Pandanet Youth Go European Team Championships 2025

The second Pandanet Youth Go European Team Championships was held from January to April 2025. The matches were normally played on Pandanet on Wednesday evenings.

The first edition was in 2024.

This European team event has strict eligibility requirements with all players having to be citizens of the country they represent (as opposed to qualifying through long term residence) and to be U18. The reason for these tight criteria is that were the winning team be invited to compete in a world event then the players would need to be able to demonstrate citizenship of their country.

There were again nine countries participating. There were two leagues with six teams in League A (teams playing each other once) and only 3 teams in League B (who play each other twice). The best placed team in League A became the PYGETC Champion.

The UK was again playing in League A.

Team Manager Alison Bexfield selected the UK squad for this event. There was a squad of nine players of which five played each match, each match containing a female player and an under-12.

The squad was:

Ryan Zhang
Lea Wong
Michael Mitcham-Harding
Yanyi Xiong
Andrew Volovich
Lukasz Kudla
Blake Shamoon
Zoe Walters
Emily Gan

22nd January Ukraine 4 - 1 UK

1. Olesia Malko (olesia,4d) 1 - 0 Ryan Zhang (RYANZ2013, 4d) by Resignation
2. Danylo Petrashevskyi (Danyll, 2d) 1 - 0 Michael Mitcham-Harding (FKnife, 2k) by Resignation
3. Violeta Gorbulska (Violeta, 3k) 0 - 1 Yanyi Xiong (Yanyi, 5k) by 7.5
4. Mariia Chernova (MariiaChe7, 1d) 1 - 0 Lea Wong (leazwong7, 2k) by 14.5
5. Avhust Savytskyi (McAugustOs, 2k) 1 - 0 Lukasz Kudla (wopiwopi, 6k) by 20.5

12th February UK 5 - 0 France

1. Ryan Zhang (RYANZ2013, 4d) 1 - 0 Raphaël Valot (raphou, 1d) by 27.5
2. Lea Wong (leazwong7, 2k) 1 - 0 Tâm Loup Lê (Mifeu, 1d) by Resignation
3. Michael Mitcham-Harding (FKnife, 2k) 1 - 0 Alexandre Bongiovanni (Filameur18, 7k) by Resignation
4. Zoe Walters (zw314, 8k) 1 - 0 Valentine Malavasi (malawiX22, 10k) by 44.5
5. Blake Shamoon (amyas, 6k) 1 - 0 Alexandra Le Du (ALEDU, 14k) by 98.5

12th March Romania 4 - 1 UK

1. Robert Andrei Grosu (Pingu25, 4d) 0 - 1 Ryan Zhang (RYANZ2013, 4d)
2. Dragos Boldeanu (vanadiu, 3d) 1 - 0 Michael Mitcham-Harding (FKnife, 2k)
3. Stefan Rotarita (rstefan, 3d) 1 - 0 Yanyi Xiong (Yanyi, 5k)
4. Sara Maria Ghetu (saramg, 3k) 1 - 0 Lea Wong (leazwong7, 2k) by 0.5
5. Gruia Taranu (Gruia1, 9k) 1 - 0 Lukasz Kudla (wopiwopi, 6)

2nd April Germany 4 - 1 UK

1. Ole Wille (kleinbaer, 3k) beat Michael Mitcham-Harding (FKnife, 2k) by resignation
2. Bastian Leissen (balei, 5k) beat Yanyi Xiong (Yanyi, 5k) by resignation
3. Philipp Meng (PhilippJM, 7k) beat Andrew Volovich (Avol, 5k) by 4.5
4. Eva Leissen (elei, 8k) beat Zoe Walters (zw314, 8k) by 38.5
5. Liang Zhong (LiangZhong, 9k) lost to Lukasz Kudla (wopiwopi, 6k) by 41.5

23rd April UK 2 - 3 Croatia

1. Ryan Zhang (RYANZ2013, 4d) lost to Stjepan Medak (Noether67, 4d) by resignation
2. Yanyi Xiong (Yanyi, 5k) lost to Roko Crvelin (RokoCrv, 3d) by resignation
3. Volovich Andrew (AgoV, 5k) lost to Karlo Vlahović (karlek008, 1d) by resignation
4. Lea Wong (leazwong7, 2k) beat Tonka Zderic (tonka, 2k) by 10.5
5. Lukasz Kudla (wopiwopi, 6k) beat Judita Sicic (JuditaGo, 13k) by 79.5

UK final position 5.

The bottom team (in 6th place was automatically relegated. The team in 5th position played against the team which was second in League B to determine if it was to be relegated. The team therefore played Poland in the play-off match; they won 3-2.

A-B Play-off 21st June UK 3 - 2 Poland

1. Ryan Zhang (RYANZ2013, 4d) beat Antoni Bugaj (Antek, 3d) by Resignation
2. Lea Wong (leazwong7, 2k) lost to Tymoteusz Barcicki (szkielet, 1k) by Resignation
3. Michael Mitcham-Harding (FKnife, 2k) lost to Adam Siwy (Siwy, 2k) by 9.5
4. Emily Gan (WStorm, 10k) beat Natalia Kolińska (Natalka, 20k) by 89.5
5. Lukasz Kudla (wopiwopi, 6k) beat Kacper Barcicki (czaszka, 14k) by 98.5

More details: Pandanet Youth Go European Team Championships (PYGETC)