Ireland took on Switzerland in round 3 of the Pandanet Go European Team Championship. Three of the games were played over the weekend before the scheduled date and Ireland got off to a difficult start with Karl Irwin resigning to John Walch 4d on board 1 and Philippe Renaut losing by a couple of points to Fabien Lips 4d. Then the tide turned with James Hutchinson winning a calm, territorial game on board 3 by a point and a half, keeping hope for a draw alive.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man…Matei Garcia stepped up as substitute for a sick John Courtney on Board 4. The tide swung definitively in Matei’s favour after his opponent attempted unsuccessfully to invade a strong corner position and Matei played a safe endgame to win by 3.5 and get Ireland’s first point in League B.

Unfortunately Lithuania managed to win their match against an underpowered Austria, leaving Ireland tied for bottom place with Finland. Our next match is on 16th January, at 8pm Dublin time, when Ireland will get their own chance against Austria.

Meanwhile, over in China Karl Irwin is representing Ireland at the World Amateur Go Championship in Shenzhen, making an excellent start with a clean win over Chile’s Renate Reisenegger in Round 1. Karl is hoping to post daily updates on YouTube—watch the first instalment below, including his analysis of his first game. His opponent in the second round is Jan Fraczak of Poland.