Yesterday the EGF (European Go Federation) christened its third pro, Mateusz Surma! Today, Ilya Shikshin became the fourth EGF pro!
Eighteen-year-old Mateusz Surma 6d from Poland won his first four rounds against Timur Sankin 6d, Csaba Mero 6d, Cristian Pop 7d, and Ilya Shikshin 7d in the Second European Pro Qualification 2015. The qualification tournament was held in Pisa, Italy last Friday, March 6.
According to Senseis Library, he studied go in Korea for over two years when he was younger. World Baduk reports that at the time many Korean pro teachers admired his good attitude and said that he had the talent to become a pro. On March 7, 2015 he finally did it. Congratulations to Mateusz Surma 1p!!
Today the second pro was decided after the next two rounds. There were four people fighting for the final spot: Thomas Debarre 6d from France, Ilya Shikshin 7d from Russia, Andrii Kravets 6d from Ukraine, and Cornel Burzo 6d from Romania. In the end, Shikshin defeated Andrii Kravets 6d and Cornel Burzo 6d to become the EGF’s fourth pro player.
Ilya Shikshin was born in Kazan, Russia. He learned go from his father, Valery Shikshin, who also taught Alexandre Dinerchtein 3p, Svetlana Shikshina 3p, Andrey Kulkov 7d, and Timur Dugin 4d. He plays on KGS as roln111 8d and wBaduk as shikshin 8d. He is a fierce player who once called Go a “game of slaughtering.” It seems his fighting spirit payed off. Congratulations to Ilya Shikshin 1p!!
See tournament information here: http://www.eurogofed.org/proqualification
Last year at the 1st EGF pro qualification, Cornel Burzo 6d won against Mateusz Surma in the third round but lost again Pavol Lisy 1p in the fourth round which made Pavol the first EGF pro.
