February 16, 2007
Tons of Tourneys
The fiscal year in Japan ends in February and traditionally March is a time for spring vacation, filling out taxes and finishing up the year while preparing for the new one. For Mahjong, that means tons of Final Tables in February. Not only are there tournaments happening in Japan at this time, there are also Reach Mahjong tournaments happening all over the world! This will be an introduction to the tournaments and a bit of history and we will keep you posted on the outcomes in the weeks to come.
2006 Season Phoenix Cup Finals
Japan Professional Mahjong League
February 16-18, 2007
This is definitely the most prestigious and most difficult competition to enter in Japan. The JPML hosts a league with 2 seasons per year. In order to qualify for the Final Table, you need to place in the top 4 competitors of the A1 League. With 8 Leagues below A1 and everyone working their way up from the bottom, it takes not only skill but also time to make it this far. This year's contenders are veterans Kouji Furukawa (Grade 8), Yuudai Maehara (Grade 8), Masaharu Tomotake (Grade 6), and with less than half as much experience in professional Mahjong, Masatsugu Mochidzuki (Grade 5).
With a splitting of the league last year, this year's A1 members included only 8 players, which will increase to 10 (not including the future reigning champion) next season. More details can be found here in Japanese. Stay tuned for a report on the Final Table.
Final Scores:
| Mochidzuki: | +46.0 |
|---|---|
| Furukawa: | +28.7 |
| Maehara: | 13.5 |
| Tomotake | 61.2 |
2006-2007 Winter Tournament Finals
Mahjong Montreal
Semi-Finals: February 17-18, 2007
Finals: March 4, 2007
The first and only Mahjong tournament in Canada started last November. Essentially, JPML rules are used, with the exception of a novel ranking system that takes into account the strength of each table, weighted by a logarithmic function. It gives more value to wins against strong players. More details can be found here in French. The final match has been postponed to the 4th of March because the semi-finals took longer than expected. A second seasonal tournament, which echoes the success of this one, is already planned for next Summer.
2007 Ryuou Tournament
Saikoui-sen Nihon Professional Mahjong
February 18, 2007
The Ryuou Tourney is a competition hosted by SNPM that invites members of any Professional Mahjong Organization to enter. Despite the host, not a single member of SNPM made the final table at Ryu-ou this year. Players who did make it include JPML's Vice-President, Yuukou Itou, JPML's Hiro Yamai, Mahjong Union's Takahiro Mihara and Nihon Pro Mahjong's Kousuke Takeuchi.
While JPML has 2 members representing them at the Finals, with the Phoenix Cup Finals on the same day perhaps turnout support will be fewer than other times.
Final Scores:
| Takeuchi (NPM) | +51.9 |
|---|---|
| Yamai (JPML) | +23.1 |
| Mihara (MU) | 6.1 |
| Itou (JPML) | 69.9 |
2006 Women's League Finals
Japan Professional Mahjong League
February 24-25, 2007
The first ever JPML Women's League comes to the Final Table this February with Keiko Kuwabara leading the first 4 to make it to the Finals. Joining her on this momentous occasion are Marina Yasuda, Michi Yuuki and Aiko Kashibayashi. The first season of the Women's League included 39 participants. The top 20 will be placed in an upper league for the second year and the remaining will be placed in a lower league. Winning the season by almost 60 points to 2nd place, Kuwabara is definitely the favorite going in.
Final Scores:
| Yuuki | +87.9 |
|---|---|
| Kuwabara | +2.9 |
| Yasuda | 19.7 |
| Kashibayashi | 81.1 |
2007 Cherry Blossom Tournament
Nederlandse Mahjong Bond
February 24, 2007
The first of 2 annual Reach Mahjong tournaments held in the Netherlands each year. ReachMahjong hopes to get more information on this tournament as the date gets closer.
2006 Champions League Finals
Japan Professional Mahjong League
March 3-4, 2007
This "it happens twice a year" practice league for JPML Pro's ends each season of 20 matches (spread over 5 days of 4 matches per day) with 15 members going to the semi-finals to battle with last season's defending champion, rookie Hisato Sasaki. This time our own Garthe Nelson will join the Final 16 in March, coming in 2nd in the preliminaries to Shuuji Takagi. With 5 days of straight winning, we have high expectations for Garthe to be the first American to win a JPML title! Go Garthe!!
Final Scores:
| Ishibashi | +75.9 |
|---|---|
| Nakamura | +31.0 |
| Takagi | 34.0 |
| Konno | 72.9 |
Stay tuned for the results of all these tournaments and more!