Starting on August 27 the second official World Mahjong Championship of MCR, lasting 9 sessions of two hours over three days, was held in Utrecht, Netherlands. 208 Players went not for prizes(but specially designed plaques), but mostly for fun and meeting acquaintances from all over the world. The spirit is the same as in the MCR fun section of Mahjong Time: a friendly community of players with a passion for playing mahjong. The best Mahjong Time player, also being the best European player, turned out to be  Olivier Boivin (username: 0liv) from France, finishing second to Linghua Jiao from China. 0liv has been sucessful in many tournaments including: Winner of the Tile-Hog tournament -  June, 2008; Second place - International Paris Tournament, April 2009. Third place was also taken by Mahjong Time Member Elisabeth Frischenschlager(username: Elifri1) from Austria. 

 

Mahjong Time player a3geffen (Adrie van Geffen) was found wearing a specially designed T-shirt during the tournament with a list of the top 20 rating of some months ago, when he was number 1. The T-shirt proved to be a good way to start conversations. Rankings always do. Adrie: ‘More than half of the list on the front was attending the tournament. People would come over and point out their nickname to show others who they were. Most disregarded that their was a real live person in the T-shirt: either they pricked their finger in my chest or stomach or they tickled me. A good thing Bo Lang (better known as Roxan), also wearing a MJT-shirt on Sunday, had a different front.’

 

Both a3geffen and Roxan, players found to be in the top ranking at Mahjong Time MCR, had a disastrous start in the tournament, and it didn’t improve much. It made it apparent that luck isn’t only important when you finish, but also when you start a hand of mahjong. Roxan, being the best European player since the Championship in Baden in 2009 and number 1 at Mahjong Time, didn't get higher than place 172, while a3geffen ended at place 186.