Results for Dan Group

Three players finished the tournament with 6 out of 7. The playoffs decided the following places:

1. Miyamoto
2. Van Oosten
3. Fukumura

---

1  Van Oosten    0   6   32  26  26+  7+ 11+  2- 20+  5+  3+
2  Fukumura      0   6   30  24  23+ 15+ 20+  1+  3-  9+  8+
3  Miyamoto      0   6   30  24  24+  4+ 29+ 12+  2+  8+  1-
4  Segers        0   5   29  19  27+  3- 16+ 10+  8- 13+ 11+
5  Mieki         0   5   26  16  11- 31+ 14+ 29+ 12+  1-  9+
6  Lamb          0   5   23  17  25+ 29- 18+ 23+  9- 20+ 14+
7  Oosterwijk    0   5   23  13  35+  1- 13- 21+ 29+ 22+ 10+
8  Sandeman      0   4   32  17  14+ 20-  9+ 15+  4+  3-  2-
9  Dai           0   4   30  15  16+ 13+  8- 30+  6+  2-  5-
10 Toyoda        0   4   29  15  19+ 18+ 12-  4- 23+ 11+  7-
11 Hollanders    0   4   29  14   5+ 30+  1- 22+ 17+ 10-  4-
12 Casters       0   4   29  14  17+ 22+ 10+  3-  5- 15- 20+
13 Kei           0   4   28  16  21+  9-  7+ 20- 18+  4- 15+
14 Schuler       0   4   25  11   8- 28+  5- 33+ 30+ 17+  6-
15 Litjens       0   4   25  11  34+  2- 21+  8- 26+ 12+ 13-
16 Cheymol       0   4   23  11   9- 21-  4- 19+ 31+ 29+ 23+
17 Geuns         0   4   23  11  12- 33+ 19+ 32+ 11- 14- 24+
18 Hara          0   4   22  9   36+ 10-  6- 25+ 13- 21+ 30+
19 Mirnik        0   4   19  7   10- 36+ 17- 16- 34+ 30+ 22+
20 Boekschoten   0   3   32  11  28+  8+  2- 13+  1-  6- 12-
21 De Schepper   0   3   26  9   13- 16+ 15-  7- 27+ 18- 32+
22 Yamamoto      0   3   25  8   33+ 12- 26+ 11- 24+  7- 19-
23 Solter        0   3   24  5    2- 34+ 32+  6- 10- 33+ 16-
24 Pottier       0   3   23  8    3- 27+ 30- 31+ 22- 28+ 17-
25 Lerminet      0   3   20  6    6- 32- 27+ 18- 28- 36+ 33+
26 Gorissen      0   3   19  4    1- 35+ 22- 34+ 15- 32- 29+
27 Heeffer       0   3   18  4    4- 24- 25- 35+ 21- 31+ 34+
28 Jacobs        0   3   17  5   20- 14- 31- 36+ 25+ 24- 35+
29 Hellinx       0   2   30  7   32+  6+  3-  5-  7- 16- 26-
30 Theeuwen      0   2   25  5   31+ 11- 24+  9- 14- 19- 18-
31 Roquas        0   2   21  4   30-  5- 28+ 24- 16- 27- 36+
32 Hosking       0   2   20  6   29- 25+ 23- 17- 33- 26+ 21-
33 Danerud       0   2   20  3   22- 17- 35+ 14- 32+ 23- 25-
34 Yoshino       0   1   19  1   15- 23- 36+ 26- 19- 35- 27-
35 Dreblow       0   1   18  1    7- 26- 33- 27- 36- 34+ 28-
36 Beel          0   1   18  1   18- 19- 34- 28- 35+ 25- 31-

Result for Kyu Group

1  Cain          0   6   25  25   6+  8+  7+  3+  2+  5+
2  Nonoyama      0   5   23  17  18+ 15+  9+  7+  1-  6+
3  Kenney        0   4   24  14  14+ 13+  5+  1-  6-  4+
4  Eeckhout      0   4   22  14  12+  5- 11+  8+  9+  3-
5  Majewski      0   4   22  12  21+  4+  3- 12+ 10+  1-
6  V.D.Velde     0   4   22  11   1- 25+ 10+ 16+  3+  2-
7  Tran          0   4   22  11  23+ 11+  1-  2- 12+ 15+
8  Brewer        0   4   20  10  24+  1- 14+  4- 18+ 17+
9  Greb          0   4   19  10  20+ 19+  2- 13+  4- 14+
10 Schamelhout   0   3   19  8   11- 16+  6- 15+  5- 18+
11 Boekwijt      0   3   18  8   10+  7-  4- 21- 13+ 19+
12 Kau Tom       0   3   18  6    4- 21+ 19+  5-  7- 22+
13 Roels         0   3   17  6   22+  3- 20+  9- 11- 21+
14 Ballet        0   3   17  5    3- 26+  8- 22+ 16+  9-
15 Adams         0   3   16  4   26+  2- 23+ 10- 20+  7-
16 Weimann       0   3   15  5   25+ 10- 18+  6- 14- 20+
17 Guzek         0   3   14  6   19- 20- 24+ 23+ 21+  8-
18 Volckaert     0   2   19  4    2- 24+ 16- 19+  8- 10-
19 Moerman E.    0   2   17  5   17+  9- 12- 18- 23+ 11-
20 Hecquet       0   2   17  4    9- 17+ 13- 25+ 15- 16-
21 Mueller-K.    0   2   16  3    5- 12- 26+ 11+ 17- 13-
22 Gerards       0   2   14  3   13- 23- 25+ 14- 24+ 12-
23 Bataille      0   2   14  2    7- 22+ 15- 17- 19- 26+
24 Roberts       0   2   12  1    8- 18- 17- 26+ 22- 25+
25 Fukumura Y.   0   1   13  0   16-  6- 22- 20- 26+ 24-
26 Bottcher      0   0   13  0   15- 14- 21- 24- 25- 23-

Report for The 1996 European SHOGI Championships

LOOKING BACK .....

The 12th European Shogi Championships, held over the last weekend of august 1996, will surely claim its place as one of the most important, succesfull, exciting and entertai-ning tournaments ever held in Europe so far.

Due to Ricoh Japan's generous sponsorship, full accomodation could be offered to ALL players, which proved to be the best way to attract as many players as possible.

With 62 players, 36 in the dan-group - a record - and 26 in the kyu-group, the overall record, set in French in 1990 (65 players), was the second largest number.

The fight in the dan-group promised to be very, very tough. With one 5-dan and five 4-dan players it seemed impossible to point out a real favourite, but Fukumura, Miyamoto, Sandeman, Van Oosten, Cheymol and Lamb, the top rated players - some of them former champions - , would be the most likeable candidates to follow in Reijer Grimbergen's foot-steps. Unfortunately, the titleholder could not be present to defend his crown, but fortunately, that didn't make the fight less interesting.

Already in the first round, one of the favourites missed out. Cheymol made some weaker moves and Dai capitalized very keenly. In the same round, Matt Casters, the current Belgian Champion, crushed outsider Geuns without mercy.

In the second round, more surprises were to follow... Sandeman made the worst possible mistake by resigning in a WON position against Boekschoten and will now have to work very hard to get back in contention. Stephen Lamb, twice the Champion already lost to a very inspired Hellinx. Casters beat another 3-dan, Yamamoto and is still in the leading group. Cheymol lost again - to Bart De Schepper - and can forget about the title. What's wrong Eric ??

No big surprises in the 3rd round, unless perhaps Casters' third victory in a row, this time over 4-dan Toyoda, who gained the advantage in the early middlegame, but faltered when defending against a furious attack by our Belgian hero. The number of title-contenders has come down to no more than four....

The 4th round was the first really crucial one. Fukumura beat former champion Arend Van Oosten and is playing the tournament of his life so far. Belgian ace Matt Casters finally found his Nemesis in a well prepared Miyamoto, who improved on Toyoda's play in the previous round. Sandeman kept his chances for a possible play-off alive by beating Litjens.

The 5th round held no real surprises. Fukumura lost to Miyamoto, who seems well under way to his first European title and Sandeman did his duty against dutch giant Hans Segers. Van Oosten came back strongly after his first defeat and swept Boekschoten aside. Lamb spoiled his last chance by losing to newcomer Dai who is definitely a man for the future.

In what was one of the best games of the tournament so far, Sandeman attacked violently against sole leader Miyamoto and seemed well on his way to inflict a first defeat unto his opponent, but the latter kept his cool, defended strongly and finally cashed in the full point. Fukumura and Van Oosten won their respective games as well, so everything will be down to the very last round.

Interlude...The European Speed Shogi Championships.

On saturday evening, 52 players joined in for the first official European Speed Shogi Championship and settled down for seven games at 8 minutes sudden death [ tonshi ] each ( drawn games would have to be replayed at only 4 minutes pp. !! ).

Mike Sandeman seemed to be well on his way to savegard his reputation of Europe's best quick-player and won his first six games in convincing style, beating Fukumura, Miyamoto, Van Oosten and Dai, only to lose in the very last round against Hans Secelle, the 1985 and first ever European Champion and chief arbiter in the "normal EC". Not only did this enable him to get 6 points as well, but also Cheymol and surprise kid, De Schepper ( 1 dan !! ) tied for first place.

In the first play-off Sandeman beat Cheymol and Secelle won against De Schepper on time. So everything came down to one single game. This time, Sandeman had learned his lesson well and Hans, once elected as Europes's most popular player, was utterly crushed. For one year to come,

MIKE SANDEMAN
is the
OFFICIAL EUROPEAN SPEED SHOGI CHAMPION
CONGRATULATIONS !!!

The last round....

Van Oosten kept his dream of winning the totle for a third time alive and managed to beat Miyamoto in a very tense battle. Fukumura managed to find a hole in Sandemans mating net and squeezed out his sixth point, so for the very first time in the history of the European Championship, we will have a 3-player play-off.

The games will be 30 minutes per game / per player, with 30 " byoyomi.

Fukumura and Miyamoto finished 2nd and 3rd on tiebreak and they played the first game. In an Aiyagura, Fukumura stood well after the first openingmoves, but Miyamoto defended very neatly and when his opponent made a couple of weaker moves, he capitalised with deadly precision. His next opponent will be the twice European Champion, Arend Van Oosten.

Unfortunately, what should have been the climax of the tournament turned out to be a one-way game, in which Arend attacked too soon and got boomeranged by steel-nerved Miyamoto.

The King is dead, long live the new king !!

Miyamoto, the strongest player of them all, is now

THE 1996 EUROPEAN CHAMPION

CONGRATULATIONS !!!

Finally, in the name of all the players, I would like to express our gratitude to RICOH JAPAN.

Without their support, this tourmanent, which was probably the best ever held in Europe so far, could not haven taken place. Without Ricoh, European Shogi could never exist !

See You all next year !!!!