Hans Pietsch, a Go professional and 6-dan player, was the best German Go player who emigrated to Japan to become a professional there. During a go promotion trip to Guatemala, he lost his life in a robbery in January 2003 at the early age of 34. Hans was very popular in both Japan and Europe due to his open yet always humble nature. He taught numerous Go courses, especially for beginners and young players. In his honor, go4school e.V. organizes the Hans Pietsch Memorial Tournament annually on his birthday.
The tournament occurred from the 21st to the 22nd of September in Frankfurt at a youth center directly next to the river. In total 58 players participated in the German School Go Team Championship with 11 teams in the Tiger tournament, which was played on a 19×19 board, and then another 8 teams playing the Fox tournament on a 13×13 board.
The final was played between Carl-Zeiss Gymnasium, which was represented by family team Ferdinand Marz (1d), Leopold Marz (10k) and Larissa Marz (16k), and Engelber-Kämpfer-Gymnasium 1 represented by Micah Reed, Baris Sefil and Mareile Schmidtke. The Carl-Zeiss Gymnasium came out as the winner, congratulations! 👏 On Saturday evening, there was a side tournament of Phantom Go, which was won by Ferdinand Marz, so also congratulations to him! 👏
