Day 2

WOC 2014 Results

November 7th, round 8 - 13

round 8 - 10

The first 3 rounds on day 2 of the WOC resulted in a new leader, Ben Seeley {USA} with 9 points. Second place for 3 players with 7.5 points: Makoto Suekuni {JPN}, Kazuki Okamoto {JPN} and Sky Chong {SGP}. Makoto Suekuni {JPN} lost to Jan de Graaf {NLD} in round 8 and to Francesco Marconi {ITA} in round 9. A draw for Makoto against Kazuki Okamoto {JPN} in round 10. A better start for Ben Seeley, 3 wins against Ching Wuen Chew {SGP}, Bo Chao Alex Koh {SGP} and Francesco Marconi {ITA}.

Mikael Lee 49 - 15 Jaehyun Kim

DE GRAAF Jan C. 34 - 30 SUEKUNI Makoto
38th WOC, round 8

Jan de Graaf - Makoto Suekuni

KOH Bo Chao Alex 23 - 41 SEELEY Ben
38th WOC, round 9

CHEW Ching Wuen 24 - 40 NAKANO Jyou
38th WOC, round 9

SUEKUNI Makoto 32 - 32 OKAMOTO Kazuki
38th WOC, round 10

round 10: Suekuni - Okamoto

round 11

Jan de Graaf {NLD} was doing very well on table 5 in round 11, but he was so keen to fight his way back into the game, that he forgot to check his clock. He won the game against Jyou Nakano but lost on time. I watched the game on webcam and heard him say that he had never before lost on time.
Takuji Kasiwabara won 3.5 points on day 2 and seems well on his way up.
Yan Song {CHN}, winner of the 2014 OWC seems well on his way to the semifnals. Best ladies after 11 rounds: Zhen Dong {CHN} and Joanna Williams {AUS}.
Nicky van den Biggelaar {NLD} had an unlucky first day, even though he was wearing his lucky orange sweater. But so far he won all 4 games. It seems luck changed between him and teammate Roel Hobo, who dropped in ranking from 4 to 34.

Top 7 after 11 rounds:

1. Ben Seeley {USA}, 10
2. Makoto Suekuni {JPN}, 8.5
Kazuki Okamoto {JPN}, 8.5
4. Yan Song {CHN}, 8
Jyou Nakano {JPN}, 8
6. Takuji Kashiwabara {FRA} , 7.5
Sky Chong {SGP}, 7.5

Jan's flag is up!

round 12

KOH Bo Chao Alex 28 - 36 BIGGELAAR Nicky v.d.
38th WOC, round 12

SONG Yan 39 - 25 SEELEY Ben
38th WOC, round 12

KASHIWABARA Takuji 27 - 37 OKAMOTO Kazuki
38th WOC, round 12

Top 10 after 12 rounds:

1. Ben Seeley {USA} 10 (1024)
2. Makoto Suekuni {JPN} 9.5 (1039)
Kazuki Okamoto {JPN} 9.5 (1021)
4. Yan Song {CHN} 9 (1023)
5. Francesco Marconi {ITA} 8 (1011)
Nicky van den Biggelaar {NLD} 8 (928)
Piyanat Aunchulee {THA} 8 (926)
Jyou Nakano {JPN} 8 (921)
Meng Joo Lai {MYS} 8 (918)
Miroslav Voráček {CZE} 8 (914)

Miroslav Voráček {CZE}

Yan Song - Takuji Kashiwabara

round 13

AUNCHULEE Piyanat 36 - 28 SONG Yan
38th WOC, round 13

NAKANO Jyou 35 - 29 MARCONI Francesco
38th WOC, round 13

BIGGELAAR Nicky v.d. 26 - 38 OKAMOTO Kazuki
38th WOC, round 13

AUNCHULEE Piyanat 28 - 36 SONG Yan
38th WOC, playoff

Piyanat Aunchulee defeated Yan Song in round 13, that opened up possibilities for Franceso Marconi and Nicky van den Biggelaar, but they both lost their game in round 13. Piyanat Aunchulee was defeated in the playoff for the final spot in the semifinals by Yan Song.
The semifinalists are: Ben Seeley {USA}, Makoto Suekuni {JPN}, Kazuki Okamoto {JPN} and Yan Song {CHN}. Ladies finalists: Joanna William {AUS} and Zhen Dong {CHN}.

Update on day 2 of the World Othello Championships: I had another good day, and won 5 of 6 games. That put me on 11 wins out of 13 games, and 1st position in the Swiss portion of the tournament. That qualified me to the semifinals, where I will play 2014 Othello World Cup winner Yan Song from China. Then after the semifinals I will play either the winner or the loser of the semifinals between Makoto Suekuni and Kazuki Okamoto, both of Japan (Suekuni won the World Othello Championships in 1997, Okamoto won last year).

The WOC so far has been done in a FANTASTIC way. Really really fun tournament! More on that later

Ben Seeley