From: George Fernandez EROLS COM> Date: 3 jul 1996 Subject: My experience at the Amateur Ryu-O Tournament Dear Shogi Players, As promised, I'm writing a brief story about my experience at the 9th Amateur Ryu-O Tournament, held at the Nakano Sunplaza Hotel in Tokyo, on June 22-23, 1996. The event consisted on 56 players. The majority were winners from their prefectural tournaments in Japan. Some prefectures, like Tokyo, were alloted more than one entrant[3]. Last years tournament winner, Mr. Kiriyama 6Dan and myself as the foreign entry were "invitees" and excluded from the qualifying process. As the players arrived at the Nakano Sunplaza on Friday evening, they were asked to draw for placement in one of the 14 - four-player groups. My group, #3, was very strong. Mr Shinoda 6Dan and Mr. Tanihata 5Dan[one of only two players to have participated in all 8 previous Amateur Ryu-O Tournaments] are both famous amateur players in Japan and easily among the top 50, the other player, whose name I forget was a 5Dan and had played in 4 previous Amateur Ryu-O tournaments, advancing to the final eight 3 years ago. After my games, Mr. Ishikawa pro 5Dan informed me that both Shinoda and Tanihata would have a 30% chance of winning an EVEN game against a pro! The Friday night Reception Party was fun. I had a chance to meet and talk to Mr. Habu for more than 20 minutes, his English is quite good! There were many other professionals present as well, including Mrs. Nakai whom I had a chance to meet in Atlanta a month ago. A TV camera crew was going around and many photographs were also taken. After a few brief speeches by the organizers and Habu,[who is the professional Ryu-O titleholder] one person from each of the fourteen groups was asked to make a statement. On Saturday morning the tournament got started rather quickly. The two winners and two losers from the 1st game, in each group, played each other in the second game. The player with a 2-0 score automatically advanced into the elimination part of the tournament, while the player with a 0-2 score was eliminated. Those with a 1-1 score, after two games played others in adjacent groups in a play-off. In my group, I faced the strongest player first, Mr. Shinoda 6Dan and after losing to him[game below] was surprised to learn that Mr. Tanihata 5Dan had been upset in the first game and would thereby be my opponent in the second game. I played well in the opening against him but gradually got a bad game after some miscalculations and didn't put up much of a fight. Time pressure was a factor in both of my games. After lunch, the "1-1" play-offs were held, followed by the 1st Round of the elimination tournament. This brought the number of contestants down to only 16 for the second day! Among them Mr. Tokita 7Dan, who is in his seventies(!), he made it to the quarterfinals. On Sunday, I was a spectator all day. There were many exciting games. Everyone seemed to have a different set of favorites to win the tournament, citing experience, stamina(as there were 4 games to be played on Sunday) and luck(!) as factors worth considering. My personal favorite was Mr. Watanabe, 5Dan, who endured a grueling 226 move game in the round of 16(I have the scoresheet to this game and will submit it when I get the energy to type it!). He was eliminated by runner-up, Mr. Kagaya in the semi-finals and placed 3rd. Mr. Kiriyama was the repeat winner. He was extremely strong in the endgame and won the final game with a very difficult entering King maneuver. He won about $5,000.(US) a Trophy and a high quality set of shogi pieces. There were many other highlights for me during the trip, too many to list here in any great detail, but I'll try to share a few. First, I want to heartily thank Mr. and Mrs. Tadao Kitajima, Mr. Akio Ishikawa and Mr. Yaichio Ono who took care of me, almost constantly, during my 12 days in Japan; Mr. Kiyoshi Onogi of Shogi Renmei, who was very helpful throughout; Mr. Fumio Yamada of The Yomiuri Shimbun, who was a very generous sponsor and hosted an excellent 'Welcome' dinner party for me, attended by several professional players, including Mr. Yasumitsu Sato, 8Dan. Also, I must thank: Mr. Masao Morishita, an ex-DC Shogi Club member, who graciously hosted me for 3 nights; Mr. Teiichi Yamada and others at the International Shogi Popularization Society (ISPS) for having a wonderful 'Welcome' dinner party for me, during which I had a chance to play shogi with Mr. Toshiaki Tanigawa ama-6Dan; Mr. Noboru Kosaku of Shukan Shogi, who treated me to a sumptuous "yakiniku" dinner and gave me a tour of the Asahi Network editing room, where Igo Weekly is shot, and where I got a preview of the special TV report on the Amateur Ryu-O Tournament(!). Additionally, he has donated numerous shogi books to the DC Shogi Club, which we greatly appreciate. Mr. Reijer Grimbergen, one of Europe's premier shogi players, who now resides near Tokyo[who you all must know, to some extent], kept me company from Wednesday evening, 19th to Sunday 23rd. He was specially helpful in answering many questions I had prior to the tournament and was the scorekeeper during my tournament games. After so much communication via E-Mail, it was nice to meet face-to-face and enjoy some vacation time together. Other highlights, not yet mentioned, were a lunch with the VERY cute Miss Yamato Takahashi, Ladies pro Shodan, who is now visiting Europe(you lucky dogs! ;-)); Lunch and a Backgammon session with Miss Mari Uemura, Ladies 2Dan, who once unofficially visited DC; A tour of Kamakura, courtesy of Mr. Yoshihisa Suzuki. A light rain on that day made this ancient city all the more beautiful. On Thursday afternoon, June 20, I attended an awards party for Mr. Yashiki 7Dan, who won a big tournament recently, The All-Nihon Pro perhaps?! I had a chance to meet several more professional players there, including Mr. Horiguchi 6Dan, who is in-charge of writing the official rules of shogi. We agreed that the Japanese notation system is complicated and he informed me that on several occasions mistakes have been made, particularly in games among members of the Shorekai. He hopes to have a completed version of the rules soon. On Saturday evening, June 29, the second game of the Kisei title match between Mr. Habu and Mr. Miura 5Dan, was held at a hotel in Tokyo. I arrived rather late, but was still able to enjoy the suspense in the reporters room, where Mr. Moriuchi 8Dan was leading the analysis and also view the game live on a stage. There were about 300 spectators! All the pros agreed that Habu would win and he did. After the game, Mr. Nakahara, 16th Lifetime Meijin, conducted the post mortem, which was very enjoyable and funny at times. Along the way I had the opportunity to view, in person, several professional games while in progress, most notably an important Ryu-O qualifying game between Mr. Yonenaga and Mr. Minami, both 9Dan. Mr. Kitajima escorted me into the room and we very quietly sat down. Surprisingly, Mr. Yonenaga started a humorous conversation with us, during Mr. Minami's move! I visited the Shinjuku shogi club, the largest in Tokyo and the Okachimachi[I like that name!] club which is reputed to be the strongest. My overall record, while in Japan, was not impressive and I was unable to score any big upsets, although I had plenty of chances: vs Ladies pro players, even[hirate]: 0-2 [Mrs. Nakai & Mrs. Tanigawa] vs 6Dans: 0-2 vs 5Dans: 0-3 vs 4Dans: 3-3 vs 3Dans: 9-1-1 Below is my game with Mr. Shinoda 6Dan, which I consider to be the better of my two games from the tournament. --------------------------------------- 9th Amateur Ryu-O Tournament 1st Round, Saturday, June 22, 1996 40 minutes each, followed by 40 sec. byoyomi Black [Sente]: Mr. Shinoda 6Dan White [Gote]: Mr. Fernandez 4Dan 1. P-7f P-3d 2. P-2f P-4d 3. S-4h S-4b 4. P-4f S-4c 5. S-4g G-3b 6. S-5f P-5d 7. R-4h S-6b 8. P-4e S-5c 9. Px4d S5cx4d 10.P*4e S-5e 11.S-4g R-5b There are several ways to play against this type of quick attack by Black. At this point, I was pleased with my position, but had used 19 minutes to Mr. Shinoda's 9 minutes. Black now wisely proceeds to build a strong castle before starting the middle-game fight. 12.K-6h K-6b 13.K-7h K-7b 14.G4i-5h G-6b 15.P-9f P-9d 16.P-8f P-1d 17.K-8g P-7d 18.S-7h R-5a 19.G5h-6h L-1b 20.K-9h P-8d 21.S-8g B-3c 22.G6i-7h N-7c 23.S-5h R-8a 24.P-5f S-6d 25.P-4d S-5b 26.S-5g B-4b One of my primary concerns in the tournament was to move quickly in the opening stage and conserve time for the more critical middle-game and end-game stages, where most amateur games are decided. In this regard, I had already failed, going into byoyomi now at only the start of the middle game. My opponent had 14 minutes left before byoyomi. 27.S-6f N-3c 28.P-3f P-8e 29.Px8e S-6e This is a good way to start the fight. According to Mr. Ishikawa, Pro 5Dan, the game was about even now. 30.Sx6e Nx6e 31.S*8f! A good move. It is "Atsumi", a move which gives "thickness" to Blacks defense. During this tournament, I discovered that having "Atsumi", particularly in front of ones King, is highly coveted among the top amateur players in Japan. 31. ... S*5g?! 31... B-6d! A move which I considered only briefly is best here and gives me a slight advantage. 32.R-4g P*4f 33.R-2g Sx6h+ 34.Gx6h N-4e 35.P-6f N6e-5g+ 36.Gx5g Nx5g+ 37.Rx5g G*6h? My last chance was 37... Bx8f! 38. Sx8f, S*7h. I still had delusions of an edge attack and was thereby reluctant to give up the Bishop. 38.P-7e! After this move, which cuts-off the Bishop, I was completely lost. My only hope was that Mr. Shinoda would misplay the attack, as he too was now nearing byoyomi. 38. G*6g? 39.R-2g Bx7e 40.Sx7e Px7e 41.N*8d K-8c 42.N*8f S*7c 43.B*6e K-8b 44.S*8c K-7a 45.Rx6g Sx8d 46.Px8d Gx6g 47.G*5a N*7b 48.N-7d P*8b 49.Nx8b+ Resigns In a conversation with Mr. Shinoda, after the game, I learned that his good friend Mr. Makoto Kotera 5Dan, will be coming to the Washington DC area in August to live for 2 years. Mr. Kotera was in the Shorekai for 2 years a while back! Larry Kaufman 5Dan too is coming back to DC! He just bought a house in the area and will be back to stay in August. We are going to have a heck of a team... two 5Dans and six 4Dans! George I. Fernandez 2000 S. Eads Street, Apt. #504 Arlington, Virginia 22202 USA (703)521-5107 E-Mail: fernandz erols com