WMC 2024 in Toronto, Canada

The World Mahjong Championships in MCR was held in Toronto, Canada over three days between 12-14 October 2024. Denmark was represented by six members from Mahjong Danmark: Freddy Christiansen, Jesper Nøhr, Sheila Hansen, Henrik Leth, Ting Fang Olsen, and Sebastian Lavallée. There was a team competition as well, and Denmark was represented by one team, Danish Red Dragons, with team members, Freddy, Jesper, Sheila and Henrik,

The tournament was organised by the World Mahjong Organization (WMO) with ten rounds in total. There were 160 participants from all over the world (though just one from China as the rest did not manage to get their VISA applications approved). There were also 39 teams formed of those who submitted their team names to the organisers (those who didn't were simply left out instead of being put into a team together). There were also two teams (from Singapore and Sweden) who ended up with just three members as their fourth member didn't manage to make it in the end. These teams were allowed to participate in the team tournament whereby their missing member contributed 0 table points to the total score.

Automatic tables were used at the event, and though that sounded like it would help people finish their rounds faster, it became quite the contrary. Many tables had mechanical issues, and people playing on those tables had to stop their game to move to another table. Sometimes, even the table they moved to had mechanical issues as well.

In the beginning, there was also some confusion about what happened when the gong sounded. In Europe, the rules have changed such that you complete the current hand that's in play, but at WMC, they followed the old rules, where the round ends immediately, even if you have not finished the current hand.

Overall, communication and organisation had not been the best, and many participants were not happy that there were only ten rounds over three days, especially for such an expensive tournament (around 2,000kr registration fee that includes one dinner, three lunches, and a sightseeing tour). Nevertheless, the Danish delegation performed quite well, and even brought home a team trophy.

Results of the tournament

Individual results of the Danish players (out of 160 players)
#12 - Jesper Nøhr with 27 TP / 403 MP
#24 - Freddy Christiansen with 23 TP / 433 MP
#37 - Sheila Hansen with 22 TP / 34 MP
#60 - Henrik Leth with 19 TP / 181 MP
#80 - Ting Fang Olsen with 18 TP / -335 MP
#96 - Sebastian Lavallée with 16 TP / -19 MP
#161 - Martin Slott Hansen (substitute player for 2 rounds)

Besides competing at the tournament, we were also happy to be tourists in Canada. We went on a bus tour to Niagara Falls (organised by the Canadian organising committee), and took an Uber to Toronto to enjoy the city a bit before heading home. Canada in the autumn just looks amazing, but unfortunately, we did not have time to visit any national parks to truly enjoy her nature.