The European Youth Go Championship (EYGC) is a championship for young players of the

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

of Go. It is held annually, and first started in

Băile Felix Băile Felix ( hu, Félixfürdő) is a thermal spa resort near the commune of Sânmartin in Bihor County, Transylvania, Romania. Băile Felix is at a close distance to Oradea, a major city in western Romania. History Thermal springs were valued ...

, Romania in 1996. Some winners of the various age groups, such as Diána Kőszegi, have since progressed to become professional Go players. The championship was divided into two sections until 2010, when it was split into three age groups. This event is where one can first see the future European Go leaders, such as

Ilya Shikshin Ilya Valerievich Shikshin (''Илья Валерьевич Шикшин'', born 7 May 1990) is a 4-dan professional Go player from Russia. He was the fourth player to be awarded professional status by the European Go Federation, in 2015. He has ...

Artem Kachanovskyi Artem Volodymyrovych Kachanovskyi ('' ukr.'' ''Арте́м Володи́мирович Качано́вський'', born 12.12.1992) is a 2-dan professional go player from Ukraine. He was the fifth player to be awarded professional status by t ...

, respectively first and second in the adult 2010

European Go Championship The European Go Championship or Congress (EGC) is the annual and main event of many organised by the European Go Federation for players of the board game Go. It consists of a 2-week open competition, one round per day, making a total of 10 rounds ...

(EGC).

History

In its very first year, the U-18 group produced two noteworthy prize-winners:

Csaba Mérő Csaba Mérő (born July 7, 1979 in Budapest, Hungary) is an amateur Go player. Biography Mérő began playing Go when he was 14. He is the son of Hungarian mathematician László Mérő. By 1996 he had already won the European Youth Go Cham ...

(the section winner), and the future professional players Svetlana Shikshina (2nd place) and

Alexandre Dinerchtein Alexandre (also Alexander) Grigorievich Dinerchtein (''Александр Григорьевич Динерштейн'', born April 19, 1980) is a professional Go player from Russia. He is one of only a few non-Asian players to reach professional ...

(3rd place).

Notable prize-winners

Other juniors went on to win senior tournaments. The U-12 winner in 2000 and 2001, Ilya Shikshin, went on to win the adult

, in 2007 and 2010. Notable U-18 winners who progressed to greater things include Csaba Mérő, Alexandr Dinerchtein (record 7-times-winner of the adult EGC) and Diána Kőszegi.

Awards

From 2010 onwards, these are split into 3 sections. They are for U-12s (players aged under 12), U-16s and U-18s.

Under 12

Under 16

This section was created in 2010, after the

World Youth Go Championship The World Youth Go Championship (WYGC) is a Go tournament that has been held annually since 1984 making it the second longest running amateur Go tournament in the world. This event is sponsored by the Ing Foundation, and therefore Ing's rules ar ...

altered the age categories under competition.

Under 18

Under 20

During the 2011 championship of Brno, it was mentioned "under 20" category instead of "under 18"

References

{{Reflist Go competitions in Europe Go, Youth Go 1996 establishments in Europe Recurring sporting events established in 1996