From: "George I. Fernandez" MINDSPRING COM> Date: 25 nov 1999 Subject: 1999 Eastern Open and Eastern Handicap charts Dear shogi fans, Here are the charts from the recently completed Eastern Open and Eastern Handicap shogi tournaments, as well as the DC vs. NY Team Match Competition. Larry Kaufman has already written an article about these events, in a previous post, so, I'll only write a few brief notes about them. The events were held in the spacious home of Mike Lamb in the town of Frederick, Maryland, located about 40 miles West of Baltimore, MD, and 45 miles NW of Washington, DC. It was the first time that such a remote location was chosen for this event and yet it proved to be very convenient. Considering that the tournaments were only lightly promoted the turnout was reasonable with 16 total participants from five states in the two events. In my opinion, the Eastern Handicap was the most competitive handicap event that I've ever participated in during my 11 years of active handicap shogi tournament experience. Many players were in great shogi condition and experienced at handicap play, while others were underrated. This created many exciting and hard-fought games decided by very slight margins. Nearly all of the players had at least one excellent game where they had to exert themselves to the fullest to get the win. Tournament Director, Larry Kaufman, did an excellent job and made every effort to pair players from different clubs. Now that I live in New York, I found myself facing some of my tough former teammates at the Washigton DC Shogi Club in the Open. Somehow, I managed to come away with a tie-break win by virtue of a mild comeback in the ending against Mr. Koyama. It felt good, for a change, to be on the winning end of some close games! As Larry mentioned, his son Ray Kaufman had a huge upset win over current U.S. Shogi Champion Mr. Suzuki 4Dan in the first round. Last August, in London, at the MSO shogi tournament, Ray nearly beat me in a one-sided game (in the crucial last round) but gradually allowed me to escape and get an entering king, so it came as no surprise to me that he'd be capable of pulling off such a feat. Ohio Shogi Club's Doug Dysart, an enthusiatic shogi promoter, played solidly throughout both days and was promoted to 2Dan. Our host Mike Lamb and Hiroki Inoue also displayed dramatic improvement in their shogi ability. Many of us had the pleasure of sampling the fruit of Mike's other hobby, beermaking (!), a delicious brown ale on Saturday and an even more impressive IPA (India Pale Ale) on Sunday. Mike has clearly achieved a higher Dan rank in this field! Many thanks go out to him and our co-host Patti. 1999 Eastern Open 21 November, 1999 # Name (State) Rank Pre/Post* Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Score/Place 1.L. Kaufman (MD) 5D 2375/2396 W8 W5 L4 W9 W6 4-1 2nd 2.J. Yoshinari (VA) 4D 2257/2261 W9 W6 L5 W7 W4 4-1 3rd 3.M. Koyama (MD) 4D 2255/2235 W11 W7 W6 L4 L5 3-2 4.Y. Suzuki (NY) 4D 2179/2158 L10 W12 W1 W3 L2 3-2 5.G. Fernandez (NY) 4D 2084/2135 W12 L1 W2 W8 W3 4-1 1st 6.S. Ogihara (NY) 4D 1984/1976 W13 L2 L3 W10 L1 2-3 7.F. Bekele (NY) 3D 1938/1934 W14 L3 W12 L2 W11 3-2 8.D. Dysart (OH) 1D 1778/1808 L1 W10 W11 L5 W9 3-2 Top 2d 9.H. Inoue (NY) 1D 1706/1744 L2 W13 W10 L1 L8 2-3 Top 1d 10.R. Kaufman (MD) 1D 1689/1677 W4 L8 L9 L6 W14 2-3 11.S. Masui (NY) 2D 1561/1544 L3 W14 L8 W13 L7 2-3 12.M. Lamb (MD) 1D 1546/1625 L5 L4 L7 W14 W13 2-3 2nd 1d 13.J. Krekeler (OH) 3K 1310/1228 L6 L9 W14 L11 L12 1-4 TopKyu 14.E. Motohashi (DC) 1K 1157/1141 L7 L11 L13 L12 L10 0-5 * = Note: Post ratings shown reflect performance in both Eastern Open & Eastern Handicap tournaments. Prizes: 1st Place: G. Fernandez (NY) 2nd Place: L. Kaufman (MD) 3rd Place: J. Yoshinari (VA) Top 2Dan: D. Dysart (OH) Top Shodan: H. Inoue (NY) 2nd Shodan: M. Lamb (MD) Top Kyu: J. Krekeler (OH) Promotions: D. Dysart is promoted to 2Dan, Congratulations!! ----------------------------------------- 1999 Eastern Handicap 20 November, 1999 # Name(State) Rank Pre/Post Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Score/Place 1.L. Kaufman (MD) 5D 2375 L8 2p W10 4p L6 RL W3 L W5 R 4-1 1st 2.J. Yoshinari (VA) 4D 2257 L10 2p W12 5p W8 2p L7 RL W6 R 3-2 3.Y. Suzuki (NY) 4D 2179 W9 RL W7 RL L11 2p L1 L L4 s 2-3 4.G. Fernandez (NY) 4D 2084 L11 RL W13 5p L7 R W9 R W3 s 3-2 5.S. Ogihara (NY) 4D 1984 W12 2p L8 B W9 B W11 RL L1 R 3-2 6.F. Bekele (NY) 3D 1938 W13 4p L11 R L1 RL W14 4p L2 R 2-3 7.D. Dysart (OH) 1D 1778 W14 4P L3 RL W4 R W2 RL L11 B 3-2 Top 1d 8.H. Inoue (NY) 1D 1706 W1 2p W5 B L2 2p W10 L W13 2p 4-1 Top 2d 9.R. Kaufman (MD) 1D 1689 L3 RL W14 2p L5 B L4 R W12 R 2-3 10.S. Masui (NY) 2D 1561 W2 2p L1 4p W13 RL L8 L L14 RL 2-3 11.M. Lamb (MD) 1D 1546 W4 RL W6 R W3 2p L5 RL W7 B 4-1 2nd 12.J. Krekeler (OH) 2K 1310 L5 2p L2 5p L14 B L13 L L9 R 0-5 13.M. Strickland(VA) 4K 1143/1108 L6 4p L4 5p L10 RL W12 L L8 2p 1-4 14.E. Strickland(VA) 5K 1074/1073 L7 4p L9 2p W12 B L6 4p W10 RL 2-3 TopKyu Key: W= Win; L= Loss (if before an opponents's number) OR Lance[KYO] (if after an opponents's number); s= Sente[1st move]; B= Bishop[KAKU]; R= Rook[HISSHA]; RL= Rook+Lance [HISSHA+KYO]; 2p= 2 Pieces[NI-MAI]; 4p= 4 Pieces[YON-MAI]; 5p= 5 Pieces (Right side Knight is removed)[GO-MAI (migi-kei)]; 6p= 6 pieces[ROKU-MAI]. Example: On round 4, D. Dysart Won (W) against Mr. Yoshinari (player #2) receiving Rook + Lance (RL) handicap [Hissha-Kyo]. Thus, it is shown as "W2 RL". Conversly, Mr. Yoshinari's round 4 reads "L7 RL". By mutual consent the following playoff for first place was held: L. Kaufman Won vs. D. Dysart 2p [This game determined if L. Kaufman would play the winner of Inoue vs. Lamb for 1st or 2nd place] H. Inoue Lost vs. M. Lamb L Finals: L. Kaufman Won vs. M. Lamb 4p Prizes: 1st Place: L. Kaufman (MD) 2nd Place: M. Lamb (MD) Top 2Dan: H. Inoue (NY) Top Shodan: D. Dyasart (OH) Top Kyu: E. Strickland (VA) ------------------------------------- 1999 DC vs. NY Team Match Competition The NY Shogi Club was victorious in the Team Match Competition between the clubs, a renewed event after a two-year break, by a score of 5-1. It was the first time since 1989 that the NY Team has won this event! We agreed to play a nine-board match this year. Since the event was arranged on rather short notice, we regretably had some telephone games that remained unplayed by the time the "live" games took place. Once the NY team achieved the fifth and deciding win, the DC team conceded the match. In order to save time, and to prevent the possibility of the same players being paired twice during the same day, the third round of the Eastern Open counted both as a round in that event AND as the Team Match game. The Masui vs. Motohashi game was played in round 2. Board# Result DC Shogi Club NY Shogi Club Result 1. --- Egoshi, H. 4Dan Ishida 5Dan --- 2. Lost Kaufman, L. 5Dan (gote) Suzuki, Y. 4Dan (sente) Won 3. Lost Yoshinari, J. 4Dan (sente) Fernandez, G. 4Dan (gote) Won 4. Won Koyama, M. 4Dan (gote) Ogihara, S. 4Dan (sente) Lost 5. Lost Lamb, M. Shodan(sente) Bekele, F. 3Dan (gote) Won 6. --- ? Hayashi, M. 4Dan --- 7. Lost Kaufman, R. Shodan(sente) Pustilnik, M. 2Dan (gote) Won (tel.) 8. --- ? Inoue, H. Shodan --- 9. Lost Motohashi, E. 1Kyu (gote) Masui, S. 2Dan (sente) Won 1 Win for the DC Club 5 Wins for the NY Shogi Club ----------------------------------------------------------- The next big shogi event in the U.S. is likely to be the 2000 U.S. Shogi Championship to be held in New York City in May. One sponsor has already guaranteed a $10,000. contribution to the prize and expense fund and the USSF (United States Shogi Federation) promoters are working hard to reach the $30,000. goal for this event. In the next few days, in a separate posting, I hope to bring you all up to date on the status of the organization. It has taken a while to get things started but everything IS going forward with the USSF and the U.S. Shogi Quarterly newsletter. Best regards, George 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