European Student Go Championship 2026

19–20 September 2026 · IZTECH Campus, Urla — İzmir, Türkiye

The European Student Go Championship comes to Türkiye for the first time. We are expecting students from all over Europe for two days of serious Go by the Aegean — on a seaside campus in the heart of ancient Ionia.

Organized by the Turkish Go Association and the IZTECH Turkish–Japanese Culture Society, hosted by the İzmir Institute of Technology, under the auspices of the European Go Federation.

Scan the QR code to register — or share the poster with your university Go club.

Tournament details

Format	5 rounds McMahon
Time	Fischer — 45 minutes main time + 15 seconds per move (EGF Class A)
Rules · Komi	Japanese (EGF) rules, komi 6.5
Tie-breaks	SOS, then SOSOS. With a small field the pairing system may be changed to Swiss — this will be announced before Round 1.
Eligibility	Full-time students, 16 to under 29 on 1 August 2026, nationals of an EGF full member country (see below)
Entry fee	Free
Prizes	Trophies and medals for the top places — further prizes will be announced — plus the OZA qualification (see below)
Registration	Online, until 13 September 2026
Venue	IZTECH Campus, Gülbahçe, Urla / İzmir

Who can play

This is an official EGF championship, so participation follows the EGF regulations. To take part you must:

be a full-time student at a university or college — students starting their studies in September 2026 are also welcome;
be aged 16 or over and under 29 on 1 August 2026;
be a national of an EGF full member country, and represent that country;
be an amateur player — every rank is welcome, from 30 kyu to dan level.

Both your passport or national ID and your student card or enrollment document will be checked at the registration desk on Saturday morning, so please bring them with you. Nationals of suspended EGF members (Russia and Belarus) are not eligible. If you are unsure whether you qualify — for example if you hold dual citizenship or study abroad — please write to us before booking your travel and we will check it with the EGF.

The winner among these players becomes the European Student Champion.

The road to Tokyo

The ESGC is the European qualifier for the World Students GO OZA Championship, played at the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo every February. Up to three European players — from different countries, usually two men and one woman — qualify through the final standings. The OZA has its own conditions worth knowing: amateurs only, under 30, graduate students excluded, and your university must be in the country you represent.

A note on history: the ESGC has been travelling around Europe since Helsinki 2005 — recently Trier 2022, Timișoara 2023, Novi Sad 2024 and Durham 2025. İzmir hosts the 16th edition, in what is quite a year for Turkish Go: the European Go Congress was held in Ankara this summer, and the 25th International Istanbul Go Tournament follows in October.

Schedule

Round times may shift slightly once we know the final number of players — any change will be announced beforehand.

Friday 18 September — arrival day

13:00–18:00	Excursion to ancient Teos and Sığacık — planned, to be confirmed (see the Explore İzmir tab)
19:30	Welcome evening — casual games, blitz, meet the organizers

Saturday 19 September

09:00–09:30	Registration and confirmation — please arrive before it closes!
09:45	Opening and Round 1
12:00	Lunch
13:00	Round 2
15:30	Round 3
18:30	Evening program by the Turkish–Japanese Culture Society: tea, game reviews

Sunday 20 September

09:30	Round 4
12:00	Lunch
13:00	Round 5
15:45	Prize-giving and closing

Getting there

The IZTECH campus at Gülbahçe bay — everything on campus is within walking distance, and the sea is right there.

The campus is in Urla, about 45 km west of İzmir on the Çeşme peninsula. İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB) has direct flights from many European cities, and near-hourly connections through Istanbul.

From the airport, by taxi or transfer: about an hour via the ring road and the Çeşme motorway (~75 km). We are planning an organized shuttle for arriving players — coordinate in the WhatsApp group.
From the airport, by public transport: İZBAN commuter rail to Hilal, metro to Fahrettin Altay, then bus 883 (express, hourly) or 982 to the campus gate. Allow 2 to 2.5 hours.
From İzmir city center: the same 883/982 buses from Fahrettin Altay (about an hour), or the Gülbahçe dolmuş minibuses that leave roughly every ten minutes.

Official directions: IZTECH International Office — transportation.

Accommodation

IZTECH student dormitories — talks in progress.

We are working with the university to open the on-campus dormitories — a couple of minutes’ walk from the playing hall — to participants during the championship. Nothing is confirmed yet; any news will be announced here and in the WhatsApp group. You can still select “IZTECH Dormitory” in the registration form, so we know how many beds to ask for.

Prefer something else? There are designated camping spots near the campus, right by the sea — September nights here are mild. Urla town, 10–15 minutes away, has boutique hotels, guesthouses and plenty of Airbnb options (it’s a well-known wine region, so book early — September is still season). Çeşme and Alaçatı, about 45 minutes from the campus, have a large hotel selection.

Food

The campus has cafeterias and cafés, and the lunch breaks on tournament days are long enough to eat without rushing. Outside those hours — or if a late-night Go session makes you hungry — iytesepeti.com, the campus food-delivery service, brings orders from local restaurants straight to the campus and the dormitories. The site is in Turkish only, but it works fine with your browser’s translate feature.

Explore İzmir & ancient Ionia

İzmir is ancient Smyrna, and the tournament itself sits on old Ionian ground — Klazomenai, one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League and the hometown of the philosopher Anaxagoras, is ten minutes from the campus. If you are coming from abroad, it would honestly be a waste to fly home without seeing any of it.

Friday 18 September, 13:00–18:00: Teos & Sığacık — planned trip.

We are working on a coach trip to Teos, one of the most mesmerizing of the Ionian cities — home of the great Temple of Dionysus, an ancient theatre and harbour ruins — about 40 minutes down the coast, finishing with the sunset at Sığacık bay and its fortified marina village. The trip is not confirmed yet — updates will be announced here and in the WhatsApp group. If you are interested, say so when you register, so we know how big a coach to look for.

Coming a day early or staying past Sunday? Some ideas, roughly by distance from the campus:

Teos & SığacıkSeferihisar · ~40 min

Temple of Dionysus, ancient theatre, and a fortified marina village next door.

Wikipedia ↗

Urla10–15 min

The nearest town: vineyards, olive groves, boutique restaurants — and Klazomenai, with the ancient world’s oldest known olive-oil workshop.

Wikipedia ↗ · Klazomenai ↗

Çeşme & Alaçatı~45 min

Genoese castle, stone-house old town, windmills — and some of the Aegean’s best beaches, like Ilıca.

Wikipedia ↗ · Alaçatı ↗

İzmir city center~50 min

Konak Square and the clock tower, the Roman Agora of Smyrna, and Kemeraltı — one of the liveliest historical bazaars in the Mediterranean.

Wikipedia ↗ · Agora ↗

Ephesus & Şirince~1.5 h

The grandest ruins on the Mediterranean and a wine village in the hills — the region’s blockbuster, worth a full day on its own.

Wikipedia ↗ · Şirince ↗

Pergamon~2 h

The steepest theatre of the ancient world and the Acropolis terraces — a UNESCO site, if you have another day to spare.

Wikipedia ↗

Registration

Registration is free and takes about two minutes. If you have an EGF PIN, the form pulls your name, rank and rating straight from the European Go Database — one click and you’re done. No PIN? Fill it in by hand; you’ll get one at your first rated tournament anyway.

Before you register, please check the eligibility criteria in the Tournament tab — this is an official EGF championship and participation is limited to full-time students who are nationals of an EGF full member country, aged 16 to under 29 on 1 August 2026. Both documents are checked at the registration desk. If anything about your situation is unclear, write to us before booking your travel.

Approved players appear on the public list below. If your rank has no company on the list yet, sign up first and encourage the others!

If you register and then can’t make it, please tell us — otherwise we’ll assume you are playing. For group entries or anything complicated, write to esgc2026@tgod.org.tr.

Your data

The details you enter are used only to organise this championship: to prepare the pairings, to check eligibility, to plan accommodation and meals, and to contact you about the event. Your name, country, rank and club appear on the public participant list below and in the tournament results, which are submitted to the European Go Database for rating, as is standard for EGF tournaments. Everything else — date of birth, nationality, e-mail, phone, dietary notes — is seen only by the organizing team and is not shared with third parties or used for marketing. Photos and videos are taken during the tournament only if you consent to it in the form. You can ask us to correct or delete your data at any time by writing to esgc2026@tgod.org.tr; registration data is deleted at the end of 2027.

Who’s coming

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