András Bodais a professional journalist of the Hungarian newspaper Dunaújvárosi Hírlap. For this trip, he was sub- sponsored by Mahjong News

Trying to mantra

Andy - you may know this full-hearted, kind, friendly Chinese at the OEMC, Nijmegen, who can arrange simply anything - awaits me at the airport, to take me to the base of the Championship, which lies some 80 kilometers from there. The trip doesn't lack excitements - Chinese traffic at first sight strange enough: briefly say they use no rules (therefore they can't keep them as well). For instance: if you get the faster lane in the morning, you don't change that till evening - especially if you are with a vehicle able to go with ten kilometers per hour. And it was a bit strange to see even the last day, that a bus (we were sitting in that) can turn in a speedway, and rides some hundred meters against the traffic... and so on.

OK, back to the mainstream: we arrived to the hotel (it's kind of a conference center), which has namely three-stars - in this case it means everything was made of marble and high-quality materials. The rooms, the service, the food, and at first the hospitality seems to be ten-stars for me. And it lasts till the last minute...

The night before the first day I almost can't sleep: though I try to mantra, that I only came here to get some experience, to learn of the very best mahjong players of the world, and nothing matters if I will be 92nd of the 92 competitors, I'm pretty excited. I didn't play even in a single serious competition (we were in Nijmegen, but we didn't even knew the new rules that time), don't know, if I may await any understanding of my skilled and deadly-quick opponents if I do some stupid mistake - so I'm nervous...

Then, after the opening ceremony at the Physical Training Centre's (some forty kilometers from our hotel) conference hall in the 29th , 9 o'clock I sit to my first table, and soon calm down. Everyone has to take part in a first competition - now I should do that. And I know I'll try to do my best in an honored companion - I form one team with my good friends, Stéphane Parcollet, Laurent Mahé and Tom Sloper. Our three Danish friends (Sune Korreman, Jeppe Stig Nielsen and Henrik Leth) are forming - with Benlai Rabbi - the other European team.

After the first day's three games (2 hours each) I have my first table-point: I'm exhausted a bit, but no happier living soul in the Universe: it's much more I could dream before. I had some fine ?hu"s, and satisfied with my tempo. I never played 16 games in two hours before, the game's speed is incredible, but I could keep the pace - so far so good. The team's result not the best: my mates had not much luck, expect Laurent, who had his first table-win - he's laughing all the time - we can understand that...

After one fine day comes the next: Sunday morning, while the competitors visiting the Great Wall, we - Stéphane, Laurent, Henrik, and me, as delegates of the European Mahjong Association, Tom Sloper and the Unger brothers from the US - invited to the Forum, organized by the Chinese and Japanese celebrities. We're about to speak some really important cases - details will certainly be written in this site soon -, than, after get some precious and very kind presents from our hosts, in the afternoon we go further with competing, another exciting fights. Every opponent is hard for me again - though I can catch a point again: my friends more or less do the same, so we're more than less satisfied with our scores, which are - discretion first - hidden in the score tables...

Monday is the last day: all prepares to do the best. We keep training at night with kind Japanese friends: great names, champions sits to the tables, they help, give precious advice, and it seems to work. I get a point in the 6th loop next morning, and then, at the last I win my first table against three Chinese: oops... Laurent wins too, but all this not enough to get a really remarkable end-result for our team. But who cares: nothing can kill the fantastic milieu of the closing and price-giving ceremony. Long-lasting applause for the winners in this hard competition, then friendship in the air: group-photos in every quantity, fine chat, fun, partying - an unforgettable evening for all of us.

The raw facts

Let's speak about the raw facts now. The III. China Majiang Championship is won with 24 table points by Gao Jun (BeiDa, QuingHua Orient Team), the second place went to Wang Guangdong (Pacific Ocean), 23 points, third place to Zhen Ping (China He'Nan Team), then came Zhang Bingcheng (China Jiexiu Team), Zhang Xue (The World of Net Majiang Team), Wang Yue (China Qingdao Hele Team), Kugimiya Kimiro (Japanese Mahjong Turnverein Team B) - all of them had 22 points. Idota Kouji (Japanese Mah-Jong Turnverein Team A), Jin Yaodong (Pacific Ocean) and Song Ping (The World of Net Majiang Team) were in the first ten as well.

Best European player was my honoured team-mate, Laurent Mahé (15 table points, 84 contesting points), 56th place went to Jeppe Stig Nielsen from Denmark (13, -108), 58th the world champion, Mai Hatsune (Japanese Team B, 13, -162), 65th Sune Korreman, the best European player at the OEMC at Nijmegen, from Denmark (11, -92), 77th Masato Chiba, the best player at the OEMC (Japanese Team B, 8.5, -367), 85th me, Boda András from Hungary (7, -683), 90th Tom Sloper from the US (4, -900), 91st Stephane Parcollet from France (3, -781), 92nd Henrik Leth from Denmark (3, -1105).

At teams Japan was unbeatable: both first (Japanese Mahjong Turnverein Team A, 80, 1431) and second (Japanese Mahjong Turnverein Team B, 73, 555) place went to them, the third was the China Jiexiu Team (69, 1160). The Danish team was before us, we were the last.

Last, but not lost at all. For instance I came home with full of new knowledge, important experiences, which I'll give through my mates in Hungary. We could be participants in a nice and friendly competition in a very high level. We could make fine and important contacts, I risk even: friendships with some of the most important personalities of the world of mahjong. I played mahjong with nice people - and I could even play in the streets of Beijing... All very fresh now for me: though I feel deep inside, that this was a week, which will have a base effort to my whole life. Let me thank of my heart indeed to everyone who made this possible: to all the organizers, competitors and the participants of the III. China Majiang Championship and Forum. See you all next time: I'll be there for sure...

 Upper picture: Four of the eight non-Asian players on the Third China Open: from left Tom Sloper (USA), Stéphane Parcollet (France/Reunion Island). Boda András (Hungary) and Laurent Mahé (France).

 Lower picture: Winner Gao Jun from China.

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