first look at the prototype of our future website !
Here it is: https://new.gofed.be/

Developing a new site has been a long saga spanning more than ten years, and sadly it's not the first time that we made such kind of announcement only to disappoint shortly after.
This time, however, it looks very likely to have good chances to cross the finish line thanks to one of our players with alias “Rikikilord” who you maybe know about already. :)

This project is designed to be modern, even futuristic thanks to AI usage with advanced features, above all—better suited to your gaming needs whenever you are a curious passer-by or a Go expert in search of detailed information.
You are of course welcome to get the chance to browse and explore its features.
Warning: Many features can be tried and tested, but pages content is far from being ready

Feedback is welcome at: gofedsite@gofed.be
We're also of course very interested by volunteers for testing, or if you have web coding skills.

More news should be coming in the next few days...

We had a very successful 16th edition of the Ghent Go Tournament with an appropriate 16 participants.

First Place: Matej Zakanj (5d)
Second Place: Renaud Braye (1d)
Third Place: Dick Riedeman (2d)

Complete results: https://www.gofed.be/webfm_send/673

In about a month the Ghent Go Tournament will take place again on the 4th of July. This year it will be a one day, 4 round tournament with 30 min main time and 5x20 sec Japanese byo-yomi.

I hope to see all of you there! :)

More Info

The 36th Leuven go tournament (30 + 31/05) was organised this year in a location, in the university buildings.

There were 28 players, ranging from 16k-4d.

Winner was Lucman Bounoider, who remained unbeaten.
Three players ended with 4 wins: Frank Segers (5k, Leuven, BE), Patrick Breitkopf (6k, Aachen, DE), Dao Duy Khanh (10k, Vietnam).
Congratulations to them for their excellent result.

The top three of the tournament was

Lucman Bounoider (4d, Hoshi, BE)
Yannick Kuy (2d, Hoshi, BE)
Yuanze Gao (3d, Hoshi, BE)

so it seems that Hoshi is the place to be in Belgium to train your go!

The full results can be found at https://europeangodatabase.eu/EGD/Tournament_Card.php?&key=T260530A

Here are some more pictures while we were playing games.

The 2026 Belgian Go Championship came to an unforgettable conclusion this weekend, with a dramatic final showdown needed to decide the new national champion.

After the opening day, only four players remained: François Gonze (4 dan), Jan Ramon (4 dan), the unbeaten Lucman Bounoider (4 dan), and surprise contender Laurens Teirlinck (2 kyu).

Teirlinck delivered one of the standout performances of the tournament, securing impressive victories against Joachim Laloux (2 kyu) and Guillaume De Keijser (2 kyu) to earn his place among the final four.

A Historic Final

The championship match featured Lucman Bounoider against François Gonze in a high-stakes encounter. With neither player having previously won the national title, the final guaranteed that Belgium would crown a first-time champion.

François Gonze took the first decisive game, forcing the championship into a final playoff match to determine the winner.

For the deciding game, both players brought their sharpest preparation and fighting spirit to the board. The tension remained high throughout the encounter, but when the dust finally settled, it was Lucman Bounoider who emerged victorious, claiming the title of 2026 Belgian Go Champion.

A huge congratulations to Belgium’s newest national champion.

Relive the Games

Live commentaries were available throughout the event, and recordings of the games can still be found through the BGFScribe demo boards on Online Go Server.

The final game can also be viewed here:

Links

Final Game: https://online-go.com/game/87069493 - https://www.twitch.tv/belgiangofederation

Final Results

The final round of the regular season delivered exactly the kind of tension expected from a relegation battle.

Heading into Round 9, four teams at the bottom of the standings were around the five match points, meaning the pressure was fully on. In the worst-case scenario, Belgium would still have needed to play relegation playoffs to remain in League B.

Standing in the way was Croatia, another team sitting on five points. Belgium’s final lineup featured Lucas, Lucman, Renaud, and Guillaume.

Croatia Strikes First

Boards 2, 3, and 4 were played on Monday evening.

On Board 2, Lucman took Black against Matej Zakanj (5 dan). Early in the middle game, Lucman successfully isolated a weak white group and applied heavy pressure. White defended resourcefully by targeting weaknesses in Black’s shape to keep the game balanced. The turning point came after a complex fight in the center, where Lucman ultimately lost a key group and was forced to resign.

Croatia moved ahead 1–0.

Renaud Answers Back

Belgium responded immediately on Board 3, where Renaud, playing White, faced Tadej Petar Tukara (3 dan), a strong player from the Yunguseng A League who had already defeated Lucas earlier in the season.

Renaud came prepared with a fresh variation in a common joseki, introducing an important hane that caught his opponent off guard. The preparation paid off instantly, giving Renaud an early lead.

Black later built a massive central moyo and managed to regain control after a difficult ko fight, taking a double-digit advantage. But Renaud stayed calm under pressure. On move 186, he found an accurate reduction sequence that stabilized his shape, reduced Black’s territory just enough, and swung the game back in his favor. From there, he never let go of the lead.

The match was level again at 1–1.

Croatia Takes the Lead Again

On Board 4, Guillaume fought hard against Teo Sladetić (2 dan), but Croatia secured another victory to move ahead 2–1 overall.

Everything would now come down to the final board.

Lucas Jinseo Delivers in the Decisive Game

The decisive match took place the following day, with Lucas playing White against Stjepan Medak (5 dan).

The opening quickly became tense, featuring an important ko fight. In an attempt to create additional ko threats, Black lost points in several areas, allowing Lucas to build an early lead of around eight points. Stjepan remained composed, however, and gradually turned the position around with steady play, eventually taking a small advantage.

Then came the turning point.

In a brilliant tactical sequence, Lucas used stones that appeared dead inside Black’s territory to launch a massive cutting sequence. With the game already deep into the endgame, Black could no longer save the central dragon and was forced to resign.

Belgium tied the match 2–2 and secured the crucial match point needed in the standings.

League B Status Secured

When the final standings were confirmed, Belgium finished 7th in League B, safely avoiding relegation and securing another season in the division.

After a season filled with close battles and pressure-packed matches, the team successfully achieved its goal.

A huge thank you goes to all the players for their commitment and fighting spirit throughout the season.

Links

Games: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/1353#2

Standings: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/draw/215

The next open tournament in Belgium will be the Leuven Tournament on 30 and 31 May.

You can register by filling this form and see who has already registered here. All levels are encouraged to participate.

The tournament will be played in 5 rounds of 60 minutes + 20 stones in 5 minutes Canadian byo-yomi.

More info here: https://www.gofed.be/node/1556