From: DANERUD MARTIN TELIA COM> Date: 7 apr 2003 Subject: The Swedish Championship tournament 2003 Dear shogi friends, This weekend, in Goteborg, the fifth Swedish Championship tournament was played. Before the tournament we had hoped to get more than 20 participants, but we copied the record number of participants from 2000. The two positions in the Swedish Championship play-off were taken by Christer Hartman and Martin Danerud. Daniel Ivarsson defended his Swedish Junior Shogi Championship title. The biggest surprise of the tournament was Rikard Nordgren who won the prize as the best player with a rating below 5-kyu. Per More was the best beginner (player without previous rating games). Christer Hartman qualified as the Swedish representative for the tournament in New York, in case that will be played in 2003. Below, please find the results with the names of the 19 heroes: Results (position, name, rating, ELO, opponent, and result in round 1 to 6, points, SOS, SDOS, Progressive): 1. Christer Hartman 1k 1635 12+ 9+ 3+ 8+ 4+ 2- 5 23 18 20 2. Martin Danerud 2d 1580 7+ 11+ 4+ 3- 8+ 1+ 5 23 18 18 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Carl Johan Nilsson 2d 1899 13+ 10+ 1- 2+ 7+ 8+ 5 22 17 17 4. Nils Carlsson 1k 1696 5+ 6+ 2- 11+ 1- 12+ 4 24 14 15 5. Rikard Nordgren 9k 975 4- 14+ 19+ 6+ 9- 10+ 4 18 11 12 6. Jonas Ahlqvist 5k 1290 17+ 4- 12+ 5- 15+ 7+ 4 18 7 13 7. Rikard Skotnicki 11k 857 2- 18+ 9+ 13+ 3- 6- 3 22 8 12 8. Anders Vidal 4k 1394 16+ 15+ 10+ 1- 2- 3- 3 22 7 15 9. Tor Gammelgard 6k 1176 18+ 1- 7- 14+ 5+ 11- 3 20 9 11 10.Robert Soderberg 2k 1391 14+ 3- 8- 18+ 11+ 5- 3 20 8 11 11.Jan Rabe 6k 1175 19+ 2- 15+ 4- 10- 9+ 3 18 6 11 12.Joakim Andersson 10k 897 1- 17+ 6- 19+ 16+ 4- 3 18 5 10 13.Mikael Jansson 6k 1159 3- 16- 17+ 7- 18+ 15+ 3 16 6 7 14.Daniel Wredenberg 13k 636 10- 5- 16+ 9- 0+ 17+ 3 14 4 7 15.Per More 400 0+ 8- 11- 16+ 6- 13- 2 15 2 9 16.Tord Juntti 11k 749 8- 13+ 14- 15- 12- 0+ 2 14 3 6 17.Daniel Ivarsson 15k 488 6- 12- 13- 0+ 19+ 14- 2 14 1 5 18.Henrik Hellberg 452 9- 7- 0+ 10- 13- 19+ 2 13 1 5 19.Tobias Kristiansson 400 11- 0+ 5- 12- 17- 18- 1 14 0 5 The struggle for the two top positions was indeed very tough. In round 3, Christer Hartman played against Carl Johan Nilsson. Before the game, Christer had won three and lost one to Carl Johan. One of the few shogi weaknesses of Carl Johan has been against really strong chess players who often play a more controlled and defence oriented shogi. Christer Hartman is International Master in chess. Carl Johan had a good position in the game but lost it eventually, as Christer found the only narrow road to an entering king. In round 4, Carl Johan played against Martin. Lately, Carl Johan has won several of their games simply because he knows shogi openings better. Before the game, Carl Johan had won seven and lost two to Martin. He also won this game easily after a blunder in a well known opening variation. In round 6, Martin played against Christer. Before the game, Martin had won three and lost zero to Christer. Christer has always had problems against Martin, probably because of my quick attacking shogi, inspired by practising in Japan. There were probably a lot of mistakes in this open fight, but still I think this was my best game of the tournament. I think that Christer played the best shogi during the tournament. He deserved to win. My shogi flow from Trollhattan Open continued in this tournament with good concentration and a lot of energy in the final phases of the games. The Swedish Shogi Championship play-off will be played in Linkoping from May 29 until June 1. Challenger final game 1 May 29 10.00 Christer Hartman vs Martin Danerud Challenger final game 2 May 29 14.00 Martin Danerud vs Christer Hartman Challenger final game 3 May 29 18.00 Christer Hartman vs Martin Danerud (only played if necessary; furigoma will be used) Final game 1 May 30 10.00 Thore Angqvist vs Challenger Final Winner Final game 2 May 30 16.00 Challenger Final Winner vs Thore Angqvist Final game 3 May 31 10.00 Thore Angqvist vs Challenger Final Winner Final game 4 May 31 16.00 Challenger Final Winner vs Thore Angqvist (only played if necessary) Final game 5 June 1 10.00 Thore Angqvist vs Challenger Final Winner (only played if necessary; furigoma will be used) Sincerely yours, Martin Danerud President of the Swedish Shogi Federation