From: Larry Kaufman comcast net> Date: 8 apr 2006 Subject: U.S. Championship This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0014_01C65B5A.EE1FE610 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Sign Up for Packet8 and tell your phone company to VoIP-Off. First Month Free! Then up to 50% off your phone bill. Free Equipment! Packet8 1-877-868-1135 http://click.topica.com/= caaeE3pa2i6YsbnuqMaa/ TMONE ------------------------------------------------------------------- The 2006 U.S. Championship took place April 1-2 in Washington D.C. The= re were 23 amateur participants and two professionals participating. On the= first day, players were divided into six teams of four players each repres= enting the five major shogi-playing cities in the U.S. plus one team of oth= er cities. To complete the roster the San Francisco team, which had only tw= o relatively low-ranked players plus a "loaner" from NY was allowed to play= a pro on first board (the two pros, Ishikawa 6 Dan and Kondo 5 Dan, took t= urns), giving bishop handicap in all games. Apparently it should have been = rook, as the pros won all five games. Despite this, Washington D.C. won the= team championship with 4 1/2 out of 5 matches and 15 out of 20 game points= , with New York second at 3 1/2 and 13, San Francisco third with 3 and 12, = "other" fourth with 2 1/2 and 10, Chicago fifth with 1 and 6, and Los Angel= es last with 1/2 and 4. The results of the team competition determined the = seeding for the second day's elimination event, with both score and board n= umber playing a role. The best result on the first day was achieved by S. O= gihara 4 Dan of New York, who made a perfect 5-0 score on second board, whi= le none of the first board players scored better than 3-2.=20 In the championship proper, I lost an easily won game in the semi-fina= l to Mr. Ogihara due to a needless change of mind in the final seconds of b= yoyomi, and so only took third place after a difficult win over Alan Baker,= who was perhaps the biggest positive surprise of the event, scoring severa= l upsets. He finished fourth and received the prize for top 1-2 Dan. George= Marino received the kyu prize when his main rival failed to return for the= second day's play.=20 The Championship final was between Jiro Yoshinari 5 Dan of Washington,= who has been my main shogi opponent over the last decade, and Mr. Ogihara.= It looked like Mr. Yoshinari's attack was a bit of an overplay, and Mr. Og= ihara should have been able to beat it off and win, but he overlooked a pre= tty Tsume danger in byoyomi and so Mr. Yoshinari finally became U.S. Champi= on for the first time at the age of 60. Congratulations, Yoshi! In the "B" group Mr. Hidenori Shimoda of San Francisco, apparently the= youngest player in the event, took first place, defeating the Washington's= Kazuya Uesugi in the final, while the experienced three Dan Seiken Higashi= onna of North Carolina took third place.=20 The two pros played many games with us both during and after the tourn= ament. Among notable results, my son Raymond Kaufman managed one win over e= ach of the pros at rook handicap, as did Alex Trotter at two piece handicap= . I tried three games at lance handicap, but it was simply not enough, thou= gh the games were close. We also tried some games at non-standard handicaps= with Mr. Ishikawa, with Raymond scoring a win at bishop & lance and a loss= at gold, while I won a tough game at silver handicap. Mr. Ishikawa express= ed the opinion, both before and after our game, that silver handicap was ac= tually larger than bishop handicap (!), and Mr. Kondo did not disagree. He = argued that the handicap giver must focus heavily on defense, and while the= bishop has much more attacking power than a silver, it is weaker as a defe= nsive piece. While I'm not totally convinced, it does explain why silver is= not a standard handicap. It's not that it doesn't make for a good game, it= 's just that bishop and silver handicaps are so close (regardless of which = is a tad larger) that they cannot represent different steps on the handicap= ladder.=20=20=20 Here is the cross table of the event. The first five rounds are the te= am championship, the final four are the elimination tournament. Player #23,= Masami Kondo, is the wife of the Pro, playing here in her first tournament= .=20 Larry Kaufman, tournament director [U.S. Championship, Washington D.C.] [April 1-2, 2006] 1 [Ogihara] [Shigetaka] [4 Dan] [17+ 11+ 5+ 16+ 6+ = 0+ 9+ 4+ 6- ] 2 [Nozawa] [Koji] [3 Dan] [3+ 10+ 25-(+B) 4- 15= + 15+ 7- 0- 0- ]=20=20 3 [Egoshi] [Hiroaki] [4 Dan] [2- 15+ 4+ 10+ 25= -(+B) 14- 0- 0- 0- ] 4 [Kaufman] [Larry] [5 Dan] [15+ 25-(+B) 3- 2+ 10+= 13+ 5+ 1- 7+ ] 5 [Kuramoto] [Masa.] [4 Dan] [6+ 16- 1- 17+ 11= + 12+ 4- 0- 0- ] 6 [Yoshinari] [Jiro] [5 Dan] [5- 17+ 16+ 11+ = 1- 11+ 14+ 7+ 1+ ] 7 [Baker] [Alan] [2 Dan] [21+ 19+ 8+ 13+ = 12- 10+ 2+ 6- 4- ] 8 [Kaufman] [Ray] [3 Dan] [19+ 12+ 7- 21+ 13= + 9- 0- 0- 0- ] 9 [Kurokawa][Tsuyoshi][2 Dan] [23+ 18+ 20+ 22+ 14+ = 8+ 1- 0- 0- ] 10 [Fernandez] [George] [4 Dan] [24-(+B) 2- 15+ 3- 4- = 7- 0- 0- 0- ] 11 [Nakano] [Junichi] [2 Dan] [16+ 1- 17+ 6- 5= - 6- 0- 0- 0- ] 12 [Shimoda] [Noriaki] [3 Dan] [13- 8- 21+ 19+ 7+ = 5- 0- 0- 0- ] 13 [Kajiura] [Koji] [2 Dan] [12+ 21+ 19+ 7- = 8- 4- 0- 0- 0- ] 14 [Hayashi] [Minoru] [4 Dan] [18+ 22+ 23+ 20+ 9- = 3+ 6- 0- 0- ]=20 15 [Ohno] [Mark] [4 Dan] [4- 3- 10- 24-(+B) 2= - 2- 0- 0- 0- ] 16 [Higashionna] [Seiken] [2 Dan] [11- 5+ 6- 1- 17-= 23+(-4P) 19-(-L) 18+(-L) 0- ] 17 [Shimoda] [Hidenori] [2 Dan] [1- 6- 11- 5- = 16+ 22+(-L) 18+(-M) 19+(-M) 0- ] 18 [Trotter] [Alex] [1 Dan] [14- 9- 22+ 23+ = 20+ 21+ 17-(+M) 16-(+L) 0- ] 19 [Uesugi] [Kazuya] [2 Dan] [8- 7- 13- 12- 2= 1+ 0+ 16+(+L) 17-(+M) 0- ] 20 [Giles] [Alan] [3 kyu] [22+ 23+ 9- 14- = 18- 0- 0- 0- 0- ] 21 [Yamashita] [Yoshiro] [1 Dan] [7- 13- 12- 8- 19= - 18- 0- 0- 0- ] 22 [Marino] [George] [1 kyu] [20- 14- 18- 9- = 23+ 17-(+L) 0- 0- 0- ] 23 [Kondo] [Masami] [5 kyu] [9- 20- 14- 18- 22= - 16-(+4P) 0- 0- 0- ] 24 [Kondo] [Masakazu] [5D Pro][10+(-B) 0- 0- 15+(-B) 0- = 0- 0- 0- 0- ] 25 [Ishikawa] {Akio] [6D Pro] [ 0- 4+(-B) 2+(-B) 0- 3+(-= B) 0- 0- 0- 0- ] Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor: ------------------------------------------------------------------- First Month Free! Save up to 50% on your phone bill.=20 Free Activation, Free Equipment! Packet8 30-day money back guarantee. 1-877-868-1135 http://click.topica.com/= caaeE3ua2i6YsbnuqMaf/ TMONE ------------------------------------------------------------------- --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: = shogi-l shogi net EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a2i6Ys.= bnuqMa.= c2hvZ2kt Or send an email to: shogi-unsubscribe topica com For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit: http://www.topica.com/?p=3DTEXFOOTER --^---------------------------------------------------------------- ------=_NextPart_000_0014_01C65B5A.EE1FE610 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable = 
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     The 2006 U.S. Cha= mpionship=20 took place April 1-2 in Washington D.C. There were 23 amateur=20 participants and two professionals participating. On the first day, players= were=20 divided into six teams of four players each representing the five major=20 shogi-playing cities in the U.S. plus one team of other cities. To complete= the=20 roster the San Francisco team, which had only two relatively low-ranked pla= yers=20 plus a "loaner" from NY was allowed to play a pro on first board (the two p= ros,=20 Ishikawa 6 Dan and Kondo 5 Dan, took turns), giving bishop handicap in all= =20 games. Apparently it should have been rook, as the pros won all five games.= =20 Despite this, Washington D.C. won the team championship with 4 1/2 out of 5= =20 matches and 15 out of 20 game points, with New York second at 3 1/2 and 13,= San=20 Francisco third with 3 and 12, "other" fourth with 2 1/2 and 10, Chicago fi= fth=20 with 1 and 6, and Los Angeles last with 1/2 and 4. The results of the team= =20 competition determined the seeding for the second day's elimination event, = with=20 both score and board number playing a role. The best result on the first da= y was=20 achieved by S. Ogihara 4 Dan of New York, who made a perfect 5-0 score on s= econd=20 board, while none of the first board players scored better than 3-2.=20
     In the championship proper, I lost an easily = won=20 game in the semi-final to Mr. Ogihara due to a needless change of mind in t= he=20 final seconds of byoyomi, and so only took third place after a difficult wi= n=20 over Alan Baker, who was perhaps the biggest positive surprise of the event= ,=20 scoring several upsets. He finished fourth and received the prize for top 1= -2=20 Dan. George Marino received the kyu prize when his main rival failed to ret= urn=20 for the second day's play.
     The Championship final was between Jiro Yoshi= nari=20 5 Dan of Washington, who has been my main shogi opponent over the last deca= de,=20 and Mr. Ogihara. It looked like Mr. Yoshinari's attack was a bit of an over= play,=20 and Mr. Ogihara should have been able to beat it off and win, but he overlo= oked=20 a pretty Tsume danger in byoyomi and so Mr. Yoshinari finally became U.S.= =20 Champion for the first time at the age of 60. Congratulations, Yoshi!
=
     In the "B" group Mr. Hidenori Shimoda of San= =20 Francisco, apparently the youngest player in the event, took first place,= =20 defeating the Washington's Kazuya Uesugi in the final, while the experience= d=20 three Dan Seiken Higashionna of North Carolina took third place. 
     The two pros played many games with us both d= uring=20 and after the tournament. Among notable results, my son Raymond Kaufman man= aged=20 one win over each of the pros at rook handicap, as did Alex Trotter at two = piece=20 handicap. I tried three games at lance handicap, but it was simply not= =20 enough, though the games were close. We also tried some games at non-standa= rd=20 handicaps with Mr. Ishikawa, with Raymond scoring a win at bishop & lan= ce=20 and a loss at gold, while I won a tough game at silver handicap. Mr. Ishika= wa=20 expressed the opinion, both before and after our game, that silver handicap= was=20 actually larger than bishop handicap (!), and Mr. Kondo did not disagree. H= e=20 argued that the handicap giver must focus heavily on defense, and while the= =20 bishop has much more attacking power than a silver, it is weaker as a defen= sive=20 piece. While I'm not totally convinced, it does explain why silver is not a= =20 standard handicap. It's not that it doesn't make for a good game, it's just= that=20 bishop and silver handicaps are so close (regardless of which is a tad larg= er)=20 that they cannot represent different steps on the handicap ladder.=20   
     Here is the cross table of the event. The fir= st=20 five rounds are the team championship, the final four are the elimination= =20 tournament. Player #23, Masami Kondo, is the wife of the Pro, playing here = in=20 her first tournament.
 
     Larry Kaufman, tournament director
 
<= /FONT>
[U.S. Championship, Washington D.C.]
[April 1-2, 2006]
 
 1 [Ogihara] [Shigetaka] [4 Dan] =20  [17+    =20 11+      5+     &nbs= p;=20 16+      6+     &nbs= p; =20 0+      9+    =20 4+        6- ]
 2 [Nozawa] [Koji] [3 Dan]     &nbs= p;=20     =20 [3+      10+    25-(+B) &= nbsp;=20 4-       15+    &nbs= p; 15+     7-     = =20  0-         0- ] 
 3 [Egoshi] [Hiroaki] [4=20 Dan]        =20 [2-       15+     &n= bsp;=20 4+      10+    25-(+B) =20 14-      0-      =20 0-         0- ]
 4 [Kaufman] [Larry] [5=20 Dan]        =20 [15+    25-(+B)=20  3-       =20 2+      10+     =20 13+     5+     =20 1-         7+ ]
 5 [Kuramoto] [Masa.] [4 Dan]     =20 [6+      =20 16-       1-    &nbs= p;  17+      11+   &= nbsp; 12+    =20 4-      =20 0-         0- ]
 6 [Yoshina= ri]=20 [Jiro] [5 Dan]         =20 [5-        =20 17+     16+    =20 11+     =20 1-       11+   =20 14+      7+      &nb= sp;=20 1+ ]
 7 [Baker] [Alan] [2=20 Dan]            = ; =20 [21+      19+     =20 8+      13+     &nbs= p;12-     10+    =20 2+     =20 6-         4- ]
 8 [Kaufman] [Ray] [3=20 Dan]          =20 [19+     12+      7-=       =20 21+     =20 13+     9-      =20 0-       =20 0-        0- ]
 9 [Kurokawa][Tsuyoshi][2 Dan]   =20 [23+     18+     20+ = ;    =20 22+     14+     8+ &= nbsp;    =20 1-      =20 0-         0- ]
10 [Fernandez] [George] [4 Dan] [24-(+B)=20  2-       15+    &nb= sp;=20 3-       =20 4-        7-    = ;  =20  0-      =20 0-         0- ]
11 [Nakano] [Junichi] [2 Dan]      =20 [16+     =20 1-       17+    &nbs= p;=20 6-       =20 5-        6-    = ;  =20  0-      =20 0-         0- ]
12 [Shimoda] [Noriaki] [3 Dan]    =20 [13-      =20 8-        21+   &nbs= p; 19+    =20 7+       5-     = ;  =20 0-       =20 0-        0- ]
13 [Kajiura] [Koji] [2=20 Dan]           =20 [12+     =20 21+     19+     =20 7-      =20 8-        4-    = ;   =20 0-       =20 0-        0- ]
14 [Hayashi] [Minoru] [4 Dan]     =20 [18+     =20 22+      23+    =20 20+    =20 9-       3+     = ; =20 6-        0-    = ;   =20 0- ] 
15 [Ohno] [Mark] [4=20 Dan]            = ;=20 [4-       =20 3-        10- =20  24-(+B)  =20 2-        2-    = ;   =20 0-       =20 0-        0- ]
16 [Higashionna] [Seiken] [2 Dan]=20 [11-      5+      &n= bsp;=20 6-       1-     &nbs= p;=20 17-   23+(-4P) 19-(-L)  18+(-L) =20 0- ]
17 [Shimoda] [Hidenori] [2 Dan]  = ;=20 [1-        =20 6-        11-   &nbs= p; =20 5-        16+  =20 22+(-L) 18+(-M) 19+(-M) 0- ]
18 [Trotter] [Alex] [1=20 Dan]          =20 [14-       =20 9-         22+  &nbs= p; 23+    =20 20+  =20 21+      17-(+M) 16-(+L)  0-=20 ]
19 [Uesugi] [Kazuya] [2=20 Dan]     =20 [8-        =20 7-          13- &nbs= p;  =20 12-     21+    =20 0+      16+(+L) 17-(+M) 0- ]
20 [Giles] [Alan] [3=20 kyu]            = ;=20 [22+    =20 23+          9- &nbs= p;   =20 14-     18-     =20 0-         =20 0-       =20 0-        0- ]
21 [Yamashita] [Yoshiro] [1 Dan]=20 [7-      =20 13-          12- &nb= sp;   =20 8-      19-    =20 18-        =20 0-       =20 0-        0- ]
22 [Marino] [George] [1=20 kyu]       [20-     = =20 14-          18- &nb= sp;  =20 9-       23+   =20 17-(+L)   0-       =20 0-        0- ]
23 [Kondo] [Masami] [5=20 kyu]      [9-      &= nbsp;=20 20-          14- &nb= sp;  =20 18-     22-   16-(+4P)  &= nbsp;0-        0-   =      0-=20 ]
24 [Kondo] [Masakazu] [5D Pro][10+(-B)=20  0-          =20 0-    15+(-B)   0-    =20  0-         0-  = ;     =20 0-        0- ]
25 [Ishikawa] {Akio] [6D=20 Pro]      [=20 0-        4+(-B) =20 2+(-B)    0-    3+(-B)   =20 0-       =20 0-       =20 0-        0-=20 ]
= 
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