Pre-Con Debut
32 players - 89 games - seven rounds of competition - what
more could one ask? Fewer distractions? This year we got just
that!
Rising Sun provided the VIP players with an atmosphere in
which to concentrate on their games without wondering what else
they might be missing. Sunday, July 31st, at 9:00 AM, all 28
of the original starters knew what lay ahead - as much Victory
in the Pacific as they could handle!
Round 1 featured
14 games with random matching - rookies might get to play Ed
Menzel, Alan Applebaum, Andy Gardner, Jim Eliason, John Pack
or Ray Freeman - the top AREA-rated players. This doesn't often
happen in tournaments. Newcomer to the WBC VIP tournament Rich
Curtin faced #3 AREA Andy Gardner; Mike Backstrom had a chance
to play against #5 AREA Jim Eliason; Tom McCorry faced #10 AREA
Alan Applebaum. It took me over five years of tournament play
to get to play Alan the first time.
Round 2 began the Winners vs Winners competition, with players
matched within their win/loss category. It got tougher each round
from there on in!
Round 5 saw the match of the unbeatens - Ed Menzel, 4-0, vs
Alan Applebaum, 4-0. In a squeaker that flipped with the bid,
Ed managed a 3.5 POC Allied victory to remain untrodden into
Round 6.
The culmination of the tournament was the Round 7 match between
6-0 Ed Menzel vs 5-1 Andy Gardner. With the first tie-breaker
being head-to-head play, each was in control of his destiny.
Ed had to win and remain undefeated to win it all and if Andy
won, leaving both at 6-1, Andy's win in that match would give
him the tie-breaking edge to snatch the wood Don't let me hear
there is no suspense in our current format! Andy prevailed in
Round 7 against Ed to take the match and the championship.
Stats: 89 games, 45 IJN wins (50.56%), 44 Allied wins (49.44%).
We MIGHT have achieved balance finally! Five games changed victors
through the bid (three changed last year). Average bid over all
89 games was 2.66. Average in games with a bid not zero was 3.35
(3.34 in 2004). These include the NT1 and NT1b games played.
We had 14 games in each of the the first three rounds (Sunday),
11 in Round 4 Monday morning, and 12 each in Rounds 5, 6 &
7. 19 players, including your GM, played all seven rounds! In
2004, we had eight players play all seven rounds. Fewer distractions
indeed!
My thanks to the following for their invaluable assistance:
***Ken Nied, for his GM assistance AND keeping me fed!
***Charlie Drozd, who recorded matches and was so quick even
I couldn't confuse him.
***John Sharp, III (my son), Howie Hughes, and Pete Ticola,
who got me to the con in one piece, rested and ready to run Rising
Sun.
***Jennie Sharp, my better half, who stoically submitted to
the drive to Kenosha to pick up those darned chess clocks. Sarasota,
Florida, to Kenosha, Wisconsin is 1292 miles, one way! Good thing
she supports my hobby!
Thanks to the 32 great players who made Rising Sun the easiest
tournament I have ever run.
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The Third Victory in the Pacific PBeM tournament has come
to a wild end. Rob Flowers USN defeated the highest remaining
seed (#7), Tim Tow in the semi-finals while Michael Ussery bucked
tournament omens to win as the high seed as the IJN over Darren
Kilfara by five POC in eight turns. In the consolation match,
Darren claimed third place as the USN in a close game (winning
by just 1.5 POC after the bid) over Tim Tow. In the championship
match, Rob Flowers (orignally the 14th seed) took command of
the Imperial Japanese Navy. He locked up the northeast corner
of the ocean and ran the score up high enough that, after seven
turns, the US Navy, under Michael Ussery (seeded 11th), had no
hope (despite a bid of 4). Congratulations to Admiral Flowers
who wins the BPA plaque and an automatic invitation to the next
Top 10 Invitational. See the details at http://www.gameaholics.com/vitp_bpa/vitp_bpa_single_elim_03.htm.
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