From: Larry Kaufman <lkaufman <at> WIZARD <dot> NET>
Date: 23 may 2000
Subject: World Championship in Armonk

At 03:18 PM 5/23/00 -0400, you wrote:

>Therefore your statement: "However, I suspect that if you had let people
>know when you would be arriving, on which flight and airport, there would
>have been volunteers to pick you up" is simply not true. It is wrong to
>assume that the shogi organizers are going to extend any conveniences to
>make up for the fact that they scheduled the event at such a remote location.
>
     Sam, I understand why you were unhappy about Chicago, but this time I
told you the situation in personal conversation at the U.S. Amateur Team
Competition about two months before the event, so I don't know why you act
as if it were a surprise that the event was held some distance from NY.
The train ride from downtown NY to the nearest station costs a whopping
five dollars (!), and from there you can either wait for the free hotel
shuttle or take a short taxi ride.  Sorry you missed out on a very
memorable, exciting event.  As for why the event was not held in downtown
Manhattan, the prohibitive cost of good hotels there is an obvious reason.


 The Shogi Renmei spent a lot of money sending
>players from Japan for this event. I do not think they would have been
>willing to spend that money if they had realized how far away from New York
>City the event was going to be held.
>
     I was told that the Shogi Renmei did not pay the cost of sending any
players from Japan.

>Not only did the Shogi World Championship receive absolutely no publicity
>in the New York News Media, but it has received no publicity on this
>discussion group. Nobody has yet reported the results of the event or
>anything about what happened there.
>
     I imagine the NY shogi club will report fully on the event shortly,
but here's a short summary: the winner was Katsumasa Egoshi 5 Dan, a
Japanese now living in Brazil and formerly in the Shoreikai.  Runner-up was
Chiaki Ito 5 Dan, a former Tokyo High School Champion who lived in the U.S.
for a while and now lives in Thailand.  Dutch players Arend van Oosten 4
Dan and Mark Theeuwen 3 Dan surprisingly came in third and fourth
respectively, each beating two 4 Dans before falling to 5 Dans.  The Pro-Am
event was won by 16 year old Takushi Asada (Japanese but living in Los
Angeles now) after a tie-breaking win over Chiaki Ito.  Best scoring pro
was Mr. Kondo 4 Dan, who made an astounding 15-0 score despite playing five
games at once each round at bishop handicap against the seeded players!!!!!
 The four continents team match was won by Asia, with United States second,
Brazil third, and Europe last.
>
>Sam Sloan
>

     Larry Kaufman