From: John Kenney EMBL-HEIDELBERG DE> Date: 4 sep 1992 Subject: 1992 Shogi European Championship report 1992 European Shogi Championship The 1992 European Shogi Championship was held in London from the sixth to the ninth of August. This year, Ricoh Europe's generous sponsorship covered not only hotel accomodation, but also travel expenses. Mike Coyne did a splendid job in organizing the tournament. There were several small hiccups, but they were quickly resolved and play began with round one on Thursday evening. We had 20 players in the dan group, including last year's kyu group winner, Michiel Boekschoten (1-kyu), and 12 in the kyu group. Eight rounds were scheduled: one on Thursday, three on Friday, three more on Saturday and the final round on Sunday morning. Because several of the previous European Championships had been decided by tie-breaks, FESA, the Federation of European Shogi Associations, introduced a new format for the tournament to decide a clear champion. More rounds were added and extra time alloted for play-offs, if necessary. With so many strong players (2.6 dan on the average) present and three former European Champions among them, a tie for first place was a distinct possibility. For quite some time it seemed that we may have needed a play-off. Of course, Shogi tournaments are often unpredictable and this one was no exception. After four rounds only Reijer Grimbergen had not suffered a loss, seemingly to have recovered his playing (and winning) style which was not in evidence earlier this year. He was closely followed by Eric Cheymol of France, who does not play in many tournaments, but when he does he is a strong challenger for first. Others just behind Reijer with one loss were Wicker, Yamamoto, Sandeman and Litjens. On the third day we watched the Mike Sandeman drama unfold as he lost all his games. He must have had a very difficult previous night, otherwise his sudden demise was inexplicable. Grimbergen then lost his fifth game against Cheymol; and suddenly after five rounds we had 4 players with 4 points: Grimbergen, Cheymol, and the surprising Wicker and Litjens. The former two (Grimbergen and Cheymol) beat the latter two (Wicker and Litjens), so with two rounds to go we had two players with only one loss. Since they had already played each other, both of them could only hope the other would make a mistake. In round 7, Mike Loftus, who finally showed how excellent a player he is, beat Cheymol and if he had been able to beat Grimbergen in the final round we would have had 4 players tied for first place with 6-2 scores. Wary after seeing that Loftus had beaten Cheymol, Grimbergen did not let it get that far: he won his last game and in so doing not only the 1992 European Championship but also the Shogi Grand Prix title. Runners-up were Cheymol and Michael Trent, who had lost his first two games and then went on to score a perfect 6 wins in his last 6. Trent and Wicker were promoted to 3-dan on the basis of their results in this EC and previous tournaments. Probably the most impressive performance came not from one of the favorites, but from Anthony Denver-Fedder. Though sho-dan, he managed to win against experienced 3-dans such as Geuns, Stouten, Hosking and Schmidt and draw against yet another 3-dan, Blackstock. His brother Graham did not do so well and ended in last place with one win. The kyu group, although small, was also strong this year with all but two of the players grades falling between 4 and 1 kyu. Two kyu group favorites, Frans Roquas and Vincent West, got off to a slow start; Roquas losing to Kenney in the first round and West fell to Alexander Mothes. West and Roquas then managed to draw the game between them in the second round. Roquas, after wins in rounds 3 and 4 dropped two straight and had only 2.5 points at the end of round five. West, after acruing only half a point in the first three rounds was able to score two wins and join Roquas with 2.5 points. In addition, there were five, Wooldridge, Brewer, Kau, Richard West and Kenney, just half a point ahead with 3 each. In the mean time, though, Mothes was beginning to stake his claim to first place, winning five straight without a loss. So, although first place was beginning to look like a forgone conclusion, second place was anything but! By the end of the sixth round there were (trailing Mothes, who had won his sixth straight) eight within a single point of each other. At the end of round seven Wooldridge was alone in second place with 5 points, followed closely by the Roquas and West with 4.5 points each, and Kau and Kenney with 4 points each. However, Wooldridge fell in the last round to Mothes, and came in fourth place ahead of Kenney on tie-break with 5 points. Roquas and West both won in the final round, finishing second and third respectively, on tie-break, with 5.5 points. Mothes, playing in only his second international Shogi tournament, finished well out in front of the pack in first place with a perfect 8-0 record. Additionally, a new French player, M. Debrabant (15-kyu), made her Shogi debut winning two games (nb. all of her games except the first one were with 2 piece handicaps). All in all, the tournament was quite exciting to play in and to follow. It was a bit disappointing that we were the only members of the German Shogi Association there. Since the next European Championship will be in Holland, we hope that more continentals will be able to attend. However, Europeans (and visitors to the continent) have more immediate opportunities to play Shogi in the quick play tournament at the EMBL Shogi Workshop 3&4 October and at the German Open in 15&16 November. We are looking forward to seeing many of you at both of these events. John Kenney (InterNet: Kenney EMBL-Heidelberg DE) and Pieter Stouten (InterNet: Stouten EMBL-Heidelberg DE)