JIGS - Jena International Go School

05/01/2026

Winter JIGS Camp 25´❄️

The Winter JIGS Camp has come to an end, and we’re happy to look back at a week full of go, learning, and great shared moments. This time, the camp brought together six base players, with another 4-5 participants joining for a few days. The group was a nice mix of new faces and returning players. 👥

From the very beginning, the camp was strongly focused on Go improvement. We played league games, followed by detailed reviews and lectures led by Andrii Kravets 2p 🇺🇦. His proved once again as a strong teacher not only on the board, but also in teaching about the psychological aspect of the game. He gave everyone plenty of inspiration for further study.

One of the highlights was a simultaneous game with Andrii (we only won 1/7 games), along with solving a large number of tsumego problems throughout the camp. We also held a 9×9 tournament, where Marc emerged as the winner and earned the right to challenge Manja for her title — which she once again successfully defended 👑.

A special moment of the camp was New Year’s Eve, which we celebrated together in true JIGS spirit. We enjoyed a great dinner prepared by Micha, shabu-shabu style, followed by a long evening full of 10-second blitz games that kept everyone entertained well into the night 😄.

This time, students were really focused on Go improvement, so there was less time for leisure, however we still found moments to relax — using the sauna, and cooking and cleaning together as a team. 👨‍🍳

All in all, it was a very cool, motivated group of people, all striving to improve and enjoying the game together. Thank you to everyone who joined — we had a great time and are already looking forward to the next camp! 🙏

30/12/2025

Autumn JIGS Camp 2025 – A Warm Look Back
The Autumn JIGS Camp took place a few weeks ago already, but we still want to share the very nice moments about the camp. This year’s edition was a kids + family camp, and with more than 15 enthusiastic participants the atmosphere was lively from the very first day.

Over the course of the camp, the program was balanced between go activities and fun leisure time. Every day brought something new: tsumego sessions 🧠, league games 🏆, reviews 🔍, lectures 👨‍🏫, and even a small 9×9 tournament that everyone enjoyed. Outside of go, we cooked together 🧑‍🍳, played games, and had plenty of time for relaxed conversations and shared moments. And of course, one of the highlights was the birthday surprise for Walter 🎂 — a nice memory for all of us.

As always, we are proud of how motivated and focused the students were. It’s inspiring to see how much progress can happen in just a few days, especially with such a friendly and supportive group.

12th Jena Tournament
Alongside the camp, we also organized the 13th Jena Tournament, which welcomed 51 players. After five rounds, Chang Liu 5d finished in 1st place, winning all five of his games. Arved Pittner 6d secured 2nd place, followed by Adam Dottan 4d in 3rd place.

The tournament once again offered a great mix of strong competition and a pleasant atmosphere, and it was wonderful to see both local and visiting players take part.

A big thank you to everyone who joined us, helped with organization, or simply brought good energy to the camp. We’re already looking forward to the next time! 👋

16/11/2025

Play & Train – New Players Welcome!

Dear Go players,
our Play & Train course has been running with great enthusiasm — and now we’re looking to reschedule the weekly session to a time that suits everyone better.

Interested in joining? Let us know! We’ll choose the new weekly time together with all participants.

🧩 What is Play & Train?

A focused 2-hour weekly group session that mixes learning, practice, and supervised play.

You can look forward to:

📘 20–30 minutes of theory

♟️ Practice and playing for the rest of the session

👀 Trainer supervision with immediate comments and interruptions when needed

🎯 Focus on improvement, not just results

🌍 Lessons available in English and German

👥 Small group format — 6 to max. 10 participants

💸 Price

30 EUR for 4 lessons per month

📩 Contact: [email protected]

Looking forward to training together! 😊

28/10/2025

Don't miss this Sunday Factorio Speed Go match at 6pm CET! Our teacher Valerii Krushelnytskyi 7d 🇺🇦 clashes with the French pro Tanguy Le Calvé 1p 🇫🇷⚔️

12/10/2025

Hooray, the Autumn JIGS camp is here 🥳🍂

This time it’s a kids+family camp, where we have more than 15 participants. 🧍‍♂️

First day, we had a rich program (you can see on one of the pictures) including Tsumego, League games, Reviews, Lecture, Cooking 🧑‍🍳, 9x9 tournament and a little birthday surprise for Walter 🎂

Looking forward to the next days 🙂

12/10/2025

08/10/2025

Last weekend, theEuropean Women's Go Championship took place in Prague and it was amazing! 👏 We are very happy and proud of Manja (teacher) for her silver medal🥈and Olesia (student) for her bronze medal🥉. And of course, congratulations to Li Ting! 💪

A big thank you to the organizers, who created a fantastic experience and venue for both the players and fans. It was a pleasure to participate in this tournament 🙌

See you soon with some news from our Autumn camp, which starts this weekend and then on 17.-19. October we will be hosting the 13th Jenaer Kreuzschnitt tournament - come and join us!🙂

01/10/2025

Don’t miss this very exciting match! ⚔️⏰ Already on this Friday morning (8 AM CEST) you can follow the Europe 🇪🇺 vs. Japan match 🇯🇵

Friday. Or..... Fried Day? 👀🎻

🔥 Which team will still be standing after these burning matches?
Get ready for the live action. Set your alarm clock. 💥

17/08/2025

Hello everyone,

Here comes Part 3 of our look back at EGC 2025 – and with it, the final chapter of our little recap. 🎉

First, a big thank you to everyone who took part in the JIGS Tsumego Challenge during the congress. Almost 100 participants tested their reading skills! 🙌 Many prizes have already been distributed, and more are still coming – including lectures and a Play & Train session for those who showed interest. Besides vouchers and teaching sessions, we also handed out some JIGS merchandise: jumpers, t-shirts, and other small goodies. 👕

Next, the Main Tournament – Grabol Open European Championship 2025, a tough 10-round marathon. Here are some of the JIGS players who completed all (or most) rounds:

🥉 Stanislaw Frejlak 2p 🇵🇱 – 3rd place, 8 points (played only 8 rounds!)
6th place – Elian Ioan Grigoriu 6d 🇷🇴, 6 points
8th place – Lukáš Podpěra 7d 🇨🇿, 6 points
11th place – Lukas Krämer 6d 🇩🇪, 6 points
16th place – Kevin Sanow 4d 🇩🇪, 5 points
45th place – Manja Marz 4d 🇩🇪, 4 points
85th place – Jan Komín 3d 🇨🇿, 5 points
89th place – František Čáha 3d 🇨🇿, 5 points
91st place – Danyl Petrashevskyi 3d 🇺🇦, 5 points
137th place – Michael Marz 2d 🇩🇪, 5 points
215th place – Ferdinand Marz 3d 🇩🇪, 2 points (played 9 rounds)
376th place – Cedric Freudenberg 4k 🇩🇪, 5 points

With this, our recap of EGC 2025 in Warsaw comes to a close. A huge thank you once again to the organizers, volunteers, and all players for creating such a fantastic event. We’re already looking forward to the next EGC – and if you’d like to prepare together, you can train with us at 👉 www.go4jigs.eu

See you on the board! 😊

📷: Harry van der Krogt

#2025

09/08/2025

Hello again,

As promised, here comes Part 2 of our EGC 2025 recap! :)

Let’s start with the Blitz tournament, which featured a thrilling final showdown. Valerii Krushelnytskyi 7d 🇺🇦 finished the 2nd place, and Lukáš Podpěra 7d 🇨🇿 took the championship title! Big congratulations to both – we’re lucky to have you as part of the JIGS family. 3rd place took Szilard Mihaly Papp 2k, yound prodigy from 🇸🇰!⚡

In the Weekend tournament, many of our players participated and brought home great results. Here’s a quick summary of how they did:

🔥 4 wins out of 5:
Jan Komín, 3d – now promoted to 4d!

🎯 3 wins out of 5:
Andrii Kravets, 2p
Lukáš Podpěra, 7d
Lukas Krämer, 6d
Manja Marz, 4d – also awarded Best Woman Player, congrats! 👏
Adam Dottan, 4d
Kevin Sanow, 4d
Ferdinand Marz, 3d
Danyl Petrashevskyi, 3d
Michael Marz, 2d

Other great efforts:
František Čáha, 3d (2:3)
Erik Weigert, 3d (2:3)
Florian Waschbichler, 2k (1:2)
Cedric Freudenberg, 4k (2:3)

And finally, in the European Women’s Championship, another podium finish! 🏆
🥇 Kim Sooah (🇰🇷 7d)
🥈 Manja Marz (🇩🇪 4d)
🥉 Alvina Kwok (🇬🇧 3d)

More highlights coming soon in Part 3 – stay tuned! 😊

📷: Harry van der Krogt – thank you again!

#2025

06/08/2025

EGC 2025 – A look back – Part 1

Hello everyone,

Over the next few days, we will bring you a few articles about the recent EGC 2025 in Warsaw.

First of all, a BIG thank you to all organizers and volunteers of the EGC - it was truly a great experience! 🙂

We would like to highlight several successes of the JIGS family, starting with the 2nd and 4th place finishes of Valerii Krushelnytskyi 7d 🇺🇦 and Stanislaw Frejlak 2p 🇵🇱 in the European championship! We are happy to have you as our teachers.

In Pair Go, three of our JIGS teachers reached the Semifinals of the Open European Pair Go Championship 2025.

Manja 4d and her partner Kwon Hyukjoon 7d won in the semifinal against Stanislaw Frejlak 2p & Natalia Klamecka 2k, and then won in the final against Elian Ioan Grigoriu 6d & Mirta Medak 3d.

During the second week of the EGC, the SEYGO (Saijo European Youth Go Tournament) took place, where several JIGS people also participated. Here are their results:✌️

🥈Adam Dottan, 4d (3:1)
🥉 Jan Komín 3d (3:1) -> now promoted to 4d, congratulations! 👏
12th place Danyl Petrashevskyi, 3d (2:2)
37th place Cedric Freudenberg, 4k (2:2)
60th place Tarmo Donner, 12k (3:1)
77th place Taito Donner, 16k (0:4)

📷: Harry van der Krogt - Thank you!

#2025

04/08/2025

9 weeks course starting soon!

Dear Go players,
Our next season of online training will start on the 1st of September.

⚠️BEGINNERS: This time, we will have a special group for beginners (players between 30k-20k). If you’re just starting out, this is the perfect place to improve. Of course, everyone is welcome to join – as always, we will form training groups based on players’ strength.

You can look forward to the following elements:
⚔️ League games — each week you will play a league game
📝 Daily Tsumego — we have a point system and there will be discounts for active solvers
📚 The Lectures — we will find a common time point for the lectures
✔️ Content-wise structured lectures
⭐ Reviews and their recordings will be available as always

The price of the 9 weeks course is 90 Euros. If you register and pay until 10.8.2025 you will get a 10% early bird discount.

You can find the list of registered players at https://go4jigs.eu/registration-list/.

Register via email at [email protected].

Looking forward! 😊