turning point: stalingrad [Updated August 2000]

TPS    
 
    
    9    14   

 Valley

Henry Jones, PA

1998-99-2000 Champion

2nd: Ron Fedin, PA

3rd: Tom Pavy, OH

4th: Michael Rinella, NY

5th:

6th:
Event History
1991    Byron Stingley      12
1992    Jim Doughan      17
1993    Tom Johnston      18
1994    Ron Fedin      15
1995    Jim Doughan      16
1996    Byron Stingley      14
1997    Byron Stingley       8
1998    Henry Jones      12
1999    Henry Jones      9
2000    Henry Jones      4
AREA Ratings
 1    Henry Jones      6013
 2    Byron Stingley      6003
 3    Ron Fedin      5593
 4    Jeffrey Miller      5194
 5    James Eliason      5171
 6    Michael Kaye      5163
 7    Thomas Pavy      5032
 8    Dave Tianen      5006
 9    Mike Rinella      4936
10    John Selders      4906

Last Winter on the Volga

The "final of the final" is what I called it - this year's match-up between myself and Ron Fedin for the TPS plaque. This will be the last year that a TPS tournament will be run at WBC. The steady decline of players over the years has forced me to the realization that I am fighting a losing battle. It was especially disappointing this year as I had made an extra effort by moving the start time from Wednesday to Saturday morning, shortened the time required per round, and advertised through the use of t-shirts and internet postings.

However, let us return to the match.....late Saturday afternoon we began our struggle on the banks of the mighty Volga in Stalin's city (and you thought it was the Hunt Valley Inn). Here we were, the two most active and ardent proponents of the game, GM and assistant g'amemaster, appropriately clashing for the championship in this final match. Both of us having quickly disposed of our prior opponents, we were anxious to begin this final game. Using the auction bid system, which I installed last year, we very quickly went to eight victory points, but then began to gradually inch-up the tie breaker number (number of Russian counters eliminated less eliminated German ones). Having played against each other more times than we care to recall and knowing everything regarding our styles of play, gave the bidding process something extra. Finally, Ron passed at 8:46, which for all intents-and-purposes is a 9 VP bid, and I had the Germans. It had all the appearances of a great matchup between two very experienced players, both of which have wood on the gameroom wall at home. But that kind of game was not to be as after 50 minutes of play, the Russians faced a total collapse of the center front at Mamayev Kurgan with the Germans on the verge of breaking through to the river in two places. Ron conceded and I had my third straight TPS championship. I had warned Ron before we started that I was on a roll and that my dice were hot. Those were prophetic words.

I hate to see TPS come to an end as it has been much fun over the past ten years and the game remains one of my favorites. We have had a good run though, with some memorable games and tournaments to go along with some very fine champions such as Jim Doughan, a two-time winner, and Byron Stingley, a thre-time champ. As it was with the ill-fated German 6th Army, this is our final message from Turning Point: Stalingrad.

 GM      Henry Jones [7th year]  117 Loch Shin Dr., Moon Township, PA 15108-9617 
    lochshin@aol.com   (724) 457-0817

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