settlers of catan  

Updated Nov. 12, 2014

2014 WBC Report    

 2015 Status: pending 2015 GM commitment

Joe Burch, MD

2014 Champion

Event History
1999    Brad Johnson     94
2000    David Platnick    175
2001    Craig O'Brien     93
2002    David Buchholz    102
2003    Charlie Faella    131
2004    Aran Warszawski    110
2005     Rob Effinger    100
2006    Roy Gibson    102
2007    Tom Stokes    132
2008     Matt Tolman    113
2009     Rick Dutton    113
2010    Robert Kircher    112
2011    Andrew Arconti    138
2012    Jeremy Osteen    116
2013    Julie Ehlers    123
2014    Joe Burch    124

Euro Quest
BPA Event History
2003    Brian Reynolds    29
2004    William Duke    30
2005     Legend Dan Hoffman    37
2006     Donna Dearborn    54
2007     Brian Reynolds    45
2008     Tom Dunning    56
2009     Brian Reynolds    55
2010    Rebecca Hebner    43
2011    Brian Reynolds    55
2012    Robert Kircher    43

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Rob Kircher        RI    12    126
  2.  Brian Reynolds     MD    12    125
  3.  Rick Dutton        MD    09    114
  4.  John Min           NJ    14    108
  5.  Charlie Faella     RI    09     96
  6.  Tom Dunning        NY    09     87
  7.  Jeremy Osteen      MD    12     84
  8.  Matt Tolman        UT    09     84
  9.  Natasha Metzger    NY    13     72
 10.  Andrew Arconti     MD    11     66
 11.  Roy Gibson         MD    06     66
 12.  Joe Burch          MD    14     60
 13.  Julie Ehlers       NJ    13     60
 14.  Tom Stokes         NJ    07     60
 15.  Rob Effinger       on    05     60
 16.  Aran Warszawski    il    04     60
 17.  David Buchholz     MI    02     60
 18.  Craig O'Brien      VA    01     60
 19.  David Platnick     VA    00     60
 20.  Christian Moffa    NJ    03     54
 21.  Kathy Stroh        PA    01     54
 22.  Joe Jaskiewicz     MD    06     51
 23.  Virginia Colin     VA    12     42
 24.  Tom Saal           MI    10     42
 25.  Rodney Davidson    AZ    04     42
 26.  William Duke       MD    12     39
 27.  Cheryl Mallon      MD    07     37
 28.  Chad Martin        PA    12     36
 29.  Ron Secunda        MD    10     36
 30.  Ken Nied           KS    06     36
 31.  Jim Fishkin        FL    05     36
 32.  Michelle Hymowitz  MD    04     36
 33.  George Brace       MA    03     36
 34.  Brian Conlon       OK    00     36
 35.  Rebecca Hebner     DC    11     36
 36.  Josh Githens       SC    07     30
 37.  Donna Dearborn     MD    06     30
 38.  Brad Johnson       IL    99     30
 39.  Phil Reese         MD    14     24
 40.  Kolbe DiGiulio     PA    12     24
 41.  Harald Henning     CT    08     24
 42.  Jon Izer           MD    07     24
 43.  Jeff Bowers        UT    05     24
 44.  Alan Sudy          VA    02     24
 45.  Kim Foster         TX    00     24
 46.  Legend Dan Hoffman MD    05     20
 47.  Eli Zlotowski      CA    14     18
 48.  Doug Faust         NY    13     18
 49.  Tom Strock         PA    13     18
 50.  Cary Morris        NC    12     18
 51.  Helen Powell       MD    11     18
 52.  Allyson Field      SC    11     18
 53.  Randy Buehler      WA    10     18
 54.  Bill Zurn          CA    10     18
 55.  Daniel Ottey       PA    09     18
 56.  Shivendra Chopra   MD    09     18
 57.  William Lawhorn    VA    09     18
 58.  Bob Wicks, Jr      CT    08     18
 59.  Mikkel Christensen dk    08     18
 60.  Pierre LeBoeuf     MD    07     18
 61.  Jed Shambeda       PA    06     18
 62.  Haim Hochboim      is    04     18
 63.  Mike Musko         FL    03     18
 64.  Marvin Pinkert     MD    02     18
 65.  Chuck Krueger      MA    01     18
 66.  Ike Porter         MD    99     18
 67.  William Austin     VA    14     12
 68.  Leigh Eirich       MD    10     12
 69.  Doug Galullo       MD    10     12
 70.  Peter Eirich       MD    10     12
 71.  Andrew Roosen      MD    09     12
 72.  Mike Brazinski     MD    08     12
 73.  Sue Lanham         MD    08     12
 74.  Bob Runnicles      FL    06     12
 75.  Mike Richey        VA    05     12
 76.  Thomas Browne      PA    04     12
 77.  David Burkey       PA    04     12
 78.  Charlie Hickok     PA    03     12
 79.  Scott Buckwalter   MD    03     12
 80.  Jon Shambeda       PA    02     12
 81.  Jenn Thomas        NY    02     12
 82.  Kevin Wojtasczcyk  NY    01     12
 83.  Chuck Smith        PA    99     12
 84.  Henry Dove         MD    12      9
 85.  Donna Davis        PA    12      9
 86.  Bill Murdock       NY    08      9
 87.  Tom McCorry        VA    03      9
 88.  Carl Damcke        IL    99      9
 89.  Eric Freeman       PA    07      8
 90.  John Gitzen II     NY    14      6
 91.  Carolyn Strock     PA    13      6
 92.  Matt Reese         MD    12      6
 93.  Jeff Adams         NJ    11      6
 94.  John Weber         MD    09      6
 95.  Nick Henning       CT    08      6
 96.  Jonathan Yonce     VA    07      6
 97.  Michael Shea       CT    07      6
 98.  Phil Rennert       MD    06      6
 99.  Marty Hoff         TX    04      6
100.  Katherine McCorry  VA    03      6
101.  Larry Loiacano     PA    07      4
102.  Andrew Gerb        MD    05      4
103.  Steve Shambeda     PA    09      3
104.  Sandy Scanlon      MD    08      3
105.  Joshua Cooper      MD    03      3
106.  Jamie Tang         MD    99      3
107.  Laurel Stokes      NJ    05      2

2014 Laurelists
Repeating Laurelists:

John Min, NJ
2nd

Phil Reese, MD
3rd

Eli Zlotowski, CA
4th

William Austin, VA
5th

John Gitzen II, NY
6th

Past Winners

Brad Johnson, IL
1999

David Platnick, VA
2000

Craig O'Brien, VA
2001

David Buchholz, MI
2002

Charlie Faella, RI
2003

Aram Warszawski, Israel
2004

Rob Effinger, on
2005

Roy Gibson, MD
2006

Tom Stokes, NJ
2007

Matt Tolman, UT
2008

Rick Dutton, MD
2009

Robert Kircher, RI
2010

Andrew Arconti, MD
2011

Jeremy Osteen, MD
2012

Julie Ehlers, NJ
2013

John Gitzen II's followup to his Game On appearance ended with sandman laurels in the semifinals.

Eli Zlotowski tops Rich Curtin in this semifinal to reach the 2014 Final.

John Min's back-to-back runner-up performance made him #4 in the rankings without ever having actually won the event.

The finalists reach the fifth round.

Still a Gateway Draw ...

Walkoff Mars 13th Consecutive Triple Digit Field ...

This Saturday morning fixture in the WBC schedule attracted 115 players in the first round, 88 for the second, and 74 for the third for a total of 70 preliminary games. Nine late arrivals replaced some of the dropouts to post the fifth largest field in the 16 years of the event. There were many hard-fought games, including a 10-9-9-9 contest and a 9-9-9-9 tie that had to be called and adjudicated due to time constraints. That game was unfortunately hindered by a player walking out in mid-game - my thanks to Taylor Tu for filling in to finish the game.

Having to call four games for time (one in Round 1 and three in Round 3) was unfortunate, but necessary to keep the tournament on schedule. I feel I could have done better reminding players of the time limit. Four players reached the semifinals with perfect 3-0 records in the preliminary rounds. Another 11 advanced with two wins each, and one advanced with a win and two strong runner-up finishes. None of the unbeatens remained so in Round 4.

William Austin took fifth place for the tournament with a 9-point second place in the semifinals and John Gitzen II won sand by being one of five players with an 8-point second in the semis and by being the top seed coming out of the preliminaries. John has since expressed some concerns over how another player may have influenced his first round game (the same player who walked out in the third round), but I don't feel John's place should be penalized due to someone else's actions.

The winners of the semifinal games met in a fast-paced Final. John D. Min, who had reached the Final for the second year in a row, was building settlements and grabbing longest road, while Joe Burch was able to build several cities. 4 was a frequent roll in this game, with six of them coming in the first eight laps around the table (helping Joe with stone) and no 6's were rolled until the 11th lap (thanks to Brian Sutton for recording the rolls). Phil Reese and Eli Zlotowski were making progress with six points each at game end. On the 15th turn, Joe took over the longest road for 10 points and the win, leaving John with 7 points and in second plce for the second straight year.

 Settlers Junior

The junior version of the Settlers of Catan tournament drew a record 31 lil settlers on Tuesday. For the first time ever, seven games were played in the opening round of the two-round tournament.

~ Table 1: Last year's Settlers Junior runner-up, Tessa Lytle, booked her return trip to the Final in a very tight 4-player game. Bailey Burdett finished with 9 points, followed by Sarah Morgen with 6.
~ Table 2: Shira Weiss advanced with a win at another 4-player table, as she outpaced Graham Buccheri (8 points) and Caiden Baralo (7 points).
~ Table 3: Linsey Saccenti proved victorious from her 6-player table, narrowly staying ahead of Luke Morris (8 points), Alex Freeman (8 points), and 2013 finalist John Wobbeking (7 points).
~ Table 4: This 4-player game featured two of our more talented junior players, two-time finalist Abby Omer (in her last year of Juniors eligibility) and Holly Saccenti. In the end, it was Holly who advanced.
~ Table 5: Julia Carrigan proved victorious with a nicely played game. Jack Griffith (8 points) placed second.
~ Table 6: In a tightly contested 6-player game, Jay Buckwalter (8 points) led the pack when the game reached full time. Sabine Buccheri (7 points), Lucas Holmquist (7 points), Abigail Elliot (6 points), and Seamus Parauda (6 points) were all in striking distance.
~ Table 7: Aiden McNay reached 10 points ahead of the other players in his 5-player game. Xander Goddard finished behind him for second place.

With seven heat winners in 2014, a random draw had to be held to select the six players who would advance, as the Settlers Junior final (which does use the 5-6 player expansion) can only seat a maximum of six. Unfortunately, Julia Carrigan was the opening heat winner who drew the unlucky card. Julia was exceptionally gracious and displayed sportsmanship well beyond her years in accepting the outcome of the draw.

Final Table: The Final included only one player with prior Settlers Junior Final experience (Tessa Lytle); however, three of the other finalists (Shira Weiss, Holly Saccenti, Linsey Saccenti) play 'home games' with prior Settlers Junior champions (Adina Weiss - 2011, Antony Saccenti - 2012, Dante Saccenti - 2013). Despite the efforts of Jay Buckwalter and Aiden McNay, it was the young ladies who would determine the title. Tessa, Holly, and Linsey steadily built their colonies while the other players got stalled with a shortage of key resources. Ultimately, it was Holly who was able to hit the 'go' button mid-game and never look back to earn the third consecutive Settlers of Catan Junior crown for the Saccenti family. [We're fairly certain that a lot of adult tournament players would not fare well in their 'home game'.]

Linsey Saccenti, the younger of the two Saccenti finalists, and Tessa Lytle finished in a tie for second place with 6 points. Aiden McNay, Shira Weiss, and Jay Buckwalter wound up in a 3-way tie for fourth place with 5 points each.

The Juniors event includes the 6-player expansion to limit the event to two rounds.

Mandy Mossman, not long out of Juniors herself, gave her dad a hand as Asst GM.
 GM     Rich Shipley  [1st Year]   NA
  NA    NA 

2014 Previews | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page