It is my pleasure to announce that the 13th World Computer Shogi Champiohship will be held in Japan in May 2003. There will be fifty eight (58) participants at the tournament.

Takenobu Takizawa
Chairman of the Executive Comittee
Chairman of the Computer Shogi Association (CSA)

Competition Dates:

May 3-5, 2003

Competition Venue:

Kazusa Akademia Center (Kazusa Arc)

2-3-9 Kazusa-Kamatari, Kisarazu-Shi, Chiba 292-0818, Japan

Phone: 0438-20-5555 Fax: 0438-20-5139

(+81-438-20-5555) (+81-438-20-5139)

1st day through 2nd day: Preliminary Contest

The top 3 of the last tournament will be exempted from these days and proceed directly to the Final.

The Preliminary Contest is divided into two groups. The upper division will consist of 16 programs (first through 19th seeds excluding the three direct finalists).

The lower division contest will be held on the 1st day. There will be 7 Swiss-style games. The top 8 programs will join the upper division contest. If the number of programs is odd, the CSA will add an extra program by invitation. The invited program will not proceed to the second day.

The upper division contest will be held on the 2nd day. There will be 9 Swiss-style games. The top 5 programs will proceed to the third day of competition. If the number of programs is, by chance, odd, the CSA will add an extra program by invitation but the invited program will not proceed to the third day.

The CSA reserves the right to alter the number of proceeding programs if the number of entrants is less than 28 or more than 64.

3rd day: The Final

Round robin of 8 programs with each program playing each other once.