Othello News May 2017
Jerry Hai reports on makeshift Othello Tournament in Beijing
On May 29th, I met up in Beijing with fellow Othello players Yan Song, Baolong Jia, Tao Yu, and Yingchong Hu, and we decided to have an informal tournament at a local tea joint. Our plan was to play two consecutive 15-minute games with each player, once as black and once as white. However, we messed up the order in which we were to play each other, and didn’t finish the tournament as planned. Nonetheless, we all played some memorable games, and I’ve provided some commentary on my two games with Yan Song below.
Game 1: Yan Song 35-29 Jerry Hai
With a move 23 A4, Yan Song forced me into a relatively extreme situation where I’d have two adjacent odd edges without parity. However, instinctually I knew that this position was still relatively even, simply because other options would be giving up too much mobility or positioning to black. With little time left for both of us, Yan Song played a gutsy 41 G2. While this move was a losing move upon analysis, it not only caught me by surprise but created a variety of new lines to figure out to set up the endgame. With 44 H5, I played a fairly conservative move that happened to be incorrect in place of G7, which would have been a bold and fun move to play, as it leads to either a stoner threat or a blocking of E8 to prevent black from further attacking the A8 corner. However, by this point I was also effectively just trying to finish the game. Ultimately, what cost me the game was my hesitation in the final minute to either give up the A8 corner or to provide an F2/G1 swindle, surmising that doing so would cost me too many pieces. Thus, I made moves that protected A8 at all costs, and that ultimately ended up being the wrong moves to make. Whether or not I would’ve considered and giving up A8 in that situation with more time, I’m not sure. But nonetheless, it was fun game, one in which we both used up our entire clocks (Yan Song had 2 seconds left, I had 1). |
SONG Yan 35-29 HAI Jerry game 1 |
Game 2: Jerry Hai 32-32 Yan Song
Our second game led to yet another fairly extreme position, and once again I was left with taking an odd edge early. As the game goes on, I even end up taking two odd edges on parallel sides, to force white to play up top, seeing that most of white’s options leave me with fairly quiet moves to respond with. My first major mistake came with 39 F1, which I thought long about. While I did consider the correct move to D1, instinctively I simply didn’t like the future positions of that move. F1 was ultimately the wrong move because upon deeper analysis, it provides a swindle for white by keeping the B column white. Yan Song however played 42 B2 instead of D1, opting to directly use a parity force. Upon this move, my final decision of the game would be to figure out how to play out the bottom edge that I intentionally left untouched up to this point. I eliminated my options to C8 and F8, and opted for 47 F8 because I wanted to save C8 for white’s impending 48 E8. E8 however ended up being a wrong move in place of B7, which upon deeper analysis allowed white to keep parity with a future H7 attack. After Yan Song’s E8, we played out the rest of the game in fairly standard fashion, which resulted in a draw. |
HAI Jerry 32-32 SONG Yan game 2 |
Michael Shifman wins Kfar-Saba Children OpenLocation: Kfar-Saba, Israel
Date: May 25th Michael Shifman won this the last tournament in the Israeli Children's Grand Prix series. The 8 best kids were selected for the Israeli Children's Championship that will be held June, 17th. Final result: SHIFMAN, Michael, IL, 5, 248 LAUFER, Shahar, IL, 4, 208 YOSIFOVICH, Danielle, IL, 3.5, 232 CHERESHNYA, Yaron, IL, 3, 163 SHIFMAN, Shani, IL, 3, 167 ASULIN, Noam, IL, 3, 183 FRIDMAN, Tal, IL, 2, 142 YOSIFOVICH, Amit, IL, 2, 112 FABIAN, Asaf, IL, 2, 173 MONASTYRSKI, Shay, IL, 1.5, 139 ASULIN, Avner, IL, 1, 93 MONASTYRSKI, Dan, IL, 0, 60 |
Wendy de Graaf wins 15th Burijn Othello Open
Location: Alkmaar, Netherlands
Date: May 30th Tourney format: 5 rounds Link: NOV website A great tournament for Wendy who scored 5 wins. Second place for Anouk de Vries. Final results: DE GRAAF, Wendy, NL, 5, 359 DE VRIES, Anouk, NL, 3, 343 VERMUNT, Victor, NL, 3, 313 DE VRIES, Judith, NL, 3, 301 DE GRAAF, Jasmijn, NL, 3, 292 EVERS, Anouk, NL, 3, 280 DE VRIES, Jiske, NL, 3, 259 DEKKER, Teun, NL, 3, 253 EVERS, Wouter, NL, 1+2, 77 KAAIJ, Sterre, NL, 2, 269 LIMBACH, Esmee, NL, 2, 265 POVER, Ella, NL, 2, 254 CARDOL, Savian, NL, 1, 217 KAAIJ, Mees, NL, 1, 213 |
Openings photo album
More pictures can be found at Facebook page from Ukraine Othello.
Kazuki Okamoto wins 125th Shinagawa OpenLocation: Shinagawa, Japan
Date: May 27th Tourney format: 6 rounds Link: JOA website, Murakami blog Kazuki Okamoto, World Othello Champion 2013, won the tournament with 6 wins, no losses. Second place for Kenta Kiyonobu who won 5 games and lost against Kazuki. Yuichi Hishiyama finished third, also with 5 wins and 1 loss. |
SUEKUNI Makoto 16-48 MURAKAMI Takeshi Shinagawa Seaside, round 3 |
MURAKAMI Takeshi 15-49 OKAMOTO Kazuki Shinagawa Seaside, round 4 |
MURAKAMI Takeshi 29-35 HISHIYAMA Yuichi Shinagawa Seaside, round 6 |
Alessandro Di Mattei wins Italian Grand Prix Othello 2017
Location: Rome, Italy
Date: May 28th Alessandro Di Mattei won the 4th and final stage of the Italian GP. He won all 4 stages, and is winner of the IGP 2017. Congrats to a great player! |
Hiroto Obara wins 38th Niigata Challenge CupLocation: Niigata, Japan
Date: May 28th Tourney format: 5 rounds Link: Niigata results, JOA website Hiroto Obara won the tournaments with a perfect score of 5 wins. 1優勝 小原 大翔(Hiroto Obara)初段 5勝0敗 2位 田辺 知己(Tomoki Tanabe)初段 3勝1敗1分 3位 岩坂 龍次(Ryuji Iwasaka)初段 3勝2敗 4位 高野 邦彦(Kunihiko Takano) 3勝2敗 5位 澤田 篤史(Atsushi Sawada) 3勝2敗 ←2級取得 6位 澤田 愛望(Aimi Sawada) 2勝2敗1分 ←3級取得 7位 今田 晋(Susumu Imada)4級 2勝3敗 ←3級昇級 8位 長谷川 俊介(Syunsuke Hasegawa) 1勝4敗 ←4級取得 9位 澤田 蒼海(Soumi Sawada) 1勝4敗 ←4級取得 10位 今田 哉子(Chikako Imada)3級 1勝4敗 |
Matthias Berg wins German Othello Championship 2017Location: Dresden, Germany
Date: May 27-28th Tourney format: 10 rounds Link: LiveOthello Last year Matthias Berg won his 15th national title with a perfect score of 10/10. This year he won his 16th National title. What a great achievement! He lost only 1 game in round 6 against Gunnar Bach. Gunnar Bach and Daniel Rössler both finished with 7 points and there was a playoff for 2nd/3rd place that was won by Daniel Rössler. Final result:
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Ben Seeley's Endgame Quiz continued 12-16
Olli Makkonen, 6 times Finland Othello Champion, responded enthusiastically to the first 2 batches of Ben Seeley quizzes. Here his view on why taking the time to solve these endgames, will eventually improve your game.
Here is another set of endgame puzzles by Ben Seeley. They all are black to play and win 33-31 with 6 empties. Most experienced players would say that playing 6 empties correctly should be rather easy, but here are good examples why that is not always the case. If you try to blitz through these, I will guarantee you will make mistakes!
I myself like to use these kinds of puzzles as an opportunity to improve my counting ability. With only 6 empties there are not too many lines you need to count, so with enough time, you should be able to find the winning ones.
Another valuable lesson is, that winning line is not always the one that stands out of the rest at first glance and thinking outside of the box is often beneficial.
So, thanks again Ben for sending these, and I hope you all have as much fun solving them as I did!
-Olli Makkonen
Seeley's Quiz #12 black wins 33-31 |
Seeley's Quiz #13 black wins 33-31 |
Seeley's Quiz #14 black wins 33-31 |
Seeley's Quiz #15 black wins 33-31 |
Seeley's Quiz #16 black wins 33-31 |
More Seeley quizzes can be found here.
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Tom Schotte wins 12th Antwerpen Othello OpenLocation: Antwerp, Belgium
Date: May 28th Tourney format: 7 rounds Link: BOA website, FB eventpage Ranking of the 5 players after round 10 (A-tournament): 1: 10 pts [836] SCHOTTE Tom (2795) {BEL} 2: 7 pts [713] REUNES Nick (5900) {BEL} [704] NICHOLLS Frederic (270024) {BEL} 4: 3 pts [588] VAN DE MOORTEL Frauke (4068) {BEL} [559] VAN DAMME Jan (270004) {BEL} Ranking of the 5 players after round 6 (B-tournament): 1: 5 pts [365] VAN DEN BRANDT Joke (270013) {BEL} 2: 4 pts [367] VAN DAMME Frank Ivo (270012) {BEL} [311] KRASTEV Dimitar (400000) {BGR} 4: 3 pts [291] VECHTER Ivan (270034) {BEL} 5: 2 pts [274] VECHTER Gerben (270033) {BEL} |
Ivo Rybárik wins Czech GP6Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Date: May 27th Tourney format: 7 rounds Link: FB page Ivo won the tournament with 7 wins! Second place for Tomáš Douda with 6 wins. Third place for <18 player Sládek Vitek who scored 5 points. |
Othello News before the MillenniumI never knew there was an Othello News online magazine before I started this website. Leonid Shifman, the editor, sent me a couple of links that I really like to share with you.
A pitty that there were only 2 issues. Leonid: "We made it with Benny... He was 15 y. o. We stopped the project, because we had no time for it... :(" First issue, March 1998 Second issue April 1998 |
Mitsuru Dairokuno wins VIII Copa de Othello
Location: Tietê, Brazil
Date: May 21st Tourney format: 6 rounds Link: FB photoalbum The Brasil Othello Federation is doing an excellent job and the way they promote Othelllo results in these very well attended tournaments. Fiftythree players came to Tietê for the fun of the game and for one of the many awards. Overall winner was Mitsuru Dairokono. The division per category is made after the tournament has finished. Number 2 in the overall final result, Jennifer Karine Rocha, chose to be the female category champion. Mitsuru Dairokuno was overall best and best in 60M. As Mitsuru obviously claimed the overall title, Jesualdo Tubero became winner of 60M and Gabriel Marden moved up to second place.
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10M:
1. Marco Antonio Ivaschenko 2. João Guilherme Queroiz 3. Rodrigo Fiorotto Garcia 10F: 1. Lais Emily Higashi 2. Ruama Quezia Costa 3. Beatriz Antunes Carminatto |
14M:
1. Ian Felipe Souza 2. Vinicius Silva Sá 3. Lucas José de Souza 14F: 1. Ekaterina Sarnadskaya 2. Evelyn Caroline Santos 3. Jamile Lima Silva |
18M:
1. Lucas Pedreira 2. Carlos Eduardo Cardoso 3. Vinicios Ambrosio 18F: 1. Marla Geana Jesus 2. Larissa Rocha Almeida 3. Izadora Marques de Souza |
60M:
1. Jesualdo Tubero 60F: 1. Aparecida Fuza Correia |
Félix Juigner wins French Junior Othello Championship
Location: Paris, France
Date: May 21st
Tourney format: 3 rounds
Link: FFO website
10 players at this championship, average age of the players 10.5 years old. Félix Juigner, younger brother of Arthur, won the tournament with 3 straight wins. Congrats to all the players, I am sure they had a great time.
Final result:
1: 3 pts [162] JUIGNER Felix (50067) {FRA}
2: 2 pts [135] BENOIT Mathis (50098) {FRA}
[115] TASTET Remi (50053) {FRA}
[114] TASTET Sophie (50081) {FRA}
[66] KEUMAYOU Esther (50101) {FRA}
6: 1 pt [86] ROQUES Raphael (50100) {FRA}
[85] BENOIT Elijah (50099) {FRA}
[76] CISSOKHO Aminata (50107) {FRA}
[51] BALDE Mama (50102) {FRA}
10: 0 pt [70] BALDE Mariama (50106) {FRA}
Date: May 21st
Tourney format: 3 rounds
Link: FFO website
10 players at this championship, average age of the players 10.5 years old. Félix Juigner, younger brother of Arthur, won the tournament with 3 straight wins. Congrats to all the players, I am sure they had a great time.
Final result:
1: 3 pts [162] JUIGNER Felix (50067) {FRA}
2: 2 pts [135] BENOIT Mathis (50098) {FRA}
[115] TASTET Remi (50053) {FRA}
[114] TASTET Sophie (50081) {FRA}
[66] KEUMAYOU Esther (50101) {FRA}
6: 1 pt [86] ROQUES Raphael (50100) {FRA}
[85] BENOIT Elijah (50099) {FRA}
[76] CISSOKHO Aminata (50107) {FRA}
[51] BALDE Mama (50102) {FRA}
10: 0 pt [70] BALDE Mariama (50106) {FRA}
Imre Leader wins Hampshire RegionalLocation: Alton, Hampshire, UK
Date: May 20th Links: FB eventpage, BOF GP Imre Leader won the tournament with a perfect score of 6 wins. Runner-up was Guy Plowman. It seemed like an uneven challenge, 5 Brands and 4 Plowmans against just 1 Leader. But Leader he remained throughout the tournament. |
Oleksandr Babichev wins Ukraine Othello Championship 2017
Location: Kharkiv, Ukraine
Date: May 20th Link: LiveOthello On May 20 the first Ukrainian Othello Championship was held in Kharkiv. The total number of players at this tournament was 8. Oleksandr Babichev and Oleksandr Tokranov qualified for the final. Babaichev gained 5 points in swiss, Tokranov - 4 points. Tokranov won the first final game 30-34, Babichev won the second game with the same result, the third one was a draw. The playoff for third place was won by Oleksandr Miroshnichenko. He won 22- 42 against Kyrill Kobzarev. In the swiss rounds Miroshnichenko won against the runner-up Tokranov in round 1 and against the champion Babichev in round 4. Top 4 Ukraine Championship:
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KOBZAREV 22-42 MIROSHNICHENKO Ukraine Championship 2017, playoff 3/4 |
BABICHEV 30-34 TOKRANOV Ukraine Championship 2017, final game 1 |
TOKRANOV 30-34 BABICHEV Ukraine Championship 2017, final game 2 |
BABICHEV 32-32 TOKRANOV Ukraine Championship 2017, final game 3 |
Othello at Estonian Museum Night
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Date: May 20th
The KultuuriKatel opened its doors at 18:00 for a special night with exhibitions, tours, music, dance and games at the Estonian-wide Museum Night.
Date: May 20th
The KultuuriKatel opened its doors at 18:00 for a special night with exhibitions, tours, music, dance and games at the Estonian-wide Museum Night.
Thierry Lévy-Abégnoli wins Ile de France 4
Location: Paris, France
Date: May 20th Link: FFO website Thirteen players at this tournament and the winner was Thierry Lévy-Abégnoli. Great victory for him as he won all his games just like he did at IdF3 and IdF2. Marc Bertrandias and Marc Levy are relatively new players, but they show exceptional progress according to the FFO treasurer Serge Benoit. Final results after 5 rounds: 1: 5. pts [211] LEVY-ABEGNOLI Thierry (3598) {FRA} 2: 3.5 pts [183] BERTRANDIAS Marc (50075) {FRA} 3: 3. pts [212] TASTET Marc (2) {FRA} [179] TOUCHENE Fouad (9025) {DZA} [171] BUSUTTIL Michel (228) {FRA} [166] LEVY Marc (50096) {FRA} 7: 2.5 pts [181] ANDRIANI Bintsa (45) {FRA} 8: 2. pts [154] BETIN Dominique (419) {FRA} [146] BENOIT Serge (3600) {FRA} [132] LECAT Monique (2788) {BEL} 11: 1. pt [120] LAGACHE Vincent (3723) {FRA} [82] BRUIANT Jacky (50028) {FRA} [63] -OVION Jacques (275) {FRA} |
EGP stages to come: Aland, Berlin, Ghent and Paris
Hello everybody,
The last stage of the European Grand Prix 2017, Paris EGP tournament, will be held on Saturday August 26th and Sunday August 27th.
This year, we'll have again a strong field with as a guest star, Takeshi Murakami (3-time World Othello Champion) and several other Japanese players (Keiko Horiuchiand at least two younger players Yutaka Onuki and Keiichiro Nakamura).
It hasn't yet been updated, but you'll find soon a provisional list of players here.
It will be updated as soon as you tell me that you are joining the tournament by sending me a mail! mailto:[email protected]
Don't wait 2024 to come to Paris (for the Olympic Games) come in 2017!
The reason I send this message out today is because you can find cheap train tickets at the moment to come to Paris :
- from 20 euros (one way) from Brussels,
- from 29 euros (one way) from Amsterdam,
- from 39 euros (one way) from London (book before May 18th).
Even Air France is selling tickets from 45 euros (one way) for you to come to Paris by plane!
Don't wait till it is more expensive to buy your ticket!
I hope to see you again in Paris,
Marc Tastet
The last stage of the European Grand Prix 2017, Paris EGP tournament, will be held on Saturday August 26th and Sunday August 27th.
This year, we'll have again a strong field with as a guest star, Takeshi Murakami (3-time World Othello Champion) and several other Japanese players (Keiko Horiuchiand at least two younger players Yutaka Onuki and Keiichiro Nakamura).
It hasn't yet been updated, but you'll find soon a provisional list of players here.
It will be updated as soon as you tell me that you are joining the tournament by sending me a mail! mailto:[email protected]
Don't wait 2024 to come to Paris (for the Olympic Games) come in 2017!
The reason I send this message out today is because you can find cheap train tickets at the moment to come to Paris :
- from 20 euros (one way) from Brussels,
- from 29 euros (one way) from Amsterdam,
- from 39 euros (one way) from London (book before May 18th).
Even Air France is selling tickets from 45 euros (one way) for you to come to Paris by plane!
Don't wait till it is more expensive to buy your ticket!
I hope to see you again in Paris,
Marc Tastet
Oskar Eklund wins European Grand Prix Oslo, Norway
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Kenta Kiyonobu wins Rinkai ('sea side') Challenge Cup Open
Location: Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan
Date: May 14th
The Rinkai ('sea side') Challenge Cup Open took place at the Community Plaza Shinagawa. There were 3 divisions: Advanced, Intermediate and Beginners.
Top 3 players for the 13 players advanced division were as follows:
1. Kenta Kiyonobu
2. Kazuki Okamoto
3. Makoto Suekuni
Date: May 14th
The Rinkai ('sea side') Challenge Cup Open took place at the Community Plaza Shinagawa. There were 3 divisions: Advanced, Intermediate and Beginners.
Top 3 players for the 13 players advanced division were as follows:
1. Kenta Kiyonobu
2. Kazuki Okamoto
3. Makoto Suekuni
WOF World Othelo RatinglistWOF Ratinglist was updated may 12th, Are you any where near the top 10?
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Japan Othello Association flyer
Marie Kimura from Megahouse sent me a JOA Othello promotion flyer. She was kind enough to also send a translation (joaflyer.docx). Othello is big in Japan and a lot of work has been done by many enthusiasts to make it that big. Still they work hard and keep promoting the game, to survive, like any other sport, you need fresh input and new players.
joa_flyer.docx | |
File Size: | 17 kb |
File Type: | docx |
EGP facts by Tom Schotte
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An all time maximum, average and minimum for all organising countries is represented below. The Netherlands is still well ahead of Sweden and France. It has to be said that some countries organise for almost 30 years, while some countries only had a small amount of tournaments. Therefore a second graph is present showing the same for the last 10 editions. Check out more EGP statistics at Tom's special pages
Othello fun at school
In preparation for the Antwerp Open Tournament, Jan van Damme introduced Othello at a nearby elementary school. They started the first lesson with the rules of the game and after that played a game. Important lesson too: games are more important than winning, fair play at all times and the kids also learned to congratulate each other on the success of the game, and to congratulate / thank each other at the end. Next session will cover opening game and some basic strategies as the importance of the corners, how do you shift the game to your advantage, and maybe even parity.
The intention is especially to show the children how much fun it is to play Othello and of course to have a well-filled beginner tournament on May 28th at the 12th Antwerp Othello Open
The intention is especially to show the children how much fun it is to play Othello and of course to have a well-filled beginner tournament on May 28th at the 12th Antwerp Othello Open
Nicky van den Biggelaar wins 85th Dutch Othello Open
Location: Bussum, Netherlands
Date: May 7th Tourney format: 7 rounds Link: LiveOthello, NOV website Nicky van den Biggelaar won the tournament with 6 points. His only loss was in round 6 against Jan de Graaf. Runner-up Roel Hobo also scored 6 points, with a loss against Nicky in round 4. Third place for Jan de Graaf with 5.5 points. He lost against Roel in the second round and played a draw against Martin Fransen in round 3. |
VD BIGGELAAR Nicky 47-17 HOBO Roel 85th Dutch Open, round 4 |
AUBROECK Patrick 25-39 VD BIGGELAAR Nicky 85th Dutch Open, round 5 |
DE GRAAF Jan 37-27 VD BIGGELAAR Nicky 85th Dutch Open, round 6 |
Imre Leader wins Cambridge Regional 2017Location: Trinity College, Cambridge, UK
Date: May 6th Tourney format: double round robin Report by: Imre Leader We broke the record for `attendance at a tournament that was in danger of being cancelled because of nobody coming'. We had 4 players, breaking the previous record of 3 players (Roy and Phil Marson and me, an Xmas Friendly several years ago). The most excitement came in the last round, when Roy heroically beat Iain 26-38 to secure joint-second place! Final scores out of 6: 1. Imre Leader, 6/6 2=. Roy Arnold 3/6 2=. Iain Barrass 3/6 4. Ben Pridmore 0/6 |
Ryouta Kameda, Yukiko Tatsumi and Kouya Saji win Kanto Meijin-Sen 2017Location: Tokyo, Japan
Date: May 6th Tourney format: best of 3 Link: Murakami blog Report by: Yukiko Tatsumi Kanto Meijin-Sen; Ryouta Kameda won against Kenta Kiyonobu with straight 2 wins. Ryouta Kameda 37-27 Kenta Kiyonobu Kenta Kiyonobu 29-35 Ryouta Kameda Kanto Female Meijin-Sen; Yukiko Tatsumi won against Keiko Horiuchi with straight 2 wins. Keiko Horiuchi 29-35 Yukiko Tatsumi Yukiko Tatsumi 51-13 Keiko Horiuchi Kanto Student Meijin-Sen; Kouya Saji won against Yuuma Kudou with 2 wins of 3 games. Kouya Saji 39-25 Yuuma Kudou Yuuma Kudou 42-22 Kouya Saji Yuuma Kudou 19-45 Kouya Saji Congratulations!! |
MURUKAMI Takeshi 22-42 OHSATO Suguru 178th Nagareyama Open, round 5 |
Suguru Ohsato wins 178th Nagareyama OpenLocation: Nagareyama, Japan
Date: May 3rd Tourney format: 6 rounds Links: Murakami blog, JOA website Undefeated winner at this tournament with 29 players was Suguru Ohsato, Second place for Tomohiro Ohno with 5 wins and 1 loss and the same score for third place winner Takeshi Murakami. |
Join Australian National Othello Tournament 2017Hi all,
Below is the details for the Australian Nationals 2017 which will return to Brisbane for the first time since 2007!
If you are planning on attending, please let me know and if you are bringing any friends or family. From our end we will need to make sure we bring enough boards to cover the amount of people etc. For those that have not attended before, it is a very casual and friendly environment and always a fun day! Thanks, and hope to you see there! Matt Vinar |