Shogi London

The 2012 British Open Shogi Championships was held in Broadstairs over the weekend of November 24th/25th. The title was won by Steven Cain after a playoff with Daisuke Matsuura.

We had six players in all, so we started with a five round all-play-all tournament. This finished with Steven Cain and Daisuke Matsuura both on 4 out of 5. Steven lost to Daisuke in round three while Daisuke lost to Edward Ishiyama in round four. The title was decided by a playoff game at the same time limit as the main tournament (30 minutes plus 40 seconds a move thereafter). This game was won by Steven.

David Faldon
President, British Shogi Federation

Posted by Steven Cain at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have been busy trying to sort out a 2012 British Championship before we run out of 2012.
This was set up very quickly and will be in Broadstairs on 24-25th November.

Most of the British players who would be at the November meeting in London will be in Broadstairs, so we are not sure if there will be a November meeting.

If we have more information I will publish here.

Posted by Steven Cain at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Mind Sports Olympiad 2012 will be held from 18-27 August in London, and will include a shogi tournament on 24 August 2012.

Details of the event can be found on the MSO website.

Posted by Steven Cain at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 2011 British Open Shogi Championships were held in Hammersmith/Barnes (London) over the weekend of July 23rd/24th. Nineteen players entered a one-day qualification tournament on the Saturday at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.

Five players qualified for an all-play-all play-off on the Sunday in Barnes. The clear winner of the 2011 British Open Shogi Championships was Daisuke Matsuura, winning all of his games on both days, ahead of Theo Taguchi (second) and Edward Ishiyama (third). Les Blackstock (fourth in the play-off) is the 2011 British Shogi Champion.

A more detailed report and photographs will be posted on Shogi London Supplement

Posted by Steven Cain at 08:42 AM | Permalink

The 2011 British Shogi Championship Tournament will be held as a qualifying event in London on Saturday 23rd July 2011, followed by a play-off event soon thereafter.

The venue for the 23rd is the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, 'Creative Space'. This is close to both Hammersmith tube stations, a multistory car park and Hammersmith bus garage. The theatre cafe will be open during the event, and there are many other places of refreshment within a few yards of the theatre.

To make best use of the venue, we intend to run two very different tournaments at the same time
- the 2011 British Shogi Championship Tournament; and
- the 2011 London Shogi Tournament.
Anybody can enter either tournament, but not both. Play will start at 10.45am and end around 6pm.

The 2011 British Shogi Championship Tournament will be four rounds, with time limits of 30 minutes per player plus 40 seconds byo-yomi. The top four contestants will qualify for a play-off event which will be a three round all-play-all either on Sunday 24th July or soon thereafter if one or more of the qualified players can't make Sunday 24th. The playoff will be in Barnes (close to Hammersmith) or elsewhere if all four qualifiers agree. The playoff must be completed by mid-August so that the winner can be registered for a place at the 5th International Shogi Festival which will be held in Paris from 27-30 October 2011.

The 2011 London Shogi Tournament will be either six or seven or more rounds, depending on the number of entries. Each player will have 30 minutes for the whole game.

Entry fees: the only reason for the entry fee is to pay for the hire of the venue. There will be no cash prizes. If we get 30 players, as expected, we will need to charge £10 a head.

Prizes: There will be a trophy for the 2011 British Shogi Champion and another for the winner of the 2011 London Shogi Tournament. There will also be several additional prizes (books, etc) depending on entries. The 2011 British Shogi Champion also qualifies for his/her place in the exclusive 5th International Shogi Festival Tournament of champions too!

Grading of games: the results of the British Shogi Championship Tournament games will be submitted for grading by the Federation of European Shogi Associations (FESA). As we understand it, the London Tournament games will not be graded as they will not be played with byo-yomi.

Entries can be made by email to David Faldon by mid-July at the latest, stating which of the tournaments you'd like to play in. Entry fees are payable on the day.

Posted by Steven Cain at 10:35 PM | Permalink

The Oxford University Japan Society (OUJS) is a student run society which brings together both university members and others with an interest in things Japanese. All are welcome.

On 5 February 2011 membership secretary Enki Cheung launched a Shogi Club with a beginners introduction session and a challenge match. The next shogi event will be on 5 March 2011. This is during the OUJS Matsuri from Friday 4th to Sunday 6th March. The schedule also includes sake and sushi tastings and viewing films by the celebrated Japanese film director and animator Miyazaki Hayao. Details can be found on the OUJS news blog here.

London shogi club member and current British Champion Steven Cain will be there on Saturday and will give a talk on shogi, help with the prizegiving, and offer comments and encouragement to all those learning this great Japanese game.

Posted by Steven Cain at 01:20 PM | Permalink

The British Shogi Championships were held on 27-28 November 2010 in Broadstairs. The winner of the championship was Steven Cain, who edged out Kingsley Pratt in a very close tournament. Four players were tied after 6 rounds, and the championship was decided in 40 second per move quickplay. Steven and Kingsley survived the first battles before meeting for a deciding battle.

The battle for the kyu championship was won by Peter Hingley.

A report and photographs will be posted on Shogi London Supplement

Posted by Steven Cain at 09:34 PM | Permalink

The 2010 British Open Shogi Championships will take place on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th November 2010. The championships will be in Broadstairs. There will be six rounds, three on Saturday and three on Sunday, and everybody will play in each round. There will be no entry fee and no cash prizes this year, but there will be trophies for the British Open Champion, the British Champion and the British kyu-class Champion.

The first game will begin at 11 am on Saturday 27th, to give everybody time to get to Broadstairs. On Sunday we can be flexible, but we expect to start by 9 am so that we can finish early enough to have a blitz tournament after the main tournament.

Provided that enough players have an official grade, games will be graded by FESA (the Federation of European Shogi Associations).

Entries can be made by email or by post. Please contact David Faldon for more details, or comment on this blog post

Posted by Steven Cain at 06:06 PM | Permalink

Shogi London Supplement has been updated with some photos from the British Shogi Championship in May 2009.

The photos are here.

Apologies to Edward Ishiyama, who provided the photos in May!

Posted by Steven Cain at 05:17 PM | Permalink

Here are details for a Shogi tournament and display at the Spitalfields Market Japanese Festival.

Time - from 10 am until around 5 pm
Place - Spitalfields Market in East London
Format - three round shogi tournament at 30 minutes plus 40 seconds byo-yomi

Please enter by email to David Faldon in advance to ensure that we have enough sets and clocks. If enough players have FESA grades the games will be rated.

Players will also be around to demonstrate shogi to visitors to the festival.

The nearest tube stations to Spitalfields Market are Liverpool Street (go north up Bishopsgate then east along Brushfield Street) and Aldgate East (go north up Commercial Street). It's best to check which lines are running with Transport for London.

The Shogi tournament is part of the Spitalfields Japan Matsuri Festival 2009 so there will be many interesting attractions to visit between and after the games (the Festival runs until 8 pm).

Posted by Steven Cain at 05:33 PM | Permalink

The September meeting of the London Shogi Club on 19.09.2009. It will be held as part of the Japan Matsuri Festival 2009 which is being held in the very nice Spitalfields Market. We hope to arrange a tournament and a presentation to visitors to the festival. Timings and more details will be provided when we have them.

Posted by Steven Cain at 08:39 AM | Permalink

The British Shogi Championships were held on 2-3 May 2009 as part of the Cambridge Mind Sports Olympiad. The winner of the championship was Steven Cain, 2 dan. Steven will get the chance to go to New York to play in the Amateur Shogi World Championships in November.

The battle for the kyu championship was won by Edward Ishiyama. Tony Hosking won the blitz championship.

A report and photographs will be posted shortly on Shogi London Supplement

Posted by Steven Cain at 08:02 PM | Permalink

The 2009 British Open Shogi Championships will be held on May 2nd/3rd (Saturday/Sunday) at Trinity College Cambridge

Continue reading "2009 British Shogi Championships - more details" »

Posted by Steven Cain at 08:22 PM | Permalink

The 2009 British Open Shogi Championships will take place on Saturday 2rd and Sunday 3rd May 2009. The championships will be hosted by Trinity College as part of the 2009 Cambridge Mind Sports Olympiad .

More details will be provided when these are firmed up.

Posted by Steven Cain at 07:23 PM | Permalink

There will be a shogi event on 13.09.2008 at the South Bank Centre [festival map] as part of the Thames Festival Japanese Jamboree. We will probably run a tournament between 12 and 5pm, and should also be able to discuss shogi or just chat. Just look for the shogi boards.

There will also be a regular Saturday meeting of the London Shogi Club on 27.09.2008. David Faldon will be around from 10am at Caffe Nero, 10 Bedford Street, London WC2E 7HE. [map]

Everyone is very welcome to both of these, regardless of strength or experience.

Posted by Steven Cain at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The British Shogi Championships were held on 3-4 May 2008 as part of the Cambridge Mind Sports Olympiad. The winner of the championship was Tony Hosking, 3 dan. The battle for the kyu championship was won by Kingsley Pratt. As reward for their efforts, Tony and Kingsley will be attending the International Shogi Festival in Tendo in November 2008.

Posted by Steven Cain at 08:03 PM | Permalink

The 2008 British Open Shogi Championships will take place on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th May 2008. The championships will be hosted by Trinity College as part of the 2008 Cambridge Mind Sports Olympiad.

There will be trophies for the Open Champion, for the British Champion and for the best performance by a player who is not dan-rated. An entry fee of £10 (or 12 euros) will be collected on the day, and all entry fees will be returned as prizes. The Championships will also be used to select the British team for the 4th International Shogi Festival in Tendo, Japan, in November 2008. One dan player and one non-dan player will qualify for free air travel to Japan and free hotel accommodation.

In order to allow the tournament format and the team selection method to be set in advance, no entries will be accepted after Friday 25th April. There is also a ceiling on the total number of entries at 30.

More details are at www.msocambridge.org.uk, or contact David Faldon by email

Posted by Steven Cain at 02:32 PM | Permalink