From: "George I. Fernandez" MINDSPRING COM> Date: 12 jun 1999 Subject: Re: Scandal at the US Shogi Championship At 09:09 PM 6/7/99 -0400, you wrote: Dear Sam, I regret to imform you that you are "beating a dead horse" and regardless of how hard or for how long you continue to beat it it will not come back to life. Some of the issues raised by others and you have already been dealt with organizationally and are thereby less likely, if not impossible, to happen again in the future. Additionally, we've given you ample justifications and explanations (both privately and openly on Shogi-L) as to why things were done the way they were at the 1999 US Shogi Championship two months ago yet you continue to either bring up the same points in a different way or conjure up new wholly invalid ones with impunity. In this letter I will further clarify some points which you obviously must be missing and correct those new allegations from your recent posting that are false or have absolutely no bearing on the issues at hand. >Scandal at the US Shogi Championship In my opinion, having ONE very unhappy participant (you)[out of 36] and at most two or three others whom were mildly dissatisfied hardly constitutes a "scandal". >I have just re-posted the results of the US Shogi championship, because >several of the shogi list members had complained that they had not received >the results. > >These results were posted promptly after the tournament was over, but at >the bottom of a long message, as a result of which they were overlooked by >many. You use the words "several" and "many", yet, to my knowledge, only ONE person complained about this twice and I promptly replied to him and informed him and other Shogi-L subscribers as to where the previously posted information could be found. >My reason for re-posting these results is to make clear the outrageous >unfairness of what occurred. > >Down near the bottom, you will find the name of Fassil Bekele. >Nevertheless, Mr. Bekele was declared the prize winner of this event. As a >result of his performance here, which was probably the worst performance of >any dan-rated player in the entire event, Mr. Bekele will receive an all >expenses paid round trip to Tokyo, including air tickets, hotel and meals, >plus Mr. Bekele will be the official representative of the entire United >State of America and the shogi Amateur Ryu-O in Tokyo. In the tournament invitation posted on Shogi-L on 3-14-99 the following information appears under the heading "Prizes": "This tournament will be a qualifying event for the 13th Amateur Ryu-O Tournament, to be held in Japan, in June 2000. The U.S. representative to this event must be an U.S. citizen or resident for a period of 5 years. Additional restrictions are likely to be placed on past invitees [Larry Kaufman and George Fernandez] as well. Mr. Ishikawa, Pro 6Dan, will be authorized to select a representative, should the winner of the 1999 U.S. Championship be ineligible." I will again repeat the key portion regarding the process used for selecting the winner of this particular prize in the tournament: "[...] Mr. Ishikawa, Pro 6Dan, will be authorized to select a representative, should the winner of the 1999 U.S. Championship be ineligible." The winner was ineligible. Mr. Ishikawa Pro 6Dan chose Mr. Bekele 3Dan, the highest rated active American shogi player in the event. End of story. The words "a qualifying event" means just that. It was not "the [sole] qualifying event". There was no formula imposed on Mr. Ishikawa, to abide by, in making his selection. So when you mention "...As a result of his performance here..." it is just plainly an erroneous judgement and statement on your part and probably at the root of your misunderstanding in this particular matter. >You can plainly see that Mr. Bekele had a poor result in this tournament. >Overall, he won two games and lost 5, plus he lost two out of his first >three games which, under the rules, eliminated him from the competition. Mr. Bekele qualified for the "A" group BY THE RULES of the tournament and was NOT eliminated after the two losses. He did NOT receive any special treatment in this regard. >It was explained to me after the event that the prize of an airplane ticket >to Japan had been arraigned by My. Hayashi of the New York Shogi Club and >this gave Mr. Hayashi influence in deciding who was awarded the prize. Mr. >Hayashi naturally chose his friend, Mr. Bekele, who is an active member of >the New York Shogi Club. Mr. Hayashi, the NY Shogi Club President, a US Shogi Federation Board or Directors Member, and the principal USSF liaison to the Shogi Renmei in Japan, has been active in the US shogi scene for over 20 years now. More so than Larry Kaufman, myself or anyone else, Mr. Hayashi is at the "hub" of US shogi whether anyone realizes it or not. He is certainly one of the main reasons why professional shogi players have started to come, and continue to come, to the US in recent years after a long absence of about 10 years. He has been truly devoted, extremely generous and a very enthusiastic promoter of shogi in the US. Mr. Hayashi's being influential, having an opinion, and helping to decide big and small things on certain occasions is very natural and a tremendous asset to our organization and to the US shogi community at-large. Whatever "influence" Mr. Hayashi may or may not have has absolutely NOTHING to do with any air ticket and I find your suggestion utterly ridiculous and bordering on slander. I have plenty of experience dealing with heavy-handed pressure tactics and believe me they will not work within any area of shogi in which I have a part in now or at anytime in the future. Mr. Hayashi DID NOT "choose" anyone. It was not his decision to make as explained above. Mr. Ishikawa, pro 6Dan, has been in America many times and has played against almost all of the active players at least once. He certainly would not choose someone unqualified to represent the US in such an important event as the Amateur Ryu-O sen. I know for a fact that Mr. Ishikawa values greater shogi activity over slightly greater shogi strength when awarding arbitrary prizes. Mr. Uechi 4Dan from WA State was clearly the only eligible American player stronger than Mr. Bekele who participated in the tournament, however, he lost to Mr. Bekele in the round of 16 and was playing in only his second tournament, ever, in the US, compared to 8+ years for Mr. Bekele. Sam Sloan, you are a 2Dan and basically inactive. Doug Dysart and Ray Kaufman (who is a minor and could not go to Japan by himself) are both very active players but barely reaching the 2Dan level now. It would be a shame for either of them to go now, when they are relatively weak, and thus become ineligible to go in the future when they will certainly become much stronger and truly worthy representatives. These days Mr. Bekele regularly beats 4Dans at least 30% of the time in official games here in NY. His recent 4Dan victims include the new US Champion Mr. Suzuki, Mr. Sato, Mr. Ogihara, Mr. Hayashi and myself. Basically he has at least one win against each of us (and Mr. Uechi 4Dan) all within the last 4 months. Besides Mr. Uechi, all of the other "candidates" listed above _put together_ have at most a single handful of wins against 4Dans and from what you've told me you personally have none. >I am not the only participant who is upset. I have received private e-mail >from almost all of the other contenders and everybody is outraged and upset >by this. > >Here is a quote from a private letter I received about this: > > "The whole event was screwy. I put up with it because I knew all along >that this is the way U.S. Shogi "works." It really SUCKS." > >Here is another comment (which I am reluctant to post for obvious reasons): > > "We are like Jews trying to win prizes at a chess tournament run by Booby >Fischer." In my opinion, Shogi in the US will not flourish among both Japanese and American players by shoving one group's ideas (or harsh words) down the other's throat. I've directed many "swiss system" shogi events in the past and had some Japanese players complain about the tie-break system we use. They'd generally come to me with a blank and incredulous expression and say something like "... but I beat that player in the last round AND two 5Dans earlier while that other player only played 3Dans! How can he have better tie-breaks than me?". Try justifying that and feeling good about it to someone wholly unfamiliar with the "swiss system". In order to develop a healthy shogi organization in the US we must gradually embrace each other's ideas, experience different organizational methods, and mutually reach conclusions and compromises amicably. The USSF I feel wants to achieve this goal and among the seven members of the Board of Directors I'm pleased to say that we have over 100 years of experience playing and promoting shogi. Setbacks which we experience along the way will certainly make for a stronger organization in the long run, if we are resolved to work together. >If Mr. Bekele were a strong player, I would be willing to overlook the fact >that he did not win the prize he was awarded. Certainly, I would not object >if Mr. George Fernandez or Mr. Larry Kaufman, both of whom are strong >players, were awarded the prize. However, Mr. Bekele is not a strong >player. If Mr. Bekele were to play in a tournament against myself, Douglas >Dysart and Ray Kaufman, it is unlikely Mr. Bekele would win and more likely >that he would finish last. I personally think Mr. Bekele would win but this has no bearing on the issue at hand. The final selection was rendered, and it will stand, in accordance with the stated rules. The only way to "win" the prize is to win the tournament, otherwise, it is always awarded. >I think everyone agrees that chess ratings are a strong indicator of >potential among Western players of shogi. Here are the current USCF ratings >of four of the contestants: These ratings are all available on the USCF >ratings site at http://www.uschess.org/ratings/ and at >http://www.64.com/cgi-bin/ratings.pl > >Kaufman, Raymond 2118 >Sloan, Sam 2104 >Dysart, Douglas 2049 >Bekele, Fassill 1729 > >It can be seen that Ray Kaufman, Douglas Dysart and myself all have about >the same chess rating, whereas Mr. Bekele is rated more than 300 points >below any of us. This too has no bearing on the issue at hand. Clearly Fassil has focussed primarily on shogi. >It must be added that Ray Kaufman is only 16 years old and Douglas Dysart >is 21, so they both have great potential, plus they are both working hard >on shogi and improving rapidly. Both Mr. Kaufman and Mr. Dysart won two out >of their first three games and qualified legitimately to the finals, unlike >Mr. Bekele who did not. Mr. Bekele is 39 years old and is probably near his >peak in shogi. Here you repeat the same erroneous remark. Mr. Bekele qualified for the "A" group BY THE RULES of the tournament and was NOT eliminated after the two losses. He did NOT receive any special treatment in this regard. >Douglas Dysart qualified to the finals by defeating M. Ono of California, a >4-dan and one of the strongest players in the tournament. Yet, Mr. Dysart >was apparently not even considered for the top prize, as opposed to Mr. >Bekele, who did not qualify to the finals. And again. Mr. Bekele qualified for the "A" group BY THE RULES of the tournament and was NOT eliminated after the two losses. He did NOT receive any special treatment in this regard. >I hope everybody understands that I have nothing against Mr. Bekele. He is >a nice man and an enthusiastic promoter of shogi. However, I spent more >than $400 to travel from New York to Chicago to play in this tournament. >Douglas Dysart drove his van from Cincinnati, Ohio to Chicago to play and >Ray Kaufman flew from Washington DC to Chicago to play. All of us obviously >believed that rules would be followed and the winner would be the player >who achieved the best result. Had we known that the top prize would simply >be given to a friend of an organizer, I am sure that I would not have come >and I doubt that the others would have come as well. Here you use the words "top prize" and "winner" but in reality you are about the only person that feels this way. The majority of participants had no interest in this prize whatsoever due to the fact that they were either ineligible or highly unlikely to win it. The tournament's top prize, according to nearly everyone else, was that of US Champion and it went to Mr. Suzuki 4Dan by virtue of his winning an elimination tournament outright. The second most important prize was the US Team Championship prize and that went to the LA Team. If you were so fucused (and here I'd like to interject that you decided to come on less than one day's notice) on being the individual selected to represent the US in Japan it seems only natural that you would have read the conditions and rules associated with the selection process that would be used more carefully. Your statement "... rules would be followed and the winner would be the player >who achieved the best result." is wholly contrary to the stated rules of the tournament, regarding the selection process, for this particular prize. I will repeat the stated rules again for you here: "This tournament will be a qualifying event for the 13th Amateur Ryu-O Tournament, to be held in Japan, in June 2000. The U.S. representative to this event must be an U.S. citizen or resident for a period of 5 years. Additional restrictions are likely to be placed on past invitees [Larry Kaufman and George Fernandez] as well. Mr. Ishikawa, Pro 6Dan, will be authorized to select a representative, should the winner of the 1999 U.S. Championship be ineligible." I will again repeat the key portion regarding the process used for selecting the winner of this particular prize in the tournament: "[...] Mr. Ishikawa, Pro 6Dan, will be authorized to select a representative, should the winner of the 1999 U.S. Championship be ineligible." The winner was ineligible. Mr. Ishikawa Pro 6Dan chose Mr. Bekele 3Dan, the highest rated active American shogi player in the event. The Amateur Ryu-O tournament is a very big shogi event in Japan and the sponsor, Yomiuri Shimbun, is very kind to even consider inviting a foreigner each and every year. They reserve the right to basically select who they want, and refuse who they don't want, for any reason. It is NOT a USSF, Chicago Shogi Club, or any US-based individual's decision to make. Sam, when you run your own event and put up the kind of money that they are to promote shogi in other countries via this very kind offer, only then, can you do things YOUR way. >As to the suggestions that this conversation should be conducted in private >and not in public, nearly two months have passed since the event in >question and there are no indications of any progress towards rectifying >this outrageous situation. A LOT of time was taken to answer your many complaints in great detail on 5-17-99. I thought I made it very clear that nothing was pending and that nothing would be done to reverse any of the decisions made at the tournament. After substantial consultation with others, prior to sending you that letter, and now this one, I've received overwhelming support to take the course of action I've selected in this matter. Any future e-mail "badgering" or false allegations by you on this matter I will personally consider to be solely aimed at creating disharmony and bad blood among the relatively few devoted shogi players and promoters in the US. As such, it will only serve to make you an outcast (or more of one, in many people's opinion) within the US Shogi community. Let's rectify it, let's make progress PLEASE! Let's bury the horse! It has been dead for quite some time. Seriously Sam, we've all devoted way too much time to this matter and there are numerous other projects on which I must focus my energies now. I know that your complaints are not directed at me, but, it seems I am the designated "defender" on behalf of the organizing committee at the 1999 US Shogi Championship, although it was not an event entirely run by the newly formed USSF. I apologize to my fellow Shogi-L subscribers for the very long post. Hopefully some of the issues raised here can be of some benefit to others not involved in this matter. George I. Fernandez President United States Shogi Federation 28-30 34th Street, Apt.#6-O Long Island City, NY 11103 Home Telephone:(718)956-5382 Pager:1(800)Sky-Page, Pin#1149515 E-Mail:g.fernandez mindspring com