HANOVER, Germany - It was his first victory in a riichi mahjong tournament. Even though Richard Stöckemanns friends, like he said in his speech of thanks after the award ceremony of the Phoenix Tournament in Hanover, thought he had invented the ‘Riichy game’, it was clear that he was very proud of his success in this mahjong variant, which is yet less familiar to him than the mahjong competition rules (MCR).

Struggle

28 players from four countries (Germany, Slovakia, the Netherlands and Great-Britain)  participated in this small competition. And, once again it became clear that the level of play of the European riichi players is increasing with each tournament. It was a tough fight for a place in the top-ten. After ‘Riichy’ Stöckemann (with an incredible score of 155,900 points), his fellow-countryman Michael Zahradnik (runner up) and Martin Rep (third prize) from the Netherlands were the most successful in this struggle.

Stöckemann and Rep can be called veterans. But most of the riichi players who participated in the tournament in the ‘Kaiser’ pub, were rather young. This did not only go for the Slovakian delegation (six men) but also for a number of eager Germans, who proved to master the ‘riichi way’ quite well.

Discussion

Yet, after the first day of this two days’ competition, co-organizers Norbert Luckhart and Ilka Stummeyer had organized a discussion, announced as ‘let’s talk about riichi’. Main problem: how can we reach enthusiastic German riichi players and how can we convince them to join the German mahjong league (DMJL) by playing in clubs.
Riichi in Germany is concentrated in the north of the country, especially around Oldenburg and Hanover. But even in the Hanover ‘mahjong pub’ Kaiser, riichi evenings are less popular than the MCR events. Lots of suggestions and ideas were launched. But Germany is a large country and it is hard for players from Munich or Frankfort to keep in contact with the groups in Lower-Saxony. Perhaps, if the plans for a world championship riichi mahjong to be held somewhere in Europe will be realized, this mahjong variant will get an important stimulus.

Final results of the Phoenix Tournament 2011