victory in the pacific [Updated October 2004]  

2004 WBC Report    

 2005 Status: pending 2005 GM commitment

Michael Kaye, MD

2004 Champion

2nd: Dan Henry, IL

3rd: Ray Freeman, CA

4th: Ed Menzel, CA

5th: Alan Applebaum, MA

6th: Charles Drozd, IL


Offsite links:

AREA Ratings

boardgamegeek

Event History
1991    Dave Targonski      36
1992    Wes Erni      39
1993    Alan Applebaum      36
1994    Dave Targonski      36
1995    Dan Henry      45
1996    Robert Kondracki      46
1997    Ed O'Connor      42
1998    Joe Dragan      48
1999    Alan Applebaum     48
2000    Andy Gardner     50
2001    Dan Henry     48
2002    Dan Henry     50
2003    Ed Menzel     39
2004    Michael Kaye     44

PBeM Event History
1999    Nick Markevich      20
2001    Ed Menzel      32
2003    -      32

 Laurels
Rank Name

From

Last
Total
 1. Dan Henry

IL

03
228
 2. Michael Kaye

CA

04
156
 3. Ed Menzel

CA

04
118
 4. Alan Applebaum

MA

04
  96
 5. Andy Gardner

VA

01
  78
 6. Ray Freeman

CA

04
  60
 7. John Pack

CO

01
  36
 8. Bob Hamel

CT

00
  30
 9. Tim Tow

TX

02
  24
10. Charlie Drozd

IL

04
  24
11. John Strand

CO

02
  18
12. Eric El Osta

Belgium

00
  18
13. Ken Nied

KS

03
  14
14. Michael Ussery

MD

02
  12
15. Joe Powell

VA

99
  12
16. Nick Markevich

CA

99
  10
17. John Sharp Jr

FL

03
    6
18. Jim Eliason

IA

01
    6
19. Michael Day

AZ

01
    6
20. Casey Adams

MN

00
    6
21. Joe Dragan

MI

99
    6
22. Brad Solberg

CA

99
    6
23. Meng Soon Ong

Malaysia

01
    4
24. Max Zavanelli

FL

99
    4
25. Bobby Clinton

CA

01
    4
26. Dennis Nicholson

NY

99
    3
27. Vince Meconi

DE

99
    2
28. Glenn McMaster

ONT

01
    1

Past Winners

'91, '94: Dave Targonski - DC
1992: Wes Erni - WI

Alan Applebaum - MA
1993, 1999

Dan Henry - IL
1995, 200l-2002

Robert Kondracki - PA
1996

Ed O'Connor - NJ
1997

Joe Dragan - MI
1998

Andy Gardner - VA
2000

Ed Menzel - CA
2003
 


A New Champ

The 2004 WBC Tournament was won by Michael Kaye. Mike topped 44 entrants to win, boasting a 6-1 record after seven grueling rounds. Playing through a Swiss tournament of seven five-hour rounds over the better part of three days can wear down even the hardiest players. Mike's skill allowed him to top then-undefeated Dan Henry in the 6th round late Saturday evening. Since Dan had the only other 6-1 record at the end of the tournament, the head-to-head tiebreaker gave Mike the championship. In addition, Mike's four wins as the Japanese gave him the WBC VIP Nagumo Award for most Japanese wins. Congratulations, Mike!

Second place went to Dan Henry. Dan went undefeated until the sixth round. In addition, all seven of Dan's games were as the Allies, so his six wins easily garners him the Halsey Award for most Allied wins.

Ray Freeman took third with a 5-2 tournament record. Even the random matching for the first round hit Ray hard as he drew John Pack for his first game. No easy ones this year, Ray!

Top-AREA-ranked competitor and defending champ Ed Menzel finished fourth with a 4-3 record. The target T-shirt probably helped Ed's opponents take careful aim at his lofty position atop the best players in VIP.

Alan Applebaum placed 5th; Charlie Drozd 6th; Bob Hamel 7th; Darren Kilfara came all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to place 8th. Rob Drozd 9th, and John Pack rounded out our top ten finishers. Darren, THAT'S dedication to the game!

The 2004 Tournament started off with a bang, featuring a departure from previous years with a random first round pairing of opponents. All previous years saw seeding for the top players by AREA rankings, and a matching system which pitted top players against each other right away. Since players may only play each other once, this tended to concentrate top-level players against each other in the early rounds. In an effort to spread the excitement further throughout the competition, a random drawing of Player Records matched players of many different skill levels for the first round only.

Matching in the subsequent six rounds also departed from earlier tournaments. Players were matched within their win/loss category, top half to bottom half. This also helped distribute the top-player-matches more evenly throughout the tournament.

The scoring system tried at the Midwest Open in March passed its test again. Game winners scored ten points, draws garnered four, and losses each earned one point. At the end of the tournament, earned points were totaled, and ties resolved with these tiebreakers: 1) head-to-head play; 2) number of rounds played; 3) pre-tournament AREA ranking.

Special thanks to my assistants Bob Hamel and Ken Nied, who volunteered to take the load off me in a variety of crucial tasks, and who put up with all the stuff I did for which we criticized Glenn in past years. Thanks to Ed Menzel, who filled in posting matches when we needed the help. Thanks also to John Sharp III, Pete Ticola and Howard Hughes, for their help in getting me to the WBC and for keeping me fed and watered.

Most of all, thanks to all of the players who made this tournament so easy to run. Long hours, but great rewards. Next year, we continue the evolution of VIP at WBC by abandoning our traditional Friday-Sunday slot and move to a pre-con slot. It is hoped this will attract more players who have had to pass on VIP in the past due to conflicts with other favorites. At the very least, we expect the total number of games played to increase with less competition from other events to draw off players in the later rounds. Playing seven rounds, win or lose, has its own rewards. Join us and measure your personal best in seven rounds. How many can you win?

 GM      John Sharp [1st Year]   4701 Hamlets Grove Dr, Sarasota, FL 34235 
    aefajohn@gte.net   (941) 359-3991

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