SPbGASU team won bronze at Go tournament in Karelia
For several years now, students of Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering have been taking active part in both Russian and international Go (Weiqi) competitions. From 16 to 22 August, the SPbGASU Go team participated and won bronze medals at the open international student Go festival in Karelia.
The programme of the festival, which was held in Petrozavodsk, included open team and individual championships of the Russian Student Go Union, as well as the international ‘Cup of Karelia’.
Before the start of the competitions
Festival participants
Our university was represented by the team captain, postgraduate student of the Department of Computer Science Yuri Zgoda, students of the Faculty of Automobile and Road Building Kirill Bodrunov and Nikita Obraztsov, and Architecture student Grigori Vornikov.
During the first two days of the competition, a unique situation occurred at the tournament. The favourites to win (SPbGASU, St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and Petrozavodsk State University) got the same number of round wins. At the same time, our team beat the SPbPU team, but lost to PetrSU, and the PetrSU team lost to SPbPU. The result of the competition was determined by additional coefficients, and our team took third place and became the bronze medalist of the Russian Go Championship among students.
The team competition also included awards for the best players on separate boards. In team competitions, the players are assigned from the first to the third game boards in accordance with the rating of the Russian Go Federation, and the strongest team representative plays on the first board.
It turned out that following the individual games, there was not only an equal number of victories, but also an exact match in additional coefficients on the first and third boards. For this reason, the organizers decided to hold extra games.
The games were played in a blitz format with a time limit of 15 minutes. This means that, on average, each player had less than 10 seconds per move. This format of the game requires the utmost concentration and instant position assessment.
Following the results of additional games, Yuri Zgoda became the best player on the first board, and Nikita Obraztsov – on the third board. Thus, despite the fact that our team won bronze, it has the strongest first and third boards among Russian students.
SPbGASU awards
The Ministry of Education and Sports of the Republic of Karelia awarded a diploma for a significant contribution to the development of Go playing among students to SPbGASU Rector Evgeny Rybnov. In the course of individual student competitions, Kirill Bodrunov took fifth place in the overall standings and second among the rated players, and Yuri Zgoda took sixth place in the overall standings and third among the rated sportsmen. Yuri also took fourth place following the results of participation in the Cup of Karelia.
We express our deep gratitude to the management of our university, represented by Head of the Division of Social and Extracurricular Student Activities Irina Nuryeva, for many years of support of our club, without which the high achievements of our team would be impossible.
Regular trainings with Aleksandr Kim, one of the best Go players in Saint Petersburg, helped our university team reach its top form by the beginning of the festival. During the intensive preparation organized before the competition, he placed particular emphasis on developing the strengths of each of the team members.
The SPbGASU Go club unites students from different countries, faculties and study programmes. We are always glad to see new members. Classes are held both for those who first learned about this game and for experienced players. In our club you can improve your skills and have a good time playing Go in a friendly team!
Text: Yuri Zgoda
Photos: 1,2 – courtesy of the Organizing Committee,
3 – Yuri Zgoda
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