European Go players
The board game of Go was created in East Asia, and is still dominated by Japan, Korea and China. However, since the late 1900s several high-level players have grown and become active in Europe.
Some of them are players from Asia who came to promote the game of go in Europe.
Mainly, though, the players were born in Europe, sometimes with strong support from Asian Go professionals, and a few of the Europeans have themselves become professional players.
In general, every country in Europe has its own national federation or association, which is affiliated to the Go Federation, and each national body manages the activities linked to the game of go in their own country.
The activities are almost exclusively undertaken by volunteers.
Players by country
Austria
Best players
- Manfred Wimmer – 1-dan professional player – 2-time European Go Championship winner.
- Helmut Hasibeder – Previous European Champion.
Czech Republic
Best players
- Lukáš Podpěra, 7d
- Vladimír Daněk, 6d
- Jan Šimara, 6d
- Jan Prokop, 6d
- Radek Nechanický, 6d
Finland
Best players
- Antti Törmänen – 1-dan professional player
Netherlands
Best players
- Guo Juan – 4-time European Champion.
- Rob Van Zeijst – 3-time European Champion.
- Ronald Schlemper – 2-time European Champion.
Russia
Slovakia
- Pavol Lisy 2p – European Champion 2018, 5-time Slovak champion, winner of first European Professional Qualification tournament in 2014 and thereby first European Go Professional
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Best players
- Matthew Macfadyen – 5-time European Champion.
Israel
Best players
- Ali Jabarin – 2-dan professional player – The 2nd European professional, 5-time Israeli Go Champion and winner of the 2009 European Youth Go Championship.