From: DANERUD MARTIN TELIA COM> Date: 10 apr 2000 Subject: The second Swedish Championship tournament Dear shogi friends, This weekend, the second Swedish Championship tournament was played. The top three players were qualified for the Swedish Championship play-off. The winner was awarded the Swedish position as invited player to the tournament in New York in May. The tournament was played in Stockholm with a beautiful April spring weather. Unfortunately, some players, among those your reporter, were suffering from a tough spring cold. However, probably it did not affect the results. The final two rounds turned out to be a drama with two pairs of old friends. Carl Johan Nilsson (1-dan) and Robert Soderberg (2-kyu) both grew up in Trollhattan, not far from Goteborg. Thore Angqvist (2-kyu) and Christer Hartman (1-kyu) both live in the Stockholm suburb Ragsved. Never before, a rated Swedish shogi tournament has been won by anyone but the two dan players, Carl Johan Nilsson and your reporter. Angqvist had won the first five rounds after having won against most of the top players, among those Carl Johan Nilsson, and he just needed to win one of the last two rounds in order to win the trip to New York. In round six, he met Soderberg and lost after having had the better position. At the same time, Nilsson and Hartman won their games. In the last round, Nilsson played against Soderberg and Hartman played against Angqvist. Only victories for Nilsson and Hartman could threaten Angqvist's leader position. And that was exactly what happened. So, finally Carl Johan Nilsson was the winner with six points, followed by four players with five points. Carl Johan Nilsson will go to New York, and Thore Angqvist and our new Swedish star of Japanese origin, Peter Kaneko, will join Carl Johan in the Swedish Championship play-off. In the challenger semifinal, Angqvist will play against Kaneko, and the winner will play against Nilsson in the challenger final. The winner of the challenger final will play against the ruling Swedish Champion, Moberg, in the best-of-five games final match. The play-off will take place in Sandviken in northern Sweden, June 1-4. The tournament set a new record with 19 participants. Even more positive was that the playing standard had increased a lot. The top rated players were challenged in several games by a band of young kyu players, who are soon to become dan players! Ralf Akesson, a chess grandmaster and the ruling Swedish Champion of chess, was an interesting participant. Noone could expect him to win or being close to the top three positions in his first shogi tournament ever (he does not even have a shogi set of his own!), but nevertheless he performed well and scored four points. Being the founder of organized Swedish shogi, I could not be more than happy seeing new shogi talents break through. Beware of the rest of Europe in future European shogi tournaments! Results (please transform the table to Courier 12 to be able to read it more easily!): P sos sb cum 1. Carl Johan Nilsson 1d 12+ 9+ 2- 8+ 4+ 7+ 6+ 6 29 24 23 2. Thore Angqvist 2k 3+ 14+ 1+ 5+ 7+ 6- 4- 5 32 23 25 3. Peter Kaneko 15k 2- 10+ 14+ 6+ 5+ 4- 7+ 5 30 20 19 4. Christer Hartman 1k 5- 15+ 13+ 17+ 1- 3+ 2+ 5 29 18 18 5. Nils Carlsson 15k 4+ 13+ 18+ 2- 3- 9+ 11+ 5 28 18 21 6. Robert Soderberg 2k 8+ 11+ 7- 3- 12+ 2+ 1- 4 31 16 18 7. Anders Vidal 8k 16+ 18+ 6+ 12+ 2- 1- 3- 4 28 12 22 8. Ralf Akesson 15k 6- 19+ 11+ 1- 10- 13+ 16+ 4 25 11 14 9. Farhad Rouhani 9k 19+ 1- 12- 10+ 17+ 5- 18+ 4 23 9 15 10.Martin Danerud 1d 14- 3- 16+ 9- 8+ F+ 15+ 4 22 10 11 11.Per Kristiansson 7k 17+ 6- 8- 19+ 13+ 14+ 5- 4 22 9 16 12.Rikard Nordgren 12k 1- 16+ 9+ 7- 6- 15- 19+ 3 25 8 12 13.Mikael Albertsson 6k 15+ 5- 4- 18+ 11- 8- 17+ 3 25 7 12 14.Tor Gammelgard 15k 10+ 2- 3- 15- 19+ 11- F+ 3 22 5 11 15.Joakim Andersson 13k 13- 4- 17- 14+ F+ 12+ 10- 3 20 6 9 16.Andreas Lidfors 10k 7- 12- 10- F+ 18+ 17+ 8- 3 19 4 9 17.Mikael Jansson 13k 11- F+ 15+ 4- 9- 16- 13- 2 22 3 11 18.Ronny Lindkvist 15k F+ 7- 5- 13- 16- 19+ 9- 2 20 1 9 19.Tord Juntti 14k 9- 8- F+ 11- 14- 18- 12- 1 20 0 5 Sincerely yours, Dr. Martin Danerud President of the Swedish Shogi Federation