This is a freely edited public domain summary of the Finnish go life. Thank you for the original contributors and for the future update editors. -- Vesa 6.10.2006
1. Go Population in Finland
It is not easy to estimate the number of players that do not participate activaly in tournaments, but a good estimate of Finnish go population might be around 1000 persons.
2. Active members (paid members)
In 2005, there were 132 paid members in Finnish Go Association.
3. Go clubs
There are 15 more or less official clubs in Finland. The clubs organize one or two club evenings in a week and sometimes tournaments too. There are also players living in cities without any official go club. They can meet other go players on the Internet on go servers.
4. Strongest players
Top 10 players by rank (according to official ranking list):
- LAATIKAINEN Vesa 5 dan. Several times Finnish Champion, Nordic Champion and Finnish Kisei.
- SIIVOLA Matti 5 dan. Several times Finnish Champion.
- TÖRMÄNEN Antti 4 dan. A junior player from Oulu. He has made impressive progress in a short time.
- JANTUNEN Kare 3 dan.
- PAATERO Lauri 3 dan. The author of the GoWrite computer program.
- VISALA Kari 3 dan.
- LOUNELA Olli 3 dan. A popular teacher in Finland.
- SEURANEN Esa 3 dan.
- HOLAPPA Antti 3 dan.
- PUHA Timo 3 dan.
5. Competitions and the ranking system
Ranking system is in Japanese style: from 30 kyu to 1 kyu and then from 1 dan to higher dan levels. On lower kyu ranks, clubs are responsible for the ranks of the club members. Higher ranks (about 3 kyu and up) are usually granted by strong players or specially appointed club members who have ranking rights. Reaching dan levels require consistent results in major tournaments, either international tournaments or Finnish Championship & qualifiers.
6. Education and promotion
Go education and promotion has been only on volunteer basis because of lack of funds. The game has become popular thanks to the Internet, some media coverage (but rare) and (perhaps) Hikaru no Go. Also, new players often do their best to teach the game to their friends, with some success. Clubs organize beginner's courses now and then. Many of new players are university students, and student clubs are among the biggest clubs.
7. Finnish Go Association
The board of Finnish Go Association consist of president, secretary, treasurer, vice president, and other members of the board, not more than 10 all together. The association is a member of both European (EGF) and International (IGF) go federations, coordinates the Finnish Championship tournaments and the Finnish GP tournament series.
8. Go history in Finland.
Helsinki go club was founded around 1978. Ten players participated in the first Finnish championship played in 1981. The Finnish Go Association was founded in 1987. At that time other clubs were starting to appear more actively.
During the 90's, new clubs were started gradually and number of players increased slowly. There began to be need for a separate qualification tournament before the main championship tournament. Significant increase in players started around 2000. New clubs were founded and, during 2004, over 200 players participated in tournaments.
9. Finnish Go Magazines
Fifteen numbers of Sente magazine was published during 1986 - 2000. After that, Vesa Laatikainen, the author of Sente, has published more go essays on the Internet. There is also the Nordic Go magazine (Nordisk GoBlad), which is published on the Internet. Currently most active net forum in Finland is the Finnish GoWiki http://www.suomigo.net/
10. Go tournaments in Finland
In recent years, there has been about 15 national tournaments that have been organized regularly every year. In addition, many clubs have held local championship tournaments or ranking tournaments.
