diplomacy

Updated Nov. 16, 2015

2015 WBC Report

2016 Status: pending 2016 GM commitment

Keith Boone, MD

2015 Champion

Event History

1991 Bruce Reiff 56
1992 Tom Kobrin 65
1993 Stephen Koehler 71
1994 Will Wible 57
1995 Sylvain LaRose 73
1996 Will Wible 50
1997 Steve Cooley 46
1998 David Hood 65
1999 Tom Pasko 55
2000 Simon Bouton 141
2001 Nick Benedict 44
2002 Andy Marsdhall 49
2003 Rick Desper 28
2004 Andy Bartalone 54
2006 Nick Benedict 26
2007 Nick Palmer 25
2008 Tom Haver 22
2012 Christian Pedone 34
2013 David Rynkowski 28
2014 David Rynkowski 24
2015 Keith Boone 32

PBeM Event History
2014 Scott Nedza 28
2015 Christopher Lee 35

Laurels

Rank  Name            From  Last Total
  1.  Nick Benedict    CA    06   115
  2.  Andy Marshall    MD    02    96
  3.  Tom Pasko        CT    03    76
  4.  Christopher Lee  AZ    15    60
  5.  Scott Nedza      NV    14    60
  6.  David Rynkowski  NY    14    60
  7.  Andy Bartalone   MD    04    60
  8.  Alvaro Ugaz      VA    01    60
  9.  Simon Bouton     uk    00    60
 10.  Nick Palmer      uk    08    56
 11.  Rick Desper      MD    04    56
 12.  David Sherwood   AZ    15    48
 13.  Tom Kobrin       NC    04    48
 14.  Ric Manns        IN    03    48
 15.  Kevin Youells    PA    15    42
 16.  David Hood       NC    02    42
 17.  Keith Boone      MD    15    40
 18.  Tom Haver        OH    08    40
 19.  Christian Pedone PA    13    39
 20.  Steven LeWinter  NC    15    36
 21.  Melissa Nichlson MA    02    36
 22.  Brian Dennehy    ir    00    36
 23.  Robert Vollman   ab    07    32
 24.  Mike Czajhowski  NJ    02    29
 25.  Jay Boring       MD    15    26
 26.  Steve LeWinter   NC    15    24
 27.  Jesus Zamora     AZ    15    24
 28.  Eric Grinnell    KY    08    24
 29.  Dennis Mishler   CT    06    24
 30.  Nathan Barnes    WA    04    24
 31.  Doug Faust       MD    02    24
 32.  Matt Shields     OR    00    24
 33.  Paul Konka       MD    15    23
 34.  Conrad Woodring  NY    03    20
 35.  Warren Day       AZ    14    18
 36.  Matt Calkins     VA    13    18
 37.  David Anderson   MI    12    18
 38.  Eric Mead        WA    04    18
 39.  Sean Cable       VA    00    18
 40.  John Stevens     NY    15    40
 41.  Romain Jacques   qc    07    16
 42.  Scott Bowling    IN    06    16
 43.  Amber Martin     PA    15    12
 44.  Richard Prast    OH    15    12
 45.  Bob Day          NY    14    12
 46.  Adam Sigal       MD    14    12
 47.  Jason O'Donnell  OH    13    12
 48.  Robbie Mitchell  VA    12    12
 49.  Brian Shelden    DC    08    12
 50.  Olin Hentz       CT    06    12
 51.  Corey Mason      MD    04    12
 52.  Mike Hall        DC    02    12
 53.  Simon Szykman    MD    01    12
 54.  Jon Evers        MD    00    12
 55.  Andrew Sherwood  PA    14     9
 56.  Rex Martin       PA    14     9
 57.  Harald Henning   CT    12     9
 58.  Daniel Broh-Kahn MD    08     8
 59.  TJ Halberstadt   IN    07     8
 60.  Kevin Lewis      DC    13     6
 61.  Sylvain LaRose   qc    12     6
 62.  Yarden Livnat    UT    00     6
 63.  Edi Birsan       CA    99     6
 64.  Dave Sidelinger  CT    07     4
 65.  Dan Mathias      MD    06     4
 66.  Bill Riggs       VA    14     3
2015 Laurelists Returning Laurelists: 1

Steven LeWinter, NC
2nd

John Stevens, NY
3rd

Amber Martin, PA
4th

Jay Boring, MD
5th

Paul Konka, MD
6th


Past Winners

Bruce Reiff, OH
1991


Tom Kobrin, NC
1992


Stephen Koehler, NC
1993


Will Wible, VA
1994, 1996


Sylvain LaRose, qc
1995


David Hood, NC
1998


Tom Pasko, CT
1999


Simon Bouton, UK
2000


Nick Benedict, CA
2001, 2006


Andy Marshall, MD
2002

Rick Desper, MD
2003

Andy Bartalone, MD
2004

Nick Palmer, UK
2007

Thomas Haver, OH
2008

Christian Pedone, PA
2012

Dave Rynkowski, NY
2013-14

Keith Boone, MD
2015

Living on the Razor's Edge ...

As CD of WBC and its predecessor for the last 25 years I have had the privilige of watching many dedicated GMs strive to keep their event robust and relevant in the ebb and flow of the convention's evolution as the following of old classics erode and fall victim to the cult of the new. All bring different levels of competence and devotion to the task before eventually surrendering to the inevitable. Many are motivated by self interest and maintaining the relevancy of their favorite game while maintaining a platform for their own achievements. Others are more altruistic and seek only to preserve the tournament for others. Those who love Diplomacy tend to be in the latter camp as Diplomacy tournament directors rarely play in their own events to ensure their objectivity—aside from an occasional role as an eliminator replacement to fill boards out of necessity. Thus, it is refreshing to have watched the degree of dedication Thomas Haver brings to this event as a non-playing GM. Not only does he sacrifice his time without the gratification of playing the game, but he funds significant prizes and refreshments for his players out of his own pocket. Once upon a time, WBC regularly hosted one of the largest Diplomacy tournaments anywhere and in 2000 hosted a World Dip Con which is still one of the largest such events of all time. Those days are long gone, but Thomas is to be congratulated for his efforts. No one has ever made more of an effort to support such a classic game's relevance.


The Diplomacy tournament celebrated its fourth year at WBC after a three-year hiatus, and we managed our best year in the last hurrah of the Lancaster Host. Given the aggressive tournament schedule of many WBC players, the Diplomacy tournament is run as best two rounds out of three on Friday and Saturday of the final weekend. Once again we used the "Carnage" scoring system, which relies on board ranking rather than draw size. This allows our tournament to move along briskly while being time limited. Along with the plaques provided by WBC, the GM provided seven Best Country awards as well as several game prizes.

Before Round 1 began, an offer was made to the assembled players: how do we award the extra game prizes? We provided six copies of "Road to Enlightenment", a game designed and published by WBC attendee Dirk Knemeyer. In previous years the games had been given away for exceptional performances on the board: topping the board or getting smashed. This year the players decided how to give them away, and they chose first player eliminated, with the caveat that the players must go down "fighting" as determined by other members of the table. With that matter settled, Round 1 began.

The tournament started with three boards. As per tradition, snacks were provided. Many folks played in the tournament after participating in the teaching session just a few hours prior—a neat trick for a classic as old as Diplomacy. The boards contained a mix of experienced and new players, with experience (mostly) winning out in this round. On Board 1, Steve LeWinter did a masterful job of piloting England to an 11-center board top. He was joined by long-time player Paul Konka, who managed a 7-center second with France. On Board 2, several new players faced off against the triumvirate of Jay Boring (Austria), John Stevens (Russia) and Ron Fisher (Turkey). Trevor Schoenen, who made his first tournament appearance last year, put up a valiant fight as Italy, but ultimately succumbed to the alliance. Christina Harley opened strong as England by going to the Channel, but the move proved fatal as Russia opened north and blocked her from gaining any builds. Like Steve LeWinter, John Stevens pushed Russia to a board top. On Board 3, great back-and-forth play saw Diplomacy-master Rex Martin and two-time defending champion David Rynkowski square off with many new faces. Emily Wu's England also opened to the Channel, which put David (France) on the defensive for the entire game. However, the board top came out of the east, as Keith Boone (Turkey) cooperated with Isaac Clizbe (Russia) to eliminate Austria. In a hotly contested game, Keith claimed top board with a nine-center Turkey.

Round 2 began with our annual tradition of coffee and doughnuts to make up for the early morning start time. The second round also had three boards, with many players from Friday night returning for another chance at glory. On Board 1, the game started with a Western Triple (England-France-Germany alliance). The eastern block reacted almost as quickly, but poor Italy was wiped out within the first four years. As the game drew to a close, Germany (always Germany in a Western) was knocked down by allies. Likewise, Jim Mason (Turkey) took advantage of open centers behind-the-line and jumped to a board top. Over on Board 2, it was an alliance between Helen Powell (England), Tom Good (France), and Amber Martin (Italy) that lasted nearly the entire game. In a strong Eastern push, the two corner powers colluded with the West to attack Austria. On one Fall turn Austria was attacked by Turkey, Russia, Italy, Germany, and France. Max DuBoff (Austria) took the attack in stride and immediately earned himself a game even though he was not eliminated, just for the impressive feat of being attacked by five powers at once. On the third board, it was the western alliance of Keith Boone (England) and Trevor Schoenen (France) that won the day. Keith once again played elegantly, and Trevor showed more of the growing talent he displayed at last year's tournament, his first as a player.

The third round again employed three boards, an excellent turnout considering many WBC Finals are underway at the same time. Pizza and drinks were served to celebrate another successful year of Diplomacy. In Round 3, we had prior champ Nick Benedict (Russia) make an appearance on the first board. Like all true Diplomacy champions, he was working the board hard from the beginning. However, it was Steve LeWinter (Austria) who made the most progress early, working with his Italian ally Scott Fenn to gain (and hold) an early lead. Rex Martin (Turkey), who won Best Turkey last year, was targetted and eliminated first. Steve ended up board topping with an 8-center Austria. On Board 2, Amber Martin (England) teamed up with John Stevens (France) to roll the board. Stevens, an experienced and talented player, assisted Martin in her first tournament. However, by the end of the game, Amber had proven to be a force-of-nature (perhaps those Martin family genes). Only time stoppage prevented a better score from England and France. On Board 3, Jay Boring (France) was running the show from beginning-to-end with ally Schoenen (Germany). Once again, defending champion David Rynkowski (France) found himself the victim of the champ's curse, beset on all sides. When the game was called by time, it was France and Russia sharing a board top.

With two first place finishes, both Keith Boone and Steve LeWinter deserved a title. However, there can be only one champion. By a single center—one center!—Boone bested LeWinter for the shield. Both players only participated in two rounds, so they had no drop scores; that is living on the razor's edge in tournament play. Congratulations to both players on an excellent and well-played tournament. Next year we will be back at Seven Springs, with increased round times and an implementation of the European C-Diplo scoring system. See you then!

Defending champ Dave Rynkowski
has his orders read by GM Tom Haver.

Emily Wu and Amber Martin attempt
to prove Diplomacy is not a man's world.

The WBC 2015 Best Country Awards went to:

Steve LeWinter

Steve LeWinter & Keith Boone

Trevor Schoenen

Trevor Schoenen

Amber Martin

John Stevens

Keith Boone

Austria

England

France

Germany

Italy

Russia

Turkey

As always, a picture is worth a thousand words, so 97 pictures would be worth ....


Play By Email 2015

Christopher Lee of Peoria, AZ won the Second BPA PBeM Diplomacy Tournament over a field of 35 players contested in 18 games. A Solo (17 centers) win counted as 15 points, a two-way (12+ centers) win as ten points, and a three way (9+ centers) win as six points. Country survival without being part of a winning split counted as three, two, or one point depending on centers controlled at game's end. Lee had two 2-way wins (France and Germany) and a Solo (England) for first place with 35 total points. Steven Le Winter placed second overall with a Solo, a 2-way, and a 3-way win for 31 points. Jesus Zamora took third place laurels with two Solo wins as France and Russia for 30 points. Kevin Youells of Advanced Civilization fame garnered fourth place laurels with a Solo and 2-way win for 28 points. David Sherwood took fifth with two 2-way wins and a 3-way win with 26 points. Rich Prast, the top ranked AREA player, claimed sixth place with a Solo and a 2-way win for 26 points. Rich, David, and Kevin also won laurels in the 2014 Diplomacy Tournament. Half of the games were Solo victories, A third were 2-way wins, and the remainder were 3-way wins. The best countries in order of victory points were: France, England, Turkey, Russia, Germany, Italy, and Austria.

GM Tom Haver [4th Year] NA
NA NA

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