Kiriyama Shogi Cup

We invite you to the Kiriyama Shogi Cup, a handicap shogi tournament in commemoration of Rei Kiriyama, a young professional shogi player from the manga and anime March Comes in Like a Lion.

Shogi is the Japanese variant of chess, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogi for the rules.

Venue: Klub Osiedlowy KRĄG, Dmowskiego 37, 60-222 Poznań

System: 5 rounds, Accelerated Swiss system, 20 min + 40 sec byoyomi, FESA rated, obligatory handicaps (find the rules below)

Timetable: registration until 10:50, first round at 11:00, closing ceremony approx. at 16:50

Dinner: We welcome everyone to join the dinner at PoWolność, Kanałowa 15, 60-710 Poznań, after the tournament.

Prizes: material prizes for the first five players
1st place: Rei Kiriyama prize
2nd place: Hinata Kawamoto prize
3rd place: Akari Kawamoto prize
4th place: Takashi Hayashida prize
5th place: Momo Kawamoto prize

Fee: 25 PLN (or the equivalent in EUR)

We highly recommend early registration. Providing a phone number in the registration form is optional. You may select any date as your date of birth. If your town should be listed on the list of participants, please include it as a message in the registration form.

Fair play statement: Fairness, respect, and inclusivity are paramount values for shogi tournaments. We believe in providing a welcoming and equitable environment for all participants regardless of nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, ability, or any other characteristic. Discrimination, in any form, will not be tolerated.

If you are interested in playing shogi regularly in Poznań, join us for weekly chess and shogi evenings at The Dubliner Irish Pub, located at Święty Marcin 80/82, 61-809 Poznań, every Thursday starting at 18:30.

Handicap rules

Computation of handicaps: The ELO of each player according to the FESA rating list from June 20, 2024, will be converted into a fractional grade. By the table from point 2 of the FESA rating regulations http://fesashogi.eu/index.php?mid=5&listid=elosystem, the ELO of a player lies in a rating range of a certain grade g between a lower bound ELO LB and an upper bound ELO UB. The fractional grade frac.g is computed as follows (rounded to one decimal place):

frac.g = g + (ELO-LB)/(UB-LB)

The fractional grade may differ from the actual grade of a player. The fractional grade of a player without a FESA rating will be estimated in accordance with their playing strength.

Example:
A player’s ELO is 1847. The corresponding grade is g = 2 dan. The values for LB = 1800 and UB = 1920 yield the fractional grade frac.g = 2.4 dan.
A player’s ELO is 1355. The corresponding grade is g = 4 kyu. The values for LB = 1280 and UB = 1360 yield the fractional grade frac.g = 3.1 kyu.

The difference of the fractional grades between two players determines the handicap:

0-0.5: no handicap, equal game
0.6-1.4: left lance
1.5-2: bishop
2.1-2.6: rook
2.7-3.5: rook and left lance
3.6-4.9: 2 pieces (rook and bishop)
5.0-6.4: 4 pieces (2 pieces plus both lances)
6.5-7.9: 5 pieces (4 pieces plus right knight)
8.0 and above: 6 pieces (4 pieces plus both knights)

Example: The difference of the fractional grades of the two players from the above example is 4.5. The corresponding handicap is two pieces.

Further rules: In case of jishogi (mutual entering kings), the handicap giver gets credit for the pieces removed at the start. In case of sennichite (move repetition) or a tied jishogi count, the handicap giver wins.