The 19th International Tournament “Go to Innovation” was held this weekend, November 18th to 20th, in Berlin, Germany. Even though this tournament was small in regards to the number of participants, the prizes were big and mostly, it was very unusual and interesting competition.
The 19th International Tournament “Go to Innovation” was held this weekend, November 18th to 20th, in Berlin, Germany. Even though this tournament was small in regards to the number of participants, the prizes were big and mostly, it was very unusual and interesting competition.
The 1st prize was 1200 euro, 2nd 600 euro and 3rd 300 euro, 4th-10th 100 euro and 10th to 20th got a go book. Altogether 33 players from seven countries came to this tournament, which means that almost two thirds of participants get the prize. The reason for the low participation may be that this weekend three other big competitions took place in Europe: Austrian Open in Vienna, Russian Championship and Go Baron in Czech Republic.

The winner was Kim Seong-Jin 7d, a young Korean player living in Germany. Second was Pavol Lisy, 1p from Slovakia and third was Lukas Podpera, 7d from Czech Republic. Even though this tournament consisted of 8 rounds, the decisive ones were the last two. Because of the special rules the strongest players did not compete with each other that time, but they had to beat weaker players with unusual handicaps.
There was also a prize for the best female player (500€) which was won by Adriana Tomsu 1d from Czech Republic, who did not have any serious competition in the tournament.
Photos by Soňa Smoláriková