From: George Fernandez EROLS COM> Date: 24 apr 1997 Subject: 1997 US Shogi Championship results [Part 2 of 2] 1997 US Shogi Championship and 2nd North American Amateur Ryu-O Tournament Story by George Fernandez [Part 2 of 2] Finals ------ Seven of the nine first round games were played on Saturday evening, following the preliminary tournament. The format was single elimination. The time control was 20 minutes, followed by 40 seconds Byoyomi and in the final two rounds 30 minutes, followed by 40 seconds byoyomi. This year, I was too busy directing and playing in the tournament to follow the various games closely, however, for the sake of this story, I'll try to give my general impressions of the round-by-round action. In the first battle of 4Dans it was Mr. Tsuruoka, from Chicago, who beat the likable LA Shogi Club President Mr. Mark Ohno. Pieter Stouten, whose visits during the last several years have been about as frequent as the Hale-Bopp comet, put an end to Tom Eigelsbach's Cinderella story. The only mild upset was in the Sugihara-Egoshi game. On Sunday, there were two games from the first round to be played. Mr. Tamaki won a close game over Mr. Ito from LA and Mr. Takahashi defeated former DC Meijin Mr. Yoshinari, who has recently regained his good form. The second round saw three seeded player fall by the wayside. LA's #1 seed Mr. Yoneoka, who I had thought to be a top contender, lost to Mr. Kuramoto, who was a runner-up, about 10 years ago, in a US national shogi tournament(!). Midwest's #1, Mr. Morijiri was overcome by Mr. Stouten, who capitalized on an early mistake. And, the always tough Mr. Koyama, 1995 DC Meijin, lost to Mr. Takahashi in a game which I didn't have a chance to see. In the Quarter-Finals, the 5Dans beat up on the competition and Mr. Kuramoto won a good game against me, when I needlessly stumbled into a sudden mate, just when I felt the game had turned slightly in my favor :-( . The semi-final match Watanabe-Kuramoto was very exciting. At first it seemed to me that Mr. Kuramoto was losing badly and could not escape a very direct and powerful attack on his King, but somehow, just a few moves later, his King was on the run and not likely to be caught! It was then Mr. Watanabe's turn to go for an entering King and sure enough he too was able to achieve it. The game dragged on for a while, in byoyomi, until Mr. Kuramoto requested Mr. Ishikawa's help. It was clearly a situation where the game should continue but could easily take an hour or more to decide and LA players had a plane to catch and the final game was yet to be played. Mr. Ishikawa suggested to reverse colors and play again with 5 minutes each and 30 seconds byoyomi. The new game was quick and went in favor of Mr. Watanabe. In the other semi-final match Mr. Nakazawa 5Dan, a former 4-time East Coast Meijin (1992-1995), won over Larry Kaufman, the highest rated "Westerner" and DC Shogi Club's last hope, in a game which I missed completely. It set up an all New York final (although it's really Connecticut vs. New Jersey/Japan) between two of the very top contenders. Many photographs were taken prior to the start of the final game. The young and charming Miss Irina Novikov 3Kyu from NY posed with Mr. Ishikawa, on the referee's table, as if she were the time-keeper, we all enjoyed that. During the finals, a large magnetic display board was set-up on the rooftop sundeck, across the way from the playing room. Mr. Ishikawa pro. 5Dan, gave ongoing commentary and analysis during the game as the moves were brought in by Mr. Asano and others. Mr. Sugihara was the scorekeeper. Mr. Watanabe took the early advantage and never let up. It was a very well-played game which even Mr. Ishikawa enjoyed! He said it was played at a pro level in the opening. Two small errors by Mr. Nakazawa led to a clear advantage and Mr. Watanabe did not allow his chance for a second consecutive US Championship slip away. Congratulations go out to him and best wishes, should he have to return to Japan permanently in July as planned. In the battle for third place, Larry Kaufman defeated Mr. Kuramoto. Interestingly, Mr. Kuramoto's goal for the tournament was "Best 4". FINALS CHART Round 1 Round 2 Q.-finals Semi-finals Finals # Name (State) Rank 1.Watanabe (CT) 5Dan 16.M. Ito (CA) 3Dan TAMAKI 17.Tamaki (MD) 2Dan WATANABE TSURUOKA 25.Ohno (CA) 3Dan 8.Tsuruoka (IL) 4Dan TSURUOKA 9.Ogihara (NY) 3Dan OGIHARA 24.Okouchi (MD) 2Dan WATANABE KURAMOTO 5.Yoneoka (CA) 4Dan 12.Kuramoto(CA) 4Dan KURAMOTO 21.Kuchiki (VA) 1Kyu KURAMOTO FERNANDEZ 4.Fernandez (VA) 4Dan 13.Suzuki (NY) 3Dan ASANO 20.Asano (IL) 3Dan ----------------------------------------------|Finals Match '97 Champion ==============================================|WATANABE WATANABE ----------------------------------------------|NAKAZAWA (2nd) ******** 6.Morijiri (IN) 4Dan 11.Stouten (DE) 3Dan STOUTEN |Third place match 22.Eigelsbach(MD)2Dan |L. KAUFMAN Won (3rd) STOUTEN |KURAMOTO Lost (4th) NAKAZAWA 3.Nakazawa (NY) 5Dan 14.Sugihara (NY)2Dan SUGIHARA 19.Egoshi (MD) 4Dan NAKAZAWA L. KAUFMAN 7.Koyama (MD) 4Dan 10.Takahashi(NJ)4Dan TAKAHASHI 23.Yoshinari(VA)4Dan TAKAHASHI L. KAUFMAN 2.L. Kaufman(MD) 5Dan 15.Sloan (CA) 2Dan HAYASHI 18.Hayashi )NY) 3Dan --------------------------------------------------------- Side Event ---------- The 1997 Sakura Handicap tournament was a side event which ran concurrent to the main tournament. It was open to all players except the top four finishers in the main tournament. Once eliminated from the main tournament, players were automatically entered into this freelance-type of event in which ALL the games played counted. Participants could easily find opponents who were close enough in rank, so we didn't bother using handicaps. No one knew their exact standing until it was announced at the end! Mr. Yoshinari 4Dan from Arlington, Virginia was the clear winner, compiling an impressive 7-1 score, including 3-0 in the team competition. Mr. Yoneoka 4Dan from Huntington Beach, California was 2nd with a score of 4-1. He beat two 5Dans and also won a Bishop handicap game against Mr. Ishikawa. All of the class winners had good overall performances. The result of games against Mr. Ishikawa, pro. 5Dan [which counted and were rated] and the total number of games played were factors which were considered in selecting the winners. 1997 Sakura Handicap tournament prize winners: Place Name (state) Rank Score 1st Mr. Yoshinari (VA) 4Dan 7-1 2nd Mr. Yoneoka (CA) 4Dan 4-1 Top 3Dan Mr. Suzuki (NY) 3Dan 7-2 Top 2Dan Mr. Tamaki (MD) 2Dan 6-3 Top Shodan Mr. Furukawa (NY) Shodan 9-6 2nd Shodan Mr. Kirimura (NY) Shodan 8-4 Top Kyu Mr. Wachtel (MD) 3Kyu 5-6 2nd Kyu Mr. Wachi (VA) 1Kyu 5-0 Mr. Kobuta (NY) 1Kyu 6-6 --------------------------------------------------------- The list below outlines each participants statistics for the entire event. It contains the pre and post US Shogi ratings and details of all opponents and game results. The new (post) ratings reflect results for those games played against Mr. Ishikawa which are given below, in a separate list, with handicap information. In each player's second line, individual results are given [not in chronological order], separated by event as follows: "M" stands for Main tournament; "T" for Team competition; and "S" for Side tournament. A "W" means a Win and an "L" means a Loss, followed by the opponents player number (#). Example: Mr. Inoue's T:W11 means he beat Mr. Takahashi (#11) in the Team competition (T). Statistics for the 1997 US Championship participants: # Name ST Rank Pre /Post Main Side Team All Place 1. Inoue, Toru MD 5 Dan 2423/2427 2-1 2-1 T:W11,W15,L3 2. Kaufman, Larry MD 5 Dan 2415/2408 3-1 0-1 2-1 5-3 *3rd* M:W25,W11,L4,W14 T:L8,W9,W17 S:L12 3. Watanabe, Masanori CT 5 Dan 2410/2412 4-0 1-1 5-1 *1st* M:W22,W15,W14,W4 T:W1,L8 4. Nakazawa, Keiji NJ 5 Dan 2401/2403 3-1 3-1 *2nd* M:W21,W20,W2,L3 5. Fernandez, George VA 4 Dan 2279/2263 1-1 0-1 1-2 M:W19,L14 T:L12 6. Koyama, Martin MD 4 Dan 2259/2246 0-1 2-0 2-1 M:L11 T:W19,W21 7. Conner, Troy VA 4 Dan 2251/2222 1-2 1-2 M:W39,L24,L22 8. Yoneoka, Mikio CA 4 Dan 2250/2273 0-1 3-0 3-1 Side 2nd M:L14 T:W2,W23,W3 9. Morijiri, Takeshi IN 4 Dan 2250/2226 0-1 1-0 2-1 3-2 M:L20 T:L2,W11,W21 S:W23 10.Egoshi, Hiroaki MD 4 Dan 2230/2217 0-1 2-1 2-2 M:L21 T:W16,W20,L18 11.Takahashi, Akira CA 4 Dan 2225/2235 2-1 1-2 3-3 M:W13,W6,L2 T:L1,L9,W21 12.Ohno, Mark CA 4 Dan 2223/2217 0-1 1-1 2-1 3-3 M:L15 T:W5,L15,W17 S:L13,W2 13.Yoshinari, Jiro VA 4 Dan 2220/2241 2-1 1-0 3-0 6-1 Side 1st M:W25,W21,L11 T:W14,W23,W25 S:W12 14.Kuramoto, Masakazu CA 4 Dan 2200/2182 3-2 1-2 4-4 *4th* M:W32,W8,W5,L3,L2 T:L13,W20,L25 15.Tsuruoka, Yoshinori IL 4 Dan 2200/2212 2-1 2-1 4-2 M:W12,W17,L3 T:L1,W12,W18 16.Ito, Mac CA 3 Dan 2025/1989 0-1 0-1 1-2 1-4 M:L22 T:L10,W19,L18 S:L27 17.Ogihara, Shigetaka NY 3 Dan 2015/1963 0-1 1-1 0-3 1-5 M:W26,L15 T:L2,L12,L19 S:L18 18.Suzuki, Yoshihisa NY 3 Dan 2004/2041 2-1 3-0 2-1 7-2 Top 3Dan M:W26,W29,L19 T:W10,W16,L15 S:W25,W17,W31 19.Asano, Hirohide IL 3 Dan 2000/2001 1-1 1-2 2-3 M:W18,L5 T:L6,L16,W17 20.Stouten, Pieter DE 3 Dan 1968/1954 4-1 1-1 0-3 5-5 M:W28,W38,W24,W9,L4 T:L10,L14,L25 S:W26,L22 21.Sugihara, Takaki NY 2 Dan 1879/1897 3-2 0-3 3-5 M:W30,L13,W35,W10,L4 T:L6,L11,L9 22.Tamaki, Rintaro MD 2 Dan 1800/1874 3-2 3-0 6-2 Top 2Dan M:W39,L24,W7,W16,L3 S:W26,W36,W20 23.Sloan, Sam CA 2 Dan 1800/1739 2-2 2-1 0-2 4-5 M:W31,L32,W28,L25 T:L13,L8 S:L9,W30,W34 24.Eigelsbach, Tom MD 2 Dan 1799/1836 2-1 2-1 M:W7,W22,L20 25.Hayashi, Minoru NY 3 Dan 1773/1851 3-2 1-1 2-1 6-4 M:W30,L13,W38,W23,L2 T:L13,W14,W20 S:L18,W26 26.Okouchi, Yasumitsu MD 2 Dan 1711/1683 2-2 0-3 2-5 M:W37,L18,W29,L17 S:L22,L25,L20 27.Bekele, Fassil NY 2 Dan 1642/1657 0-2 4-0 4-2 M:L28,L38 S:W16,W28,W31,W30 28.Furukawa, Minamoto NY Shodan 1631/1607 1-2 7-3 8-5 T.Shodan M:W27,L20,L23 S:W30,W37,W39,W35,W36,W38,W29,L27,L30,L31 29.Kirimura, Mat NY Shodan 1600/1597 1-2 6-2 7-4 2nd Sho. M:W37,L18,L26 S:L33,W38,L28,W31,W30,W37,W39,W35 30.Kuwaki, K. NY Shodan 1524/1439 0-2 1-7 1-9 M:L25,L21 S:L23,L28,L29,W28,L27,L31,L37,L35 31.Kubota, Noburo NY 1 Kyu 1446/1436 0-2 5-3 5-5 2nd Kyu M:L35,L23 S:L18,W37,L29,W28,L27,W30,W39,W39 32.Kuchiki, Naofumi VA 1 Kyu 1443/1488 2-1 1-1 3-2 M:W35,W23,L14 S:W34,L33 33.Wachi, Komei VA 1 Kyu 1437/1499 5-0 5-0 2nd Kyu S:W34,W32,W35,W39,W29 34.Novikov, Irina NY 2 Kyu 1344/1250 0-5 0-5 S:L33,L32,L39,L23,L35 35.Wachtel, Howard MD 3 Kyu 1272/1329 1-2 3-4 4-6 Top Kyu M:W31,L32,L21 S:L33,W34,L39,L29,L28,W30,W37 36.Giles, T. Allen VA 3 Kyu 1250/1221 1-3 1-3 S:L22,W38,L28,L37 37.Motohashi, Eizo DC 1 Kyu 1209/1237 0-2 3-4 3-6 M:L26,L29 S:L31,L29,L28,W30,W39,L35,W36 38.Judson, Mark VA 4 Kyu 1103/1113 1-2 0-3 1-5 M:W27,L20,L25 S:L28,L29,L36 39.Kaufman, Raymond MD 8 Kyu 915/1037 0-2 2-7 2-9 M:L7,L22 S:W34,L33,W35,L29,L28,L31,L31,L37 ------------------------------------------------- We also had the pleasure of having Mr. Ishikawa, available for teaching games. He played three sessions (Thu., Sat. & Sun.) while in the DC area, playing 3 opponents at the same time throughout. After each game, he took the time to explain key points, something which everyone greatly appreciated. Mr.Akio Ishikawa 5 Dan List of Opponents and Results Thursday, April 10. # Name Rank Hdcp. Player result 1.Wachtel 3 Kyu 4p W 2.R. Kaufman 8 Kyu 6p L 3.Judson 4 Kyu 6p L 4.L. Kaufman 5 Dan B W 5.Kuchiki 1 Kyu 4p W 6.Okouchi 2 Dan RL L Saturday, April 12. # Name Rank Hdcp. Player result 1.Tsuruoka 4 Dan B L 2.Asano 3 Dan B L 3.Morijiri 4 Dan B L 4.Kuramoto 4 Dan R L 5.Ohno 4 Dan R L 6.R. Kaufman 8 Kyu 6p W 7.Inoue 5 Dan B W 8.Bekele 2 Dan RL L 9.Furukawa Shodan 2p W 10.Hayashi 3 Dan R L 11.Egoshi 4 Dan R W 12.Ogihara 3 Dan R L 13.Kirimura Shodan 2p W 14.L. Kaufman 5 Dan B W 15.Watanabe 5 Dan B L 16.Kubota 1 Kyu 6p W 17.Kuwaki Shodan 2p W 18.Giles 3 Kyu 4p L 19.Sloan 2 Dan 2p L Sunday, April 13. # Name Rank Hdcp. Player result 1.Ohno 4 Dan R L 2.Bekele 2 Dan RL L 3.Furukawa Shodan 2p L 4.Yoneoka 4 Dan B W 5.Ohno 4 Dan R W 6.Morijiri 4 Dan B L 7.Sugihara 2 Dan RL L 8.Tamaki 2 Dan RL L 9.Kubota 1 Kyu 4p L 10.Koyama 4 Dan B L 11.Takahashi 4 Dan R W 12.Yoshinari 4 Dan B W 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