Belgian Go Federation

Kevin Prist (3-d) had not played any competitive game since 04/2016.
He came back last WE (06+07/07), winning the 2024 tournament of Ghent, ahead of Yannick Kuy (2-k) (4/6) and Voja Stojanovic (4-k)(4/6).
There were 8 participants.

Here are the complete results: https://www.gofed.be/webfm_send/630

In the 9th (and last round) of the European Team Championship, Belgium (Lucas, Gabriel, Sven, Larisa) lost heavily to Switzerland (0-4)
(Lucas lost to a mere 4-d; the others, to better ranked opponents).

Belgium ended 4th out of 10 teams.

Results of the 9th round: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/1009

Final standing: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps
(note there are only 2 points difference between the 3rd and the 8th team !).

PS: In A-league, Ukraine, France, Poland and Czechia are the 4 teams qualified for the finals (which will be played during the European Go Congress this summer in Toulouse).

For this year Belgian Championship the 3 favorites were Lucas Neirynck, Jan Ramon and Xin Shu.

Jan (4-d) has been champion 3 times and Lucas (6-d)...12 times ! The newcomer, Xin Shu (5-d), is a student from China who arrived in Belgium last year for studies.
On the belgian rating list, Lucas (6-d) was number 1 but Xin is very close behind. In the Paris tournament in which they both participated, Lucas finished 8th and Xin 7th. Lucas has won the Orsay tournament this year, and Xin Leuven and Lille. The participation of Xin therefore promised to provide a bit of suspense !

Saturday, in the second round Lucas met Xin and after a dense fight, Lucas took the first win between the two players.
Of course, Xin stayed in the championship with this only loss, because the final stage of the Belgian Championship is a double elimination tournament.

As a result this Sunday only 4 players were still qualified: Lucas, Xin, Jan and Guillaume.
Jan Ramon was sick this Sunday and therefore lost by forfeit.
Guillaume lost against Lucas, leading to the expected final: Lucas - Xin.

In this final, Lucas only had to win once to be the winner, while Xin had to win two games.

In the 1st game, after a flying dagger opening (!), Xin took a clear lead and kept it until the end of the game.

A second decisive game was thus needed to define the winner of the tournament.
It went into a complex middle game fight in which the hoshi wall of Lucas got attacked.
With a convincing play, Xin managed to secure the net around this big fish to kill it, winning the second game and the tournament.


Congratulations to Xin for winning the 2024 Belgian Championship !


As best player with the Belgian nationality, Lucas Neirynck retains his national title of Belgian Champion, ahead of Guillaume De Kijser (vice-champion) and Jan Ramon. Applause for everyone ! :)

During the post-game interview, we inquired about Xin Shu's secret.
He does 20-30 minutes of Go problems every day and 2 – 3 serious games at the club per week.

Games detailed report

Game 1 SGF on OGS commented by Xin himself !*

* If you don't see the comments, download the SGF and open it with your favorite SGF reader.

Nigiri gave Xin black stones. Both opened with a double Hoshi. On move 5 san-san invasion was played by and it went to a complex Flying Knife joseki. After a couple of mistakes at moves 40 and 42 and the turn of 43 (AI assessed it was a 16 point mistake), there were a few big moves, then a ko on the top left leading to a trade where Black takes the corner and splits the top and White manages to link underneath his weak stones - but this was not good enough for the AI. The lead did grow again a bit. Lucas then rolled up his sleeves and before move 156 the difference went to less than 8 points. Lucas got more solid territory, but black had great influence around the center. Luces said after the game that at this point he estimated that he got to go as deep as 156 to get a chance to come back. That didn’t make it back and at the end of the game Xin got his first victory against Lucas in this tournament.

Game 2 SGF on OGS commented by Xin himself !

After a short break before the final game of the competition, both players opened with Hoshi’s, and early 3-3 invasion by Xin again. This time Lucas chosed a more solid joseki than usual. Move 37 in particular is going for influence. After move 76 the game is still close but White has more cash, it’s on Black to go get some points. Lucas puts the pressure on with move 77. Xin replies with a powerful counter peep and defends actively - and a good defense is a strong offense, isn't it ? Strong pincer to black served also as base for his weaker stones. Xin defends and after the hane of 90 tenukis and gets a huge move at 92 first (AI estimates 7 point difference there). Lucas now got to solve a complicated tsumego, where every move is dangerous, Xin gets some more valuable stones on the outside. Move 133 Lucas managed to make an eye but in Gote and Xin goes for the kill. Lucas didn't make it through and after Xin played a nice tesuji to prevent a second eye, Lucas resigned.

The 44th World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC) was held on 19–22 May in Tokyo, Japan.

After eight rounds of intense games, Bai Baoxiang from China emerged victorious, clinching his fifth championship.
Bai has previously won the WAGC in 2011, 2016, 2017, and 2022.

Korea’s Kim Jeong-Seon (last year champion) came in second, and Japan’s Ōzeki Minoru was third.

Each one had a score of seven wins and one loss, with Bai having lost to Ōzeki, Ōzeki to Kim, and Kim to Bai.
SOS was used as tiebreaker, with Bai having the highest score, followed by Kim, and then Ōzeki.

Bai has a total of 37 wins and 1 loss in all the WAGC tournaments he has participated in, his game with Ōzeki being his only loss.

Top 6 places:
1. Bai Baoxiang (China) 7/8
2. Kim Jeon-Seon (Korea) 7/8
3. Ōzeki Minoru (Japan) 7/8
4. Pongsakarn Sornarra (Thailand) (6-d, 17 years old !) 6/8
5. Lo Sheng-Chieh (Chinese Taipei) (6/8)
6. Csaba Mero (Hungary) (6/8) (best Westerner, best European)

Our delegate was Renaud Gaban (1-k).
He ended 31th (out of 60 participants) with a 4/8 score
(logical losses to stronger opponents of France, Singapore, Croatia and Brunei; wins against Venezuela (a 2-d !), rep Dominican Republic, Kazakhstan...and against another 2-d competitor, from Norway (his land of residence for the being time).
Congratulations to him !

More info on: https://www.intergofed.org/igf-news-feed/bai-baoxiang-from-china-wins-44...

In the 8th round of the European Team Championship, Belgium lost to Serbia (1-3) (but remains 3rd).

The terrible Mitic brothers (both 7-d) were too strong for Sven and Nelis, and Larisa (1-k) lost to a 4-d...But Bram (4-k ?) succeeded in beating a 3-d. Congratulations to him !

Complete results here: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/1008

Standings in B-league after this round: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps

Shu Xin (5d) won unbeaten the 2024 tournament of Leuven in which 23 players (a disappointing figure) participated.

Complete results: https://www.gofed.be/webfm_send/626

In April, in the 7nd round of the European Team Championship, Belgium beats Austria 3-1
(Gabriel Mercier -, Sven Cuyt +, Nelis Vets +, Larisa Popescu - new face in the team +).

Belgium is now 3rd, but too far away from the 2 leader teams (Italy and Turkey) (both still undefeated) to hope to be promoted to the A-league.

Complete results here: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/1007

Standings in B-league after this round: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps

There were 10 participants in the 3rd edition of the Pantin tournament.
Here are the results: https://www.gofed.be/webfm_send/625

On 6th March, Belgian team (Lucas Neirynck +, Jan Ramon +, Gabriel Mercier +, Nelis Vets -) won against Finish team in the 6th round of the ETGC.

Complete results here: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/1006

Standings in B-league after this round: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps

After 6 of the 9 rounds, Belgium is 3rd with 7 points...but far away from Turkey and Italy, who dominate both with a perfect (12/12) score !

Belgium team (Lucas Neirynck +, Jan Ramon -, Gabriel Mercier -, Nelis Vets +) made a draw with Lituania in the 5th round of the European Team Championship.

Complete results here: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps/rounds/1005

Standings in B-league after this round: https://pandanet-igs.com/communities/euroteamchamps

Belgium is in the middle of the division (which is still by far dominated by Turkey and Italy, both with a 10/10 score).