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Five winners crowned at Tokyo Chess Festival 2022

by Mayur Gondhalekar - 11/11/2022

Come October, come chess festivals. A far simpler version than the Global Chess Festival, a festival of chess nonetheless, is conducted by NCS Japan in Tokyo. The instructions at the start were very clear - Play chess, Between games meet people, make new friends, Widen your circles and horizons annd Enjoy the festival. Thus began the one-day tournament called Tokyo Chess Festival 2022, after two years of cancellations due to the pandemic situation. Check out a pictorial report of the event written by Mayur Gondhalekar. Photo: National Chess Society of Japan

First place finishers of each of the groups: Kano Miexner (D), Nguyen Cong Khen(C), CM Kobayashi Atsuhiko (A), Tochikubo Jin (B), Fujiwara Kaori (D) | Photo: National Chess Society of Japan

This NCS Japan Rated over the board tournament consisted of three rounds, with a standard time control of 30 minutes + 30 seconds per move from the start.

 

The 48-participant limit was reached very quickly, of which 47 turned up to play. Using a bit of creativity, the organizers split the field into four different groups of roughly similar ratings, with prizes for top players from each of the groups.

 

The venue was Ikegami Kaikan, where I have probably played a chess event prior to the formation of NCS Japan. It is a nice suburb of Tokyo, with parts of it having a certain rustic feel.

 

Two players from Japan’s Olympiad teams took part in this event: CM Atsuhiko Kobayashi, and Yuki Misawa. Kobayashi got the Candidate Master title after his sterling performance at the Chess Olympiad, where he got the better of a Lithuanian GM on board no.4.

While my performance might be termed as ‘forgettable’, two of my games were quite interesting, while the tournament as a whole was memorable, especially the amount of interaction with other players between the rounds.

 

The field of participants was split into four groups of twelve players each. Prizes included cash, Chessmood coins, and Chess.com diamond memberships. I ended up in the top group.

Replay Group A games

Picturesque (view from the location) | Photo: Mayur Gondhalekar

Tokyo Chess Festival 2022 | Photo: Mayur Gondhalekar

Participant list | Photo: Mayur Gondhalekar

Getting ready to roll | Photo: Mayur Gondhalekar

The preparation is in the coffee – different one for each round – Mukai, Hiroyuki. (Please note, this is just a humourous take) | Photo: Mayur Gondhalekar

Winners of Group D: L-R: Nguyen Cong Khon (5), Furuse Mizuki (3), Kano Miexner (1), Fujiwara Kaori (1), Kumasaka Akiho (3), and Yoshida Lira (5) | Photo: National Chess Society of Japan

Group C: L-R: Yamada Makoto, Maehara Kazuki, Nguyen Cong Khen (winner), Mori Ryota, Kawasaki Nobuhisa | Photo: National Chess Society of Japan

Group B winners: Uehara Jun (leftmost), Tochikubo Jin (winner, in red) | Photo: National Chess Society of Japan

Group A winners: L-R: Hirao Satoshi (5), Sato Kaname (3), CM Kobayashi Atsuhiko (1), Kuroda Yunosuke (2), Higashishiba Teruomi (4) | Photo: National Chess Society of Japan

Group photo | Photo: National Chess Society of Japan

Tokyo Chess Festival 2022 was a successfully conducted event where the participants played fighting chess, met new people and had a lot of fun. Such kind of interactive events would ensure a friendlier and supportive chess community.

Interesting way to show which Shinkansen (bullet train) goes where in North Japan | Photo: Mayur Gondhalekar

Autumn Colours have started | Photo: Mayur Gondhalekar

Conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Kyoto (Kaiten-zushi) named 'Musashi' | Photo: Mayur Gondhalekar

Final standings in Group A

Rk.SNoNameFEDRtgNPts. TB1  TB2 
11CMKobayashi AtsuhikoJPN232334,54,50
26Kuroda YunosukeJPN17162,532,00
33Sato KanameJPN202225,53,50
42AIMHigashishiba TeruomiJPN206225,52,50
54Hirao SatoshiJPN19721,562,00
68Aoki YasuhiroJPN15831,54,51,75
79Tanaka SatoshiJPN15291,53,50,75
85Sakai EnjuJPN186015,51,00
97Takata YoshioJPN1628140,00
1010Mukai HiroyukiJPN152513,51,00
11ACMGondhalekar MayurUSA151113,51,00
1212Shimizu KeisukeJPN1498050,00

Details

Final standings in Group B

Rk.SNoNameFEDRtgNPts. TB1  TB2 
14Tochikubo JinJPN1441355,00
29Kikuchi DaijiroJPN12982,554,00
38Kihara KotaroJPN130324,51,50
41Uehara JunJPN1490242,50
53Arnett DanielENG1454241,50
66Shioya RyomaJPN1375241,00
75Misawa YukiJPN138915,51,00
811Namikawa KumikoJPN1280141,00
92Otani TakuyaJPN1460140,00
10Umeda KensakuJPN1294140,00
117Kojima HideyukiJPN13120,561,00
1212Kanehara HiromichiJPN1269040,00

Details

Final standings in Group C

Rk.SNoNameFEDRtgNPts. TB1  TB2 
112Nguyen Cong KhenJPN0344,00
211Maehara KazukiJPN025,52,50
34Mori RyotaJPN1241242,50
41Kawasaki NobuhisaJPN126823,52,50
58Yamada MakotoJPN118723,51,50
610Kamiya ShuntaroJPN01,55,52,75
73Takase HayatoJPN12461,54,51,75
87Obata AkitoshiJPN1187172,00
96Hatfield EugeneJPN122115,50,50
109Matsumoto ShinjiJPN1171140,50
112Hiratsuka YoshihiroJPN12520,53,50,25
5Suzuki TomojiJPN12390,53,50,25

Details

Final standings in Group D

Rk.SNoNameFEDRtgNPts. TB1  TB2 
12Fujiwara KaoriJPN1127344,00
11Kano MeixnerJPN0344,00
33Kumasaka AkihoJPN1071252,00
7Furuse MizukiJPN932252,00
56Yoshida LiraJPN957242,00
12Nguyen Cong KhonJPN0242,00
75Ichino HiroakiJPN99916,51,50
88Nakamura JunkoJPN749160,00
99Arai NeneJPN63115,51,50
1010Callista KatherineINA0150,00
114Chih TristanJPN1012040,00
121Santosh NathanJPN1160020,00

Details

Links

National Chess Society of Japan

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.


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