On Tuesday night, Ireland faced Turkey in Round 6 of the Pandanet Go European Team Championship. Turkey demonstrated all of the strength and depth that has kept them in pole position in League B since the start of the season with a 4–0 clean sweep.

Newly-minted 2-dan John Courtney offered Ireland’s best hope of a win, leading through the middle game against Hüsrev Aksüt 4d, only to fall late on when Aksüt exploited an overlooked cut to chop some weakly connected stones, swinging the balance in his favour. In the end, John timed out but he was already more than 10 points in deficit.

Ireland’s next match will be no easier: we face Italy, who are tied with Turkey at the top of the table, on Tuesday, 2nd April.