The 6th UK Open tournament was won by co-organiser and UKMA chairman, Peter Langford. He had shared the top two positions with Phillip Bielby, UK’s top ranked player, for several rounds, until their direct clash in Round 7, won by Peter with Phillip in second place. A narrow final round win for the new leader and a disappointing 3rd place for Phillip in Round 8 sealed the result, and also allowed Yihe Lu, a PhD student at Warwick University and Jasper Germeys from Sweden to edge past him into 2nd and 3rd places respectively.
Peter, one of the UK’s most experienced riichi players, was the first winner of a UK riichi tournament, in 2009, but since then his results have been more a reflection of the ill fortune by which he consistently claims to be dogged, rather than his undoubted playing ability. Could winning six of his eight rounds outright, including the critical head to head in Round 7, allied with one 2nd, and one 3rd place indicate that the spell may at last have been broken?
A record eleven nationalities were represented among the 40 competitors in what was undoubtedly the strongest field yet for the UK Open, and which was enhanced by a contingent of strong Chinese and Japanese players. Even so a handful of players were participating in their first tournament. One such newcomer, Katharina Schatz from Germany, was the winner of the ‘Better2Day prize’. This was awarded for the competitor making most progress up the list on the second day of the tournament, gaining a creditable 13 places to finish in a wholly respectable 25th place overall. Katie Lau was the highest placed first-timer in 8th place amid some seasoned tournament players. Katie and Katharina were not alone among the debutants in enjoying their first taste of tournament play. ‘Exhilarating’, ‘exciting’, ‘a great learning experience’ were just some of the positive comments from this group as well as ‘can’t wait for next year!’ – Already?
The pace of play is always interesting in tournaments – and typically faster than the social play to which many are accustomed. Overall the pace of play was good, but there was quite a wide variation. One hanchan was completed in 55 minutes (eight hands only) while another required virtually all of the available 90 minutes to complete just seven hands. Operating on the usual basis of 75 minutes plus an additional hand after the bell, half the tables completed the East and South rounds, while half were cut short, most commonly in South round 3rd seat. Ten hands played was typical of both the completed, and the incomplete tables, the highest number played being a distinctly swift 13!
The Top Hanchan award went to Gemma Sakamoto, with a score of 78,700 in the final round propelling her up five places into 5th place overall. Although the main trophy winners are debarred from winning the minor prizes (under the ‘one prize per competitor’ rule) neither Katharina’s progress award, nor Gemma’s Best Hanchan score was bettered by anyone.
In the course of the closing presentations, Peter graciously thanked all participants, in particular the overseas travellers and his fellow organisers, self-effacingly observing that he tended to ‘lend his name’ to proceedings. The mystery remains as to why they had wanted to borrow that, rather than a potentially more productive shoulder.
Tournament Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Final Score |
| 1 | Peter Langford |  | 262,700 |
| 2 | Yihe Lu |  | 227,500 |
| 3 | Jasper Germeys |  | 215,200 |
| 4 | Philip Bielby | | 201,500 |
| 5 | Gemma Sakamoto | | 142,100 |
| 6 | Martin Lester | | 116,700 |
| 7 | Paola Bungaro |  | 109,900 |
| 8 | Katie Lau | | 90,200 |
| 9 | Nick Dyer | | 89,800 |
| 10 | Timur Hahn |  | 87,400 |
| 11 | Daina Chiba |  | 68,400 |
| 12 | Philipp Martin | | 55,900 |
| 13 | Andy Mathew | | 53,500 |
| 14 | Junichi Tanaka | | 37,500 |
| 15 | Takao Sasaki | | 34,500 |
| 16 | Tim Richardson & John Duckworth | | 29,400 |
| 17 | Dominic Saxton | | 20,000 |
| 18 | Tom Wood | | 19,900 |
| 19 | Kimihito Tanaka | | 18,000 |
| 20 | David Bresnick |  | 8,500 |
| 21 | Aidan Robison | | 3,600 |
| 22 | Max Bowsher | | -13,000 |
| 23 | Radka Pernicova |  | -21,100 |
| 24 | Filip Navratil | | -27,300 |
| 25 | Katharina Schatz | | -32,400 |
| 26 | Sonia Yagi |  | -42,700 |
| 27 | Michael Donaghy | | -48,700 |
| 28 | Martijn Gulmans |  | -53,600 |
| 29 | Mark Haines | | -64,500 |
| 30 | Shaun Drury | | -88,800 |
| 31 | Ian Fraser | | -103,800 |
| 32 | Jem Short | | -105,700 |
| 33 | Alex Leet |  | -110,300 |
| 34 | Richard Langtry | | -133,100 |
| 35 | Hanqian Ren | | -136,100 |
| 36 | Mike Short | | -136,500 |
| 37 | David Stallan | | -141,500 |
| 38 | Susan Cumming | | -146,900 |
| 39 | Peter Muriel | | -220,500 |
| 40 | Andrew Smith | | -265,700 |
Represented Countries
| | | | | | | | | | |
| 23 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |