World Amateur Go Championship in Russia to be held in June, 2021

MOSCOW/VLADIVOSTOK, Jun 16, 2020, Pan Pacific Agency. The International Go Federation set a new date for the World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC), which was originally scheduled for May 30 – June 1 this year in the Russian city of Vladivostok, the Championship’s press service told Pan Pacific Agency. The event will be held from June 2 to June 9, 2021, in the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) on the Russky Island, Mikhail Yemelyanov, the tournament director, said.

“A hackathon match will be held during the World Championship for the first time ever. Humans and AI will play games together,” Mikhail Yemelyanov said. According to the press service, specially trained AI will cooperate with human players in many different formats, from simple team play to giving some strategic information to human players. “Players of different levels will take part in this experiment — the WAGC participants, businessmen, any Go fans. It’s a unique chance to demonstrate a model of cooperation between humans and AI,” official message informed.

World Championship’s business program also “will connect East and West over the Go board”. The agenda will include such key topics as: digital economy and blockchain, the strategy of integrating the Far East with Asia Pacific, the Russia-Asia business dialog.

Earlier Pan Pacific Agency reported, that the 41st Go World Amateur Championship (WAGC) was postponed this March, as Russia canceled all previously scheduled international sport events until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic. Russia will be the first European country to host the World Amateur Go Championship during its 40-year history. Go players from 77 countries and territories to take part in the WAGC, as was forecasted last December.

Pan Pacific Agency will cover all main competition’s events as an international media partner. Agency also will continue introducing readers from the Asia Pacific region with the Russian world of Go (first two materials available at the links here and here).

Russian version of this article is available here.