Tournament Bracket Preview

The final bracket will be filled with the 32 highest-rated Europeanparticipants.

To participate in the European Shogi Championship (ESC), players must be a citizen of a member state of the European Union or be a citizen of a country whose national shogi organisation is represented in FESA, either as a full member association or as an observing association (see https://fesashogi.eu/member-countries/). Moreover, players must have an an established FESA Elo rating. The 32 highest-rated participants who meet the above requirements will qualify for the ESC. The rating will be determined based on the FESA Elo rating list from July 2026. This list will include results from all rated tournaments played up to and including June 30th, 2026.

The tournament format of the ESC is as a single-elimination knockout system. Pairings are determined according to the official tournament bracket (see above), in which players are ordered from highest to lowest Elo rating. If two or more players have the same Elo rating, their positions within the bracket will be determined by random draw.

The rounds of the ESC are played in parallel with the first five rounds of the World Open Shogi Championship (WOSC). Players eliminated from the ESC will continue in the WOSC. Participants who reach the second round of the ESC will be assigned MacMahon points corresponding to the highest MacMahon group of the WOSC tournament. The tournament organisers reserve the right to make any changes necessary to ensure the proper and orderly conduct of the event, but only in cases of necessity. Such changes may include adjustments to the pairing system or the number of rounds. In the event of any dispute or discrepancy, the tournament referee shall make the final decision in accordance with FESA regulations and based on what is deemed most appropriate for the event. All such decisions are final and not subject to appeal.