From: Larry Kaufman <lkaufman <at> WIZARD <dot> NET>
Date: 25 may 2000
Subject: Re: News from Shogi World Championship

At 07:22 PM 5/24/00 -0400, you wrote:
>The tournament committee will wait for the comments of the players who
>actually participated in the tournament as it is the most important for
>the tournament committee rather than the misleading comments about the
>location of the tournament made by a couple of none participants.
>
     In response to your request for comments from the participants, here
are mine.

     Nearly everything was done very well.  The site was excellent, the
organization superb, the teaching games of the professionals were really
great, the schedule was kept, the food was fine, and the special events
(Pro-Am, Pro-Pro commented game, Team Match) were all really well done.
Everyone was very friendly, there were no arguments to my knowledge, and it
was fun!
     But I do have one criticism, which I believe is shared by nearly all
of the non-Japanese participants.  It is very clear to us that the knockout
system used is simply inferior to the Swiss system in nearly every respect.
 Many people complained that they had come a great distance only to play
three or four official games.  Of course this was compensated by the
opportunity to play professionals, but still there is simply no good reason
to adopt a system that does not provide for all participants to play a full
schedule.  Furthermore, the knockout system may be good for choosing the
winner, but it is very bad for selecting second, third, and fourth place;
everything depends on the luck of the draw.  Seeding by rating or rank
would have helped a great deal, but still the Swiss system is much better
for determining who is second, third etc.  The only downside is that it
does not guarantee a clear winner; this must either be settled by tiebreak
points or by a playoff (perhaps at a very short time-limit}.  An offsetting
benefit is that one loss does not necessarily eliminate a player from
becoming the winner; this makes it more likely that the best player will
ultimately win.
     If the Swiss system is adopted in future events, it will be necessary
to find a way to combine it with the chance to play the Pros.  I can think
of two possibilities.  1) Every player is assigned one bye during the
event, during which time he can play a Pro.  2) Every player will be paired
with a Pro (playing simul) once or twice during the event, with the
handicap to be based on the player's score at the time of the game,
according to some formula.  This would be my preference.
     If there is any non-Japanese player who prefers the knockout format to
the Swiss, I hope you will reply to the List with your reasons.  As for the
Japanese players, most have limited or no experience with the Swiss system,
and so are not in a good position to make comparisons.
     Despite the above point, this was a wonderful event which we will
remember for a long time, and I really appreciate the tremendous effort of
all the people involved in making it happen.  Well done!

      Larry Kaufman