Britain's Matthew Macfadyen got to play this year as a reserve instead of Frenchman Andre Moussa. The other reserve Frank Janssen was absent as he was becoming a father for the first time. The tournament proved really good for Romania, who only lost to each other. Cristian Pop put Macfadyen out in round one but lost the final to the new FJ Cup champion, Catalin Taranu.
Won by Park ahead of Guo and Danek. T.Mark Hall (4 dan) was equal fourth.
The first week end in September in Amsterdam is now the time and place for one of Europe's biggest and most important tournaments, the Obayashi Cup. 240 players took part on the first day, but only the best 16 survive to the second day for the knock out stage. The English-born US professional Michael Redmond was at the EGCC to do commentaries. In the final Zhang Shutai, 7 dan from London, beat Miss Zhao Pei, 5 dan Germany, by resignation after 155 moves.
Some 590 names appeared on the entry list for the main event at the 41st European Go Congress held in Marseille France. European Open Champion was Lee Hyuk, the Korean living in Moscow. Other places were 2 Miyakawa, 3 Guo Juan (European Champion), 4 Pei Zhao, 5 Kai, 6 Fujita, 7 Danek, 8 Gherman, 9 Soldan, 10 van Eeden, 23 Shepperson (top GB), 34 Hall, 37 Clare, 54 Cann, 90 Roads. The places in the weekend event were 1 Guo, 2 Lee Hyuk, 44 Jim Clare (top GB); Christian Scarff (1 kyu Swindon) won 4/5.
Warsaw was won by Bogdanov and Petrovodsk (Russia) by Lee Hyuk. Alexei Lazarev won the Grand Prix with his six tournament wins and 101 points. Other high scorers were Guo, Danek and Bogdanov.
Held in Sapporo Japan = 46 countries. 1st Jun Liu (China) on tie-break from Sakai (Japan) and Mun (DPR Korea). Matthew Cocke (UK) was 26th; Paul Donnelly (Ireland) was 36th.
Amsterdam GP was won by Guo Juan on 6/6, second Park 5/6 and third Farid Ben Malek the best on 4/6. Hamburg was won by Park (5 wins & 1 jigo), second Zhao Pei (5/6) and third Danek (4 wins & 1 jigo). Helsinki was won by Lazarev from Bogdanov and Siivola. Francis Roads was 6th and Alison Jones 9th. Germany won the first European Pairs in Amsterdam. UK's Matthew Macfadyen and Kirsty Healey were second.
The Fast Play was won by Des Cann (4 dan Reading) ahead of Alistair Wall (4 dan Wanstead). The Open was won by Alistair Wall; second was David Ward (2 dan London) and third Des Cann. Only 13 players attended. Other GP places went to Noel Mitchell, Tony Atkins, Colin Adams, Stephen Flinter, Baron Allday, Fred Holroyd and Fergus O'Connell. The Irish Handicap was won by an Irishman: Noel Mitchell (2 dan Dublin). John Gibson (2 kyu Dublin) was second and Des Cann was third.
Vienna, Bled and Milan were all won by Alexei Lazarev of Russia. Paris was won by Guo Juan ahead of Shutai Zhang and Andre Moussa. Francis Roads was 13th out of 253. Under 12 Youth champion is Antoine Fenech
Fujitsu Cup 1996: 1 Rob van Zeijst 2 Hans Pietsch 3 Guo Juan/Catalin Taranu (all 7 dan)
GP Bucharest 1 Cristian Pop 2 S Gherman 3 D Cioata GP Belgrade 1 Cristian Pop 2 V Bogdanov 3 M Stankovic GP Brussels 1 Guo Juan 2 W Miyakawa 3 F Ben Malik GP Kharkov 1 Alexei Lazarev 2 A Bogatsky 3 D Bogatsky GP Gothenburg 1 Matthew Macfadyen 2 E Nijhuis 3 Matti Siivola GP Locarno 1 Vladimir Danek 2 V Bogdanov 3 Enzo Pedrini GP London 1 Guo Juan 2 Lee Hyuk 3 Shutai Zhang GP Prague 1 Dmitri Yatsenko 2 A Lazarev/L Soldan GP Barcelona 1 MurakamiDanek leads the GP on 56 ahead of Bogdanov (39) and Pop/Guo on 30. Noteworthy is Alan Held on 8 points and only 3 kyu!