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| [Teemu Hirsimäki]: Tässä viesti jonka aion lähettää. Pikaiset korjaukset ehtivät vielä mukaan. |
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| 1. Go Population! |
|
| It is not easy to estimate the number of players that do not |
| participate activaly in tournaments, but a good estimate of Finnish go |
| population might be around 1000 persons. |
|
| 2. Go Active member(paid member) |
|
| In 2004, there were 117 paid members in Finnish Go Association. |
|
| 3. Go clubs |
|
| There are 13 more or less official clubs in Finland. The clubs |
| organize one or two club evenings in a week and sometimes tournaments |
| too. There are also players living in cities without any official go |
| club. They can meet other go players in the Internet on go servers. |
|
| 4. Strongest players |
|
| Top 7 players by rank: |
|
| * LAATIKAINEN Vesa 5 dan. Several times Finnish Champion, Nordic Champion and Finnish Kisei. |
| * SIIVOLA Matti 5 dan. Several times Finnish Champion. |
| * PAATERO Lauri 3 dan. The author of the GoWrite computer program. |
| * LOUNELA Olli 3 dan. A popular teacher in Finland. |
| * JANTUNEN Kare 3 dan. |
| * TÖRMÄNEN Antti 3 dan. A junior player from Oulu. He has made impressive progress in a short time. |
| * PUHA Timo 3 dan. |
|
| Top four players have played over 20 years, and have been dan players |
| for a long time. |
|
| 5. Competitions and the ranking system |
|
| Ranking system is in Japanese style: from 30 kyu to 1 kyu and then |
| from 1 dan to higher dan levels. On lower kyu ranks, clubs are |
| responsible for the ranks of the club members. Higher ranks (about 3 |
| kyu and up) are usually granted by the ratings committee or specially |
| appointed club members who have ranking rights. Reaching dan levels |
| require consistent results in major tournaments, either international |
| tournaments or Finnish Championship & qualifiers. |
|
| 6. Education and promotion |
|
| Go education and promotion has been only on volunteer basis because of |
| lack of funds. The game has become popular thanks to the Internet, |
| some media coverage (but rare) and (perhaps) Hikaru no Go. Also, new |
| players often do their best to teach the game to their friends, with |
| some success. Clubs organize beginner's courses now and then. Many |
| of new players are university students, and student clubs are among |
| the biggest clubs. |
|
| 7. Finnish Go Association |
|
| The board of Finnish Go Association consist of president, secretary, |
| treasurer, vice president, and other members of the board, not more |
| than 10 all together. The association is a member of both European |
| (EGF) and International (IGF) go federations, coordinates the Finnish |
| Championship tournaments and the Finnish GP tournament series. |
|
| 8. Go history in Finland. |
|
| Helsinki go club was founded around 1978. Ten players participated in |
| the first Finnish championship played in 1981. The Finnish Go |
| Association was founded in 1987. At that time other clubs were |
| starting to appear more actively. |
|
| During the 90's, new clubs were started gradually and number of |
| players increased slowly. There began to be need for a separate |
| qualification tournament before the main championship tournament. |
| Significant increase in players started around 2000. New clubs were |
| founded and, during 2004, over 200 players participated in |
| tournaments. |
|
| 9. Finnish Go Magazines |
|
| Fifteen numbers of Sente magazine was published during 1986 - |
| 2000. After that, Vesa Laatikainen, the author of Sente, has published |
| more go essays in the Internet. There is also the Nordic Go magazine |
| (Nordisk GoBlad), which is published in the Internet. Currently most |
| active net forum in Finland is the Finnish GoWiki |
| http://www.suomigo.net/ |
|
| 10. Go tournements in Finland |
|
| In recent years, there has been about 15 national tournaments that |
| have been organized regularly every year. In addition, many clubs have |
| held local championship tournaments or ranking tournaments. |
|
| A photo from "Kanikutonen 2003" tournament can be downloaded from |
| http://iki.fi/thirsima/photos/2003-kanikutonen/sized/aaq.jpg |
|
