 Associazione Italiana Shogi |
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The Fourth Italian Open Shogi Championship
(Quarto Campionato Italiano Open di Shogi)
Dates: Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 December 2003
Venue: Conference Centre Palazzo delle Stelline, Milan, Italy
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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 2003 runs from Friday 5 through Monday 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.
- Information, results and reports of previous editions are available here.
- In addition to Giochi Sforzeschi 2003 and its Shogi Championship, 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 |
Fourth Italian Open Shogi Championship
- Format: 6 rounds. 40 minutes per player per game, 30 seconds byoyomi. No handicaps. Swiss pairing system.
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PARTICIPATION and REGISTRATION |
- Participation in the Championship 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.
- Noguchi Koji, a former Shoreikai member (i.e., apprentice professional), will travel from Japan and participate in the Championship. In addition to Noguchi-san, players from Germany, Switzerland and Italy (including Italian Champion Giuseppe Baggio) have already signed up.
- Registration at the venue will start 30 minutes before the first round (Saturday 6 December at 9:30).
- If you are interested in participating, please contact the organizer Pieter Stouten as soon as possible:
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ACCOMMODATION |
- The following two hotels are recommended: Hotel
Palazzo delle Stelline and Starhotel
Business Palace. To make reservations, please contact the
hotels directly. Especially Hotel
Palazzo delle Stelline is convenient as it is right next
to the playing venue. A limited number of rooms is available
there, so please book as soon as possible. The organizers of
Giochi Sforzeschi have negotiated special rates with the Starhotel
Business Palace. In order to get the rates listed below mention
"Giochi Sforzeschi" when making your reservation.
Hotel Palazzo delle Stelline
Corso Magenta 61, Milano
Phone: +39-02-4818431
Starhotel Business Palace
Via Gaggia 3, Milano
Phone: +39-02-53545
Prices per room per night (including breakfast)
* single room: 61.00 Euro
* double room: 71.27 Euro
- Cheaper hotels (about 15 minutes by underground from the playing venue) are available upon request. Contact the Giochi Sforzeschi organizers at info [at] giochisforzeschi [dot] it or italy [at] msoworld [dot] com for more information and to make reservations.
- For more information, check out the Giochi Sforzeschi hotel page (in Italian).
- Limited accommodation with Shogi players from the Milan area is also available. If interested, .
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RESULTS and REPORT |
Report by Marc Marian
The 4th Italian Open Shogi Championship (6 & 7 December 2003) in the wonderful City of Milano was organized by the Italian Shogi Association (AIS). The 4th Italian Open Championship was also part of the European Shogi Grand Prix circuit.
The congress center Palazzo delle Stelline was an interesting playing venue for this tournament, because it took place in the framework of "Giochi Sforzeschi", which featured over 60 Mind Sports including Chess, Go, Renju, Xiang Qi (Chinese Chess), Bridge, MahJongg, Draughts, Backgammon, Mancala, Othello, Scrabble, Abalone, Risk and Stratego. We met a lot of friendly, mostly younger people, to get to know many other of the games mentioned above. Some of those enthusiasts showed their verve for fantasy games or science fiction by masquerading as Darth Vader, elves, medieval knights or Captain Picard. Beyond Shogi, it was an interesting and exciting weekend for all of us.
The Shogi tournament profited from this friendly atmosphere too. 12 players from 6 countries had great fun together. We played 6 rounds swiss pairing system with time discipline encouraging 40 minutes + 30 seconds byoyomi. Some of the players only showed up for a few rounds, being interested in Shogi but taking part at some other event in the congress center. But on the other hand it was a good publicity for our game.
The dominant player was Koji Noguchi, a former Shoreikai member (apprentice professional). He won all his games. Actually he travelled to Europe to improve his chess skills. His first station was Italy and luckily for us we could benefit from his participation not only in the games, but also in "kanso-sen" (review the game). Jean-Francois Pinto finished second and showed that he improves his skills quickly. After a good result in Hannover German Open, he deserved to pick up another 150 ELO points taking home to France. I was quite satisfied too with my result and I'd like to give congratulations to Pieter Stouten. He only lost against Noguchi-san and as well did a great job as tournament director.
4th Italian Open Shogi Championship (the Italian Grand Prix), 6 & 7 December 2003
Nr Name Nt Gr ELO Rounds S Bu dELO -- -------------------------- -- -- ----- ---------------------- - ---- ---- 1 Noguchi Koji JP 2401* 8+ 9+ 2+ 4+ 3+ 6+ 6 18 2 Pinto Jean-Francois FR 6k 1198 6+ 3+ 1- 5+ 7+ 4- 4 21.5 +150 3 Marian Marc DE 3k 1426 5+ 2- 8+ 6+ 1- 7+ 4 18 +37 4 Stouten Pieter NL 3d 1824 -- 8+ 7+ 1- 5+ 2+ 4 16 +8 5 Coria-Espada Florencio DE 5k 1271 3- 12+ 9+ 2- 4- ++ 3 19.5 -1 6 Schaefer Norbert DE 3k 1556 2- 7- 11+ 3- 8+ 1- 2 18.5 -47 7 Baggio Giuseppe IT 4k 1362 9- 6+ 4- 8+ 2- 3- 2 18 -1 8 Stroud Jeff CA 1726 1- 4- 3- 7- 6- 11+ 1 20 -102 9 Engelhardt Alexander DE 2k 1386 7+ 1- 5- -- -- -- 1 11 -6 10 Reale Francesco IT 591* -- -- -- -- 11+ -- 1 1.5 11 Bertocchi Marcello IT 400* -- -- 6- -- 10- 8- 0 6.5 12 Sassoli Cesare IT 400* -- 5- -- -- -- -- 0 3
- Nt = nationality, Gr = grade, ELO = pre-event Elo rating, S = score, BU = Bucholtz score (sum of opponents' scores), dElo = Elo rating change.
- Promotions: Schaefer Norbert 2k, Stroud Jeff 3k, Pinto Jean-Francois 5k.
- You can check here the 5th round game between Marian and Noguchi.
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IMPORTANT LINKS |
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