The Royston Shogi Congress was held on Saturday 12th September at the Coombes Community Centre in Royston, Herts, UK. The Congress was quite well attended, with 13 players altogether competing in the 2 tournaments: Shogi and Mini-Shogi. Unfortunately the British Tori-Shogi Championships had to be cancelled as there was only 1 entrant, Phil Holland!
As a result of the moderate entry, the 1999 Shogi Congress will be held in Cambridge at around the same time of the year. Hopefully the Tori-Shogi Championship will be held again there.
I hope I will see you all in Cambridge in 1999!!
The prizes awarded were as follows:
| Doug McGown Memorial Shogi Tournament |
| Dan Group Winner - Les Blackstock - 3 wins |
| Kyu Group Winner - Mike Brewer - 2 wins |
| Junior - Rachel Holland - 0 wins |
| Mini-Shogi Competition (2pts for a win, 1pt for a defeat) |
| 1. Nick Langford - 20pts (6 wins) |
| 2=. Matthew Woodcraft - 19pts (6 wins), Yukio Hirata - 19pts (9 wins), |
| 4=. Matthew Reid - 16pts (6 wins), Tony Hosking - 16pts (6 wins) |
| Round 1: | |||
| Hideki Tanaka | vs | Yukio Hirata | 1-0 |
| Ian Spence | vs | Les Blackstock | 0-1 |
| Steven Cain | vs | Tony Hosking | 0-1 |
| Round 2: | |||
| Ian Spence | vs | Hideki Tanaka | 0-1 |
| Tony Hosking | vs | Les Blackstock | 0-1 |
| Steven Cain | vs | Yukio Hirata | 1-0 |
| Round 3: | |||
| Hideki Tanaka | vs | Les Blackstock | 0-1 |
| Tony Hosking | vs | Yukio Hirata | 1-0 |
| Ian Spence | vs | Steven Cain | 0-1 |
| Pos. | Player's name (Club) | Grade | Pl. | W. | SOS |
| 1. | Les Blackstock (London) | 3-dan | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| 2. | Tony Hosking (Stratford) | 3-dan | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 3. | Hideki Tanaka (Japan) | 1-dan | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 4. | Steven Cain (London) | 2-dan | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 5. | Ian Spence (Surrey) | 1-kyu | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| 6. | Yukio Hirata (Japan) | 4-dan | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Round 1: | |||
| Matthew Reid | vs | Mike Brewer | 1-0 |
| Matthew Woodcraft | vs | Alan Baker (Bishop) | 0-1 |
| Rachel Holland | vs | Nick Langford (Rook+Lance) | 0-1 |
| Round 2: | |||
| Alan Baker | vs | Matthew Reid | 1-0 |
| Nick Langford | vs | Mike Brewer (2 pieces) | 0-1 |
| Rachel Holland | vs | Matthew Woodcraft (2 pieces) | 0-1 |
| Round 3: | |||
| Alan Baker | vs | Mike Brewer | 0-1 |
| Nick Langford | vs | Matthew Woodcraft (Lance) | 1-0 |
| Rachel Holland | vs | Matthew Reid (4 pieces) | 0-1 |
| Pos. | Player's name (Club) | Grade | Pl. | W. | SOS |
| 1. | Mike Brewer (London) | 2-kyu | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 2. | Alan Baker (Cambridge) | 5-kyu | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 3. | Matthew Reid (Cambridge) | 4-kyu | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| 4. | Nick Langford (Cambridge) | 10-kyu | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 5. | Matthew Woodcraft (Cambridge) | 8-kyu | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 6. | Rachel Holland (Royston) | 15-kyu | 3 | 0 | 5 |
Email: Phil Holland <phil.holland@bcs.org.uk>
