From: Doug Dysart KASPAROVCHESS COM> Date: 9 sep 2000 Subject: STDC, USA Events To all those strong in the shogi faith, I think this discussion of time controls is very nice, and should bear fruit, but I must interject that nearly all time controls are plausible, provided they allow enough time for "blunder-checking." Thus, I do now and have always believed that, for example, sudden death time controls are perfectly fine for shogi and should be ratable. Now for some recapping of tournaments in the USA Midwest and a little plugging as well... Right before leaving for the "2000 Mind Sport Absolute World Shogi Extravaganza Championship Amateur Olympiad", I had a good couple of warm-ups in Chicago and Columbus (OH). In Chicago, George Marino played host to the Ohio Shogi Club members. We made yet another holy pilgrimage to this fine shogi mecca of the Midwest, and Marino-san was very apt as High Priest of the Holy Land. He treated us to donuts and dinner, as well as sicking his attack-kitty Percy on us, much to our frightful delight. We named the tournament the "Chicago Kitty Quads" because George loves cats so much that he wanted to dump, er, donate this kitty unto the winner of the tournament. After Bill Gaudry arrived tardily, the top tournament changed into a Swiss, so we renamed the tournament, "Percy's Perilous Position." More like our perilous position due to the fact this kitty was not playing around - it reminded me of "Pet Cemetery." The kitty notwithstanding, this tournament was a jovial event which was won by Gaudry-san, who apparently is a *little* better than 1Dan, seeing how he was stomping on everyone. Somehow he escaped without the cat, however. Josh Krekeler took the bottom section, but his cat- allergy provided a convenient excuse to also leave without the cute little prize. Afterwards, George took us out to dinner, and everyone escaped with their lives. Thanks for being a great host, George!! The next day, the Ohio Shogiites made another pilgrimage, this time to Columbus, OH, for the 4th Ohio RyuO-sen/Championship. There we met our old friend Masao Ogaki, as well as a new player, Wayne Wilson, who had never played shogi but made sure to take this opportunity to do so in order to prepare for his year-long stay in Japan (there is nothing more important to know if you're going to Japan than how to play shogi). This was also our first chance to see Dr. Alan Baker in action (he's our own little "British Invasion"). In the komaochi event, I managed to win without too many "perilous positions," even avenging a loss to Dr. Baker at the same handicap (L) in the Dojo back at the "2000 New York World Amateur Overseas Championship" (you may recall Dr. Baker won the Dojo prize). The hirate event was much different, however. I made a simple oversight in the opening while merrily sacrificing major pieces against Ram Lewis. He missed many wins, and actually the game was going to end in sennichite at one point. Rightthen I had just junked a kaku for no compensation - he knew it, and I really knew it. He repeated moves, and so did I. However, when I explained to him that sennichite would only bring about a replay game, not a half-point, he switched back into attack-mode. Instead of resigning, I slowly munched back my material and squeaked out a victory. Would I be the first Ohioan to repeat as champion? Not so easy, said Dr. Baker. After a very odd opening (what else?), Dr. Baker had his usual ferocious attack on my king going. In a position where most people would be brought to tears, I merrily dodged tsume-shot after agonizing tsume-shot, and somehow byoyomi brought me enough snacks to survive. Thus, in a rather yucky performance for a reigning Midwest and Ohio champion, the fates allowed me to successfully defend the Ohio Championship/RyuO title. Now, you may ask, "Why the spiffy new title?" Well, we like to think our club is outgrowing such archaic terms like "championship." We decided to copy the NY copy of the pro Meijin-sen and Junisen. So, since this last Wednesday kicked off the Ohio Junisen, where the person with the most wins (losses mean nothing!) challenges for the Meijin-sen, we decided the old champ-sen needed some rehashing, so we changed the title. Actually, it also works well under the "US Amateur Championship/RyuO-sen" (which incidentally is sponsored by Sony(!!!) and will be on Nov. 4 & 5 this year). Thanks go to USSF president George Fernandez for all the helpful info, news and support. Before I get to the crosstables, here's one more plug for you shogi pilgrims out there. We've always aspired to bring in the shoglims from around the US to our little town, Cincinnati, OH. So, we're starting our own little circuit of "Eastern Open"-like tournaments, the first installment coming later this month. On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, Josh Krekeler will host the "Ohio Valley Open" at his spacious home. Now if we could just get a keg of beer like Mike Lamb! --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Chicago Kitty Quads" or "Percy's Perilous Position" [CHICAGO: PERCY'S PERILOUS POSITION] [2000-08-19] A Group - 30/30s 1 [Gaudry] [Bill] [6+ 3+ 2+] 3 Jpn1Dan 2 [Dysart] [Douglas][4+ 5+ 1-] 2 1889 3 [Nakano] [Jun] [5- 1- 4+] 1 1768 4 [Marino] [George] [2- 6- 3-] 0 1474 5 [Lewis] [Ramdake] [3+ 2- 6+] 2 1453 6 [Shogi] [Sekita] [1- 4+ 5-] 1 ~1Dan B Quad - No Clock 1 [Krekeler] [Josh] [2+ 3+ 4+] 3 1316 2 [Stryker] [John] [1- 3- 4+] 1 1118 3 [Childress] [Jason][1- 2+ 4+] 2 UNR 4 [---] [Walter] [1- 2- 3-] 0 UNR 4th Annual Ohio RyuO-sen (formerly the Ohio Shogi Championship) [OHIO SHOGI KOMAOCHI RYUO-SEN] [2000-08-20] 1 [Dysart] [Douglas] [4+(-2P) 2+(-L) 3+(-RL)] 3 1889 2 [Baker] [Alan] [5+(-6P) 1-(+L) 6+(-6P)] 2 1746* 3 [Lewis] [Ramdake] [6+(-5P) 4+(-L) 1-(+RL)] 2 1453* 4 [Krekeler] [Josh] [1-(+2P) 3-(+L) 6-(-4P)] 0 1316 5 [Childress] [Jason][2-(+6P) 6- 4+(+4P)] 1 UNR 6 [Wilson] [Wayne] [3-(+5P) 5+ 2-(+6P)] 1 UNR *Still awaiting playoff for 2nd Place All Games @ 20/30s [4TH ANNUAL OHIO SHOGI HIRATE RYUO-SEN] [2000-08-20] 1 [Dysart] [Douglas] [4+ 5+ 2+] 3 1889+ 2 [Baker] [Alan] [5+ 3+ 1-] 2 1746 3 [Ogaki] [Masao] [6+ 2-] 1 1653 4 [Lewis] [Ramdake] [1- 6+ 5- H=] 1.5 1453 5 [Krekeler] [Josh] [2- 1- 4+ 6+] 2 1316* 6 [Wilson] [Wayne] [3- 4- H- 5-] 0 UNR H [Childress] [Jason][6+ 4=] 1.5 UNR +Y2K Ohio RyuO *Winner of Top Kyu Prize All Games @ 30/30s Coming Up: Junisen, Meijin-sen Ohio Valley Open Doug Dysart Ohio Shogi Club founder Great chess, great e-mail: http://www.KasparovChess.com