Irish Riichi Championship

All-Ireland Mahjong’s first EMA-rated riichi tournament!

10-11 August 2024

Venue: The Crow’s Nest, Cork, Ireland

This will be a seven-hanchan open tournament over two days, playing to standard EMA riichi rules. This will be the first EMA-rated tournament (MERS) to be held in Ireland.

In addition, the four Irish players (living on the island of Ireland or holding an Irish citizenship) who rank highest in this tournament, will qualify for the subsequent All-Ireland Riichi Mahjong Championship (date to be announced later).

Being an EMA ranked tournament, players will need to be able to play without any external assistance. Guide sheets will be provided for scoring, which is the responsibility of all four players.

Getting to Cork

Cork Airport has flights from several British airports, as well as major hubs such as Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris CDG. It’s a short bus ride (~€3, you can buy a ticket from the bus driver with cash) or taxi ride (~€20) from the airport into the city. Otherwise, Dublin Airport is 3 hours away from Cork City centre using Aircoach or GoBus services (~€21).

Where to stay:

We are offering to rent student accommodations that are empty for the summer as a group, in the same building as the tournament’s venue (“Crow’s Nest”) or in a building less than a 5 minutes walk away (“Victoria Lodge”). The price will be €45 per person per night, for a single bed in an individual bedroom in a unit with a shared kitchen and living space (Victoria Lodge), or €80 for a double room (Crow’s Nest). This is easily the cheapest for an individual room in Cork. If you are interested in this, instructions to book will be included in the registration confirmation email.

Beyond that, Hotel accommodation in Cork is challenging. The two most affordable options are Rezz for individual rooms and Sheilas Hostel for a place in a dorm. There are also several AirBNB hosts available. We strongly recommend booking as early as possible, as your options will shrink quickly. We are looking into alternative options that we might be able to provide, feel free to reach out to discuss this.

Tournament details

Entry fee: €70 (access to the tournament, catering and snacks on both days, to be paid by bank transfer/revolut). Some entry places for low-income players are available at €40 – please contact us to discuss.

Registration:

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    Rules: EMA RCR (pdf, standard European riichi tournament rules)

    Format: round robin, 7 rounds

    Location: Transportation in Cork is heavily based on car, so we suggest looking for accommodation in walking distance (we do provide an affordable option in the same building, see “Where to stay”). We will also try to accommodate needs for lifts if possible.

    Schedule:

    Saturday:

    • 9:00-9:30 registration
    • 9:30-11:00 first round
    • 11:00-11:30 break
    • 11:30-13:00 second round
    • 13:00-14:00 lunch
    • 14:00-15:30 third round
    • 15:30-16:00 break
    • 16:00-17:30 fourth round

    Sunday:

    • 8:30-9:00 registration
    • 9:00-10:30 fifth round
    • 10:30-11:00 break
    • 11:00-12:30 sixth round
    • 12:30-13:30 lunch
    • 13:30-15:00 seventh round
    • 15:00-15:30 closing ceremony

    Registered players:

    1. Szymon Nowicz, Poland
    2. Krzysztof Dąbrowski, Poland
    3. Ben Thomas, Germany
    4. Shaun Drury, UK
    5. Conor Mullin, Ireland
    6. Sandra van Wijngaarden, Netherlands
    7. Ivar Bouwman, Netherlands
    8. Jacqueline Oudshoorn, Netherlands
    9. Olav Sommers, Netherlands
    10. Marjoleine Lips, Netherlands
    11. Timur Hahn, Germany
    12. Martin Schleimer, Ireland
    13. Jesper Nøhr, Denmark
    14. Andrew Smith, Ireland
    15. Simon Picard, Ireland
    16. Eigo Kawatani, Denmark
    17. Jonathan Matchett, UK
    18. Christopher Endicott, UK
    19. Benoit Dessort, France
    20. Alexander Stradnic, Ireland
    21. Yucheng Gao, Ireland
    22. Tom Pearson, UK
    23. Danny Chan, UK
    24. Jerry Weng, Ireland
    25. Dean McCaffrey, UK
    26. Erchao Weng, Ireland
    27. John Duckworth, UK
    28. Eliot Hollier, UK
    29. Miłosz Meller, Poland
    30. Kenneth Chan, Germany
    31. Martin Lester, UK
    32. Mark Wu, UK
    33. Livey Irwin, Ireland
    34. Ronan White, UK
    35. Alex Wilde, Ireland
    36. Anthony Suong, France
    37. Alexander Doppelhofer, Austria