victory in the pacific [Updated October 2005]  

2005 WBC Report    

 2006 Status: pending 2006 GM commitment

Andy Gardner, VA

2005 Champion


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
2005     Andy Gardner     32

PBeM Event History
1999    Nick Markevich      20
2001    Ed Menzel      32
2004    Rob Flowers      32

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Dan Henry          IL    03    228
  2.  Michael Kaye       CA    04    156
  3.  Ed Menzel          CA    05    154
  4.  Andy Gardner       VA    05    138
  5.  Alan Applebaum     MA    05    113
  6.  Ray Freeman        CA    04     60
  7.  Rob Flowers        MD    04     50
  8.  Charlie Drozd      IL    05     42
  9.  John Pack          CO    05     42
 10.  Michael Ussery     MD    04     42
 11.  Tim Tow            TX    04     39
 12.  Jim Eliason        IA    05     30
 13.  Bob Hamel          CT    00     30
 14.  Darren Kilfara     UK    04     20
 15.  John Strand        CO    02     18
 16.  Eric El Osta      BELG   00     18
 17.  Ken Nied           KS    03     14
 18.  Joe Powell         VA    99     12
 19.  Larry Meyers       AZ    04     10
 20.  Nick Markevich     CA    99     10
 21.  John Sharp Jr      FL    03      6
 22.  Michael Day        AZ    01      6
 23.  Casey Adams        MN    00      6
 24.  Joe Dragan         MI    99      6
 25.  Brad Solberg       CA    99      6
 26.  Meng Soon Ong    MALAY   01      4
 27.  Bobby Clinton      CA    01      4
 28.  Max Zavanelli      FL    99      4
 29.  Dennis Nicholson   NY    99      3
 30.  Vince Meconi       DE    99      2
 31.  Glenn McMaster     ON    01      1
          

2005 Laurelists

Ed Menzel, CA
2nd

James Eliason, IA
3rd

Charles Drozd, IL
4th

Alan Applebaum, MA
5th

John Pack, CO
6th


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

Michael Kaye, MD
2004


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.


Play By Email

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.

 GM      John Sharp [2nd Year]   4701 Hamlets Grove Dr, Sarasota, FL 34235 
    aefajohn@gte.net   (941) 359-3991

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