From: Eric Cheymol <shogi <at> FREE <dot> FR>
Date: 9 nov 2002
Subject: Re: ISF, 5-dans, Gert Schinder and Artem Kolomiyets

Hello Bill,

Le samedi, 9 nov 2002, à 14:56 Europe/Paris, bogin a écrit :

> You make some good points. Perhaps my use of the word "conditions" was 
> a
> little open ended. By "conditions" I meant the playing conditions (ie: 
> time
> control, lighting, location, etc, etc...).

So, by conditions, you were talking about the playing conditions ! And 
the playing conditions were really perfect ! The spectators could 
follow the games without being too near from the boards. All boards 
were under the same bright light, and high ceiling. Finally it was a 
pleasure to play with those fine shogi boards and pieces ! With the 
first IST, the playing conditions were of the same quality.

> Perhaps instead of drawing lots the
> best thing to have done was to create rank players according to their 
> most
> recent Shogi numerical rating. The players with no rating (ie: the 
> Japanese
> players or other non Europeans) would be treated as unrateds and put 
> at the
> bottom.

Dan and Kyu grades of non Japanese players are recongnized by the NSR, 
as soon as they were awarded by the NSR itself of by a shogi 
association recognized by the NSR. So they can be used for the pairings.

> Winning your 1st four games and then losing the tournament is just bad
> luck. There's probably no way around that problem other than winning 
> that
> fifth game. Pairings are always a crap shoot even when they're done
> correctly.

Yes, unfortunately for Boris. Three years ago, we had the chance to 
watch the final game between Larry Kaufman and Takahiro Hayashi. This 
was the climax of the tournament. After the 5th round, many of us was 
hoping for another playoff match of this quality.

> Sorry for the confusion my use of "conditions" caused.

Don't worry about it.

Best shogi wishes,

Eric

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