Japan Chess Championship Qualifiers - Part II
The months of February and March are quite busy with excitement in Japan's Chess calendar. Qualifying tournaments are held by various regional chess clubs, to select candidates for the strongest event of the year, held in May – the Japan Chess Championship (FIDE rated). Mayur Gondhalekar brings you all the news and updates from Japan in this two-part series. Part II covers events from Tokyo, Hokkaido and Hyogo (Kobe). Check out this report containing few games and beautiful photos from the events along with an annotated game by Japan no.3 IM Shinya Kojima. Photo: Mayur Gondhalekar
Nakamura wins Tokyo Chess Championship
Japan Chess Championship Qualification criteria: One person qualifies for every eight (or part of) participants. Any already qualified players, or anyone who decline the invitation are skipped. The host club can nominate one additional person.
Compared to last year's disruptions due to covid, this year has been kinder, with the qualifying tournament schedule as follows:
• Chiba Qualifying tournament (February 27, 28)
• Aichi Qualifying tournament (February 28)
• Osaka Qualifying tournament (March 7)
• Tokyo Qualifying tournament (March 20, 21)
• Hokkaido Qualifying tournament (March 27, 28)
• Hyogo Qualifying tournament (March 28)
Part I covered tournaments conducted in Osaka, Chiba, and Aichi (Nagoya); Part II covers tournaments conducted in Tokyo, Hokkaido and Hyogo (Kobe).
All tournaments followed the Anti-covid guidelines as follows:
- No participation if body temperature is above 37.5 C
- No handshakes, avoid post game discussions
- Disinfection of chess pieces between rounds
- Limited number of participants
- Disinfection of hands
- Wearing of mask at all times
Note: All tournaments are conducted as part of National Chess Society of Japan, Japan's FIDE affiliated organization.
Part II: Tokyo, Hokkaido, Hyogo (Kobe)
Japan map | Photo: maps-japan.com
Tokyo Chess Championship (Tokyo qualifying event)
Tokyo Chess Championship, as the qualifying event at Tokyo was named, was played over two days, with six rounds, using the 30+30 time control. This was the biggest event (in terms of number of participants) by NCS Japan since the start of the Corona-era, featuring 64 participants, from absolute beginners to very strong players. The top seeds were FM Mirai Aoshima and CM Alex Averbukh.
This tournament was won by Nakamuka Naohiro, who lived up to the reputation of his more famous namesake, with a sterling performance of four wins, two draws, scoring 5.0/6. Ambrona Miguel stood second, while CM Averbukh Alex finished third both with scores of 4.5/6.
The top five finishers, including FM Mirai Aoshima and Ryo Shiomi, completed the tournament unbeaten.
The overall winners:
1st - Naohiro Nakamura 5.0/6
2nd - Miguel Ambrona 4.5/6
3rd - CM Alex Averbukh 4.5/6
Top three in U1800 category:
1st - Seiichi Ogasa 4.0/6
2nd - Nobuyuki Koyama 4.0/6
3rd - WCM Azumi Sakai 3.5/6 (She represented Japan in FIDE Online Olympiad 2020 and Asian Online Nations Cup 2020)
Top three in U1400 category:
1st - Terumasa Kano 2.5/6
2nd - Yuki Misawa 2.5/6 (She represented Japan in Asian Online Nations Cup 2020)
3rd - Daijiro Kikuchi 2.5/6
I had a mixed bag, scoring 3/6 (three wins, three losses), which included a bad blunder in round one, being totally crushed in round 6, and pulling off a miraculous win in round 5.
Photo Gallery
Mr. Shinoda Taro is an avid follower of Chessbase India content, one of the many players from Japan who do so. He also streams on NCS Japan's official youtube channel along with FM Yamada Kohei.
Replay few games from Tokyo Championship
Final Standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | Gr | RtgN | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | TB4 | n | w | we | w-we | K | rtg+/- | |
| 1 | 3 | Nakamura Naohiro | 2234 | 5,0 | 18,0 | 21,0 | 17,75 | 9209 | 5 | 4 | 4,09 | -0,09 | 20 | -1,8 | ||
| 2 | 58 | Ambrona Miguel | 2190 | 4,5 | 21,5 | 25,5 | 18,75 | 10391 | 5 | 3,5 | 3,63 | -0,13 | 0 | 0,0 | ||
| 3 | 2 | CM | Averbukh Alex | 2318 | 4,5 | 21,0 | 23,5 | 17,00 | 10196 | 5 | 4 | 3,67 | 0,33 | 20 | 6,6 | |
| 4 | 1 | FM | Aoshima Mirai | 2467 | 4,5 | 20,5 | 23,5 | 17,00 | 9675 | 6 | 4,5 | 5,41 | -0,91 | 20 | -18,2 | |
| 5 | 6 | Shiomi Ryo | 2119 | 4,5 | 20,5 | 23,0 | 16,25 | 10335 | 6 | 4,5 | 3,40 | 1,10 | 20 | 22,0 | ||
| 6 | 7 | Tang Tang | 2086 | 4,5 | 19,5 | 22,0 | 15,25 | 10012 | 5 | 3,5 | 3,28 | 0,22 | 20 | 4,4 | ||
| 7 | 4 | Higashino Tetsuo | 2181 | 4,5 | 18,0 | 21,0 | 15,25 | 9447 | 5 | 3,5 | 3,63 | -0,13 | 20 | -2,6 | ||
| 8 | 5 | Ogawa Tomie | 2174 | 4,5 | 18,0 | 20,5 | 15,00 | 9733 | 6 | 4,5 | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | CM | Osaka Takuma | 2025 | 4,5 | 18,0 | 20,0 | 14,00 | 9575 | 6 | 4,5 | 4,20 | 0,30 | 40 | 12,0 | |
| 10 | 18 | Nodon Jeremi | 1800 | 4,0 | 19,5 | 22,0 | 13,00 | 9875 | 3 | 2 | 1,23 | 0,77 | 20 | 15,4 |
Hokkaido Qualifiers
I was seriously thinking of participating in this two-day, five-round tournament (35+30), held on March 27 and 28, but considering the distance between Sapporo and Tokyo, and the corona virus situation, decided not to travel all the way.
Sapporo Chess Club, which conducts the Hokkaido Qualifiers, is where GM Anish Giri played when he was around 9 years of age, and later became the Hokkaido Chess Champion. Mr. Nishimori and Mr. Sugimoto, who had played with Anish then, were among the 16 participants in the 2021 edition. Drakakis Athanasios won the tournament with a score of 4.0/5.
Replay all games
Final Standings after Round 5
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | 2 | Drakakis Athanasios | JPN | 1904 | 4,0 | 14,5 | 4 | 10,50 | |
| 2 | 5 | Takahashi Ryunosuke | JPN | 1657 | 4,0 | 12,5 | 4 | 10,00 | |
| 3 | 8 | Nakamura Mitsuru | JPN | 1354 | 3,5 | 14,5 | 3 | 9,50 | |
| 4 | 14 | Kawamura Takuto | JPN | 0 | 3,0 | 14,5 | 3 | 6,50 | |
| 5 | 4 | Nishimori Toshiyuki | JPN | 1712 | 3,0 | 14,0 | 2 | 7,50 |
Photos of Sapporo, and northern Hokkaido, with thanks to my friends Amruta Abhyankar and Saurabh Srivastava.
Hyogo Qualifiers (in Kobe)
Conducted by Mr. Okada Mitsuhiro on March 28 near Kobe, this four round tournament (35+30) featured IM Shinya Kojima, one of Japan's top players, who also won the tournament with ease. The event was restricted to around 16 participants, and also featured the unique clash between the chess couple IM Kojima Shinya and his wife WCM Kojima Natsumi.
IM Shinya Kojima annotated his fourth round win over Hideyuki Yokoo.
Replay few games
Final Standings
IM Kojima Shinya |
2496 |
4.0/4 |
Okada Mitsuhiro |
1822 |
3.0/4 |
Yokoo Hideyuki |
1856 |
2.5/4 |
Kojima Natsumi |
1745 |
2.5/4 |
McLeod Hugh |
1612 |
2.5/4 |
Tomii Yoshikatsu |
1830 |
2.5/4 |
Maeda Kazuki |
1250 |
2.0/4 |
Fujisaki Tatsuro |
1397 |
2.0/4 |
Harada Kazuki |
1780 |
2.0/4 |
Fujisaki Asato |
1164 |
2.0/4 |
Iizuka Hiroshi |
1328 |
2.0/4 |
Diba Syed Reza |
1398 |
1.5/4 |
Kikkawa Kei |
UR |
1.0/4 |
Nakata Reito |
878 |
1.0/4 |
Zhong Wen Yuan |
UR |
1.0/4 |
Morishige Yusei |
UR |
0.5/4 |
Photos from Kobe and Kansai area:
Inspired by the chess cafes in Europe, UCC introduced this to promote the “drink coffee and befriend intelligent people” concept. Coincidentally, 1972 is the famous Fischer vs Spassky match year.
Now that all the participants in this year's Japan Chess Championship have been decided, expecting to see a cracking event. Wishing the participants, all the best.
About the Author
Mayur is an IT engineer and a chess enthusiast from Mumbai, working in Japan since 2013. He has played over-the-board tournaments in India, USA and Japan. He has also been a top three finisher in a one-day OTB events in Japan in 2013, 2015, 2017 and online blitz in 2020. Currently he is making use of online platforms for chess improvement and learning Ayurveda. He loves salsa dancing, reading, traveling and teaching.
EDIT: Hokkaido Qualifiers photos and games added on 20th April 2021
