The Midwest Shogi Championship was just held this past weekend. Below are the crosstables and my report on it. MIDWEST SHOGI CHAMPIONSHIP/QUALIFIER PLAYER RATING 1 2 3 4 PTS PLAYOFF --------------- ------ --- --- --- --- --- ------- 1. D. Dysart* 1808 2D L6 W8 W11 W3 3 W2 2. Rockwell 1649 1D W7 W4 L3 W6 3 L1 3. Salvaggione 1569 1D W8 W5 W2 L1 3 4. Carpenter+ 1491 1K W9 L2 W6 W5 3 5. G. Marino 1444 1K W11 L3 W9 L4 2 6. R. Lewis 1347 3K W1 W7 L4 L2 2 7. R. Chenault 1307 3K L2 L6 W10 W9 2 8. J. Krekeler 1216 2K L3 L1 W12 W11 2 9. J. Stryker 1046 6K L4 W10 L5 L7 1 10. Multhopp UNR -- Bye L9 L7 W12 1.5 11. J. Miller UNR -- L5 W12 L1 L8 1 12. D. Larkin UNR -- Bye L11 L8 L10 .5 *Midwest Champion and New York Qualifier +Midwest Kyu Champion MIDWEST SHOGI HANDICAP CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYER RATING 1 2 3 4 PTS PLAYOFFS --------------- ------ -- -- -- -- --- -------- 1. D. Dysart* 1808 2D W5 L2 W7 W4 3 W3 W2 2. R. Lewis+ 1347 3K W8 W1 W4 L3 3 Bye L1 3. R. Hess 1225 2K L4 W6 W8 W2 3 L1 4. Salvaggione 1569 1D W3 W7 L2 L1 2 5. R. Chenault 1307 3K L1 L8 W6 W7 2 6. G. Marino 1444 1D L7 L3 L5 W8 1 7. Krekeler 1216 2K W6 L4 L1 L5 1 8. J. Stryker 1046 6K L2 W5 L3 L6 1 *1st Place Handicap Player +2nd Place Handicap Player In the hirate championship, Doug Dysart was the slight favorite to win, although 1D Dave Rockwell had a 2-0 history with him. In the first round, chess master Ram Lewis posted a major upset of 450 points by beating the top seed. An upset by Tony Salvaggione over Rockwell, as well as a win by Steve Carpenter over the on-fire master Lewis, allowed Dysart to creep back into the race for New York. Had Tony beaten Doug in the last round, he would have gone 4-0. Instead, Doug won and there was a 4-way tie(!) for 1st place. A playoff game ensued between Dysart and Rockwell (the others bowed out), and the Dysart won, getting a little revenge for his 0-2 record along with the championship. It was quite a come back, as the first round upset seemed to be all she wrote for the Dice Man. The kamaochi tournament went the same way. Again, NM Lewis beat Dysart in a R&L handicap game. The last round was the critical round. Dysart narrowly escaped death to pull off a win against Salvaggione in a Bishop handicap, while Bob Hess pulled off an incredible win against Lewis - what happened was Ram left his king in check, but Bob didn't take it, he checkmated it, creating a position that was won but impossible in a "correct" game - there was much laughter. Ram got a bye in the 3-player playoff, but lost the last game to Dysart, who won both playoff games to take 1st place. So, the tournament had 13 players overall, and Dysart got a trophy with a chess king that everyone thought was funny-looking for a shogi trophy (the idea is it means "King of Midwest Shogi," but everyone seems to think it's a chess trophy - hey, a shogi piece on top has been said to look a little more "grave," if you know what I mean!). Hats off to Joshi-san for hosting the tournament and to the 4 righteous shoglims who made the holy pilgrimage from the Windy City to the Nasty Nati. Push them foos, Doug Dysart Ohio Shogi Club founder

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