The 11th Istanbul International Go Tournament

Preparations and negotiations of the 11th Istanbul International Go Tournament, which will be held on September 24-25 2011 are still underway. The 11th Istanbul International Go Tournament is kindly sponsored by Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Kaya Ozalit, Best Bilgisayar, Coffee O'Clock Turkey and İstanbul Lisesi as a European Go Cup Tournament.

For those who cannot or will not be participating, matches of the first board will be broadcast on KGS and EuroGoTV.

As we are always looking for new ways to enrich the tournament experience please feel free to contact us for any new ideas or any kind of input.

Hyun-sub Kim (±eCo¼·) 3 dan professional player of the Hankuk Ki-won will be attending the tournament. Please feel free to ask for commentaries and information from Kim Hyun-sub 3 Dan Pro during the tournament. We are also working out the details for workshops and seminars before and after the tournament (on the 23rd and 26th.)

The updated list of participants is now available. Work and preparations for the 11th Istanbul International Go Tournament continues, please check back often as the tournament details are updated regularly. We would like to kindly urge you to help the organization by pre-registering

Venue

This year's venue sponsor Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts has generously granted us access to their campus at Fⓒ￥ndⓒ￥klⓒ￥, allocating the renovated and expanded canteen and Mimar Sinan Hall to our service. A partial map of Istanbul showing the location of Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts Fⓒ￥ndⓒ￥klⓒ￥ Campus from google can be found here. Public transportation details and directions to and from the venue can be accessed via İ.E.T.T.'s site which is Istanbul's main public transportation provider.

You can get information on Istanbul including hotels, weather, maps and tips from the web sites below:
http://english.istanbul.com/
http://www.istanbulcityguide.com/
Istanbul Municipality Pages

Expected weather conditions
Will be available 5 days in advance.
For updates and further information please check http://www.dmi.gov.tr/.

Accommodation & Catering
To be announced shortly
We are still considering catering options during the tournament. There are also many options around the tournamet venue. Approximately ￠æ15 per day will be more than enough for standart meals throughout the day. Naturally, there are more luxurious therefore more expensive choices if you prefer.
We recommend participants to choose accommodation options around Fⓒ￥ndⓒ￥klⓒ￥ as it would be easier to get to the tournament site. Namely Beşiktaş, Sultanahmet and Taksim are in the vicinity. Hostels, which accommodate students and non-students alike, can be found and reserved through www.hostelworld.com or www.hostels.com. Higher class hotels like The Marmara, The Ritz-Carlton, Ceylan Intercontinental, Divan and The Hilton are situated near and around Taksim, which is 2.5 minutes away from the tournament site by funicular. More on hotels and reservation options can be found at www.istanbulshotels.com and www.booking.com

Tournament Rules
Head referree: Mehmet Emin Barsbey
Referrees: Serkan Solmazoğlu, Feyyaz Demir Saygⓒ￥n, Uğur Özkan
Pairing system: McMahon
Game rules: Japanese rule set, no handicap
Time: 60 min. + 25 moves / 10 min. byo-yomi
Komi: 6.5

As an EGF Super Tournament the 11th Istanbul International Go Tournament is bound by the following rules and regulations:

EGF General Tournament Rules
EGF Tournament System Rules

Tournament Schedule
Provisional.

24th September (Saturday)
09:00 - 09:30 : Finalization of registration
09:45 - 10:00 : Opening ceremony and announcement of pairings
10:00 - 12:30 : Round 1
12:30 - 13:30 : Lunch break
13:30 - 16:00 : Round 2
16:00 - 16:15 : Interim
16:15 - 18:45 : Round 3

25th September (Sunday)
10:00 - 12:30 : Round 4
12:30 - 14:30 : Lunch break
14:00 - 16:30 : Round 5
16:30 - 19:00 : Award ceremony and Finale

Prize
The tournament results will be submitted to the EGF as required by the EGF for European Go Cup Tournaments; thus all participants' results will effect their European Ranking. Points for the European Go Cup will also be granted to the respective winners. Please refer to the Go European Cup page for further details. All participants will receive a certificate of participation. The first three players will be presented with monetary prizes. The first five and players showing exceptional performance will also be awarded.

Also one of our prize sponsors Best Bilgisayar shall be presenting surprises.

The monetary prizes will be distributed as follows:

1st place: ￠æ200
2nd place: ￠æ150
3rd place: ￠æ50

Registration
Preregistration is urged and recommended due to organizational conveniences and smooth proceeding of the tournament schedule. Preregistration deadline is September 16th 2011. Registration must be finalized on arrival or at least until 09:30 local time on the 24th of September.

Attention: Preregistration is not equivalent to registering. It is required that preliminary registrants finalize their registration strictly before mentioned deadline.

Since otherwise the proceeding of the tournament schedule will be compromised, participants that do not show up on time on the first day of the tournament without prior notice will be excluded from the tournament.

Entry Fee
The fee for the tournament has been set at ￠æ12 for preliminary registrants and ￠æ17 for on site registration. Preregistrants under the age of 18 can participate free of charge. The IBAN number of The Turkish Go Players' Association for european currency (￠æ) is:
TR62 0006 4000 0024 2130 8164 62
Please include your name, surname and the notice: "11th Istanbul Go Open".

ENTRY FEES

Normal ￠æ17
Preregistrants ￠æ12
Preregistrants under 18 free of charge

Click here for more information and registration<