 Associazione Italiana Shogi |
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(Terzo Campionato Italiano Open di Shogi)
Dates: Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 December 2002
Date: Friday 6 December 2002
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Contents: [General Information] [Playing Venue] [Schedule and Format] [Participation and Registration] [Accommodation] [Results and Report] [Important Links] |
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GENERAL INFORMATION |
- The Shogi Championship is organized by the Italian Shogi Association (AIS) in the framework of Giochi Sforzeschi, which features over 60 Mind Sports including Chess, Go, Renju, Xiang Qi (Chinese Chess), Bridge, Mah Jong, Draughts, Backgammon, Mancala, Othello, Scrabble, Abalone, Risk and Stratego. Giochi Sforzeschi 2002 runs from Thursday 5 through Sunday 8 December.
- The Italian Open Championship is also part of the European Shogi Grand Prix circuit (organized under the auspices of the Federation of European Shogi Associations, FESA), so it offers a great opportunity to score points for this prestigeous title.
- A novelty this year is a Blitz Shogi Championship on Friday evening 6 December.
- In addition to Giochi Sforzeschi 2002 and its Shogi Championships, Milano has quite a bit to offer. The Cathedral, Cimitero Monumentale, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper", Castello Sforzescho and the nightlife in the Navigli district are major tourist attractions.
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PLAYING VENUE |
- Conference Centre Palazzo delle Stelline, Corso Magenta 61, 20123 Milano, Italy. Phone: +39-02-481-8431. Fax: +39-02-4851-9097. The venue is easily reached by underground: Cadorna on the Red (MM1) and Green (MM2) lines; S. Ambrogio on the Red (MM1) line. For details refer to the map (gif format, 40 kB).
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SCHEDULE and FORMAT |
Blitz Championship Italian Open Shogi Championship
- Format First Italian Open Blitz Shogi Championship (Friday):
7 rounds. 8 minutes per player per game, no byoyomi. No handicaps.
- Format Third Italian Open Shogi Championship (Saturday and Sunday): 6 rounds. 40 minutes per player per game, 30 seconds byoyomi. No handicaps. Tournament performance rating (TPR) based pairing system.
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PARTICIPATION and REGISTRATION |
- Participation in both the Blitz and main Championships is completely free of charge. The tournament is open to everybody and previous years have shown that beginners as well as stronger players will have a very enjoyable time.
- If you are interested in participating, please contact the organizer Pieter Stouten as soon as possible. Registration at the venue will start 30 minutes before the first round of each event (16:30 on Friday 6 December for the Blitz Championship; 9:30 on Saturday 7 December for the main Championship).
- First-ever European Champion Hans Secelle of Belgium has already confirmed his participation in this year's events, along with two other players from Belgium (Albrecht Heeffer and Eddy Verhaeven), Asle Olufsen, Terje Christoffersen and Antje Rapmund (Norway), Fabien Osmont and Eddy Camacho (France) and Italian Champion Giuseppe Baggio, so it promises to be a very enjoyable tournament.
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ACCOMMODATION |
- The organizers of Giochi Sforzeschi have negotiated special
rates with two hotels: Hotel Palazzo delle Stelline and Starhotel
Business Palace. Especially Hotel Palazzo delle Stelline is convenient
as it is right next to the playing venue.
Hotel Palazzo delle Stelline
Corso Magenta 61, Milano
Phone: +39-02-4818431
Prices per room per night (including breakfast)
* single room: 80 Euro
* double room: 111 EuroStarhotel Business Palace
Via Gaggia 3, Milano
Phone: +39-02-53545
Prices per room per night (including breakfast)
* single room: 54 Euro
* double room: 68 Euro
In order to obtain those rates, you need to make reservations with the Giochi Sforzeschi organizers. A very limited number of rooms is available, so please book as soon as possible by sending e-mail to the organizers at info [at] giochisforzeschi [dot] it, mentioning the name(s) of the person(s), and the arrival and departure dates. - Cheaper hotels (about 15 minutes by underground from the playing venue) are available upon request. Contact the Giochi Sforzeschi organizers for more information and to make reservations.
- For more information, check out the Giochi Sforzeschi hotel page (in Italian).
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RESULTS and REPORT |
Report by Albrecht Heeffer
The third edition of the Italian Open was, as the previous one, part of the Italian Minds Sports Olympiad. The thirteen shogi players were hardly noticeable in this event hosting over 150 games and gatherings. More pronounced were the trekkies in Captain Kirk uniforms, the Star War soldiers in their white harnesses, witches in black dresses with caps, Buffy vampire look alikes and angels with wings. This Giochi Sforzeschi is definitely different in character from the MSO editions in London with crossword puzzle, memory, creativity and intelligence competitions. The large crowd with youngsters, dressed in black and infatuated with swords, costumes and mythical artefacts created a gothic, loaded atmosphere in the catacombs of the Palazzo Stelline. In the central aisles serious wars took place, with adult men dressed in army uniforms tossing dice and measuring the centimetres to advance their armies across beautifully decorated war sceneries. "Serious" games like chess, Xianchi, Go and shogi were practiced in rooms, somewhat protected from the overdressed, overacting crowd.
Hans Secelle announced his excellent shape with some practice games on Friday afternoon. He won the Friday night Shogi blitz as well as the weekend tournament with conviction. After winning all games in the Italian Open he added a simultaneous exhibition winning 6 games out of 8. The second league consisted of Terje Christoffersen, Pieter Stouten and myself, losing from Hans, winning one game from two against the other second league players and winning all other games. Guiseppe Baggio led the third league and as the first Italian became Italian Champion. Martin Muller is a new player from Switzerland showing good promise. He won his first game from Eddy Verhaeven (1K) and lost the others, but after a good fight and demonstrating improvement with every game. New about this tournament was the pairing based on TPR (tournament performance rating), using a program developed by Asle Olufsen. Although it gave me the second place, which I did appreciate, this pairing system needs some further evaluation. This tournament was good fun, at an excellent location in a beautiful city.
3rd Italian Open Shogi Championship (the Italian Grand Prix), 7 & 8 December 2002
Nr Name Nat TPR S Rounds -- -------------------- --- ---- - ---------------------- 1 Secelle Hans BE 2291 6 4+ 3+ 11+ 2+ 7+ 6+ 2 Heeffer Albrecht BE 1775 4 3- 5+ 7+ 1- 4+ 11+ 3 Christoffersen Terje NO 1775 4 2+ 1- 4- 11+ 5+ 8+ 4 Stouten Pieter NL 1762 4 1- 11+ 3+ 7+ 2- 10+ 5 Baggio Giuseppe IT 1337 3 8+ 2- 12- 9+ 3- 7+ 6 Camacho Eddy FR 1329 4 9- 10+ 8+ 13+ 11+ 1- 7 Tognoni Enrico IT 1300 2 ++ 12+ 2- 4- 1- 5- 8 Olufsen Asle NO 1261 3 5- 9+ 6- ++ 13+ 3- 9 Hrabal Vojtech CZ 1144 3 6+ 8- 13+ 5- 10+ -- 10 Osmont Fabien FR 1092 3 13+ 6- ++ 12+ 9- 4- 11 Mueller Martin CH 1091 1 12+ 4- 1- 3- 6- 2- 12 Verhaeven Eddy BE 808 1 11- 7- 5+ 10- -- -- 13 Trombettoni Andrea IT 572 1 10- ++ 9- 6- 8- --1st Italian Open Blitz ("Lampo") Shogi Championship, 6 December 2002
Nr Name Nat TPR S Rounds -- -------------------- --- ---- - ---------------------- 1 Secelle Hans BE 2200 6 2+ 3+ 4+ 5+ 7+ 6+ 2 Stouten Pieter NL 1781 4 1- 5+ 3+ 4+ 6- 7+ 3 Christoffersen Terje NO 1612 3 4+ 1- 2- 7- 9+ 5+ 4 Heeffer Albrecht BE 1579 3 3- 7+ 1- 2- 8+ 9+ 5 Olufsen Asle NO 1533 3 7+ 2- 8+ 1- ++ 3- 6 Mueller Martin CH 1502 4 ++ 9- 10+ 8+ 2+ 1- 7 Baggio Giuseppe IT 1436 2 5- 4- 9+ 3+ 1- 2- 8 Hrabal Vojtech CZ 1209 3 9+ 10+ 5- 6- 4- 0+ 9 Tognoni Enrico IT 1162 2 8- 6+ 7- ++ 3- 4- 10 Sassoli Cesare IT 252 1 -- 8- 6- -- -- 0+
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IMPORTANT LINKS |
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