The 9 rounds Worldwide Open Shogi Championship (WOSC) 2002, held from Friday 23 through Sunday 25 August in the exciting city of Brussels, was a great success. Playing, sleeping, eating, drinking and having fun all took place under one roof. There was a strong sense of camaraderie, we had beautiful weather and 55 participants. As usual, Chief Arbiter Hans Secelle (also first-ever European Champion) ran a very smooth tournament, while Eddy Verhaeven took perfect care of the catering and accommodation. Elsewhere I reported on the 2002 European Shogi Championship (ESC), which is an integral part of the WOSC. As reported there, Boris Mirnik (DE) won the European Championship and, in doing so, was also leading the WOSC after round 5 with 5 straight wins. But immediately in round 6, Gert Schnider (AT), one of the losing ESC semi-finalists, toppled the new Champion. Last year, after becoming European Champion, Frederic Pottier (FR) was so euphoric that he lost all remaining 4 games. Unlike Frederic, however, the Iceman (as Chief Arbiter Hans Secelle called Boris for his ability to remain cool under all circumstances) did not lose any other game. Since Gert did not make any mistake either, both players scored 8/9 and Buchholz scores (=sum of opponents' scores) needed to break the tie. After all smoke had cleared, it turned out that Boris had beaten Gert by one single Buchholz point. Surprisingly, Jochen Drechsler (DE) secured third place (7/9), among others with wins against Uemura (4-dan) and Segers (3-dan). Karl Wartlick (DE), who performed already very well in the ESC, continued to play impressively and secured forth place. A 1-kyu before the tournament, he won against two 4-dans, two 3-dans, one 2-dan and one 1-dan and made a tremendous jump of 171 ratings points on the Elo list. Karl is a force to be reckoned with from now onwards. In the middle Elo region, only one player jumped more than 100 points: Marc Marian (DE as well), who also got promoted from 7 to 4-kyu. In the lower region, Daniel Többens (also DE) made the biggest jump (141 points), which earned him promotion to 11-kyu. I cannot remember a championship where so many representatives of a single country performed so well.

No Name                     Nt  Gr Rtg  RtCh S Buch SB m-Bu Pr  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9
-- ------------------------ --  -- ---- ---- - ---- -- ---- -- -----------------------------------
 1 Mirnik Boris             DE  3D 2062  +39 8 54   46 41   41 20+ 23+  8+  4+  5+  2-  9+ 10+  6+
 2 Schnider Gert            AT  3D 2084  +38 8 53   47 40   39 28+ 19+ 11+  5-  4+  1+ 16+  7+ 13+

 3 Drechsler Jochen         DE  2D 1776  +93 7 49   37 39   33 14+  5- 41+ 31+  6+  4-  8+ 16+ 10+

 4 Wartlick Karl            DE  1K 1669 +171 6 56   34 44   33 10+ 30+  7+  1-  2-  3+ 18+  9+  8-
 5 Cheymol Eric             FR  4D 2191  -31 6 54   34 42   33 36+  3+ 17+  2+  1-  9-  6- 26+ 18+
 6 Nilsson Carl Johan       SE  2D 1898   +8 6 53   33 40   30 23- 24+ 20+ 21+  3- 15+  5+ 14+  1-
 7 Ichiyanagi Kei           JP  4D 2131  -34 6 51   31 38   32 24+ 18+  4- 14+ 26+ 12- 21+  2- 22+
 8 Uemura Yoshiyuki         JP  4D 2186  -42 6 49   29 37   30 34+ 22+  1- 29+ 18- 27+  3- 20+  4+
 9 Litjens Mathijs          NL  3D 1818   +5 6 48   29 36   31 19- 34+ 32+ 15+ 29+  5+  1-  4- 26+
10 Segers Hans              NL  3D 1876   +4 6 48   27 37   33  4- 52+ 51+ 23+ 19+ 18+ 12+  1-  3-
11 Van Oosten Arend         NL  4D 2083  -31 6 47   27 36   30 51+ 16+  2- 22+ 12- 19+ 14- 37+ 21+
12 Heeffer Albrecht         BE  2D 1791  +31 6 46   29 36   31 22- 36+ 40+ 33+ 11+  7+ 10- 13- 17+
13 Pottier Frederic         FR  3D 1946  -19 6 46   27 34   29 35+ 17- 15- 32+ 28+ 33+ 29+ 12+  2-
14 Schmidt Guillaume        FR  3D 1772  +24 6 45   26 35   28  3- 50+ 43+  7- 24+ 31+ 11+  6- 16+
15 Majewski Thomas          DE  2D 1633  +39 6 40.5 24 32   26 17- 44+ 13+  9- 43+  6- 33+ 29+ 30+

16 Pfaffel Thomas           AT  2D 1849  -16 5 50   23 38   31 21+ 11- 37+ 35+ 25+ 26+  2-  3- 14-
17 Oosterwijk Jan           NL  3D 1997  -44 5 48   26 38   28 15+ 13+  5- 19- 37+ 25+ 26- 24+ 12-
18 Ono Yoichi               JP  1D 1804   +7 5 47   23 37   29 27+  7- 39+ 41+  8+ 10-  4- 36+  5-
19 Dietmayer Marco          AT  2K 1689  +12 5 44.5 21 35   25  9+  2- 53+ 17+ 10- 11- 32- 31+ 34+
20 Weimann Christophe       FR  1K 1597   +9 5 43.5 20 32   22  1- 38+  6- 40+ 30- 41+ 31+  8- 39+
21 Christoffersen Terje     NO  1D 1682  +11 5 42   20 33.5 26 16- 42+ 49+  6- 41+ 30+  7- 25+ 11-
22 Roquas Frans             NL  2D 1707   -1 5 42   20 33   26 12+  8- 46+ 11- 52+ 29- 34+ 32+  7-
23 Bjerke Richard           NO  1K 1652  -19 5 40.5 19 30   22  6+  1- 47+ 10- 33- 32- 45+ 43+ 36+
24 Neumaier Andreas         AT  4K 1530  +23 5 39   17 30.5 21  7-  6- 45+ 46+ 14- 44+ 30+ 17- 38+
25 Faldon Dave              UK  4K 1354  +53 5 38.5 19 30.5 28 38+ 43+ 31+ 26- 16- 17- 35+ 21- 37+
26 Schäfer Norbert          DE  5K 1304  +49 5 38.5 17 31   33 53+ 47+ 54+ 25+  7- 16- 17+  5-  9-
27 Someno Shinobu           JP  1D 1696  -34 5 38   19 29   21 18- 40- 50+ 39+ 34+  8- 36- 33+ 32+
28 Söderberg Robert         SE  2K 1478  -28 5 33   16 23.5 19  2- 53- 42+ 55+ 13- 43- 44+ 45+ 29+

29 Marian Marc              DE  7K 1263 +107 4 45   16 36   28 52+ 39+ 33+  8-  9- 22+ 13- 15- 28-
30 Theeuwen Marc            NL  4D 2074  -87 4 43   17 33   22 37+  4- 35- 36+ 20+ 21- 24- 40+ 15-
31 Guzek Florian            FR  4K 1285  +44 4 41.5 14 32   23 49+ 32+ 25-  3- 35+ 14- 20- 19- 50+
32 Dreblow Leo              DE  2K 1410  +23 4 40.5 15 33   21 45+ 31-  9- 13- 55+ 23+ 19+ 22- 27-
33 Baggio Giuseppe          IT  4K 1338   +5 4 39   13 31.5 23 55+ 46+ 29- 12- 23+ 13- 15- 27- 48+
34 Stebbings Anthony        UK  4K 1442  -15 4 38   13 29.5 19  8-  9- 38+ 49+ 27- 48+ 22- 47+ 19-
35 Gorissen Theo            NL  2D 1641  -45 4 37.5 14 28.5 20 13- 45+ 30+ 16- 31- 39+ 25- 38- 43+
36 Olufsen Asle             NO  3K 1436  +10 4 37.5 13 30   19  5- 12- 48+ 30- 54+ 49+ 27+ 18- 23-
37 Danerud Martin           SE  2D 1565  -19 4 35   11 27.5 21 30- 55+ 16- 54+ 17- 40+ 43+ 11- 25-
38 Hollingworth Justin      UK  8K 1032  +52 4 35    9 28.5 14 25- 20- 34- 45- +++ 53+ 51+ 35+ 24-
39 Rossmanith Alexander     DE  -- 1396  -31 4 33.5 12 26   19 44+ 29- 18- 27- 46+ 35- 49+ 48+ 20-
40 Coria-Espada Florencio   DE  6K 1230  +11 4 33   13 25.5 17 54- 27+ 12- 20- 53+ 37- 46+ 30- 45+
41 Rösch Wilfried           DE  6K 1305  -25 4 33   10 24.5 20 48+ 54+  3- 18- 21- 20- 47- 53+ 46+
42 Kau Tom                  NL  3K 1333  -65 4 29.5  8 23   10 46- 21- 28- 44- 49- +++ 55+ 51+ 47+

43 Rabe Jan                 SE  7K 1190  +33 3 41   11 32   19 50+ 25- 14- 51+ 15- 28+ 37- 23- 35-
44 Rama Hendrik             DE  7K 1076  +32 3 37    7 28   12 39- 15- 52- 42+ 51+ 24- 28- 50- +++
45 Stuifbergen Jan          NL  7K 1109  +18 3 36   10 28.5 15 32- 35- 24- 38+ 47+ 52+ 23- 28- 40-
46 Többens Daniel           DE 13K  737 +141 3 35.5 10 27.5 15 42+ 33- 22- 24- 39- 50+ 40- 52+ 41-
47 Wetzl Roland             AT  --  545 +123 3 33.5  6 27   16 +++ 26- 23- 50- 45- 54+ 41+ 34- 42-
48 Marquand Jean-Christophe FR  --  826  +90 3 33.5  6 26   14 41- 51- 36- +++ 50+ 34- 52+ 39- 33-
49 Jodet Luc                FR  --  509 +108 3 32    6 25.5 14 31- +++ 21- 34- 42+ 36- 39- 55- 54+
50 Namyslik Frank           DE  4K 1413  -69 3 30    8 22.5 11 43- 14- 27- 47+ 48- 46- 54+ 44+ 31-
51 Schamelhout Emmanuel     FR  1K 1546 -103 3 30    7 22.5 13 11- 48+ 10- 43- 44- 55+ 38- 42- 53+
52 Schöneburg Eberhard      DE  2K 1555 -139 3 29    7 21.5 14 29- 10- 44+ 53+ 22- 45- 48- 46- 55+

53 Mallet Francois          FR  --  622  +47 2 37    5 29   11 26- 28+ 19- 52- 40- 38- +++ 41- 51-
54 Hingley Peter            UK  9K  965  -41 2 33.5  4 26   11 40+ 41- 26- 37- 36- 47- 50- +++ 49-
55 Juntti Tord              SE 11K  766   +3 2 33.5  3 26    9 33- 37- +++ 28- 32- 51- 42- 49+ 52-

Nt=nationality, Gr=grade, Rtg=Elo rating before the championship, RtCh=Elo rating change based on the results in the tournament, S=score, Bu=Buchholz (sum of opponents' scores), SB=Sonneborn-Berger (sum of defeated opponents' scores), mB=median-Buchholz, Pr=progressive. +++ stands for a bye.

Promotions: Wartlick Karl: 1-dan, Dietmayer Marco: 1-kyu, Neumaier Andreas: 2-kyu, Stebbings Anthony: 3-kyu, Schäfer Norbert: 4-kyu, Marian Marc: 4-kyu, Rossmanith Alexander: 5-kyu, Rösch Wilfried: 5-kyu, Coria-Espada Florencio: 5-kyu, Rabe Jan: 6-kyu, Többens Daniel: 11-kyu, Marquand Jean-Christophe: 11-kyu, Wetzl Roland: 14-kyu, Mallet Francois: 14-kyu, Jodet Luc: 15-kyu.