UTRECHT - Five years ago, the first major tournament with the Mahjong Competition Rules was organized in Europe. A lot of tournaments have been held since that Open European Mahjong Championship 2005. Yet, it is still the Chinese who rule on the World Mahjong Championship 2010. Will Europe ever bridge the gap?

Dutch player Anton Kösters (number 73 in the general classification after Day 2)  is not very surprised that the highest positions in the WMC are taken by the Chinese. “The Chinese have sent their top players. But the delegations of many European countries are quite large, so also players who are not that good could qualify themselves.”

How can they win so often, and many times with selfpick (with a much higher pay-out than by stealing a discard), Anton also wonders. Eventually, he says, it looks as though the Chinese just are smarter than the smart Europeans.

Strategy

In order to be a real good player, he says, you not only have to know all the combinations quite well, you also must develop a good strategy. “And, last but not least, you always have to take the right decision, whatever the stress. Also when you are defending. And keeping as many options as possible open at the same time.”

Anton, who participates in virtual any international tournament in Europe, admits that also for him the latter is quite difficult. “Yesterday, I discarded a dangerous tile because I did not want to break down my nice All Types hand. I was punished for that… Apparently, I am not defending enough.”

Lucky

Martin Scheichenbauer from Austria (156 in the classification) is not exactly impressed by the Chinese play. “They often are plain lucky. Seven or eight times out of ten I can see what hands they are up to.”

He agrees with Kösters that quite some Europeans are playing in the tournament who are not that strong. “The weaker Europeans are no problem for them. When a Chinese has to play against three strong Europeans, then they have problems.”

Fighting back

Anders Labich (not playing in the WMC; he is a referee) admits that the Chinese are very strong. “But we are fighting back. It’s true that there are many Chinese in the top-ten of the classification right now. But just think of the first European championship in 2005. The top-ten was: Japanese, Japanese, Japanese, Japanese; on the fifth place a Dane, an Italian on 6, and then Chinese, Chinese, Japanese and finally another Dane.

“Think of the World Championship Chengdu 2007. There was just one player in the final round! Just one! She ended on 10th position, the other 15 were all Chinese and Japanese! Yes, they are stronger. But we are getting stronger and stronger as well.”

Anders: “Do not forget, the Chinese have played this game all their lifes. We have just started. But we are coming closer.

“And, the most important: almost all the Chinese referees of the World Championship 2007 in Chengdu are now here as players. These referees are very strong players. And oh yes, they know the rules.”

Tina Christensen (99 in the general classification), who also was in Chengdu, confirms. “I think the whole referee team is playing here; all but one. And indeed, the referees are very strong.”

According to Anders Labich, the Japanese are doing less in the WMC than the Chinese since they have a different way of playing tournaments. They have tournaments for good players, and tournaments for lesser players. So they are not used playing against bad players. The Chinese do not have any problems with that.

Chinese culture

Mr. Gao Yuting knows the answer why the Chinese are playing better. “The Chinese players are so good because they are part of the Chinese culture.”

Mr. Gao accompanies the Chinese players in the World Championship; in 2005, he was the honorary judge in the first Open European Mahjong Championship in the Netherlands. He even was part of the Chinese committee which, in 1998, composed the Chinese Official rules, now generally called Mahjong Competition Rules.

Mahjong is part of a culture which started over two thousand years ago. The ‘I Ching’ - of which Yin and yang are a symbol - is part of that culture.

“For European players, mahjong is just a game. But Chinese know better. They understand the relation between culture and play. For foreign players, this is harder to understand. They look at their tiles and see just the numbers.”

Please explain, Mr.Gao.

“If you have 13 tiles before you, you think: I have a bad hand, or I have a good hand. The Chinese player will think: how can I change that situation? Because Chinese are brought up that way. They are thinking in strategies.

“You know, in life, everyone has opportunities. But only if you see them. you can control that opportunity. You must be prepared for that.”

This means that for Chinese it does not make much difference if they play a simple game like Hong Kong mahjong, or these complicated Mahjong Competition Rules?

“Right. Because the rules basically come from the mass. Basically, the various rule sets are the same.”

Mr. Gao: “For a good player, 25 or 30 percent is luck. 35 percent is skill. The rest? That is your experience.”

So the Europeans can never be as good as the Chinese since we are not brought up in the Chinese culture?

Mr. Gao laughs. “Of course you can! You are also a very good player!”

Mr. Gao is a very polite man.