The Riichi Mahjong Times. Episode 1
Results from 13th UK Riichi Open 2024 and 1st Irish Riichi Championship 2024, with a special note on the World Riichi League.
A new league has opened in the EU Riichi Mahjong world—the World Riichi League. I decided that this is a good time to start my newsletter and blog about my great love: Riichi Mahjong.
I hope you will enjoy it with me!
The structure is still in the process of being created, so if you have any ideas, I’d be happy to hear them!
With love from the editor and correspondent, Anastasiia Veremenko.
Recent tournaments:
Congratulations to the winners!
🥇 Yangdong Xiao
🥈 Jay Li
🥉 Barry Crilley
Congratulations to the winners!
🥇 Jerry Weng
🥈 Ming Ying
🥉 Jesper Nøhr
World Riichi League
The first tournament in the World Riichi League happened this August! Our correspondent participated and even made it to the top 3!
Congratulations to the winners!
🥇 Henri Devilezz
🥈 Linxuan He
🥉 Veremenko Anastasiia
So, what is it WRL?
A note from our correspondent:
“As I understand it, this league is for those who want to become PROs, just like the Japanese players and Gemma. And play at their level… with respect. =)
The first tournament was held in Cologne, in a beautiful historic building. Honestly, I was so caught up in the tournament that I didn’t get to appreciate it. But there was an amazing park nearby, which I did visit.
The level of play was excellent! Comparable to WRC, but with a bit less stress, I think.
There was also an option to take a referee exam based on WRC rules, which differ from EMA rules. I failed it, by the way.
I’ll share more about the new league, the tournament, my thoughts on the game, and the exam in a separate post. Stay tuned.”
Have you ever wondered why when you win with a Ron after a Pon, the Pon becomes open, but when you win with a Ron after a Chi, Iipeiko is still counted?
News from the field
A tournament ‘Under the Sun’ took place in Kyiv, Ukraine!
Despite the war, more and more new players are joining our beloved game and participating in tournaments.
Congratulations to the winners!
🥇 Yevhen Kolodko
🥈 Andriy Dushenin
🥉 Valeriy Bogdanov
🎈 Serhiy Budkovskyi
In Braga, Portugal, the first tournament was held in a new club.
Not long ago, a new mahjong club opened in Braga, Portugal.
And they've already hosted their first tournament!
Congratulations to the winners!
🥇 Tomás Carvalho
🥈 Xavier Miranda
🥉 Miguel Ramos
If you want to share any more news from the field, feel free to write to us—we'd be happy to publish it.
Upcoming tournaments:
September will be eventful! Our correspondent will attend tournaments in Porto and Vienna and will share the details with you afterward.
Vienna Riichi Open 2024 - the winner of the tournament will be awarded with a seat for WRC 2025 in Tokyo!
All events are here
Mah jongg is called "Mahjek," which means "sparrow," by Cantonese players. The derivative of this name is uncertain, but it may have something to do with the sound of the sparrow and the fact that mah jongg is such a noisy game. It may also describe the players' arms and how they constantly and quickly move the tiles, looking similar to jumping sparrows. Or it may refer back to the old days when seamen played mah jongg at sea and the wind blew the game cards (mah jongg was originally played with cards) like a group of sparrows flying away.
Be-weekly puzzle
A phrase is encoded here. If you decode it, write another phrase or word in symbols in the comments so that everyone who has solved the cipher will understand.
There’s a prize!
In the next episode, we’ll randomly select the winner from the correct comments (using https://www.random.org/). After all, mahjong is about luck too.
The prize is a useful plastic scoresheet card with the WRL design by Vitaliy Balanyuk!
The card will be handed over at one of the tournaments. We will contact the winner to arrange the details.
If you want to buy the cards, contact Vitaliy Balanyuk - riichicards@gmail.com!
If you want to offer some prizes for the next puzzles, contact me. =)
8m5m1m4m2m3s4p7p
I ❤️ 4p1m8m1p6p5p7m