EGP Aland 2017

EGP Åland 2017
June 17-18
winner: Imre Leader (GBR)

Marc Tastet and Takuji Kashiwabara played in all four EGP stages that were played so far this year, Prague, Athens, Barcelona and Oslo. Matthias Berg only missed the Athens stage. Two stages for Imre Leader, he played in Prague and Oslo and now will play his third EGP of this season. Stéphane Nicolet played in Athens and now is up for his second stage. Also so far two stages for Tomáš Douda, Martin Fransen and Roel Hobo, but they have not signed up for the Åland tournament.

Three more stages to go after this tournament and of course any player can still win if he/she wins the last three tournamens in Berlin, Ghent and Paris. I think the EGP battle for the title of European Champion will be decided between Takuji Kashiwabara (10 x winner), Marc Tastet (4x winner) and Matthias Berg.

I spotted a picture on FB posted by Erik Johansson who replayed the Athens finals in preparation for the tournament. Marc and Takuji, they are the ones to beat!!!

EGP 2017 after 4 stages

Erik Johansson replayed Athens final

just before the first round

Over twenty people were on the list for this tournament, but actually 15 players made the trip to beautiful Åland. Marc Tastet is the first player to have participated in (at least) one EGP tournament in each of the 16 host countries (Takuji has never played in Russia).

A great start of this tournament for Imre Leader, he defeated all his major opponents on day 1 and only lost against Niklas Wettergren. He did not make it to my list of three possible EGP 2017 Champions and I greatly appreciate his effort to prove me wrong.

Three players with 5 points:

Lari Pihlajapuro (rumour has it that he always wins the tourneys that he organises). He lost against Imre and Niklas Wettergren.
Niklas Wettergren, lost against Stéphane Nicolet and Marc Tastet
Takuji Kashiwabara, lost against Imre Leader and Lari Pihlajapuro.

And as always at the EGP..... anything can happen on day 2!!!

Follow lots of interesting games live on LiveOthello

Final result day 1 (7 rounds):

1:   6 pts [456]   LEADER Imre (79) {GBR}
   2:   5 pts [440]   PIHLAJAPURO Lari (1625) {FIN}
[413]   WETTERGREN Niklas (150009) {SWE}
[394]   KASHIWABARA Takuji (839) {FRA}
   5:   4 pts [422]   BERG Matthias (5301) {DEU}
[422]   TASTET Marc (2) {FRA}
[393]   NICOLET Stéphane (433) {FRA}
[374]   EKLUND Oskar (150016) {SWE}
[366]   KORTENDIJK Albert (5012) {NLD}
10:   3 pts [378]   PRASEPTYO Linda (5159) {NLD}
[358]   STEENTOFT Benkt (1301) {SWE}
[302]   ZEMELKA Jan (1533) {SWE}
13:   2 pts [360]   WU Katie (4065) {HKG}
[319]   ODSELL Caroline (1577) {SWE}
[315]   JOHANSSON Erik (1493) {SWE}

LEADER Imre 48-16 TASTET Marc
EGP Åland, round 1

PIHLAJAPURO Lari 40-24 KASHIWABARA Takuji
EGP Åland, round 5

WETTERGREN Niklas 36-28 KORTENDIJK Albert
EGP Åland, round 5

Results of the top 7 after round 10: Imre Leader and Takuji Kashiwabara at 8, Lari Pihlajapuro on 7, Matthias Berg, Marc Tastet, Oskar Eklund and Stéphane Nicolet at 6 points. Many possible outcomes for final and playoff.

Imre Leader started day 2 with a 33-31 win against Matthias Berg. He also won in round 9 but in round 10 he lost 46-18 against Oskar Eklund. His final opponent in the swiss rounds was Caroline Odsell, Imre won 24-40 and qualified to play in the final.

Takuji had a strong opponent in Oskar Eklund in round 11 and he lost 25-39. That loss meant that Lari qualified for the final, he won his last game 38-26 against Albert Kortendijk and ranked above Takuji.

Matthias Berg, Marc Tastet, Oskar Eklund and Stéphane Nicolet all won their game in round 11. Matthias Berg qualified for the playoff against Takuji Kashiwabara.

Takuji Kashiwabara won the playoff for 3rd and 4th place 42-22 and Imre Leader defeated Lari Pihlajapuro 2:0 in the best of 3 final. According to Marc Tastet, the first game of the final was relatively one-way, Imre gained the advantage little by little and finished it off with a very nice diagonal control. The second game was tighter. Lari missed his chance at move 46 and Imre won his first European Grand Prix tournament since Moss 2011. With this win Imre beats Marcs record of the oldest winner of a European Grand Prix stage!

Ranking of the 15 players after round 11:

1: 9 pts [819] LEADER Imre (79) {GBR}
2: 8 pts [802] PIHLAJAPURO Lari (1625) {FIN}
[798] KASHIWABARA Takuji (839) {FRA}
4: 7 pts [828] BERG Matthias (5301) {DEU}
[798] TASTET Marc (2) {FRA}
[793] EKLUND Oskar (150016) {SWE}
[771] NICOLET Stephane (433) {FRA}
8: 6 pts [738] PRASEPTYO Linda (5159) {NLD}
9: 5 pts [754] WETTERGREN Niklas (150009) {SWE}
[706] ODSELL Caroline (1577) {SWE}
KORTENDIJK Albert (5012) {NLD}
[694] STEENTOFT Benkt (1301) {SWE}
13: 4 pts [674] WU Katie (4065) {HKG}
14: 3 pts [597] ZEMELKA Jan (1533) {SWE}
15: 2 pts [610] JOHANSSON Erik (1493) {SWE}

Top 4 after final and playoff: