Belgian Go Federation

Suspense till the very end in the 2023 interclubs competition !

This week the last rounds of the 2023 interclubs have been played and the name of the club champion has been decided.

The match between Leuven and Brussels Phénix would determine which team got crowned this year.

Leuven has won the Interclub competition 7 times in the past, whereas Phénix was last year’s champion.

Board one was a clash of the rising stars: Yannick Kuy, playing for Phénix, recently scored 5-0 at the Brussels Go tournament and has just been promoted 3 Kyu. His opponent, Bram Westhovens, scored 14-1 as 7 kyu at the European Go congress this summer (his streak included a win against a 2kyu and Bram is inches away from a 3 kyu rating). The game was played with 0,5 komi and was the one that finished first with the victory of Yannick Kuy. 1-0 for the Phénix Go club.

The next game to finish was played on board 3. It ended with a win by Leuven this time: Simon Janssens (11 kyu) won against Xavier Baele (7kyu): 1-1

So, board 2 would finally determine which team would go home with the interclubs title this year !
In their head to head match up in official competition, Tom Van Doorsselaere (Leuven) (5 kyu) was leading against Guillaume De Keijser (Phénix) (5 kuy). But this time, when the dust settled, Guillaume was able to bring the win home. 2-1 for Phenix Go Club, who got thus the title this year.

Congratulations to our Back-to-Back 2023 interclubs Champions Brussels Phénix

The other match, that followed a couple of days later, opposed Antwerpen to Gent. There was only 12,5% chance of Antwerpen to grab second place. But somehow the stars were aligned for them this time and they managed to win the 3 games, and to finish with thr silver medail.

The full results can be found here; https://www.gofed.be/node/1406

We hope more clubs will participate in the interclubs next year !

(report by Guillaume De Keijser)