Written by Artem Kachanovskyi 3p, the Editor-in-chief of the European Go Journal

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In order to keep a closer connection between the team of the European Go Journal and our readership, and to better communicate our product to the go community, we decided to start a Newsletter published between the editions. The idea is to showcase the latest published issue and to share the news and plans of our team.

I am excited to announce that the European Go Yearbook 2024 has just been released! This book compiles the highlights from last year’s EGJ editions. We selected the best articles dedicated to go in Europe and, to provide you with bonus content not published elsewhere, we compiled a collection of Top European Games played by our strongest players in the most important European tournaments and in Asia. For this premium product, we chose the highest quality in print and binding, and prepared several checkout options you can choose from: Digital Edition (€15), Printed Edition with pick-up at the European Go Congress (€35) and Printed Edition with included Worldwide Delivery (€55). To learn more, see what content is included and order your copy, visit the European Go Yearbook 2024 webpage.

The January & February edition includes a lot of material dedicated to two bright events, which took place in February in Vienna at the same time and venue: the European Professional Qualification and Championship. The cover features a portrait of the newest European professional player, Benjamin Dréan-Guénaïzia. In this issue, you will find an interview with Ben and his commentary on the deciding game of the Qualification he played against Lukáš Podpěra 7d. I wrote a report on the Professional Qualification and Championship and commented on the selected fragments from each game I played in the Championship. In the World News chapter, I explained the famous incident from the final match of the 29th LG Cup, when Ke Jie 9p lost because of a new tournament rule.

The January & February edition is our first issue that includes additional files in its digital version: we compiled the complete game collection from the European Professional Qualification and Championship in PDF and SGF formats. I was inspired by feedback from one of our subscribers, who sent in an email saying that he would like us to showcase the talent of European professionals even more than we already do. I think compiling game collections from important tournaments is a good idea and we should do it in the future at least for such important tournaments as the European Championship.

Our January & February edition contains a lot more interesting material than that mentioned above and its print copy would be a beautiful addition to your bookshelf. If you missed this edition – purchase it on our website!

Group photo of the European Youth Championship 2025 in Vatra Dornei, Romania

We plan to publish the March & April edition in the second half of May. It will include reports on exciting events that happened in those months such as the European Youth Championship in March in Vatra Dornei, Romania and the Paris International Tournament in April.

Stanisław Frejlak 2p (right) plays Tu Xiaoyu 9p at the 1st Beihai Xinyi Cup

Stanisław Frejlak was promoted to 2-dan professional after the Professional Championship in February. Together with Tanguy Le Calvé 1p, he attended in April the 1st Beihai Xinyi Cup, a new international professional competition. In the March & April edition, Stanisław reviews his game against Tu Xiaoyu 9p, one of the strongest players in the world. Although Stanisław lost, he had a real fighting chance in the middle-game fight! Unfortunately, Tanguy lost his game against Kyo Kagen 9p as well. Stanisław spent a bit more time in China during this trip: he visited Weizhou Island where the final rounds were played and a go club in Guangzhou. Stanisław kindly agreed to share his impressions from a trip to China in a separate article.

In the January & February edition, we published the last of the Thirty-Six Stratagems written by Dai Junfu 8d. This was one of our readers’ favorite chapters of our magazine, we received plenty of positive feedback. In the March & April edition, Junfu debuts a new series in the European Go Journal dedicated to ko fights. Just as with the Stratagems, he illustrates useful principles with examples from real games. I am sure it will be interesting and useful for players of any strength!

A new author joins our team in the March & April edition. Meet Li Ang 3p – a professional player of the Chinese Weiqi Association, an author of more than 30 books and a teacher who guided players from more than 20 countries! Li Ang’s passion is go culture and history. He has collected over 1000 valuable items such as go sets, boards, calligraphy pieces, paintings, ancient books and other go-related items. In this edition of our magazine, he launches a series that will introduce great masters of the past through the items from his collection. In the first chapter, Ang shows us a go board signed by Sakata Eio 9p, a great Japanese professional of the 20th Century nicknamed “The Razor”, and shares his biography. Li Ang’s writing is unique and captivating reading and studying material!

The European Go Congress in Warsaw will kick off in less than three months. I thought that for the go community it would be interesting to know how the process of organization is going and what they can expect from this Congress, so I asked the main organizer, Tomasz Andrzejewski, a few questions. You will find an interview with him in the March & April edition of the European Go Journal.

Mateusz’s daughter Agnieszka (left) plays in the Happy Genius Go Academy in Thailand

Mateusz Surma 3p travelled with his family to Southeast Asia from November till March. He visited nearly ten go clubs and academies in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong! In the March & April edition of the European Go Journal, Mateusz will share his impressions in an interview.

There will be a lot more interesting content besides the articles announced above, such as a philosophical essay by Joan Lluís i Rabassó, commentary on a game played between world top professionals, World News, Art & Photograph and more. If you are not yet a subscriber of the European Go Journal – I strongly recommend you to sign up on our Patreon! If you choose one of our Gold Supporter tiers, your name will be printed on the last page of the Journal. Don’t forget that our past editions are available on our website.

See you soon on the pages of the European Go Journal!

Best regards,
Artem Kachanovskyi 3p,
Editor-in-chief of the European Go Journal