Othello News May 2015
Albert Kortendijk wins 10th Antwerp Othello Open
Anne Dorbeck wins 10th Antwerpen Othello Open (B tournament)
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Location: Antwerp, Belgium Date: May 31st Tourney format: 7 rounds The 10th edition of the Antwerp Othello Open was hosted at Hof de Bist, an 18th century castle. This beautiful venue is situated within a large park and is the home of the Cultural centre of Ekeren (one of neighbouring districts of Antwerp). No less than 20 players competed in two competitions: a main event (the whole day) and a promising event (morning only). The main event started with 14 players while the promising event had 6 players. Anne Dorbeck from the Netherlands was the best in the promising tournament. She won all her games. Meanwhile Albert Kortendijk was the only undefeated player in the main event after wins against Nicky van den Biggelaar and Tom Schotte. After lunch 4 Dutch players joined the main event and so that field was 18 players strong. Albert Kortendijk maintained his strong start until the end of the tournament and won undefeated. Nicky van den Biggelaar also won all his games in the afternoon and became second. Belgian champion Tom Schotte became third and now has an extraordinary streak of 10 consecutive tournaments finishing best Belgian. 
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Singapore School Othello Championship
Liao Qin Zhong, Wee Jia Qi, Goh See Min and Anthony Goh win titles in their category
Location: Singapore, Singapore
Date: May 30th
Tourney format: 7 rounds
30th May 2015 marked the 8th Singapore Schools Othello Championship and an unprecedented 132 participants poured in to vie for top honours of Othello in Singapore. The field was separated in two leagues; primary school (under 12 category) of 49 students and secondary school-junior college-tertiary combined field of 83 students. After a grueling 7 rounds Swiss pairing battle, Liao Qin Zhong of Xishan Primary, Wee Jia Qi of Nanyang Girls' High School, Goh See Min of Hwa Chong Institution, and Anthony Goh of National University of Singapore took home the individual champion titles of their respective categories. Anthony Goh being the overall champion of the tournament with 7 straight wins also led NUS to the team championship in the tertiary category.
Maxi Axel Pellizzari wins Argentine Othello Tourney
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Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date: May 24th Tourney format: 7 rounds Maxi Pellizzari won the tourney with 6 wins and one tie against Paula Turbide. Paula also tied against Daniel Olivares. There was another tie game, Mecedes Cohen against Max Seifert. This was this year's first Othello tourney in Argentina. Next tourney is August 2nd and the final of the Argentinian Othello Championship is on August the 16th. The top three of this tourney have qualified for the Argentine Othello Championship, three more players can qualify on August 2nd.
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Makoto Nariya wins 101st Shinagawa Seaside Open
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Date: May 23rd
Tourney format: 6 rounds
Results of of all 21 players on JOA website
Makoto Nariya won the tourney with a perfect score of 6 wins. Runner-up was Daisuke Kamikura with 5 wins. Four wins for Tetsuya Nakajima, Takeshi Murakami, Hisatoshi Narumi and Kunihiko Tanida.
Date: May 23rd
Tourney format: 6 rounds
Results of of all 21 players on JOA website
Makoto Nariya won the tourney with a perfect score of 6 wins. Runner-up was Daisuke Kamikura with 5 wins. Four wins for Tetsuya Nakajima, Takeshi Murakami, Hisatoshi Narumi and Kunihiko Tanida.
Bernadette Avy wins C-tourney in Montbard
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Location: Montbard, France
Date: May 23rd Tourney format: 5 rounds Report on FFO website A French C-Tournament is open to all except French Grand Masters, Masters and players over 1800 points. The president of the "Club Montbardois" is Jean-Pierre Avy. The tourney was won by his wife Bernadette Avy who won all her games in the five rounds. Rémi Tastet, son of Marc Tastet, only had 1 win and a bye but he played a very close game against Bernadette Avy in round 2. He might have just won another point there. Rémi had a huge win at move 35 and at move 49, but in both cases the killing move was to play an X-square, which Rémi didn't find... 
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Imre Leader wins Cambridge Regional and is winner of the British Grand Prix 2015
Location: Cambridge, Great Britain
Date: May 23rd
Tourney format: 6 rounds
Imre Leader wins both the Cambridge Regional and the British Grand Prix. Leader, who won all nineteen games in the campaign, qualifies for the British team for the forthcoming World Othello Championship.
Date: May 23rd
Tourney format: 6 rounds
Imre Leader wins both the Cambridge Regional and the British Grand Prix. Leader, who won all nineteen games in the campaign, qualifies for the British team for the forthcoming World Othello Championship.
"A small but select group for the Cambridge Regional. Six rounds, but Ken had to retire after Round 1 as he was not feeling well. However, in the one round he did play he was ruthless against Roy, removing Roy's access to a certain key square and then exploiting this as evilly as possible.
Imre Leader: 6
Roy Arnold: 3
Marie Lightman: 2
Ken Stephenson: 1 (retired after one round)
Which means that I (note: Imre Leader) win the British GP for the first time. Roy kindly remembered to bring along the George Greaves Memorial Trophy to give to me!"
Report by Imre Leader on BOF Yahoo-group
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Takuji Kashiwabara wins Italian Open Othello Tourney
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Takanori Oshimizu wins 77th Sendai Open
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Location: Sendai, Japan
Date: May 17th Tourney format: 6 rounds First place for Takanori Oshimizu with 6 wins. Runner-up was Kenta Saito with 5 wins and third place for Kazu Satohiza with4 wins. Find the results of all 13 players at the JOA website 第77回仙台オープン |
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Stéphane Nicolet wins Ile de France 5
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Location: Paris, France
Date: May 16th Tourney format: 5 rounds Results after 5 rounds:
1: 5 pts [226] NICOLET Stéphane (433) {FRA} 2: 4 pts [164] LEVY-ABEGNOLI Thierry (3598) {FRA} 3: 3 pts [213] TASTET Marc (2) {FRA} [188] ANDRIANI Bintsa (45) {MDG} 5: 2 pts [160] TOUCHENE Fouad (9025) {DZA} [130] CHADAIGNE Romain (50077) {FRA} 7: 1 pt [55] LAGACHE Vincent (3723) {FRA} 8: 0 pt [112] CLUZON Gilles (3734) {FRA} [32] OVION Jacques (275) {FRA} |
Marc Tastet - Stéphane Nicolet
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TASTET Marc 29 - 35 NICOLET Stéphane Ile de France 5 |
It was the surprise of this Ile de France 5: Stéphane Nicolet, one of the best French Othello players (note: French Othello Champion in 1997, 2000 and 2005 and WOC finalist in 1996 and 2007), registered a half-hour before the start of the tournament. He has not played in competition for more than two years but he defeated his five opponents and won the tourney. |
Miroslav Voráček wins Czech GP Othello stage 5 |
Tomáš Douda winner of Czech Grand Prix Othello 2015
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Miroslav Voráček won stage 5 with 7/7. Miroslav seems undefeatable this year, he leads the European Grand Prix Othello after 4 stages with 2 wins (Prague and Madrid) and a 2nd place (Berlin).
The Czech National Championship will take place in September. Last year Miroslav lost the final 1-2 against Tomáš Douda. I am sure he wants to take the Champions title this year. After that...... maybe WOC 2015? |
Tomáš Douda won the Czech Grand Prix Othello 2015, runner-up was Ján Rybárik with just 1 point less than Tomáš. Tomáš played only 3 of the 5 stages but collected enough points to take the top position with a 3rd, 2nd and 1st place.
The Czech GP system works with a bonus. For playing all five stages, you get 10 extra points (same as you get for a 3rd place). Four tourneys gets you 6 points, three tourneys 3 points and two tourneys 1 point. |
Takuji Kashiwabara wins European Grand Prix stage 4, Oslo, Norway
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Stage 4 of the European Grand Prix in Oslo on May 9 - 10.
More info can be found on our special EGP Oslo page, and Facebook event page. Top 4 of 13 players:
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European Grand Prix 2015 results after 4 stages
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From left: Peter Michaelsen (best amateur), Palle Badsted #2, Karsten Feldborg #1, Erik Lund Jensen #3
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Karsten Feldborg wins Copenhagen OpenLocation: Copenhagen, Denmark
Date: May 9th Tourney format: 7 rounds I suppose this tourney may be the reason why there are no Danes at the EGP in Oslo. Winner is Karsten Feldborg with 6 points. Karsten lost in round 3 against Erik Lund Jensen. Palle Basted is runner-up with 5.5 points. He was in the lead with half a point after round 4 but lost against Karsten in round 5. 
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VALLUND Henrik 32-32 BADSTED Palle Copenhagen Open, round 3 |
FELDBORG Karsten 45-19 VALLUND Henrik Copenhagen Open, round 7 |
Takeshi Murakami, Yukiko Tatsumi and Nobuaki Mitsuya win Kanto Championship
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Location: Tokyo, Japan
Date: May 7th Tourney format: best of 3 Results on JOA website Read more interesting info in Takeshi Murakami's blog, that is where most of our info and pictures come from. Kanto Meijin-Sen; Takeshi Murakami won against Iwakura Hiroaki by 2 wins of 3 games. Takeshi Murakami 48-16 Iwakura Hiroaki Iwakura Hiroaki 49-15 Takeshi Murakami Takeshi Murakami 49-15 Iwakura Hiroaki All three games ended with a big win for black! Kanto Female Meijin-Sen; Yukiko Tatsumi won against Keiko Horiuchi by straight 2 wins. Keiko Horiuchi 26-37 Yukiko Tatsumi Yukiko Tatsumi 58-06 Keiko Horiuchi Kanto Student Meijin-Sen; Nobuaki Mitsuya won against Tatsurou Akagi by 2 wins of 3 games. Tatsurou Akagi 23-42 Nobuaki Mitsuya Nobuaki Mitsuya 12-52 Tatsurou Akagi Nobuaki Mitsuya 34-30 Tatsurou Akagi Congratulations!! |
Takeshi Murakami and Yukiko Tatsumi
Iwakura Hiroaki - Takeshi Murakami
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HIROAKI Iwakura 45-19 MURAKAMI Takeshi Kanto Championship, game 2 |
Takeshi Murakami in his AZABU shirt and Iwakura Hiroaki
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MURAKAMI Takeshi 45-19 HIROAKI Iwakura Kanto Championship, game 3 |
Tatsurou Akagi (l) - Nobuaki Mitsuya (r)
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AKAGI Tatsurou 23-41 MITSUYA Nobuaki Kanto Championship, game 1 |
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HORIUCHI Keiko 26-37 TATSUMI Yukiko Kanto Championship, game 1 |
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Kohachi Fukunaga wins Hiroshima Endurance Tournament
Location: Hiroshima, Japan
Date: May 5th
Tourney format: 18 rounds
Top 3 players:
Date: May 5th
Tourney format: 18 rounds
Top 3 players:
- Kohachi Fukunaga, 16 points
- Takashi Yamakawa, 14 points
- Kenta Kiyonobu, 13 points
"The tournament is divided into three parts, each of which consists of 6 rounds. After round 15, Kohachi and I were at top with 13 wins, and we played at round 16. Kohachi won that game and both remaining games. After all, he won the tournament with a formidable result.
Since many strong players (including 2013 World Champion Kazuki Okamoto) participated, it was definitely a tough tournament. "
Takashi Yamakawa
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FUKUNAGA Kohachi 33-31 YAMAKAWA Takashi Hiroshima Endurance Tournament, round 16 |
"Since Kohachi and I were at top with 13 points before this game, this was a very important game. In this game, Kohachi played steadily and I had almost no chance. Especially, 43 F8 was very good move. Before seeing this move, I thought that if black plays E8, then I can take B8 and control the diagonal, so black should take A1 now. However, F8 was a much better move, which prevents white's B8 (If white plays B8, then Black plays C8 and easily gets A8.) After that, there was not left any chance for white." |
Takashi Yamakawa wins 27th Kyoto Open
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Location: Kyoto, Japan
Date: May 4th Tourney format: Swiss system 7 rounds (with a draw) Results on JOA website Top 3 out of 47 players:
Even though Takashi Yamakawa lost against Kazuki Okamoto in the final round, he won the tourney as Kazuki had only 5 wins after 6 rounds and the total disc-count was in favour of Takashi. Nice way to spend a holiday in Japan's "Golden Week"! Lots of Othello activities all over Japan this week. Please send us results, pictures and game-transcripts! |
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OKAMOTO Kazuki Okamoto 36-28YAMAKAWA Takashi 27th Kyoto Open, round 7 |
"Since I had a 1 point advantage before this game, Kazuki had to get more than 41 discs at this game for winning the tournament. So he tried to lead to an unknown opening, but it ended up in a familiar opening for me. 38 g2 is an obvious mistake, and it becomes clear winning position for black. But black's goal is not getting more than 33 discs, but 41 discs. We were thinking very seriously in the endgame for getting more discs though it was an obvious win for black. Finally, I managed to leave 26 discs and I could win the tournament. It was a little pity that I could not win all of my games, but I'm very happy to win such a big tournament." |
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Takashi Izumi wins 2nd Mito endurance raceLocation: Mito, Japan
Date: May 3rd Tourney format: 20 rounds, 15 minutes Results on JOA website A twenty rounds endurance tourney! It sounds like fun! Takashi Izumi won with 15 wins, 3 losses and two draws. Runner-up was Tanaka Atsushi with also 15 wins, but 4 losses and 1 draw. |
Franceso Marconi comments on Marc Tastet's 100th EGP tournament
"The goal of 100 EGP tournaments played says more about Marc Tastet’s Othello passion than a hundred written pages. No more words could be added to describe it. Read the interview ON had with Marc Tastet here
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Francesco Marconi - Marc Tastet at EGP Prague (#98)
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Othello at shopping mall in Hamamatsu-shi, Japan
May 4th there was a Megahouse promotion event at a departmentstore. Two Othello players each played against 6 opponents simultaneously. About 150 people played a game, I dont know how many actually succeeded in winning a game against the pro's.
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Francesco Marconi wins Ferrara Othello TourneyLocation: Ferrara, Italy
Date: May 3rd Tourney format: 7 rounds A nice victory with 7 points for Francesco Marconi. Runner-up Alessandro Di Mattei with 6 points and third place for Takuji Kashiwabara (FRA) with 5 points. Best lady and best non-master player: Chiara Gigliucci. 
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Yingchong Hu wins 6th Tianjin Othello Open
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Location: Tianjin, China
Date: May 2nd Tourney format: 7 rounds, semifinals, playoff and final Link to more pictures and results on HBQhome (in Chinese) Two players with 6 points after the first seven rounds, that promissed to be a fascinating final. They started the tourney as opponents in the first round. Yingchong Hu won that game 27-37. In the final Yan Song (white) seemed to have the winning hand, but midgame Yingchong Hu turned the game won the final match. Champion: Yingchong HU 2nd: Yan SONG 3rd: Xu CHEN 4th: Baolong JIA Lady Champion: Yaqing LIU. Yaqing prolongued the title that she holds since 2013. Good job! |
The result of all players after 7 rounds:
1. Yan SONG, 6 points 2. Yingchong HU, 6 points 3. Xu CHEN, 5 points 4. Baolong JIA, 4 points 5. (unknown), 3 points 6. Haijun TANG, 3 points 7. Jihua LUO, 3 points 8. Yaqing LIU, 2 points 9. Wei WANG, 2 points 10.Zihui JI, 1 point |
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SONG Yan 27-37 HU Yingchong 6th Tianjin Othello Open, round 1 |
Yan Song and Yinchong Hu in round 1
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HU Yingchong 35-29 SONG Yan 6th Tianjin Othello Open, final |
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playoff 6th Tianjin Othello Open
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Xu CHEN 45-19 Baolong JIA 6th Tianjin Othello Open, playoff |
Congrats to Jolin Ng and Li Jungfeng
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Another Othello marriage, how wonderful! We wish the young couple a very happy life together.
Among the guests at the wedding lunch, Chee Chu Chin (left) and Makoto Suekuni (right) 
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