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Heat GM Greg Crowe with art collectors
(or thieves) Michael McKibbin, Mark Geary and Jeff Cornett.
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Heat GM Tom DeMarco, Andy Latto, Dee
Ann Gehring and Wendy McCallion.
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Sean McCulloch and Alyssa Mills
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Alex Bove, Tom DeMarco, Donte Saccenti, and the
Collinson sisters
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Four heats ... still no dice
It pays to have a support team of fellow enthusiasts in place when life intervenes. WBC events are rarely cancelled. So when GM John Pack informed his assistants ten days beforehand that he would be unable to attend, they divvied up his workload and the show went on without a hitch. The tournament again had heats on four different days, instead of the whole-event-in-one-night format that was the norm for many years. Each heat consisted of two games, and the sum of the points a player earned for their finish position earned (five points for first, down to one point for fifth) would be ranked for advancement to the semifinal. Because each heat was a separate qualifier to the semifinals, all players scoring ten points in any of the four heats would advance first, then all those with nine points, etc. until the maximum number of semifinalists was reached.
Ivan Lawson ran Heat 1 on Monday for 25 players. Alex Henning had to leave after the first game, but Tim Packwood replaced her, so there were five players in each game. Alyssa Mills was the lone double winner, earning ten points. Ashley Worley and Alex Bove scored nine points.
Tom DeMarco ran Heat 2 on Thursday for 20 players, 12 of whom were new. Alyssa was still the leader with 10 points, while Ashley and Alex B. were joined at nine points by Deb Yuare, Laurie Voisin, Ashley’s sister Angela Collinson, and former tournament champs Mark Geary and Tom DeMarco. Joe Yuare, Karl Henning, Jack Griffith, Dave Dentel, and David Meyaard followed with eight points.
Greg Crowe took over control of Heat 3 with 21 players in attendance as two players again team teamed up to play one game each. Since the tournament attendance was now over 50, the semifinal would be the maximum size of 25. After three heats Mark Geary joined Alyssa with ten points. Jennifer Glinzak joined the 9-point club, 2013 champ Philip Livingston managed eight points, while Tim Packwood, Kevin Quirk, Donte Saccenti and three others became eligible with seven points.
John had been slated to run Heat 4 on Sunday morning, so Greg was pressed into service again. Alas, most folks were either still asleep, at another event, or on their way home because only five players posted for the last chance to advance. Jeff Cornett scored eight and David Rynkowski seven to qualify for Round 2.
Of the 25 semifinalists and four alternates listed on the kiosk only 15 were available at 11 AM Sunday. Even this reduced number proved too many as only one copy of the game was present. It didn’t take long for that game to finish. David Meyaard ran away from the pack, finishing two spaces over the finish while Deb Yaure took second 11 spaces behind the line. In the second semifinal, DeMarco triggered the end by moving two spaces past the finish, but Rynkowski used the 8 space end-of-game bonus move to pass and win at five spaces past the finish. Meanwhile,a second copy of the game was finally procured and the third semifinal had gotten underway with Livingston finishing at three spaces past the finish, while Angela Collinson used the eight-space bonus to sneak past Cornett for second with a 10-card set to his 9-card set, finishing four spaces back and thereby grabbing the last seat at the Final.
DeMarco once again triggered the end game in the Final, this time finishing five spaces past the line, but once again the eight-space bonus allowed Angela to pass and win at six spaces past the finish. Meyaard finished third at six spaces short of the line, Rynkowski fourth at seven spaces short, and Livingston trailed the pack.
 Play
By Email 2015
 Chris Trimmer saved his best for last. He secured the fifth seat
in the Final by being the lone non-winner in the semifinals to
advance with a five spaces-over second place. That bested the
next closest runnerup, Bob Hamel, whose two spaces over earned
sixth place laurels. Chris had qualified for the semifinals on
the strength of four runnerup finishes in the preliminaries.
The 40th and final game of the tournament began as Israeli
Aran Warszawski sprinted out to a huge early lead, But in the
last 4/2, 2/1 and 5/3 spaces, he paused just long enough to cycle
thieves through the jail. That allowed Chris to catch him and
finish two spaces beyond him for the title. Trailing just behind
were Norwegian Haakon Monsen, Greg Thatcher and Greg Landel for
third thru fifth laurels.
Check out all the details of the tournament at http://www.gameaholics.com/adv_tournament.htm.
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John Pack [1st Year]
11213 Keota St., Parker,
CO 80134
NA