After the opening Riichi tournaments of 2015 the UK has moved a further position up the ranking list into third place behind Russia and Denmark, and narrowly (but pleasingly) ahead of Austria, courtesy of some excellent performances by UK players. In the Graz Open, the UK duo of Martin Lester and Philip Bielby finished 7th… Read More »Further UK Riichi Success
The European Mahjong Association maintains a ranking list of players of both MCR and Riichi, based on their performances in major tournaments. Just like the world golf and tennis rankings this ranking list is fluid as older results fall away to be replaced by more recent ones. Despite being a relative newcomer to the European… Read More »UK Moves Up the Rankings
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… Read More »5th UK Open Riichi Tournament – 2014
With an eye to our overseas friends, the UK Open Riichi tournament in July 2013 was organised as a 2-day event of 8 rounds (MERS 2 ranking) over the weekend of 6th and 7th July in Windsor. Whilst it was not possible to arrange the royal birth to occur over that weekend, it was possible… Read More »4th UK Open Riichi Tournament -2013
The Great Scholars Riichi Mahjong Tournament was the first Riichi Mahjong tournament in Oxford. The winner was Philip Bielby. Final rankings and scores are now available. The tournament took place on Saturday 6th April 2013 at North Oxford Association, Summertown, Oxford. 24 (out of a maximum possible 48) participants played 5 hanchan according to EMA… Read More »Great Scholars Tournament
A record entry of 52 competitors from 7 different countries gathered for the 3rd UK Open Riichi Tournament in Guildford which took place in the middle of Wimbledon fortnight, and the day before the Euro2012 soccer final. France and Germany may have been eliminated from Euro2012 at the semi final stage, but these two countries,… Read More »3rd UK Open Riichi Tournament – 2012
June 2011 was clearly a month for ‘new kids on the block’. Rory McIlroy won his first golf ‘major’ – the US Open – and Steven Chowning from the Leeds University mahjong group saw off some strong competition to win his first major – the UK Riichi Open. With one round to go, Steven was… Read More »2nd UK Open Riichi Tournament – 2011
After the success of the pilot event, the inaugural UK Open was held on June 26th 2010. Supported by official recognition from the EMA, with MERS ranking points at stake, and with the assistance of publicity via Mahjong News a significantly wider participation was achieved. It was particularly pleasing that Martin Rep, editor of Mahjong News, was… Read More »1st UK Open Riichi Tournament – 2010
The first known Riichi tournament held in the UK took place in September 2009, involving members of the local groups around Guildford and a handful of specially invited guests from mainland Europe, including Tina Christiansen, Vice President of the European Association. The result was a minor embarrassment for co-organiser Peter Langford, who hadn’t even necessarily… Read More »Pilot Tournament in UK