Acquiring Civilization ...
We drew only three fewer entrants even though there were only
two heats this year instead of the customary three used in the
past. The 2004 tournament used essentially the same format as
the previous two years: players were only guaranteed to advance
to the semi-finals if they won the first heat game he/she played
in, whether that game was in heat 1 or 2. This year, a player
whose best finish was a single 2nd place finish not only advanced
to the semi-finals, but won the tournament. All games played
were 4-player games.
Defending champion Lance Ribeiro did not attend this year.
Two finalists from last year: Jeff Cornett (2002 champion) and
his daughter Ann Cornett did make the semi-finals and were joined
by Susan Cornett (Ann's mother and Jeff's wife) in her first
year in the E&T tournament. Obviously, the Cornett family
plays some E&T occasionally. However, only Ann advanced,
as Jeff failed to make the final for the first time since1999,
ending a remarkable four-year run. The four finalists this year
were Mario Lanza, Jeff Evich (the ASL GM), Ann Cornett and Aran
Warszawski who journeyed from Israel to play in the WBC.
Aran as the 4th Dynasty won with a score of 11-11-12-12 (Blue-Black-Green-Red)
over Jeff 12-8-9-8 (2nd Dynasty), Mario 9-10-6-7 (1st Dynasty)
and Ann 8-7-5-7 (3rd Dynasty). Despite the fact that the 4th
Dynasty has historically fared poorly in the heats,, this marks
the second straight year and the third time overall that the
4th Dynasty player has won the finals
This year, players going first won five games, players going
second won five, and those going third won two and players going
fourth won four. The slight advantage in having an earlier player
turn is the reason that player order continues to be used in
the E&T tournament to break ties. Also, this year, players
were seeded in the semi-finals so that players who played the
4th and 3rd
dynasty in their qualifying heats were more likely to play as
the 1st and 2nd dynasty in their semi-final games.
The GM would also like to thank his Assistant GMs: Ann Cornett
and Stuart Hendrickson, for their help in assisting him run the
event.
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