From: Larry Kaufman COMCAST NET> Date: 28 apr 2003 Subject: U.S. Championship This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_WZ0vojhns+ztHMKwwKg36w) Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable The U.S. Championship was held near Chicago this weekend (Ap. = 26-27). Actually it was a North American Championship this time, since = the decision was made to allow three Canadian players from the Toronto = area to participate. Although it was a well-attended and well-run = event, the decision by the organizers to use a rapid time limit (10' + = 30") except for the final three games meant that almost all of the = hundreds of games played will not be rated, and in my view as Chairman = of the U.S. Shogi Federation the event should actually be considered the = North American Quickplay Championship. =20 The winner was Koji Nozawa of Chicago, listed as 3 Dan but clearly = deserving the 4 Dan rank, which he would surely have earned here if the = event were fully rateable. Runner-up was Former U.S. Champion Y. Suzuki = 4 Dan of San Francisco, who knocked me out of the KO event early. Kento = Matsumoto 4 Dan of Ashland Oregon took third place. "Frosty" Yamamura 3 = Dan of Los Angeles won the B group. There was also a C group for = players below 2 kyu, but I don't have the results of that section. The = team event, a round-robin of 6 teams, was won convincingly by Los = Angeles. This event was played with no initial time, only 30" byoyomi. = In general, it seems that the Japanese prefer rapid shogi, while the = Americans prefer longer, serious games. Perhaps as a result, no = American made it to the final eight this time. The only other American = besides myself in the final 16 was USSF president George Fernandez 4 = Dan, who unfortunately overstepped the time limit in a winning position = against a lower-ranked opponent due to confusion over which clock was = beeping during byoyomi. Pro 5 Dan "tiger" Nozuki was the attending pro, who gave excellent = lectures on both opening theory and on the final two games. He also = played a formal exhibition game against me at Bishop handicap (with = commentary in the next room for the attending players). Due primarily = to the long time limit for this game (byoyomi was 1 minute instead of = 30"), I was able to play well and I won a model game which illustrates = well the strategy I recommended in my handicap series on Eric Cheymol's = website. I plan to send him the game with comments by Nozuki to be = added to my article there. Next year's event is set for April in San Francisco. I have urged = the organizers to come up with a schedule that permits all the games to = be played no faster than the minimum 20/30. Larry Kaufman, USSF Chairman --Boundary_(ID_WZ0vojhns+ztHMKwwKg36w) Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
     The U.S. Championship was held near Chicago this weekend (Ap. 26-27).  Actually it was a North American Championship this time, since the decision was made to allow three Canadian players from the Toronto area to participate.  Although it was a well-attended and well-run event, the decision by the organizers to use a rapid time limit (10' + 30") except for the final three games meant that almost all of the hundreds of games played will not be rated, and in my view as Chairman of the U.S. Shogi Federation the event should actually be considered the North American Quickplay Championship. 
     The winner was Koji Nozawa of Chicago, listed as 3 Dan but clearly deserving the 4 Dan rank, which he would surely have earned here if the event were fully rateable.  Runner-up was Former U.S. Champion Y. Suzuki 4 Dan of San Francisco, who knocked me out of the KO event early.  Kento Matsumoto 4 Dan of Ashland Oregon took third place.  "Frosty" Yamamura 3 Dan of Los Angeles won the B group.  There was also a C group for players below 2 kyu, but I don't have the results of that section.  The team event, a round-robin of 6 teams, was won convincingly by Los Angeles.  This event was played with no initial time, only 30" byoyomi.  In general, it seems that the Japanese prefer rapid shogi, while the Americans prefer longer, serious games.  Perhaps as a result, no American made it to the final eight this time.  The only other American besides myself in the final 16 was USSF president George Fernandez 4 Dan, who unfortunately overstepped the time limit in a winning position against a lower-ranked opponent due to confusion over which clock was beeping during byoyomi.
     Pro 5 Dan "tiger" Nozuki was the attending pro, who gave excellent lectures on both opening theory and on the final two games.  He also played a formal exhibition game against me at Bishop handicap (with commentary in the next room for the attending players).  Due primarily to the long time limit for this game (byoyomi was 1 minute instead of 30"), I was able to play well and I won a model game which illustrates well the strategy I recommended in my handicap series on Eric Cheymol's website.  I plan to send him the game with comments by Nozuki to be added to my article there.
     Next year's event is set for April in San Francisco.  I have urged the organizers to come up with a schedule that permits all the games to be played no faster than the minimum 20/30.
 
     Larry Kaufman, USSF Chairman
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