Sain alla oleva viestin Lee Seong Keuinilta: En pysty vastaamaan ajoissa, kun lähden kohta Tanskaan PM-kisoihin. Voisitteko täydentää vastauksia ja lähettää sitten, kun näyttää riittävältä? Jos johonkin kysymykseen ette saa nopeasti vastausta lähettäkää muut tiedot, ja sitteen puuttuva tieto perässä, jos löytyy. Hänellä on viikko aikaa valmistella esitelmänsä.
Osoite on iaswdevil ät yahoo.co.kr

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Alla oleva vastaus lähetettiin Seong Keunille.

[Teemu Hirsimäki], 24.3.2005

Pitäisköhän tämä sivu laittaa talteen jollakin nimellä "yhteenveto gosta suomessa" tms?
Ei tarvitsisi uudestaan aina koota, kun joku kysyy...

[Lauri Paatero]

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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 2004, there were 117 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 the rating committee 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 tournements 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.

A photo from "Kanikutonen 2003" tournament can be downloaded from
http://iki.fi/thirsima/photos/2003-kanikutonen/sized/aaq.jpg



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