From: Matt Casters NETPOINT BE> Date: 26 aug 1997 Subject: One week of Shogi One week of Shogi And what a week it was ! It all started when Eric Cheymol asked me if I would go to the Mind-Sports Olympiad(MSO) in London. I told him I was not sure, but liked to go. After all, 4 days is a long time. Nevertheless, I sent a fax to the MSO telling them that I would participate, bought a couple of train-tickets and met Eric in Lille to depart for London. We both had a couple of shogi-sets with us on the train, so we played shogi for the full 2 hours on a rapid tempo of 0 minutes and 20 seconds byoyomi. We got so caught up in this that we almost didn't get off the train in London's Waterloo station. The only time we looked outside was when the train cleared the Chunnel and we saw it was raining outside. Well, the UK is a country rich with tradition. Once in London, we had to find a place to sleep, but that wasn't really a big thing and a couple of phonecalls solved the problem. Needless to say that after dinner, we continued to play shogi until well past midnight. The next day around 9:30 we met the other players in the Royal Festival Hall at the MSO. We were a bit suprised to see so few shogi-players. On the one hand this is a bad thing, because a lot of players is always a lot of fun. On the other hand, it improved everybody's chances to win some money in the tournament. (the first seven places received 5.400 pounds in total) I guess this last thing gave the whole tournament a feel, quiet different from the other shogi- tournaments. The difference is hard to explain but was there nevertheless. Since only eleven people joined us at the MSO, the referee decided to have an All-Play All paring with 11 rounds. (10 games and a bye, what else can you do ?) The players where : Eric Cheymol, Tony Hosking, Steven Lamb, Michael Sandeman, Arend Van Oosten, Frédérique Pottier, Les Blackstock, Dennis Hassabis, Mr. Foster, Mr. Randolf and myself. It was clear from the start that it would be virtually impossible for me to win with all the 4-dan and 3-dan players participating. Maybe it was because of the large amount of price-money that the kyu-players stayed away ? If this is the case, maybe the MSO-organisation has to divide some of the money according to the classification, like they do in chess ? What else is there to tell about the first day ? Oh yes, we played shogi in the afternoon and found another (read: better) place to stay near Hide Park. In the evening we made time to analyze some of the more difficult positions that arrived during the 30 minutes games. This was a bit difficult without games-scores, but we managed. Yep, this was a great training for the European Championships that would follow the MSO. The next days went by practically in the same manner : we played Shogi, shogi and again shogi. We managed to visit a bit of London but I think it was just too hot to walk around a lot. The center of London was just flooded with tourists. The fountains at Trafalgar square had become a swimming pool of some sorts and the ice-cream you bought just melted before you could pay. Because of all the shogi we played, it came as no suprise to me that Eric won all 10 games and gained a perfect score of 11 out of 11. (see his shogi-pages in the next couple of days for the complete score-grid) Myself, I managed to beat all players ranked below or equals to my grade (2-dan) and then one, so I was satisfied with the 6th place. Of-course the MSO was just the start as the European Championships(EC) proved to be a big event the next day. Thursday night Eric, Frédérique and myself stayed at my apartment in Gent and missed the BarBQ that Albrecht Heeffer had organized in honor of Ms Yamato Takahashi. It was yet another night we went to bed well past 1 o'clock at night. (who can sleep with such heat anyway ?) We did not play shogi that night, but in our defense I have to say that we played on the train from London to Lille. We arrived on Friday, the 21st at the EC's venue around 11 o'clock to set up a couple of computers and printers. Then we went of to eat something and relax a bit. Around 13:30 the EC started. I didn't play all that bad the first day but could only one game. I was thinking that maybe I prepared a bit too much ! Especially the second game against Hara Susumu upset me very much because he played an excellent game of shogi. He just countered everything I did ! I had to analyze the game the next day with Steven Lamb to get a better look on the position. A serious FESA meeting that same Friday evening lasted until 1.30am so I could forget about sleeping a bit longer. The next day went a bit better for me by winning 2 out of 3. I have to mention that Eric Cheymol was still looking invincible by winning 6 out of 6 and by beating last year's champion Miyamoto Toyokazu in a very nice game. On Saturday evening, traditionally the blitz tournament takes place. The fatigue had to be there because I had a very bad start. As the games went by (it was a seven round tournament) things got a bit better and I still managed to win 5 out of 7 games or a 9th place. The winner was the incredible Mr. Miyamoto with a perfect score. I don't really have to mention that it was again well past 1.30 before I went to bed, do I ? Sunday morning then, almost exhausted I made a very bad start against Jan Oosterwijk. The only thing that kept me going at this point was the experience I gained in the past week. I kept bothering Jan with little moves like Eric thought me until we finally both went into byoyomi. Jan made the last mistake by not seeing a tsume-treath I set up for him. At that point you can safely say I was very happy it all ended. 4 games out of seven, an 11th place in the tournament and a very nice week of shogi. Eric lost in the last round from the very strong Hara Susumu (called O'Hara by the English participants, but I believe his sense of humor is good enough to cope with this :-) and this way blowing his chances for the title. Maybe, just maybe, Eric was a bit tired too, but he still got the third place. After a playoff it was Mr. Miyamoto who re-captured the title. Congratulations ! If someone asks me again next year to play a week of shogi I'd have to think about it like this year, but I'd probably do it again. See you all in Hannover at the German Open, Matt Casters