From: George Fernandez EROLS COM> Date: 24 apr 1997 Subject: 1997 U.S. Shogi Championship Results [Part 1 of 2] 1997 U.S. Shogi Championship and 2nd North American Amateur Ryu-O Tournament Story by George Fernandez [Part 1 of 2] The national shogi event was held on April 12-13, in the Penthouse party room of the Crystal House II apartment building, in Crystal City (Arlington), Virginia. Thirty-nine players from ten states attended and were joined by Mr. Akio Ishikawa, a professional 5Dan from Japan, who was making his fourth visit to the East Coast of America in the last five years. In the end, it was 1996 US Champion Mr. Masanori Watanabe, a 5Dan from Connecticut, who came out on top for the second consecutive year. He overcame the strongest amateur field ever assembled in the U.S., comprised of 15 players ranked 4Dan or above. The level of intensity and effort was high among the participants and yet a friendly atmosphere prevailed in this year's tournament. It seems likely this event will continue to grow and we hope, in particular, to attract many more American (and Canadian) players in the years to come. The sponsors were: The Yomiuri America (a subsidiary of The Yomiuri Shinbum); Shukan Shogi; HIS travel agency; AMNET; Van Club International; and Mr. Tomohiro Yuki. We are pleased to have had their generous support. The Yomiuri America donated prizes and ran articles about the tournament both before and after the event. Mr. Ishikawa 5Dan presented many books and other shogi items to the players on behalf of Shukan Shogi and will be writing a follow-up article, about the tournament, on that publication upon returning to Japan. HIS is providing two round-trip tickets to Florida or Los Angeles to the winner. The other sponsors made contributions for special prizes and awards. Both the LA and NY Shogi clubs had good representation this year. Many thanks, for their organizational efforts, go to: LA's Mr. Mark Ohno; NY's Mr. Minoru Hayashi; Mr. Shigetaka Ogihara; and Mr. Takaki Sugihara. They each coordinated their respective teams activities and made this event a great success. The DC Shogi Club was the host club this year and many individuals helped with the preparations and the behind-the-scene activities, as could be expected. In particular, we'd like to thank: Mr. Jiro Yoshinari, who took care of most of the travel arrangements and made several trips to the airport; Mr. Larry Kaufman, who hosted Mr. Ishikawa at his home; Mr. Komei Wachi; and Mr. Tom Eigelsbach, who is our resident computer expert and also helped with the clean-up during and after the tournament. At the start, fifteen players were seeded by their respective clubs and the tournament committee. Those selected advanced directly to the Finals and could thereby skip the preliminary rounds. All LA and Midwest players ranked 3Dan or above were seeded in consideration of their long journey. In the Finals, the top 10 spots were given to seeded players, according to their overall rating. We also avoided having top players from any given area play each other in the early rounds of the Finals. Other positions, (#11-#25) were determined randomly. Here is the list of seeded players and the criteria used by each: 1. Mr. Watanabe, 1996 US Champion; 2. Mr. L. Kaufman, DC #1; 3. Mr. Nakazawa, 1996 semi-finalist; 4. Mr. Fernandez, 1997 East Coast Meijin; 5. Mr. Yoneoka, LA #1; 6. Mr. Morijiri, Midwest #1; 7. Mr. Koyama, DC #2 (unable to play on Sat.); 8. Mr. Tsuruoka, Midwest #2; 9. Mr. Ogihara, NY #1; 10. Mr. Takahashi, LA #2; 11. Mr. Egoshi, 1996 semi-finalist; 12. Mr. Ohno, LA #3; 13. Mr. Kuramoto, LA #4; 14. Mr. Ito, LA # 5; and 15. Mr. Asano, Midwest # 3. Preliminaries ------------- Group A was held on Thursday, a couple of days ahead, in an effort to accommodate a few players who could not come on Saturday. The action got started with a bang, when Troy Conner 4Dan was upset by Tom Eigelsbach 2Dan. Afterwards, Troy lost again in the one-game playoff to DC Shogi Club newcomer Mr. Tamaki 2Dan and was eliminated. Group D was the strongest and sent 3 qualifiers to the finals. Fassil Bekele, from New York, was the only other 2Dan and above player unable to make it past the preliminary rounds. In Group C, Mr. Kuchiki 1Kyu scored 2-0 and was the only Kyu player to make it into the 25 player Finals. Group A (Held on Thursday 4/10) Conner (VA) 4 Dan X W L L 1-2 (out) R. Kaufman (MD) 8 Kyu L X L 0-2 (out) Eigelsbach (MD) 2 Dan W X W 2-0 (in) Tamaki (MD) 2 Dan W W L X 2-1 (in) Group B Bekele (NY) 2 Dan X L L 0-2 Furukawa (NY) Shodan W X L 1-1 Stouten (DE) 3 Dan W X W 2-0 Judson (VA) 4 Kyu W L X 1-1 Group C Kubota (NY) 1 Kyu X L L 0-2 Wachtel (MD) 3 Kyu W X L 1-1 Kuchiki (VA) 1 Kyu W X W 2-0 Sloan (CA) 2 Dan W L X 1-1 Group D Kuwaki (NY) Shodan X L L 0-2 Hayashi (NY) 3 Dan W X L 1-1 Sugihara (NY) 2 Dan W X L 1-1 Yoshinari (VA) 4 Dan W W X 2-0 Group E Motohashi (DC) 1 Kyu X L L 0-2 Okouchi (NY) 2 Dan W X L 1-1 Suzuki (NY) 3 Dan W X W 2-0 Kirimura (VA) Shodan W L X 1-1 Players with a score of 2-0 automatically advanced into the finals, those with a score of 1-1 played one more game amongst themselves, at random, to determine the last few spots in the final feild. Players with a score of 0-2 were eliminated and relegated to the side tournaments. Preliminaries play-off: ---------------------- 1. Hayashi 3 Dan Won vs. Judson 4 Kyu 2. Okouchi 2 Dan Won vs. Kirimura Shodan 3. Sugihara 2 Dan Won vs. Wachtel 3 Kyu 4. Sloan 2 Dan Won vs. Furukawa Shodan 5. Tamaki 2 Dan Won vs. Conner 4 Dan (Thursday) ------------------------------------------------------------- Team Competition ---------------- The Team Competition, held on Saturday and Sunday was another featured event. The favored DC Shogi Club team edged out the visiting LA team in this exciting event. Four 5-player teams competed in the round-robin tournament. Pieter Stouten (DE) 3Dan and Sam Sloan (CA) 2Dan were fill-ins for the Midwest/Wildcard team, which had only 3 members. The NY team missed Mr. Nakazawa 5Dan who was excluded from playing with his former team due to the fact that he now resides primarily in Japan. Los Angeles players were very focussed on this event and had quite a formidable team in spite of the fact that thier #1 player, Mr. Kawaberi 5Dan could not come. The DC team was determined to win but had some problems too: Mr. Inoue 5Dan could only play on Saturday (thereby missing the main tournament); Mr. Koyama 4Dan could only play on Sunday; Troy Conner 4Dan couldn't make it Saturday or Sunday; and George Fernandez 4Dan was extremely busy on both days organizing and directing the event. TEAM 1. 2. 3. 4. Score Games 1. DC Shogi Club XXX W(3-2) W(5-0) W(3-2) 3-0 11- 4 2. LA Shogi Club L(2-3) XXX W(3-2) W(3-2) 2-1 8- 7 3. Midwest/Wildcard L(0-5) L(2-3) XXX W(3-2) 1-2 5-10 4. NY Shogi Club L(2-3) L(2-3) L(2-3) XXX 0-3 6- 9 Individual Team Match Results ----------------------------- DC vs. LA 1.Kaufman Lost 1.Yoneoka 2.Inoue Won 2.Takahashi 3.Fernandez Lost 3.Ohno DC wins 3-2 4.Yoshinari Won 4.Kuramoto 5.Egoshi Won 5.Ito DC vs. Midwest/Wildcard 1.Kaufman Won 1.Morijiri 2.Inoue Won 2.Tsuruoka 3.Koyama Won 3.Asano DC wins 5-0 4.Egoshi Won 4.Stouten 5.Yoshinari Won 5.Sloan DC vs. NY 1.Inoue Lost 1.Watanabe 2.Kaufman Won 2.Ogihara 3.Koyama Won 3.Sugihara DC wins 3-2 4.Yoshinari Won 4.Hayashi 5.Egoshi Lost 5.Suzuki LA vs. Midwest/Wildcard 1.Takahashi Lost 1.Morijiri 2.Ohno Lost 2.Tsuruoka 3.Ito Won 3.Asano LA wins 3-2 4.Kuramoto Won 4.Stouten 5.Yoneoka Won 5.Sloan LA vs. NY 1.Yoneoka Won 1.Watanabe 2.Takahashi Won 2.Sugihara 3.Ohno Won 3.Ogihara LA wins 3-2 4.Ito Lost 4.Suzuki 5.Kuramoto Lost 5.Hayashi Midwest/Wildcardvs. NY 1.(forfeit) Lost 1.Watanabe 2.Tsuruoka Won 2.Suzuki 3.Morijiri Won 3.Sugihara Midwest/Wildcard wins 3-2 4.Asano Won 4.Ogihara 5.Stouten Lost 5.Hayashi The story continues on Part 2. George I. Fernandez 2000 S. Eads St., Apt. #504 Arlington, VA 22202 USA Telephone: Home(703)521-5107 Work(703)451-0300 E-Mail: fernandz erols com