The eighth UK Riichi Open attracted forty competitors, including players from Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Italy and even China (although the winner, Yihe Lu, is in practice, presently studying at Warwick University). In fact, one of the longest distance travellers to the tournament was Brigit Berkitt – all the way from the Shetland Islands, 800 miles away from the Godalming venue, but still within the British Isles (just).
Yihe was never far from the lead throughout the tournament, although the early running was also made by Denmark’s Sebastian Lavallée, along with home based players James Green and local players, Andy Mathew and partnered locals Nick Dyer and Paola Bungaro.
By the end of rounds 3&4, James and Andy were overtaken in the lead by Martijn Gulmans from Netherlands, with Michael Donaghy and Ryo Fukaura also showing among the leaders for the first time.
It was in Round 6 that Yihe took first took the overall lead with a 70,000+ session at the expense of, among others early leader Martijn – a lead that he would never relinquish. A strong finish by Michael Donaghy, beginning the final round with dealer Baiman and dealer Haneman on the first two hands, propelled him up seven positions into second place, while Ryo and Jason swapped positions in the same round, finishing in third and fourth places respectively. The ‘Better 2Day’ prize was won by Martijn Klaar, moving up the rankings by thirteen places in the process to ninth spot.
With 10 tables in play over 8 rounds, (80 Hanchan) some ‘tournament titbits’ may be of interest:
- 846 hands were played in total
- 10.5 hands per hanchan was the average number of hands played
- 50 hanchan (62.5%) completed South 4
- 4 more games reached but did not complete South 4
- 15 hanchan finished in South 3
- 6 hanchan finished in South 2
- 3 hanchan failed to get beyond South 1
- 2 hanchan got stuck in East 4! (playing 9 and 11 hands, respectively)
Competitors recorded the playing time for 68 of the Hanchan which averaged out at 7.5 minutes per hand – that is the playing time including all shuffling, wall building, dealing, playing and scoring too!
- 14 (!) was the record number of hands played in one completed hanchan
- 45 minutes the fastest game to finish (8 hands)
- 13 hands in 76 minutes the fastest sustained rate of play
Congratulations to the winners, of course, but also to all other competitors for a competition played in the excellent collaborative spirit of mutual encouragement that is the hallmark of Riichi mahjong.
Tournament Results
| Rank | Player | Final Score | |
| 1 | Yihe Lu |  | 179,100 |
| 2 | Michael Donaghy |  | 129,700 |
| 3 | Ryo Fukaura | | 126,300 |
| 4 | Jason He | | 126,100 |
| 5 | Martijn Gulmans |  | 117,400 |
| 6 | James Green | | 108,600 |
| 7 | Philip Bielby | | 85,300 |
| 8 | Andy Mathew | | 82,200 |
| 9 | Martijn Klaar | | 76,200 |
| 10 | Tony Haley | | 71,800 |
| 11 | Tom Wood | | 60,900 |
| 12 | Yixuan Liu | | 30,400 |
| 13 | Max Bowsher | | 22,600 |
| 14 | Timur Hahn |  | 22,100 |
| 15 | Paola Bungaro | | 21,200 |
| 16 | Shaun Drury | | 15,200 |
| 17 | John Duckworth | | 9,700 |
| 18 | Nick Dyer | | -4,600 |
| 19 | David Clarke | | -8,300 |
| 20 | Selina Steck |  | -10,800 |
| 21 | Mike Short | | -14,000 |
| 22 | Marco Bazzocchi |  | -29,800 |
| 23 | Mark Haines | | -34,400 |
| 24 | Sonia Yagi | | -35,800 |
| 25 | Martin Lester | | -37,500 |
| 26 | Daina Chiba | | -38,600 |
| 26 | Ian Fraser | | -38,600 |
| 28 | Norma Todd | | -44,900 |
| 29 | Gemma Sakamoto | | -52,000 |
| 30 | Devina Steck | | -57,700 |
| 31 | Leonard Hardiman | | -62,200 |
| 32 | David Stallan | | -77,700 |
| 33 | Peter Langford | | -87,800 |
| 34 | Nicole Haasbroek | | -88,600 |
| 35 | Hong Li | | -92,800 |
| 36 | Richard Langtry | | -97,000 |
| 37 | Sebastien Lavallee |  | -108,900 |
| 38 | Birgitt Beckett | | -145,200 |
| 39 | Jem Short | | -146,600 |
| 40 | Vincent Chu | | -161,000 |
Represented Countries
| | | | | | |
| 31 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |