Thanks to the KAGARIBI Project, an initiative aiming to blend Go with cultural elements, and to Akira’s Go, a team of 5 EGF pro will fight a team of 5 pros from the Kansai Ki-in in an online battle, the Kagaribi Cup. This epic match will take place on Friday, October 3rd, all day. Of course, this wonderful event will be streamed live and commented!

[Updated article]

The Kagaribi Cup is about to start!

The event will take place on October 3rd, on OGS, with live comments on Twitch (EGF channel).

So without any further ado, here is the pairing for the matches (all times are in CEST)

Round 1 | 8:00
Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia 1p 🇫🇷 vs Fumi Takayamabe 1p 🇯🇵
game – Winner Fumi (W+Resign)

Round 2 | 9:30
Stanisław Frejlak 2p 🇵🇱 vs Takuya Okawa 3p 🇯🇵
game – Winner Stanislaw (B+Timeout)

Round 3 | 11:00
Ali Jabarin 3p vs Jin Nishimura 2p 🇯🇵
game – Winner Jin (B+Resign)

Round 4 | 12:30
Andrii Kravets 2p 🇺🇦 vs Atsushi Sada 7p 🇯🇵
game – Winner Atsushi (B+Resign)

Round 5 | 14:00
Mateusz Surma 3p 🇵🇱 vs Yuto Omote 3p 🇯🇵
game – Winner Yuto (W+Resign)

⸻
📺 Broadcast Information
• Akira’s Go: Live broadcast on October 3rd, starting 15:00 JST
• Kagaribi Channel: Post-event release (behind-the-scenes footage from Kansai Ki-in + commentary by Hibiki Mishima). More infos on https://kagaribi-project.com/ 
• Europe: Official stream on the EGF Twitch channel

The idea of this epic battle was born when Akira from ‘Akira’s Go,’ who moved from Japan to Cologne last year and launched a Go YouTube channel, became interested in the European Go scene and wanted to promote it. The sponsor that helped turn this idea into reality is the KAGARIBI project, an initiative aiming to blend Go with cultural elements, such as a coffee specially crafted for go players or special “Go” stay and discovery of both Kansai culture and the go world. 

Kagaribi Cup | outline

Organizers

Hiroo Yamanaka (Kagaribi Coffee Sponsor)
Hibiki Mishima, 1-dan (Contact for Kansai Ki-in)
Akira Fukushima (Contact for European Go Federation “EGF”)

Date and venue

October 3, 2025 (Friday) – Online (OGS)

Schedule (CEST):

8:00-9:20 Round 1
(break)
9:30-10:50 Round 2
(break)
11:00-12:20 Round 3
(break)
12:30-13:50 Round 4
(break)
14:00-15:20 Round 5
(break)
15:20 – 15:30 Ceremony

Rules

Game Format: Fischer Time Control: 5 minute + 15 seconds per move

Participating Players

Kansai Ki-in Representative Players:

– Atsushi Sada, 7p
– Yuto Omote, 3p
– Takuya Okawa, 3p 
– Jin Nishimura, 2p
– Fumi Takayamabe, 1p

European Representative Players:
– Mateusz Surma 3p
– Ali Jabarin 3p
– Andrii Kravets 2p
– Stanislaw Frejlak 2p
– Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia 1p

Prize money

20,000 JPY per losing player
Winner(s): 50,000 JPY (if the team wins all matches or wins 3
matches)
However, if one team wins the first three matches (1st to 3rd rounds), and the final result is 4 wins to 1 loss, then the winners on the team with 4 wins will receive 45,000 JPY, and the winner on the team with 1 win will receive 70,000 JPY.