Russian Open Go Championship among students has become international
The SPbGASU Go team showed first-class results at the open international student Go-Festival "Karelian dream will Go long!" The festival was held on August 19 - 25, 2019 in Petrozavodsk. The program included open team and individual championships of the Russian Student Sports Union in Go, as well as the international Cup of Karelia.
The SPbGASU team included captain Yuri Zgoda (group PMIm-1), Grigory Vornikov (group 2-A-1), Kirill Bodrunov (PMX-4) and Nikita Obraztsov (NTTK-4). The team took sixth place in the team event. Kirill Bodrunov became the first, and Nikita Obraztsov - the second in the 2nd subgroup. In the first subgroup, Yuri Zgoda managed to take fifth position, and Grigory Vornikov was the eighth.
The geography of the festival, which gathers the most powerful young Go players in Russia, is expanding. This year, students from Japan and Korea took part in the festival. The captain of the Korean team was the world champion among students Back Wunki; he lost only one game out of eighteen and became the undisputed favorite of the tournament.
Go is one of the oldest and strategically challenging board games in the world. Asian Go players are rightfully considered the strongest due to the fact that the Go game appeared in Europe only in the 20th century, while in the East, people have been playing Go for more than five thousand years. Competition with strong rivals allowed students to improve their skills and establish international contacts. At the end of the competition, the guests visited the international Go Center “Zvezda” and shared some secrets of mastership.
The SPbGASU Go Club expresses its deep gratitude to the university leadership for their support. Thanks to regular training with one of the best players of Go in Russia, multiple prize winner of the Russian championship Stepan Trubitsin, the team was at the peak of their form by the beginning of the festival. S. Trubitsin provided the team with a solid theoretical base, advised on the results of the games played throughout the festival. Our team demonstrated the highest level of the game in all the years of participation in the student Go championships of Russia.
FESTIVAL DETAILS
The past festival was unique both in Russia and abroad. In Russia, this is practically the only event during which students have the opportunity to practice their favorite game for a whole week.
One of the stages of Go Championship in Karelia
Even players from Asia, where Go is considered a national treasure, were impressed with the scale of the competition: in their homeland, week-long Go festivals are extremely rare.
As the organizers of the competition pointed out, this event was a “test of the pen” before the upcoming European Go Championship among students, which will be held in Petrozavodsk next year. Our players in Go are intensely training for the upcoming contest in order to adequately represent their university at the international level.
{gallery name="Го Карелия 2019"}
SPbGASU Club Go unites students from various faculties and specializations; it regularly receives new participants. Even those who have never played Go can join the club and master this game.
Text: Yury Zgoda
✔ Learn more about how to start playing Go and meet those who can help you with this
