The 2014 UK Open Riichi Mahjong Tournament was held in the new venue of the Bourne Racquets Club near the historic market town of Farnham, 30 miles SW of London, which proved to be most suitable. An attractive playing room, a good selection of food, and most importantly a fine wine list.
The Championship again attracted a field of 32 players (this year from 6 countries) with a number of “promising” debutants including those from Japan, Brazil, Germany and Russia who all proved that they had played a bit before!……………and of course we were delighted to see the Dutch contingent again.
After Day 1 (4 Hanchans), it looked as though the Brits might take all the major prizes, and in fact the top places didn’t change significantly on Day 2, but a clean sweep was not to be. In 3rd place was Shaun Drury, 2nd place went to Daina Chiba (a Japanese entrant now based in Colchester via the USA), and the winner of the fine “Fennel” Trophy was last year’s runner-up Philip Bielby (it is beginning to look as though Philip’s results aren’t all luck as he has now won 2 and come second in 2 of the five MERS tournaments that he has entered!). Congratulations Philip.
In the time-honoured Japanese tradition of players only being allowed to win one prize, Sonia Yagi won the “Best Hanchan” score, and the “Better 2 Day” award for the biggest improvement after Day 1 was won by Ilya Monakov who travelled from Russia to be with us; Tom Wood won the prize for the best score for those under 17!
Tournament Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Final Score |
| 1 | Philip Bielby |  | 207,500 |
| 2 | Daina Chiba |  | 165,300 |
| 3 | Shaun Drury | | 154,900 |
| 4 | Sonia Yagi |  | 153,700 |
| 5 | Ian Fraser | | 137,500 |
| 6 | Michael Donaghy | | 118,000 |
| 7 | Gemma Collinge | | 110,600 |
| 8 | Tom Wood | | 86,900 |
| 9 | Dimphy van Grinsven |  | 57,900 |
| 10 | Andy Mathew | | 49,100 |
| 11 | Cumming & Richardson | | 37,700 |
| 12 | Ilya Monakov |  | 37,100 |
| 13 | Max Bowsher | | 32,200 |
| 14 | Ryo Fukaura | | 30,500 |
| 15 | Aidan Robison | | 30,500 |
| 16 | Alasdair MacMillan | | 4,600 |
| 17 | Andrew Smith | | -6,400 |
| 18 | Philipp Martin |  | -9,600 |
| 19 | Tony Haley | | -16,800 |
| 20 | Richard Langtry | | -49,600 |
| 21 | Peter Langford | | -75,000 |
| 22 | John Duckworth | | -75,700 |
| 23 | Martin Lester | | -86,800 |
| 24 | Mark Haines | | -87,900 |
| 25 | Cor Hoogland | | -94,700 |
| 26 | Ans Hoogland | | -95,800 |
| 27 | Christian Brown | | -112,200 |
| 28 | Mark Pester | | -112,800 |
| 29 | Ashley Baldry | | -120,000 |
| 30 | Ben Wilton | | -140,400 |
| 31 | James Green | | -155,100 |
| 32 | Peter Muriel | | -175,200 |
Represented Countries
| | | | | |
| 25 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |