FAQ

I did not receive my confirmation email. To resend it, enter you address here

Online or local. For a quick check-in and the best price, register and pay online. But we also offer on-site registration and payment, cash and pin.

Even if you registered and paid online, you must still go to the registration deks to confirm your arrival and to pick up your badge. 

 

Wire payment should only be used if online payment is not possible. For payment reference use your email address (without @). Only send euros, and outside Europe add 7 euro to cover our banking costs.
    Account nr: NL64 INGB 0113 6090 51 (ING Bank, Bijlmerdreef 106, Amsterdam, Netherlands)
    European Go Congress
    Kennedylaan 9, 3533 KH Utrecht
    The Netherlands

 

Cash Payment at the venue is possible, but keep in mind you will be paying the last-minute pricing.

Upon arrival. Even if you have registered online, you still have to go to our desk to confirm your arrival and to pick up your badge. Check now which tournaments and rounds you are registered for. After that, no need to reconfirm unless you want to make changes.

Rating. If you have a rating at the European Go Database then all tournament pairings will use this. The ranking you entered at registration is only used if you do not have an EGD rating. Check yours at https://europeangodatabase.eu/EGD/

Desk times. Our registration desk is usually open from 9:30 until somewhere in the evening.
Saturday 25 July. Relaxed registration all day and evening.
Sunday 26 July. Busy from 9:00 till 10:00. Register before 10:00 to play in round 1.
Wednesday 28 July. Free day, desk closed.
Friday 30 July. If you just arrived for the weekend, best register today.
Saturday 31 July. Busy from 9:00 till 10:00. Register before 10:00 to play in round 1.
Wednesday 4 August. Free day, desk closed.

Visitors are allowed but depending on circumstances they might be asked to get a badge and/or be refused in certain areas. If your fans expect to pop in frequently, then best register them for free.

Animals are not allowed on site except for registered service dogs.

Badges Best wear yours at all times. One-time visitors may be exempted.

Lanyards come in three colours. White means the person is mostly here for fun, like players and visitors, and they are over 18. Red means the same but the person is under 18.
The black lanyards mean the person is hard at work, which could be anything from professional to the organisation team, from press to volunteer.

Pairing. We cannot accept requests to play or not play against certain other players. Of course, if you really like to challenge a certain player, you can always ask them to join the ongoing self-pairing tournaments.

Clock. Clocks playing with Fischer time will not always beep. In general: if your time is up and you did not hear the clock or it did not beep, you lose. Beeps are considered to be a nice extra that is available on some clock settings, but not a fundamental right.

Tap water in the Netherlands is perfectly safe and tasty to drink. We encourage everybody to bring a non-breakable bottle to refill yourself (or get one at our shop).

Outside food and drinks are not allowed except for water. If you need to bring your own food for medical reasons then please ask the registration desk for a small sticker to put on your badge so you will not be asked again.

Drinks and food bought on the venue are not allowed in the playing rooms but you can bring your non-breakable water bottle. No glass bottles please.

Alcohol laws are strict: this is for 18+ only, even beer. At our venue the younger ones will have a red lanyard so the bars know you cannot buy alcohol. Please do not have a senior buy alcohol for a junior as we might then have to ban you both.
In shops, if you look young you might have to provide an ID to buy alcohol.

Smoking is prohibited in public spaces, which includes our venue, bars, hotels etc. Usually, they will have a corner outside where it is allowed. We will have some seats in front of the building where smoking is allowed. Please note that on our main terrace smoking is not allowed.

Drugs As in many European countries, soft drugs are legal in the Netherlands, hard drugs are not. If you like to buy a joint, go to one of the coffee shops. You will find these in every city, Den Bosch as well.

 

The currency used is the Euro. Payments in US$ or other currencies will almost never be accepted. If you need to exchange cash then try “GWK Travelex” at the railway station.

ATMs. To withdraw Euros best use an ATM, that will be cheaper than the Travelex office. The ones called Geldmaat belong to the banks and are usually the cheapest option. At Schiphol you will only find commercial (i.e. expensive) ATMs so you should consider waiting until you get to Den Bosch. Or make it a challenge to use no cash and pay by pin all holiday long.
Many supermarkets will offer to pay out some cash, often limited to € 50 at no cost. This can be a very convenient option. Just ask for a cashback when you pay for your purchases.

Electronic payments Paying by card or phone is very common, 80% of payments are handled this way. Some places only accept electronic payments.
If your card is from outside the EU, the payment terminal may offer to convert the payment into your home currency. They will charge heavily for that; it is always cheaper to pay in Euros.

Tipping is common in bars and restaurants, less so in taxis, not in other places. Waiting staff get a decent salary and do not depend on tips. Giving no tip is also perfectly fine, especially when paying by pin.
Tips are usually a small amount, between 5% and 10% is normal or just round up a bit to the nearest five or ten euro. For example, if your meal was €28 you could say “Make it 30.” Or you could just say “Pin please” and they will key in the exact €28 on the machine.
Beware: some modern pin terminals will automatically propose a few levels of tipping, usually well above what is common. In that case the option for not tipping might be almost hidden. This practice is close to being a tourist scam and mostly occurs in Amsterdam. Many locals respond by giving no tip at all on such terminals to discourage their use.

 

Wifi. Network ??? password ???.

Volunteers We welcome all offers of help in organizing the EGC. You can volunteer either on a full-time basis, meaning that you won’t participate in any of the tournaments, or on a part-time basis, meaning you can participate in the events. If you have a specific idea of how you’d like to contribute, please get in touch at info@egc2027.nl

Vaccinations. None needed.

Emergencies. As in all of Europe, call 112 if there is a real emergency. 
For medical help during office hours, ask your hotel or the reception of the conference center to help you get in touch with a doctor.
For medical help outside office hours, call the Jeroen Bosch hospital at 088 876 5050, Henri Dunantstraat 1. They have ‘normal’ doctors and can also give you access to the emergency care of the hospital.