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This page contains a list of the top events held in Europe, a short description of the event, the sponsor and whether the event is open for bids from EGF member countries intersted in organising. The locations and dates of future events are shown where known. EGF countries should please submit bids for future events to the EGF Secretary. For purposes of European nationality, nationals of all EGF member countries are eligible. Unless rules are otherwise specified the EGF Tournament Rules will be used.
The European Go Congress (EGC) moves from country to country. Usually the location is decided four years ahead. The Congress lasts for a fortnight in July and August each year. Between 300 and 700 people usually take part, depending on location and cost. There is currently no regular major sponsor, but the Ing Fund supports some aspects of the event, such as equipment, as Ing Rules are used. The main event of the EGC is the European Championship. Currently this is an open event with European Champion and European Open Champion titles contested. It is usually played over 10 rounds by McMahon system. There are other events, such as the Weekend Tournament, Lightning, Pair Go and Team events, held during the fortnight and also teaching by professionals and the EGF's Annual Meeting.
24 top European players take part in a 6-round Swiss. Qualification is based on a set of rules: players in the previous top 3, European professionals and a country's placings in the EGC. The event is open to both nationals and resident orientals. The event is sponsored by the Ing Chang-Ki Weichi Educational Foundation (25000) and is usually held in March using Ing Rules. Every second year it is held at the EGCC in Amsterdam. Every four years the World Ing Cup takes place in the Orient.
Sponsored by Ing Chang-Ki Weichi Educational Foundation (15000), this event is split into under-18 and under-12 categories. Top placed European Nationals can qualify to play in the the World Youth Goe Championships in August. 4 places in the WYGC are available for under-18s and 2 places are available for under-12s. The tournament is run as a McMahon draw with a bar placed suitably in the dan level (under-18) or single figure kyu level (under-12). There will be 6 rounds of 1 hour basic time and not more than 2 games per day. The results table is sorted by McMahon Score, followed by Sum Of Defeated Oponents' Scores and then Sum of Oponent's Scores. If there are more children on the same McMahon score than WYGC places, the qualifiers are drawn by lottery between all players on that score. The tournament is played with Ing Goe Rules. Children must be European nationals or children of a European national, or have been resident in Europe for some time. For determining if a player falls in a certain age category, he/she should be born on or after August 1 of the corresponding year of birth. (No exceptions will be made to this rule.) The EYGC is usually held between February and mid-March. A travel grant and/or free accommodation is provided to strong players and team leaders according to a prescribed set of rules.
This event for male-female pairs is sponsored by Japanese Pair Go Committee (2500) and supported by Pandanet. Players score European Pair Go Points for their country towards the World Pairs in November in Tokyo. The event is usually held in March or April. An official pair from each country are given an EGF subsidy, but other pairs are not. There are 6 rounds, with timelimits of normally 45 minutes sudden death or, as in 2004, with short byoyomi (10 seconds) or overtime. Komi is 6.5 points. Pairs must be nationals of the same European country. Normally the event is run on the McMahon system, with a supergroup of all official pairs who wish to be in it and those pairs above the bar (usually set at 5 kyu). There may be a seperate open Handicap Group from which qualifying points are not scored.
Games are broadcast live on Pandanet, if at all possible.
This event takes place every two years in January or February at the EGCC to select players for the Toyota-Denso World Oza. Sponsored jointly by Toyota and Denso corporations from Japan (64000). 84 players take part made up of highly rated players, a top player from each country and other top players. The event has a qualification stage and a knockout stage. Also there is the Family Oza, Junior and Pair Go events at the same time. It was held in 2002 and 2004.
A new event replacing the Fujitsu Cup (last held November 2002 at EGCC), the first European Masters (EM) was held alongside the Fujitsu European Training in the EGCC. Thereafter, starting summer 2005, it will be held at the European Go Congress. 8 champions and professionals were invited to take part in 2003. The result is being used when selecting players for professional events such as the LG Cup and Fujitsu. A new system of qualifying was devised for 2005 (see link), the qualifying period ending 31/05/05.
An occasional event held possibly every one or two years, this event is for national teams of 4. Each country can enter more than one national team. The event has no regular sponsor and any financial support to teams is provided by the local organisers if sponsorship allows. Starting prossibly in 2007 there may be a European Internet Team Championship in Leagues.
An occasional event for top European women players, without a regular sponsor. Recent events have played with Ing Rules and received support from the EGF Ing Fund.
An new event held for the first time in 2005 and held in early Autumn. Only full time students at university or college, aged below 29 years of age and 18 or over on 1st August, may play. Financial support is provided to one student from each country, or to one male and one female from each country provided they are both above a defined rating. The top 2 men and 1 woman in the event qualify for the World Student Oza in Tokyo (both men cannot be from same country and nobody can go to WSO twice in three years). Recent events have played with Ing Rules and received support from the EGF Ing Fund.
From May 2007, the Go Tour and European Cup are merging into the Go European Cup. Tournaments can enter at one of five levels. The bottom two are equivalent of the old European Cup events with 25 and 50 points, the top three are the equivalent of the old Tour events, with 7 Pandanet Super Tournaments (50 points), 4 Pandanet Major Tournaments (75 points) and the Pandanet Finals (100 points). The Pandanet levels receive financial support for prizes, broadcasting of games on Pandanet and so on. The lower 2 levels pay to join the Cup (contact the EGF if interested). After the finals ranking prizes will be awarded.
Each country's national event, say their bigest tournament in their capital city, could be part of the TOYOTA - IGS-PandaNet European Go Tour. In 2006-2007, there were 4 major events in it every year, finals in Paris and others in it every two years by rotation. Points were scored by players and prize money was awarded to each event and to the highest point getters each year (see the Tour pages for more details).