The 23rd European Go Congress

25.07.1979-05.08.1979, Königswinter, West Germany

This year the Chinese pros Xu and Hua and the really strong Korean pro Cho continously played simultaneous games. The Japanese pros Nagahara and Yoshida analysed many tournament games. Most active was Kobayashi Chizu (last year's Women's Honinbo who was on holiday), who enjoyed making commentaries on new European josekis.

One of the most striking persons this congress was Bruce Wilcox, an American 5d. He gave a series of lectures for weaker Go players, with inspiring titles as: 'How to win without fighting'. A part of this course was a simultaneous session at 26 boards. Klaus Heine organised a seminar about 'Wissenschaftliche Go-Theorie', with subjects as mathematic theories on Go, computer Go, etc.

The organisation was good, except for some small details. A pleasant surprise was the Congress bullitin, which appeared five times. It contained tournament standings, interviews with Xu, Hua and Cho, and game commentaries from the European Championship. The playing venues, and accommodation were fine and even Robert Rehm didn't complain about the food. New this year, two video cameras who focused every round on two important games, so that everybody could follow the games without disturbing the players.

Championship Group

The European Championship was the strongest Tournament in Europe ever, with twenty participants, nine rounds, as various players were added to make up the numbers, eventually including all players 4d and above. Favourites for the title were Jürgen Mattern, Helmut Hasibeder and Ronald Schlemper, but after seven rounds it was to everybodu's surprise that Robert Rehm led the pack with 7 out of 7, two points ahead on the rest of the field. Unlucky for him he lost his eight round game against Max Rebattu and lost by a big blunder in the last round a won game against Rob van Zeijst. This gave the opportunity to Ronald Schlemper and Jürgen Mattern to catch up with Rehm. What followed was play-off between these three, for the first place. Schlemper won against Rehm, and next he played Mattern. Schlemper started this game very well, but refused on several occasions to play a certain cowardly move, which gave Mattern the opportunity to cut off a large group in byoyomi. Just when Schlemper managed to make this group alive, he resigned in a probably won position. The move which the audience had seen on Video, Schlemper didn't see. In the evening Mattern won an easy game against Rehm and became champion for the eight and last time. 

                               JM RS RR MR MM RZ WI TS MK HH JH GB EN HV FH RK CM HK IB BW Pt
 1 Jürgen Mattern    Ger 6d    X  0  0  1  1  -  1  1  1  1  -  -  1  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  7
 2 Ronald Schlemper  Nld 5d    1  X  0  1  0  -  1  -  -  1  1  1  -  -  -  1  -  -  -  -  7
 3 Robert Rehm       Nld 4d    1  1  X  0  1  0  -  -  -  1  1  -  -  -  -  -  1  1  -  -  7
 4 Max Rebattu       Nld 5d    0  0  1  X  0  1  -  -  -  -  1  1  -  -  1  -  -  1  -  -  6
 5 Matthew Macfadyen Gbr 5d    0  1  0  1  X  1  1  -  0  -  -  -  1  1  -  -  -  -  -  -  6
 6 Rob van Zeijst    Nld 4d    -  -  1  0  0  X  1  1  -  -  -  -  -  1  -  -  0  1  1  -  6
 7 Wolfgang Isele    Ger 5d    0  0  -  -  0  0  X  1  1  -  1  1  -  -  -  -  1  -  -  1  5
 8 Terry Stacey      Gbr       0  -  -  -  -  0  -  X  1  1  -  1  0  0  -  1  -  -  1  -  5
 9 Michael Kitsos    Ger       0  -  -  -  1  -  -  0  X  0  1  -  -  -  1  1  0  1  -  -  5
10 Helmut Hasibeder  Aut 5d    0  0  0  -  -  -  0  0  1  X  -  -  1  1  1  -  -  -  -  -  4
11 Jerome Hubert     Fra 4d    -  0  0  0  -  -  -  -  0  -  X  -  -  0  1  1  -  -  1  1  4
12 Gerfried Beck     Aut 4d    -  0  -  0  -  -  0  0  -  -  -  X  -  0  1  -  -  1  1  1  4
13 Ernst Novak       Aut       0  -  -  -  0  -  0  1  -  0  -  -  X  -  -  1  1  0  -  1  4
14 Henk de Vries     Nld 4d    -  -  -  -  0  0  -  1  -  0  1  1  -  X  -  0  1  0  -  -  4
15 Frank Hansen      Den       -  -  -  0  -  -  -  -  0  0  0  0  -  -  X  1  1  -  1  1  4
16 Rob Koopman       Nld 3d    -  0  -  -  -  -  -  0  0  -  0  -  0  1  0  X  -  -  1  1  3
17 Cas Muller        Nld 4d    -  -  0  -  -  1  0  -  1  -  -  -  0  0  0  -  X  -  1  0  3
18 Horst Kippe       Ger       -  -  0  0  -  0  -  -  0  -  -  0  1  1  -  -  -  X  0  0  2
19 Igor Bizjak       Yug       -  -  -  -  -  0  -  0  -  -  0  0  -  -  0  0  0  1  X  1  2
20 Berndt Wolter     Ger       -  -  -  -  -  -  0  -  -  -  0  0  0  -  0  0  1  1  0  X  2

Jürgen Mattern was the Champion (won 2 in play-off). Second was Ronald Schlemper (won 1 in play-off).

Other events


Main Tournament, Group 1

  1. Ton Hendriks (Nld, 2d)
  2. Alfons Wirtz (Ger, 3d)
  3. Bruce Wilcox (USA, 5d)

Group 2

  1. Julian Faraway (Gbr, 1d)
  2. Peter Zandveld (Nld, 1d)
  3. Erik Kaper (Nld, 1d)

Group 3

  1. Koos Groeneveld (Nld, 1k)
  2. Michiel Eijkhout (Nld, 1k)

Handicap Tournament

  1. Frederic Donzet (Fra, 1d)
  2. Nico Lijssen (Nld, 3k)

Weekend Tournament

  1. Hans Zschintzsch (Ger, 4d)
  2. Gunther Ciessow (Ger, 4d)
  3. Pecenko (Yug, 4d)

Lightning Tournament

  1. Henk de Vries (Nld, 4d)
  2. Michiel Eijkhout (Nld, 1k)

Match Europe-Asia: 14-0


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