Professionals & Special Guests
Professional players and strong amateur teachers are just as inseparable from the European Go Congress as the attendees themselves.
Here is our lecture schedule with a more detailed look for better planning (under construction, please review it frequently):
[schedule linked in the picture]
Below you will find all the information regarding our VIPs, including how long they will be staying during the event, and what you can expect from them. Please scroll down to see each person's detailed profile page.
| Surname, first name (alphabetical) | Rank | Country of origin/residence | Duration of stay | Activities |
| Cho, Hye-yeon | 9p | South Korea | 26 July – 12 August | General teaching activities |
| Cho, Yeon-woo | 1p | South Korea | 26 July – 13 August | General teaching activities |
| Deguchi, Mariko | 1p | Japan | 29 July – 3 August | General teaching activities |
| Chun, Poong-jho | 9p | South Korea | 27 July – 12 August | General teaching activities |
| Enda, Hideki | 9p | Japan | 1 August – 5 August | General teaching activities |
| Fan, Hui | 2p | China/France | 28 July – 7 August | Special lecture |
| Fan, Weijing | 3p | China | 27 July – 31 July | General teaching activities |
| Guo, Juan | 5p | China/Netherlands | 27 July – 12 August |
General teaching activities, public lectures (preview), lectures for Silver and Gold EGC Friends only |
| Hayashi, Kozo | 6p | Japan | 28 July – 12 August | General teaching activities |
| Hu, Yaoyu | 8p | China | 27 July – 8 August | General teaching activities |
| Hwang, In-seong | 8d | South Korea/Switzerland | 1 August – 8 August | Five lectures, open to everyone |
| Jabarin, Ali | 1p | Israel | 27 July – 12 August | Competing in European Championship; reviews during second week |
| Jiang, Zhujiu (aka "Jujo") | 9p | China/South Korea | 4 August – 5 August | Special lecture |
| Kachanovskyi, Artem | 2p | Ukraine | 27 July – 12 August | Competing in European Championship; reviews during second week |
| Kim, Young-sam | 8d | South Korea/Germany | 27 July – 12 August | General teaching activities; special children's lecture series |
| Kravets, Andrii | 1p | Ukraine | 27 July – 12 August | Competing in European Championship; reviews during second week |
| Lisy, Pavol | 1p | Slovakia | 27 July – 12 August | Competing in European Championship; reviews during second week |
| Lu, Jian | 5p | China | 27 July – 12 August | General teaching activities |
| Maeda, Ryo | 6p | Japan | 30 July – 3 August | General teaching activities |
| Marz, Manja | 4d | Germany | 27 July – 12 August | Special children's lecture series |
| Oh, Chi-min | 7d | South Korea/France | 27 July – 12 August | Competing in the Open European Championship; lectures; reviews; simultaneous games |
| Plushch, Yuriy | 5d | Ukraine | 29 July – 12 August | Lectures for beginners (up to 5 kyu) |
| Shikshin, Ilya | 2p | Russia | 27 July – 12 August | Competing in European Championship; reviews during second week |
| Shinkai, Hiroko | 5p | Japan | 30 July – 12 August | General teaching activities |
| Shiraishi, Kyoko | 4p | Japan | 28 July – 11 August | General teaching activities |
| Surma, Mateusz | 1p | Poland | 27 July – 12 August | Competing in European Championship; reviews during second week |
| Țăranu, Cătălin | 5p | Romania | 27 July – 4 August | General teaching activities |
| Törmänen, Antti | 1p | Finland/Japan | 27 July – 6 August | Lectures; reviews; simultaneous games |
| Yanagisawa, Satoshi | 5p | Japan | 6 August – 12 August | General teaching activities |
The official representatives from Asian Go organisations are Lu Jian 5p and Hu Yaoyu 8p from the Chinese Weiqi Association; Cătălin Țăranu 5p and Yanagisawa Satoshi 5p from Nihon Ki-in; Hayashi Kozo 6p and Shiraishi Kyoko 4p from Kansai Ki-in; Cho Hye-yeon 9p and Cho Yeon-woo 1p from the Korea Baduk Association.
| Special guests | Rank | Country of origin/residence | Duration of stay | Activities |
| Constans, Zoé | 18k | France | 27 July – 12 August | Portrait commissions & more |
| Hanečková, Radka (aka "chidori") | 7k | Slovakia/Germany | 3 August – 12 August | Portrait commissions; Go-themed items (t-shirts, fans, posters, etc.) for sale |
| Malick, Darrell | 1d | Netherlands | 27 July – 12 August | Special lectures on Guo Juan's teaching system |
| Teuber, Benjamin | 6d | Germany | 27 July – 12 August | Special lecture on his online AI teaching tool |
Cho Hye-yeon is a Korean professional 9 dan. She will visit us as an official representative of the Korean Baduk Association. Ms. Cho will also be available for general teaching.
Cho Hye-yeon is a top ranking tournament player with many outstanding results. During the 2010 Asian Games she won the gold medal for South Korea, which subsequently earned her a 9p promotion. Very few women worldwide have earned the highest professional rank in Baduk; Ms. Cho was the fourth ever to do so. Since then she has also been involved in international teaching programs for Baduk.
But her interests are hardly limited to the game itself. She attained a degree in English Literature and Japanese, and as of 2016 she had been pursuing another degree in Mass Communication and Public Relations. Apart from English and Japanese, she has also learned some Chinese and some Spanish. From an early age she has been playing the piano and the violin.
Cho Yeon-woo is a Korean professional 1 dan. She will visit us as an official representative of the Korean Baduk Association. Ms. Cho will also be available for general teaching.
Chun Poong Jho is a Korean professional 9 dan with the Korean Baduk Association. Mr. Chun will be available for general teaching.
He started playing Baduk at age 13 and became a professional player at 21. In 1997 he invited Alexandr Dinerstein and Svetlana Shikshina to South Korea, and helped them become professionals. He is sometimes known as "Victor Chun", and Korean Baduk players also know him simply as "Poong Jho".
Deguchi Mariko is a Japanese professional 1 dan with Kansai Ki-in. She will be available for general teaching.
Enda Hideki is a Japanese professional 9 dan with Nihon Ki-in. He will be available for general teaching.
Fan Hui is a Chinese professional 2 dan, living in France since 2000. Most famously in 2015, Fan Hui was the first ever professional Weiqi player to lose an even 19×19 game against an AI opponent, Alphago. At the time, Mr. Fan had won the European Championship three years in a row, just after he concluded his job as instructor for the French Go Federation, which he held for ten years. After his Alphago match he was also briefly employed by Google Deepmind, the developers and creators of Alphago.
Fan Hui's five game victory of machine over human was merely surprising at first, yet nobody was prepared for Lee Sedol's shocking 1:4 loss against Alphago a few months later in the Spring of 2016. The world of Weiqi would never be the same again! Fan Hui also co-stars in the documentary "AlphaGo" (2017), depicting the events of both matches, and commissioned by Google.
At the congress this year, Mr. Fan will give a talk concerning the use of the AlphaGo teaching tool on 7 August, 17.00h to 17.45h.
Fan Weijing is a Chinese professional 3 dan with the Chinese Weiqi Association. Ms. Fan has been successful in many tournaments in the past; at age 15 she won the World Amateur Pairgo Championship; the following year she became Junior Chinese Women's Champion and was promoted to professional rank. Four years later she was the only female player to enter the 11th Samsung Cup, and in 2008 she won the Pairgo Championship at the 1st World Mind Sports Games with her partner Huang Yizhong 7p.
Apart from Weiqi, Ms. Fan also holds a degree in film and television editing from Peking University School of Arts.
Guo Juan is a Chinese professional 5 dan, living in the Netherlands since 1990 and shaping the Go community with frequent teaching appearances throughout Europe. She is running Guo Juan's Internet Go School, alongside her fiancée Darrell Malick, who will also attend. The school is a co-sponsor of EGC 2018. Services offered through their site:
- More than 1,300 pre-recorded professional Go lectures
- More than 12,000 Go problems in the Spaced Repetition Training System
- Online Go school
Outside of general teaching activities, Guo Juan will be hosting private teaching games as a special perk for Silver and Gold EGC Friends. Darrell will be giving two live demonstration sessions of their online training system "A demonstration of Guo Juan's website by the designer".
Hayashi Kozo is a Japanese professional 6 dan and pupil of Hashimoto Shoji 9p. Mr. Hayashi will visit us as an official represenative of Kansai Ki-in.
During his many visits to European Go Congresses in the past 10 years, Mr. Hayashi has become one of the most popular teachers for his approachability and good nature. If you're looking to find his lectures, the sound of traditional songs from the Ryukyu islands might lead the way. He is an avid player of the shamisen (traditional Japanese lute) and he enjoys archery in his spare time.
Hu Yaoyu is a Chinese professional 8 dan. He will visit us as an official representative of the Chinese Weiqi Association. Mr. Hu will also be available for general teaching.
His tournament results since the early 2000s have catapulted him into the highest brackets of Chinese professional Weiqi. Perhaps his most impressive outing was during the 4th Nong Shim Cup where he defeated many of the strongest players of their time in a phenomenal winning streak.
Hwang In-seong is a Korean amateur 8 dan and former yeongusaeng. After an active career as a commentator on Baduk TV, he has made his home in many countries throughout Europe, serving as official teacher for both the French and Swiss Go Associations. He placed second at the European Go Congress 2009 in Groningen, Netherlands, among many other successful tournament results. Since 2011, he has been running his online school Yunguseng Dojang. He offers:
- Regular tournament games against other students, with personal reviews
- Live, interactive lessons
- Video archive of past lessons, available anytime
- Summary/review of progress throughout each season
- Various competitive games
In-seong will be hosting five lectures during his stay at EGC 2018. Please note: these lectures have been very popular in the past, so you may want to come early to make sure you still get a seat!
EGF professionals
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| Jabarin, Ali 1p | Kachanovskyi, Artem 2p | Kravets, Andrii 1p | Lisy, Pavol 2p | Shikshin, Ilya 2p (current European Champion) | Surma, Mateusz 1p |
The European professional players are a special source of pride for the European Go Federation, and of course we are excited to welcome them here at the European Go Congress once again. Since the start of the European professional Go system, many outstanding young talents have been able to qualify, the most recent addition being Andrii Kravets 1p from Ukraine.
Ilya Shikshin, Pavol Lisy and most recently, Artem Kachanovskyi are the only professional 2 dan players in the European system to date; Ilya was promoted last year for his excellent results after he won the European Championship at EGC 2017 in Oberhof. This marked his fourth win for the European Championship, but he will still have to work hard to defend his title this year. Pavol was promoted after the Chunlan Cup.
The European professionals won't just be competing, though – during the second congress week, every day for 3 hours a different EGF pro will be available for your game reviews.
Jiang Zhujiu is a Chinese professional 9 dan, currently living in South Korea with his wife, the world-famous Rui Naiwei 9p. Mr. Jiang's name in Korean is spelled Chang Chu-chu or Kang Jugu; he is also called by his nickname "Jujo". He famously was part of the historic Japan-China Supergo matches in the 1980s where he defeated five top ranking Japanese professionals in a row.
Along with his brother Jiang Mingjiu 7p, Jujo currently is an active teacher in Guo Juan's Internet Go School. On August 4th and 5th, Jujo Jiang will hold two special lectures at the Congress Center, the topics of which will be announced in time on the teaching schedule (see at the top of this page).
Manja Marz and Kim Young-sam will be hosting a special lecture series for children! Manja and Young-sam are the co-founders of Jena International Go School (JIGS) to promote and foster strong youth Go players. People of all ages may join, but the goal of JIGS is to train children and adolescents aged 8 to 20 to compete at a professional level. JIGS training focuses on face-to-face lessons with a teacher – either for a short time (during school holidays) or as long-term teaching alongside regular school education.
Kim Young-sam is a Korean amateur 8 dan and former yeongusaeng. He has won the Open European Championship twice in 2011 and 2016. Last year he finished in fourth place. Formerly a teacher at "Blackie's" International Baduk Academy in Seoul, South Korea, he has now moved to Jena to build JIGS from the ground up as head coach.
Manja Marz is a German amateur 4 dan and major influence in European Go. She was the main organiser for the previous European Go Congress 2017 in Oberhof, Germany. Her skills in terms of management, organisation, and consultation have been key in the success of many prior congresses. The Italian Go Federation certainly is deeply grateful for her help during this upcoming EGC. :-)
Apart from that, Manja is a five times German female Go Champion and three times Open European Pair Go Champion. She has a PhD in Bioinformatics and teaches as a professor at Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, Germany.
Lu Jian is a Chinese professional 5 dan. He will visit us as an official representative of the Chinese Weiqi Association. Mr. Lu will also be available for general teaching.
Maeda Ryo is a Japanese professional 6 dan with Kansai Ki-in. He is one of the main organisers of Osaka Go Camp, taking place 12 June – 12 July. So if you happen to be there, you can already get acquainted with Mr. Maeda! He has also been a frequent visitor to the US Go Congress, so we are very happy to welcome him in Europe this time.
Oh Chi-min is a Korean amateur 7 dan and former yeongusaeng. He was working as a teacher at "Blackie's" International Baduk Academy and event coordinator at the Korean Baduk Association before he moved to Europe and eventually settled in France. He currently works as a teacher for Yunguseng Dojang (for more details, see In-seong's profile above).
Yuriy Plushch is a Ukrainian amateur 5 dan. He will be hosting a series of lectures for beginners up to 5 kyu level for every day of the congress.
Shinkai Hiroko is a Japanese professional 5 dan with Nihon Ki-in. She will be available for general teaching.
Shiraishi Kyoko is a Japanese professional 4 dan. She will visit us as an official represenative of the Go organisation Kansai Ki-in. Ms. Shiraishi will also be available for general teaching.
Catalin Taranu is a Romanian professional 5 dan. He will visit us as an official representative of the Go organisation Nihon Ki-in. In the mid-1990s Mr. Taranu was a student to Masataka Saijo 8p and became the second European professional through the Japanese Insei program. He is no stranger to the EGC either, having won the European Championship 10 years ago in Leksand, Sweden. This time, however, he will merely be available for general teaching.
Antti Törmänen is a Finnish professional 1 dan with Nihon Ki-in. Instead of pursuing a career within the EGF, he went to Japan and passed the Insei exam in 2015. He is the first Western player to accomplish this with the Nihon Ki-in since the promotion of Hans Pietsch 4p (Germany) in 1997.
[Aside: Francis Meyer (USA) was promoted 1p in 2014 by Nihon Ki-in's sister organisation Kansai Ki-in.]
Mr. Törmänen has published his first book "Invisible: The Games of AlphaGo" with Hebsacker Verlag, collecting 78 AlphaGo games, 73 of which received professional commentary.
Yanagisawa Satoshi is a Japanese professional 5 dan. He will visit us as an official representative of the Go organisation Nihon Ki-in. Mr. Yanagisawa will also be available for general teaching. If you can read Japanese, you can read his personal blog here.
Special guests
Zoé Constans is a French artist specialised in illustrations and sketches for various events. Zoé began playing Go four years ago and drawing the players she met came naturally. She has made appearances as an artist at tournaments such as the Korean Prime Minister's Cup, Kido Cup, the Paris Tournament, and other local French tournaments. This is her second year in a row attending the EGC.
In Pisa she will have her own artist's booth where you can meet her to sit for a commissioned portrait. You can see some of her artwork on her Facebook page "Zoé Gribouilleuse" and on her blog themed around artwork related to Go: https://zoesgosketches.blogspot.com/
[click on the pictures for higher resolution]
Radka Hanečková (better known by her online handle 'chidori') is the creator of the long-running webcomic 'Empty Triangle', themed around Go, science, and other nerdy endeavours. Her art has been featured in many European Congresses and tournaments, most recently at EGC 2015 in Liberec, Czechia. Chidori is a graphic designer by trade, but has been pursuing an academic career in recent years. After getting her Master's degree in molecular genetics from Charles University in Prague, Czechia, she is now a PhD student at TU Dresden in Germany.
At this EGC you will find her drawing and illustrating in her signature comic style. She will also offer her art for sale on t-shirts, fans, posters, keychains and other items. All images are hand-drawn uniques. Before stopping by, please remember to check the schedule near her artist's booth. For more information, also check her personal website at http://chidori.or.cz/.
[click on the pictures for higher resolution]
Benjamin Teuber is a German amateur 6 dan. Throughout his Go career he has studied in Japan as an insei, and he has attended Baduk and Weiqi schools in South Korea and China, respectively. Most recently he has placed 10th in the World Amateur Go Championship 2018. Benjamin works as a software engineer and his current project is AI Sensei (https://ai-sensei.com/) where users can upload their game records and have them reviewed by Go software. He will give a presentation of AI sensei at EGC on Thursday, 2 August, 17.30h to 18.00h.