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Eric Freeman - the Euro Track co-ordinator
- ponders his options at Table 4 while Paul Skrabut, Eric Eshlman
and Sean Vessey await their move. |
Hey! What's Marvin Birnbaum doing
looking over Keith Levy's shoulder? The new papa had to be home
for the 3 AM feeding and had to leave early. |
After a Year of Experience ...
The second year of Pillars of the Earth was quite a
success, with the level of competition increasing markedly over
the first year. Twelve matches were played in the the two heats,
which were paced by Keith Levy as the only two-heat winner (and
who also ended defending champ Raphael Lehrer's unbeaten record
in this game) and Greg Thatcher who had both the highest score
(62) and highest margin of victory (an astonishing 19 points).
Ten of the 11 winners were present for the semi-final, so they
along with alternates Matthew Morgal and Marvin Birnbaum advanced
to the semis where four three-player games were played. All four
of the 2007 finalists made the semis, but only two survived their
semi-final games (GM Raphael Lehrer defeated Bill Morgal and
Eric Freeman, while Alex Bove took out Rich Fetzer and Matthew
Morgal). Greg Thatcher (last year's 2nd place), was eliminated
along with Keith by new face Cary Morris in the closest semi-final
(5 points, earning Greg 5th place), while Marvin Birnbaum (last
year's 3rd place) fell to Bill Crenshaw along with Matt Peterson
in a 6-point game, earning Matt 6th place.
For a report on the Final, I yield the floor to Bill Crenshaw,
the eventual winner:
"Alex got off to a fast start, buying the money-making
Woodworker and getting Prior Philip on Turn 1. The other finalists
played defense and got to the Priory early and often to blunt
Alex's advantage. Raphael played his typically solid game throughout,
hoarding money and making frequent use of the Wool Mill. Unfortunately
his master builders hid at the bottom of the bag time after time
and he was unable to capitalize on his wealth advantage, despite
frequently controlling turn order. Bill had money early but nearly
went broke shortly after boldly acquiring three new craftsmen
on Turn 3 and an additional sculptor on Turn 5. Cary played well
with a good mix of craftsmen and resources and appeared poised
to edge into the lead. On the final turn, Bill got the break
he needed when his master craftsman was drawn in time to enable
him to buy the super- Sculptor, to add to his other two Sculptors,
and his multiple stone holdings enabled him to eke out a one-point
victory over Cary. Alex's strategic blocking of the metal spots
so that Raphael couldn't' get the metal he needed gave him a
one-point edge over Raphael to take third place."
Records were taken of the scores by seating order. Unlike
last year, there appeared to be little appreciable difference
between the seats in four-player games, where in average scores
ranged from a high of 40.8 (for the "worst" 4th seat)
to a low of 38.4 (3rd seat), with first and second seat at 38.8
and 38.9 respectively. This suggests that the apparent advantage
of going first is greatly diminished with experienced players
(as last year's WBC debut had a far greater percentage of players
who were just learning the game). Thanks go to Assistant GMs
Chris Moffa and John Weber whose help was invaluable in the success
of the event. Despite being elminated during the heats, Chris
came to help during both the semi-final and Final rounds to observe
games and adjudicate disputes.
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