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Of course the European Championship is the most important Go event in Europe. A lot of strong players compete for the title of the strongest European player, including the top favourites Guo Juan (7 Dan, Netherlands), Rob van Zeijst (7 Dan, Netherlands), Miyakawa Wataru (6 Dan, Japan) as well as other famous names like Laurent Heiser (6 Dan, Luxemburg), Frank Janssen (6 Dan, Netherlands) and Robert Mateescu (6 Dan, Romania). All together 86 players with a strength of 4 Dan or stronger registered - we cannot name them all here.
The first round had some surprising results. Rob van Zeijst lost to Lee Hyuk (6 Dan, Korea) and Victor Bogdanov (6 Dan, Russia) against the former insei Dimitri Bogatskii (5 Dan, Ukraine). Some of the other well known players also didn't manage to win their important first game: Farid Ben Malek, Egbert Rittner, Mark Boon, Vladimir Danek, Robert Rehm and Gilles van Eeden just to name a few.
The second round on Monday had fewer surprises. Guo Juan won her second game and also Laurent Heiser, Frank Janssen, Lee Hyuk, Miyakawa Wataru, David Schoffel, Dimitri Bogatskii and Sumikura Yasuyuki did as well. It may not have been recognized but there have been some very dramatic and high level games in the second round. The game between Pierre Colmez (5 Dan, France) and Laurent Heiser took about seven hours of thinking before Laurent won this match (see game with comment in this issue). Also the game between Miyakawa Wataru and the well known Japanese guest Kai Naoyuki (6 Dan, Japan) was played till late in the afternoon.
Not much can be said about who is THE favourite for this years congress. Guo Juan of course, but Miyakawa seems to be in brilliant form this year and he has already beaten one direct challenger for first place, Kai Naoyuki. The next few rounds will show whether the strong native Europeans will survive between the strong Asian players.
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