Lee Hyuk (7 dan), a South Korean player who works in Moscow, has regained the European Championship at the European Go Congress held at Strausberg, just outside Berlin. Lee won 10/10 to come out top of the main event of the EGC, a 501-player McMahon tournament held over two weeks, beating his closest rival and current champion Alexandr Dinerstein in Round 4, who came second with 9/10. In clear third place with 8/10 was Zhao Pei (6 dan), the Chinese woman player currently living in Germany.
Dinerstein, from Kazan in Russia, is also a 7 dan player, who is studying Go in the apprentice league in South Korea. He had his revenge on Lee in the weekend tournament, in which 402 players took part. Winner in that event with 5/5 was Korean visitor Kim Se Hyun (7 dan), Dinerstein was second and Lee third. In the Rapidplay (195 entrants) victory went to Andrej Kulkov (5 dan Russia) who scored 14/17.
Full results, with game records including the Lee-Dinerstein clash from the main tournament, on the EGC web site. This is the largest event of the European Go year, is sponsored by Hitachi, and attracts players of all levels. The organisation is flexible: it is possible to play in any combination of the two weeks of the main event and the weekend tournament.
It is also one of the infrequent occasions on which international ratings can be put under relative scrutiny. The group of a dozen Japanese players above the McMahon bar, set at 4 dan, performed respectably at their grades of entry. There were too few North American players to draw conclusions about grades in the New World.
