At its half-way stage, the first running of the Toyota Tour looks like an interesting tussle between the home-grown European players, and the crop of strong visitors resident in Western Europe. With the results of the Prague leg just in, Victor Bogdanov of Russia, winner of the Hitachi Grand Prix on its final outing in 1998, has moved into the lead. Bogdanov, from Petrozavodsk, is a 6 dan player, but only number five in the current Russian rankings (which are headed by European Champion Lee Hyuk 7 dan, followed by Alexandr Dinerstein from Kazan who was champion in 1999). He has travelled to four out of the six Tour events since the cycle started in Milan in March, to register 57 points.
Early Tour leader Danek, playing Matoh of Slovenia (Photo: European Go Federation)
Vladimir Danek 6 dan of the Czech Republic is close behind on 53 points (see the EGF's ranking page for the full list).
At the heels of these two on 48 points is Du Jingyu, Chinese but living in Berlin, who won at Amsterdam and Hamburg. He has made a big impact this year on European Go, most recently by winning the Obayashi Cup, and
Paris over Easter, two events outside the Tour. He was also a medallist in the Mind Sports Go events, and has a current European rating of 2751, nominally two stones stronger than leader Bogdanov.
Behind them are Guo Juan, ex-pro 5 dan and now resident in the Netherlands, with second places in Amsterdam and Hamburg, followed by Leszek Soldan of Poland, Diana Koszegi of Hungary (recently promoted to 6 dan), Lazarev of Russia (who is also from Petrozavodsk) and Dinerstein, these two having shared first place in Moscow, Pocsai of Hungary and this year's "stop Hassabis" Pentamind contestant Gert Schnider 5 dan of Austria.
All the Toyota Tour tournaments are run under a standard McMahon system, though with some having six rounds and others eight. In each Tour event 100 points are shared by the top eight players, on a tariff decreasing from 24 for first to 12 for fourth place in steps of four, and then decreasing by steps of two to 4 for eighth place.
Guo Juan and Du Jingyu give a public commentary on their game at Amsterdam (Photo: European Go Federation)
No tie-breaker is used, with points for players finishing level on McMahon score being shared.
The Final for the Tour will be the Paris 2001 Easter tournament. There will be a cut-off of 100 points before it starts (so no player will stand on more than 100), and the Paris tariff will be for a total of 200 points awarded to players in the top twelve places. The winner at Paris will take 38 points, second place 32 points and so on. Total prize money for the Tour is 20000 euros, awarded both at the constituent events and for placings by total points.
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Older News From 12 May 2000: TOYOTA TOUR KICKS OFF IN MILAN
The new European circuit, sponsored by Toyota, got off to a good start at the Milan Tournament on April 29-30, with the somewhat unusual sight of a native European player winning. Vladimir Danek (6 dan) of Czechia had a perfect 5/5 score, and runner-up, losing only to Danek, was Victor Bogdanov (6 dan) of Russia, winner of the last Grand Prix under the previous system.
Danek has managed something of a flyer, winning also at Bled (Slovenia) the following weekend in the next Tour event.
FROM FAMOUS FO PLAYS TO FRIENDLY FOE PLAYS
The Milan tournament took place in the Palazzina Liberty, a historic building converted from a vegetable market and more famous in recent times for the premier performances of plays by Dario Fo (including "Non si paga, non si paga!" - "Can't Pay? Won't Pay!").
Photo from Milan Go Club, by permission.
Here Shinada Kei takes on the daughter of Kobayashi Chizu, visiting pro 5 dan.
The design of the building afforded the photographer this dramatic shot of spectators gathered around the decisive last round game between Danek and Farid ben Malek (5 dan).
Photos from Milan Go Club, by permission.
HOW THE TOYOTA TOUR WORKS
In comparison with the old, somewhat long-winded but straightforward Grand Prix, the new Tour is Ptolemaic in its complexity. To compress the twenty or so events into a circuit in which the top players might reasonably attend the majority of tournaments, there has been an epicyclic scheduling effort. Some annual events, like Milan, will be part of the Tour once every three years. Others will participate in the Tour every two years. Major events such as London will be there annually. Points are awarded to the top players at each sponsored tournament. The one thing that everyone can understand is that each year's cycle will lead up to Paris, traditionally held over Easter, and which will therefore provide the decider.
More details can be found on the Toyota European Go Tour page. The two upcoming events are Amsterdam (June 1-4) and Hamburg a week later, both majors.
