From: Larry Kaufman COMCAST NET> Date: 30 jun 2003 Subject: Poconos Meijin tournament This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_ZcsOp9hB67ut13hHw9xBIA) Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT In what has become an annual event, this year 13 shogi players (six Americans, six Japanese amateurs, and one Pro) from the New York and D.C. Shogi clubs (except the Pro of course) gathered in a rented house in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania for a weekend of shogi. More specifically, for a round robin rated handicap tournament which we call the "Poconos Meijin". This was the first time a Pro came to the gathering, and perhaps only the second time that a Pro competed as a regular participant (i.e. one-to-one, not simul) in a Pan-Atlantic rated event (Sugimoto did so in Ohio a few years ago). All but three of the participants were ranked 2 Dan or stronger. Time limit was 20' + 30" byoyomi. We ranked the Pro, Mr. Hatakeyama Noriyuko 7 Dan, as if he were a 7 Dan amateur, and used handicaps that are fairly typical of clubs in Japan on average. This meant that he had to give me bishop while giving the other Dan players rook or rook & lance, while giving the kyu players 4-6 pieces. Despite the handicaps, Mr. Hatakeyama impressed us all by winning all 12 of his tournament games!! Several players had "easily" winning positions or even Tsume, but in 30" byoyomi none managed to win their won games. He also played many unrated quick games at various combinations of time and/or piece handicaps, winning all of them too except for a single loss to my son Raymond in a 30" per move game at rook & lance. I can only conclude that we should have ranked the Pro as an 8 Dan amateur! Back to the tournament, first place among the amateurs went to Tim Rogalski of D.C. shogi club who scored an impressive 9-3. Playing as a 2 kyu based on his rating, he will surely be knocking on the door of Shodan soon. He has actually been playing for over twenty years, but has played hardly at all in the past decade until catching the shogi bug again a few weeks ago. He has clearly now more than regained his level of old. Second place went to me. I also scored 9-3, but one win was by default over a player who left in the middle of the event, so Tim was entitled to first place by any tie-break system. Third place went to the lowest ranked participant, Greg D'Elia of the New York club, who scored 7-5 playing as a 5 kyu, which reflected both the efficacy of the handicaps and the rapid improvement he is making. Fourth place went to Jiro Yoshinari of D.C. club and fifth to my son Raymond Kaufman. One curiousity of the event was that since we had an equal number of American and Japanese amateurs, it was possible to view the event as a U.S. vs. Japan match. Surprisingly, the U.S. players won by a lopsided 23-11, though it doesn't mean much because three of the U.S. players were always receiving handicaps from the Japanese. Still, it's encouraging for U.S. shogi. Overall, in handicapped games the players giving the handicap won by 32-21, a bit below expectation. However the entire margin came from the pro games; without them the handicap givers actually lost 21-20, which I believe is unprecedented in Western shogi events. This was despite the fact that the handicap system used was thought to give the stronger players a definite edge. More details should follow soon, perhaps from the NY club. Special thanks to Mr. Hatakeyama not only for playing in the event, but giving countless hours of instruction to all of us there. It was a wonderful experience for all. Larry Kaufman for U.S. Shogi Federation --Boundary_(ID_ZcsOp9hB67ut13hHw9xBIA) Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
    In what has become an annual event, this year 13 shogi players (six Americans, six Japanese amateurs, and one Pro) from the New York and D.C. Shogi clubs (except the Pro of course) gathered in a rented house in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania for a weekend of shogi.  More specifically, for a round robin rated handicap tournament which we call the "Poconos Meijin".  This was the first time a Pro came to the gathering, and perhaps only the second time that a Pro competed as a regular participant (i.e. one-to-one, not simul) in a Pan-Atlantic rated event (Sugimoto did so in Ohio a few years ago).  All but three of the participants were ranked 2 Dan or stronger.  Time limit was 20' + 30" byoyomi. 
     We ranked the Pro, Mr. Hatakeyama Noriyuko 7 Dan, as if he were a 7 Dan amateur, and used handicaps that are fairly typical of clubs in Japan on average.  This meant that he had to give me bishop while giving the other Dan players rook or rook & lance, while giving the kyu players 4-6 pieces.  
     Despite the handicaps, Mr. Hatakeyama impressed us all by winning all 12 of his tournament games!!  Several players had "easily" winning positions or even Tsume, but in 30" byoyomi none managed to win their won games.  He also played many unrated quick games at various combinations of time and/or piece handicaps, winning all of them too except for a single loss to my son Raymond in a 30" per move game at rook & lance.  I can only conclude that we should have ranked the Pro as an 8 Dan amateur!
     Back to the tournament, first place among the amateurs went to Tim Rogalski of D.C. shogi club who scored an impressive 9-3.  Playing as a 2 kyu based on his rating, he will surely be knocking on the door of Shodan soon.  He has actually been playing for over twenty years, but has played hardly at all in the past decade until catching the shogi bug again a few weeks ago.  He has clearly now more than regained his level of old.
     Second place went to me.  I also scored 9-3, but one win was by default over a player who left in the middle of the event, so Tim was entitled to first place by any tie-break system.  Third place went to the lowest ranked participant, Greg D'Elia of the New York club, who scored 7-5 playing as a 5 kyu, which reflected both the efficacy of the handicaps and the rapid improvement he is making.  Fourth place went to Jiro Yoshinari of D.C. club and fifth to my son Raymond Kaufman.
     One curiousity of the event was that since we had an equal number of American and Japanese amateurs, it was possible to view the event as a U.S. vs. Japan match.  Surprisingly, the U.S. players won by a lopsided 23-11, though it doesn't mean much because three of the U.S. players were always receiving handicaps from the Japanese.  Still, it's encouraging for U.S. shogi.
     Overall, in handicapped games the players giving the handicap won by 32-21, a bit below expectation.  However the entire margin came from the pro games; without them the handicap givers actually lost 21-20, which I believe is unprecedented in Western shogi events.  This was despite the fact that the handicap system used was thought to give the stronger players a definite edge.
     More details should follow soon, perhaps from the NY club.  Special thanks to Mr. Hatakeyama not only for playing in the event, but giving countless hours of instruction to all of us there.  It was a wonderful experience for all.
 
     Larry Kaufman for U.S. Shogi Federation   
       
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