2013 British Open Shogi Championships visits Hampstead

[Adam Raoof]

The 2013 British Open Shogi Championships will be held in Hampstead, London over the weekend of Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December. There will be six rounds, three on Saturday and three on Sunday, and everybody will play in each round. If there are an odd number of entries then I will play so there will be no byes. Entries should be made by replying to this email. There will be an entry fee of £15 payable before play starts. As the whole of this fee will go towards paying for the hire of the venue there will be no cash prizes, but there will be a nice trophy for the British Open Shogi Champion and various prizes of books and other goodies.

We will play with clocks. Each player will have a basic 30 minutes. Once a player has used up his 30 minutes he has not lost, but each further move must be played within 40 seconds. Ideally all games will be played with byo-yomi clocks which flip to count down from 40 seconds to zero for each move once the first 30 minutes is gone. If byo-yomi clocks are not available for all games then a timekeeper will count the time (... 30 ... 20 ... 10 ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... 0) once a player has used up his 30 minutes. If the clock or the timekeeper actually gets to zero then the player has lost on time.
Note for regular players - please bring a byo-yomi clock if you have one.

All of the games will be graded by FESA (the European Shogi Federation) so that everyone will end the tournament with a provisional FESA grade, even if they did not have one at the start.

The first game will begin at 11 am on Saturday 30th to give everybody time to get to Hampstead and to allow for a beginners' session before the start of play (if there are any beginners!). There will be a lunch break after the first game. We should finish before 6 pm on the first day. On Sunday we will start at 10 am to allow time for a playoff (if necessary) and for a blitz tournament (all-play-all at 8 minutes for the whole game).
Complete beginners may play using a hybrid set with a diagram showing the moves of the piece instead of the normal Japanese pieces. If you do not wish to play a game using one of these sets then please let me know on the day and I will make sure you do not have to!
Lunch can be provided by professional caterers if enough players register for this in advance or else you will all have to bring your own food and drink. Please let me know if you are interested in having lunch provided.
Please also contact me if you have any questions.

The venue is the Henderson Court Day Centre, 102 Fitzjohn's Avenue, London NW3 6NS. The nearest tube station is Hampstead (a few stops north of Euston on the Northern line).
For a map and transport/parking details see the following link:

http://hampsteadchess.blogspot.co.uk/p/ ... rking.html

I hope you can play!

Best regards,
David Faldon
President, British Shogi Federation

http://chesscircuit.blogspot.co.uk/