From: DANERUD MARTIN TELIA COM> Date: 17 jun 2003 Subject: We are the Champions Dear shogi friends, During the last weekend, the second Swedish Team Shogi Championship was played in Norrkoping, around 200 km south of Stockholm. We played outdoors in the central Horsalsparken, and despite the weather being somewhat worse this year, we were protected by the sailing cloth roof, covering the scene of the park in case of rain showers. However, most of the time, the sun glared down on Swedish shogi. Before the tournament, Goteborg 1 was the favourite team. Stockholm missed Nils Carlsson and Christer Hartman, and they only had one team this year. Trollhattan and Vastervik lost some players late and combined into a temporary club during the Team Championship. Thus five teams with a total of 21 players participated. That was fewer than last year, but even so, this was the number two shogi tournament ever, concerning the number of Swedish players. Next year, there will be a new record of participants! Then the Team Championship will be played in Norrkoping for the third consecutive year. It will probably take place in the end of July. Then we hope that shogi will really be established in eastern Sweden, and that Norrkoping, Vastervik, and Trollhattan will have complete and strong teams. Later, the Team Championship will be played in other places in Sweden. The Team Championship is one of the ways of spreading shogi in Sweden. Round 1: Goteborg 1-Goteborg 2 4-0 Carl Johan Nilsson-Jonas Ahlqvist 1-0 Martin Danerud-Mikael Jansson 1-0 Jan Palmgren-Tor Gammelgard 1-0 Anders Vidal-Rikard Skotnicki 1-0 Stockholm-Norrkoping 4-0 Thore Angqvist-Ulf Dahlqvist 1-0 Jan Rabe-Henrik Hellberg 1-0 Farhad Rouhani-Xerxes Ranby 1-0 Tord Juntti-Patrik Holmqvist 1-0 Theoretically, round 1 did not give us any surprises, but there were some thrilling games. Carl Johan had a tough fight against Jonas, who is constantly developing. Both players were close to winning, and Jonas dropped a pawn in mate in order to show that he was lost. Martin won quite easily against Mikael. Tor had a won position against Jan, who has returned after some time in UN police service at East Timor. Jan succeeded in turning the tables and winning the game. Rikard attacked along the lance lines, but Anders escaped by attacking in the center. On board one, we saw a coming man in Swedish shogi. For us who saw the Internet match against Japan and the tsume prize contests in our quarterly magazine, it was no surprise that Ulf is a potential top player, and directly in his first tournament game against the Swedish Champion Thore Angqvist Ulf played well, but it was not enough to win. The rest of the games were expectedly won by Stockholm. Round 2: Goteborg 1-Norrkoping 4-0 Carl Johan Nilsson-Ulf Dahlqvist 1-0 Martin Danerud-Henrik Hellberg 1-0 Jan Palmgren-Xerxes Ranby 1-0 Anders Vidal-Patrik Holmqvist 1-0 Stockholm-Trollhattan/Vastervik 3-1 Thore Angqvist-Robert Soderberg 1-0 Jan Rabe-Mikael Hansson 1-0 Farhad Rouhani-Daniel Ivarsson 1-0 Tord Juntti-Niklas Alexandersson 0-1 In round 2, Goteborg won as expected without losing any game against Norrkoping. Ulf again demonstrated good shogi against Carl Johan, but it proved to be insufficient. Martin has taught Henrik some shogi via the Internet, and now they played their first ever tournament game. Henrik showed that he knew bogin attacks, but an static advantage along the bogin line was compensated by a devastating attack against Henrik´s king. The two beginners at board 3 and 4 in Norrkoping fought bravely against their more experienced opponents. Niklas Alexandersson, Trollhattan/Vastervik, won his first tournament game. Tord Juntti missed an illegal move from Niklas and finally lost the game. The game between Thore and Robert was moved indoors after almost being hit by a rain shower, leaking through the sailing cloth, but that was the most dramatic event in that game. Round 3: Goteborg 1-Trollhattan/Vastervik 3-1 Carl Johan Nilsson-Robert Soderberg 1-0 Martin Danerud-Daniel Ivarsson 1-0 Jan Palmgren-Niklas Alexandersson 0-1 Anders Vidal-Mikael Hansson 1-0 Goteborg 2-Norrkoping 4-0 Jonas Ahlqvist-Ulf Dahlqvist 1-0 Rikard Nordgren-Henrik Hellberg 1-0 Tor Gammelgard-Xerxes Ranby 1-0 Rikard Skotnicki-Patrik Holmqvist 1-0 Goteborg 1 had prepared to keep a clean sheet against Trollhattan/Vastervik, but once again Niklas Alexandersson was the surprise. He won against Jan, who made the last mistake in a byo-yomi game. Board two to four were rather easily won by Goteborg 2, but on board one Jonas was in great danger against Ulf. However, he turned the tables and won, and now Ulf had played three quite good games against good players, but he still waited for his and Norrkoping´s first victory. Round 4: Goteborg 1-Stockholm 3-1 Carl Johan Nilsson-Thore Angqvist 1-0 Martin Danerud-Jan Rabe 1-0 Jan Palmgren-Farhad Rouhani 0-1 Anders Vidal-Tord Juntti 1-0 Goteborg 2-Trollhattan/Vastervik 4-0 Jonas Ahlqvist-Robert Soderberg 1-0 Rikard Nordgren-Daniel Ivarsson 1-0 Mikael Jansson-Niklas Alexandersson 1-0 Rikard Skotnicki-Mikael Hansson 1-0 The expected final match between Goteborg 1 and Stockholm was a rather tough fight. Anders was the first winner against Tord, and Martin followed him shortly after by winning against Jan Rabe. The rest was more difficult. Jan P. missed a tsume by dropping a pawn, mistaking it for a lance. After that Farhad won the game. Thore initially had a good position against Carl Johan, but he lost the game in the counterattack. Carl Johan had to carefully block Thore´s attempts to get a running king. Thereby, Goteborg 1 was gold medal winners again. Goteborg 2 won against Trollhattan/Vastervik, and Mikael Hansson could have changed the result, but the more experienced players do not give away too many chances. Round 5: Goteborg 2-Stockholm 4-0 Jonas Ahlqvist-Thore Angqvist 1-0 Tor Gammelgard-Jan Rabe 1-0 Mikael Jansson-Farhad Rouhani 1-0 Rikard Nordgren-Tord Juntti 1-0 Trollhattan/Vastervik-Norrkoping 3-1 Robert Soderberg-Patrik Holmqvist 1-0 Daniel Ivarsson-Ulf Dahlqvist 0-1 Mikael Hansson-Henrik Hellberg 1-0 Niklas Alexandersson-Xerxes Ranby 1-0 It was a great sensation that Goteborg 2 could keep a clean sheet against Stockholm in the silver medal match. Jonas was the surprise of the day. He came back from a worse position and found a mate against Thore. The games on boards two and three also saw shifting advantages during this match. Finally, Ulf scored his and Norrkoping´s first ever point in the final round. He promised that it was not to be the last. Final standings: 1. Göteborg 1 14 points 2. Göteborg 2 12 3. Stockholm 8 4. Trollhättan/Västervik 5 5. Norrköping 1 As a summary the following can be said from the Team Championship this year: Niklas Alexandersson scored three out of four in his first ever tournament. That is of course very good. Ulf Dahlqvist may be even a bigger shogi talent. He will soon belong to top ten in Sweden. Jonas Ahlqvist took one more step towards the Swedish elite. He may be a surprise at the WOSC in August. Two players have scored 100 % during the first two Team Championships. Carl Johan Nilsson and Martin Danerud, Goteborg 1, have scored nine points out of nine. Finally, one may say that tasting the sweet taste of victory together in a team can be even more fun than winning an individual tournament. Thus, it is a good idea for other nations as well to organise team championships. But be generous to the players and give them a real championship between clubs. They will take a while to develop, but they are good forces for popularising shogi in a nation. We have just started... Sincerely yours, Martin Danerud President of the Swedish Shogi Federation