From: Larry Kaufman WIZARD NET> Date: 18 may 1998 Subject: D.C. Shogi club Spring Handicap Tourney The D.C. Shogi club held its Spring Handicap tournament on May 17 in Potomac, Maryland. Ten players participated, including three five dans, two four dans, and one two dan. The winner with a perfect 5-0 score was U.S. champion Makoto Kotera, who will be returning to Japan this week after a two year stay in the Washington area. Second place at 4-1 was a tie between this writer, Larry Kaufman, and his son Raymond Kaufman 1 kyu. Next at 2 1/2 (two players took a half-point bye for the first round) were Tom Eigelsbach 2 dan and Naofumi Kuchiki 1 kyu. The two-point group included Toru Inoue 5 Dan and Martin Koyama 4 Dan. The remaining players, Jiro Yoshinari 4 Dan, Eizo Motohashi 1 kyu, and Charles Covington 10 kyu, scored 1 point. Of the 21 games played with handicaps, the odds-giver won 15 and lost 6. Since we chose to underhandicap by about a rank, this is a very reasonable result. Only three even games were played, due to the huge range in levels of the players. Post-tourney ratings are: Kotera 2555, Inoue 2512, L. Kaufman 2384, Koyama 2203, Yoshinari 2194, Eigelsbach 1823, R. Kaufman 1494, Kuchiki 1426, Motohashi 1029, and Covington 565.