World Amateur Go Championship

The World Amateur Go Championship (WAGC) is an event in which amateur players from around the world compete for the official world amateur title. The event is held every year, under the supervision of the International Go Federation.

Each participating national Go association sends one player, typically the amateur champion of the country concerned. The tournament has grown from 15 countries and territories in 1979 to 68 in 2006 (the peak number to date). In 2009, 70 countries were eligible to provide a participant, but only 66 competed (presumably because of financial, political or health reasons).

Current time limits are 60 minutes per player followed by byo-yomi of 30 seconds x 3 times.

In 2021, the WAGC took place in Russia, the city of Vladivostok. Official website: https://www.wagc2020.org, the official facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WorldAmateurGoChampionship2020/

History

The first WAGC was held in 1979 with 30 participants from 15 countries. In its early years, the WAGC used a knock-out system with a variable number of extra rounds for losing players, depending on how quickly they were knocked out. From 1984 onwards, the Swiss Pairing was used, initially with 7 rounds, and from 1986 with 8 rounds. In 2015 McMahon Pairing was introduced without telling the participants beforehand.

From 1979 until 2009, the event was always held in Japan, with the exception of 1987, when it was held in Beijing. In 2003, the WAGC was canceled due to the SARS outbreak, and Korea hosted a replacement event, the Incheon World Amateur Baduk Championship (IWABC). From 2010 onwards, the event started to be rotated among Japan, China and Korea, and other major countries.

Japan Airlines sponsored the WAGC from its inception until the 29th edition in 2008. Its sponsorship included air tickets for all the participants of the WAGC.

In 2006, Korea also started holding a world amateur championship. See Korea Prime Minister Cup World Baduk Championship.

Venue and Winners

The following is a list of winners to date, detailed results can be found at: http://kamyszyn.go.art.pl/wagc

Edition	Year	Venue	# of Countries	Winner	Country	Link
42nd	2022	Online (Fox)/	x	Bai Baoxiang		x
41st	2021	Vladivostok	57	Ma Tianfang		results
40th	2019	Matsue	59	Wang Chen?		results
39th	2018	Tokyo	61	Chan Yi-Tien		results
38th	2017	Guiyang	48	Bai Baoxiang
37th	2016	Wuxi	55	Bai Baoxiang		results
36th	2015	Bangkok	57	Kim Changhun		coverage
35th	2014	Gyeongju	54	Chan Yi-Tien		coverage
34th	2013	Sendai	56	Choi Hyunjae		coverage
33rd	2012	Guangzhou	56	Qiao Zhijian		coverage
32nd	2011	Matsue	60	Bai Baoxiang		coverage
31st	2010	Hangzhou	60	Song Hong-suk		coverage
30th	2009	Fukuroi	66	Hu YuQing		full result
29th	2008	Tokyo	68	Ha SungBong		full result
28th	2007	Tokyo	68	Shan Ziteng		full result
27th	2006	Sasebo	68	Hiraoka Satoshi		full result IGF report
26th	2005	Nagoya	65	Hu YuQing		full result
25th	2004	Kurashiki	64	Lee Kangwook		full result
	2003		Not held due to SARS outbreak, see IWABC
24th	2002	Hida Takayama	61	Fu Li		full result
23rd	2001	Hyuga	56	Li Daichun		full result
22nd	2000	Sendai	56	Sakai Hideyuki		full result
21st	1999	Oita	55	Yu Chae-seong		full result pictures
20th	1998	Tokyo	50	Kim Ch'an-u		full result
19th	1997	Sapporo	46	Liu Jun		full result
18th	1996	Omachi	46	Liu Jun		full result
17th	1995	Tokyo	44	Hirata Hironori		full result
16th	1994	Kyoto	43	Hiraoka Satoshi
15th	1993	Fukuoka	40	Sun Yiguo
14th	1992	Chiba	40	Kikuchi Yasuro
13th	1991	Kanazawa	39	Imamura Fumiaki
12th	1990	Hiroshima	39	Chang Hao
11th	1989	Nagoya	38	Che Zewu
10th	1988	Tokyo	36	Zhang Wendong
9th	1987	Beijing	34	Imamura Fumiaki
8th	1986	Tokyo	34	Chan Ka Yui
7th	1985	Tokyo	31	Wang Jianhong
6th	1984	Tokyo	30	Wang Qun		full result
5th	1983	Osaka	29	Ma Xiaochun
4th	1982	Tokyo	28	Cao Dayuan		full result
3rd	1981	Tokyo	24	Shao Zhenzhong
2nd	1980	Tokyo	20	Imamura Fumiaki
1st	1979	Tokyo	15	Nie Weiping

See also:

• 31th Edition website
• 30th Edition website
• List of tournament locations and participating countries on Nihon Ki-in site
• International Go Federation coverage

• Incheon World Amateur Baduk Championship.
• 1979-1995 cross tables
• World Youth Goe Championship

Amateur to Professional

The level of play at the WAGC is obviously quite high, and many of its amateur winners have gone on to become successful professionals (at some times, winning the WAGC could be rewarded with professional status):

• Nie Weiping (9-dan) 1979
• Shao Zhenzhong (9-dan) 1981
• Cao Dayuan (9-dan) 1982
• Ma Xiaochun (9-dan) 1983
• Wang Qun (8-dan) 1984
• Wang Jianhong (9-dan) 1985
• Chan Ka Yui (9-dan) 1986
• Zhang Wendong (9-dan) 1988
• Che Zewu (7-dan) 1989
• Chang Hao (9-dan) 1990
• Kim Ch'an-u (3-dan) 1998
• Yu Chae-seong (2-dan) 1999
• Sakai Hideyuki (8-dan) 2000
• Qiao Zhijian (3-dan) 2012

Even some participants who didn't win went professional (please complete if you find more)

• Yoo Chang-hyuk (9-dan) 1984 2nd place
• Seo Jung-hwi (1-dan?) 2005 4th place (he was not an insei in Korea so he was eligible to compete, but had actually passed the professional qualifying exams by the time he played in the WAGC).
• Ko Keun-t'ae (8-dan) 2001 4th place
• Hong Malk-eun Saem (2-dan) 2000 3rd place, 2002 and 2004 2nd place
• Tang Weixing (9-dan) 2006 2nd place
• Diana Koszegi (1-dan) 1999 9th place, 2001 15th place, 2004 12th place
• Sato Yohei (1-dan) 2010 8th place
• Chen Cheng-Hsun? (2-dan) 2012 3rd place (participated for Chinese Taipei in WAGC, but became a professional affiliated with the Zhongguo Qiyuan in mainland China).
• Ali Jabarin (1-dan) 2008 13th place
• Eric Lui (1-dan) 2011 3rd place
• Artem Kachanovskyj (1-dan) 2013 3rd place, 2015 7th place
• Ilya Shikshin (2-dan) 2013 4th place
• Pavol Lisy (2-dan) 2013 5th place
• Mateusz Surma (1-dan)
• Andrii Kravets (1-dan) 2016 4th place

Japanese and Korean Insei are not allowed to participate in the WAGC, but since the Chinese professional promotion system works differently, many future top professionals from China were officially amateurs and participated in the WAGC.