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Othello News November 2013


 

Matthias Berg wins Cambridge Christmas Friendly

Location: Cambridge, United Kingdom
Date: November 30th
Tourney format: 8-round round-robin-plus-modified-swiss


Five players turned up for the Cambridge Xmas Friendly today, but the field was pretty good, as more than half of the contestants had been 2nd in the World Championship at some point.

We were vey pleased to welcome a new player, Gokce Balkan, from Turkey by way of Brighton. And the international flavour was compounded by the presence of Matthias Berg (GER).

The player back from retirement was Graham Brightwell! He claims that he never retired, but I lost track of his explanation of how stopping playing for 6 years did not count as retirement.

Final results:
  1. Matthias Berg 7.5 (out of 8)
  2. Imre Leader 6.5
  3. Graham Brightwell 4
  4. Roy Arnold, Gokce Balkan 3

Matthias was unbeaten. In his draw with Imre, he managed to make a flipping error at move 58 (he'd have won 33-31 otherwise). Imre had missed a win at move 53. Imre and Matthias were the two players with only one bye. Note
that, very impressively, Gocke managed to win a game from Roy.

report by Imre Leader on British Othello Yahoo mailinglist
Foto
Matthias Berg (at OWC)
Foto
Graham Brightwell at WOC 2007 in Athens. He finished second at the WOC 3 times, in 1988 , 1989 and in 1997.

 

In Memoriam: Michael Handel (1970 - 2013)

FotoMichael Handel at WOC 2010
Dear Othello Players,

I am so sorry to report that Michael Handel has died. 

He was diagnosed recently with cancer of the lungs and brain. He was in a hospice for the past few weeks (where he was very well looked after), and he was not in pain for his last few days. His father and brother were with him.

All Othello players will miss his wonderful cheeky cheery funny manner, and his incredibly creativity and insight into the game. He was always pure fun to be around.

Best wishes, Imre Leader

from the BOF mailinglist November 27th

Michael Handel was one of the top British players. He was taught the game by Joel Feinstein when he was a student at Leeds University in the late 1980's. 

He played at nine World Othello Championships: 1991, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 1992 and 1997 he was a member of the UK team that won the World Team Championship.

Michael  won the Cambridge Open and the British Grand Prix in 2003. The British National Championship title was his in 2009. Winner of the first Jakarta Othello Open in 2011.

Our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

 

Othello Graph features Bengt Steentoft

Satoshi Koide started his Japanese Othello website "Othello Graph" in October, just before the start of the World Othello Championship in Stockholm. The site looks great and the articles are interesting to read (in my case with the help of Google translate). 

Latest article is an interview with Bengt Steentoft who was in Japan 2 weeks ago. The pictures that Bengt himself posted on facebook, gave me the impresion that all he did in Japan was eat his favourite food, but he also played in a tourney, had meetings with Megahouse and found time for this interview with Satoshi.
Foto
Foto

 

Diego Sagrera wins Argentina Torneo Amistad I

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date: 24th November, 2013
Tourney format: 7 rounds

Othello and barbeque to welcome the Swedish Othello friends,  WOC female champion 2012 Veronica Stenberg and Henry Aspenryd.

Diego Sagrera and David Nakasone did not play the first round and both got 0.5 points and 0 discs for round 1.  Diego lost only 1 game and that was a 10 - 54 loss against Veronica Stenberg in round 5. Runner-up Henry lost 28 - 36 against Diego in round 4 and also lost 35 - 29 against Alejandro Coello in round 5.

Final result: 

Diego Sagrera 5,5 points 209 discs
Henry Aspenryd 5 points 297 discs
Veronica Stenberg 5 points 287 discs
Alejandro Coello 4,5 points 245 discs
Maximiliano Axel Pellizzari 4 points 267 discs
Marcelo Lisnovsky 4 points 219 discs
Daniel Olivares 3,5 points 237 discs
Paula Iturbide 3 points 213 discs
David Nakasone 2,5 points 197 discs
Pablo Coll 2,5 points 167 discs
Max Seifert 2 points 147 discs
Mercedes Cohen 0,5 points 139 discs
Foto
Henry and Veronica on their way to Buenos Aires
amistadi.txt
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Invitation to OWC in Singapore for European players. Deadline November 22nd

Foto
It proves to be nearly impossible to find 10 European players for the OWC in Singapore, January 15th - 18th, 2014. Right after the World Othello Championship, the OWC tourney organisation invited top European players to the OWC. When only 1 player, Francesco Marconi, confimed he would come, the invitation was extended to European players in the top 400 of the World Othello Federation Ratinglist. As there was only 1 additional positive response, the tourney is now open for all!!!! 

If you want to compete in Singapore with the best players Asia has to offer, please send an email to owc2013@gmail.com. Latest November 22nd! The host invites you to two free lunches and the victory dinner. 

The host in Singapore, JOA and Megahouse welcome you to Singapore!

update November 26th: now online OWC Singapore players page

 

Solrun Isbjørnen Stokke wins 1st Greenland Othello Championship

Location: Nuuk, Greenland
Date: November 17th, 2013
Tourney format: 2 games + final

Due to a severe snow blizzard, only two players at this tourney: Solrun Isbjørnen Stokke and Sophie Kjelstrup. The two ladies played two rounds, both won by Solrun (17-47, 47-17). The final ended 64-0. With only 2 players at the first Greenland Championship, I wonder if there will  be a second one.

A stray icebear could have made the tourney more interesting, but no mention of them in the tourney report.
Foto

 

Borja Moreno wins Spanish National Othello Championship

Location: Madrid, Spain
Date: November 16th
Tourney format: 5 rounds, final and playoffs

Results after 5 rounds:
  1. Moreno, Borja 5 points
  2. Kraczyk, Roman 3 points
  3. Martín, Javier 2.5 points
  4. Saiz, Rubén 2.5 points
  5. Martí, Luis 2 points
  6. Budiño, Ricardo 0 points





Final:
Borja Moreno 34 - 30 Roman Kraczyk

Playoff 3rd / 4th place:
Rubén Saiz 40 - 24 Javier Martín 

Playoff 5th / 6th place:
Ricardo Budiño 36 - 28 Luis Martí 

Final standings:
  1. Borja Moreno
  2. Roman Kraczyk
  3. Rubén Saiz
  4. Javier Martín
  5. Ricardo Budiño 
  6. Luis Martí

KRACZYK Roman 30 - 34 MORENO Borja
Spanish National Championship 2013, final



 
Foto

Jan C. de Graaf wins 13th Dutch Blitz Tourney

Location: Lexmond, Netherlands
Date: November 16th, 2013
Tourney Format: 20 rounds, 5 minutes per player
Number of players: 6

Only 6 players at this tourney but we all had a great time. There was even time to play billiards and darts. Green was certainly the theme of the day. There were some missflips and timeouts but all in all the tourney went very well.

  1. Jan C. de Graaf 16 points
  2. Martin Fransen 13 points
  3. Tim Hoetjes 12 points
  4. Trees van Seggelen 8 points
  5. Marcel Sneek 6 points
  6. Jarl Ilbrink 5 points



 

Othello: Game of the Century by Takeshi Murakami ( Japan Quarterly, 2000)

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August 6, 1997. Takeshi Murakami (r), in his second game against a computer, programmed by Michael Buro (l). Picture links to online article by Josh Rolnick
murakami-logistello.pdf
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Match report by Michael Buro

Takeshi Murakami (WOC 1996, 1998 and 2000) has an Othello blog (note: the blog has moved and can now be found here) that is very interesting to read. It's in Japanese but you can use a browser translator. The blog shows lots of replayable games.

Takeshi failed to qualify for  the OWC 2014. At my request he sent me the transcript of his game in the playoff against Masaki Takizawa. As I was searching online for a picture of Takeshi, I stumbled upon the Murakami-Logisthello story. Takeshi has been so kind to send me an article that he contributed in 2000 to the "Japan Quarterly", titled "Othello, Game of the Century". It is really very interesting to read. In this article he describes his encounter with Othello, how he got hooked on the game and  how he realized his dream and became World Champion.  He also explains why he played against Logistello, how the match progressed and the insights he gained through playing against the then strongest computer program in the world. On page 3 the story of his semifinal against Gary Edmead at the WOC 1996 unfolds and it is a real thriller.

Foto
othello_game_of_the_century_by_takeshi_murakami.pdf
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EDMEAD Gary 29 - 35 MURAKAMI Takeshi
WOC 1996, semi-final game 3



LOGISTELLO 37 - 27 MURAKAMI Takeshi
Princeton, August 1997, game 6



 

Tom Schotte wins 88 Othello Tourney

Location: Waarschoot, Belgium
Date: November 11th, 2013
Tourney format: 5 rounds

The first official 88 Othello tourney in Europe was played in Belgium on the 11th of the 11th.  Winner was Tom Schotte and runnerup was Nick Reunes. Nick defeated Tom in round 2 and might have won the tourney, if he had not lost against Jeroen de Wael in the final 5th round. Tom and Nick both finished with 4 points and Tom won the tourney as he had won most discs.



Foto
88 Waarschoot, standings after 5 rounds
Foto
transcript Nick Reunes - Tom Schotte, round 2
Foto

 

OWC 2014, Japan National Team final selection won by Yusuke Takanashi

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Date: November 10th, 2013
Tourney format: 7 rounds

Top 3 after 7 rounds:
Yusuke Takanashi 7 points
Kenta Tominaga 6 points
Tetsu Satani 6 points

Playoffs:
Makoto SueKuni    28 - 36  Tomohiro Ohno
Masaki Takizawa   37 - 27  Takeshi Murakami 
Qualified for OWC:
Yusuke Takanashi 
Kenta Tominaga 
Tetsu Satani 
Masaki Takizawa 
Tomohiro Ohno 
Allready Qualified:
Junya Ito Othello World Cup Winner 2013 
Yuji Miyazaki
Takashi Yamakawa
Nakako Kinoshita 
Yoko Sano

Foto

TAKIZAWA Masaki 37 - 27 MURAKAMI Takeshi
OWC 2014 qualification, playoff





"I think I was ahead in the middle of the game, but I was not able to keep the advantage into the endgame.  Takizawa's endgame was perfect. This defeat was a small shock to me, as I had never been closer to qualifying myself to a world event since 2002.  They say the OWC 2014 will be the last one and that there will only be WOC's after 2015.  I guess I have just missed the biggest opportunity, in the latter half of my Othello career, to qualify for a world event."

Takeshi Murakami

SUEKUNI Makoto 33 - 31 NAKAJIMA Tetsuya
OWC 2014 qualification, round 4



TAKIZAWA Masaki 22 - 42 TOMINAGA Kenta
OWC 2014 qualification, round 7



SUEKUNI Makoto 28 - 36 OHNO Tomohiro
OWC 2014 qualification, playoff


Foto
Yukiko Tatsumi-Iijima, Tetsuya Nakajima and Yusuke Takanashi at OWC 2014 qualification tourney
Foto
link to results (in Japanese)
Foto
link to OWC 2014 homepage

Thanks by Bengt Steentoft

Foto
Hello all! 

Two weeks ago the WOC 2013 ended. I will now thank all who made those days possible! WOC 2013 was 12 hard work days to make all to be ok! If you never arranged a WOC before, I can recommend it. After you will feel tired, empty and sleep in days. But I hope players and spectators liked it. 

I want to thank many persons who made this WOC 2013 to a fun event!
Stéphane Nicolet and Emmanuel Lazard! What a team! Pairings, live Othello and managed to get up the games for each round in record time! I am very amazed! 
Niklas Wettergren, Simon Ingelman-Sundberg and Martin Fransen who gave you Liveothello. 13 rounds in 13 hours liveothello! Thanks guys! You did a great work!

Trees van Seggelen and Mateusz Sosnowski who worked hard and did a splendid work with Othelllo News and WOC 2013 facebook! I am so impressed at your works! And I am sure all players who followed the news thought the same!

Jan Zemelka and Arvid Kjellberg who I sent all over Stockhlm to pick up material to the WOC and also worked hard with the coffee, lunches and took care at all players in the room between the games. They got big help from Malin Jeppsson, Doris Schneider, Bo Hellgren and the guards at the castle. Big thanks also to all in the Swedish Othello Federation who supported and helped as Henry Aspenryd, Uffe Bengtsson,Marcus Frönmark, Nils Berner, Maria Nyman and many more!

Thanks to all sponsors who made this possible! Those great players in the WOF Sponsorgroup who sponsored a BIG part of the WOC 2013! And also thanks to Franssons Glasmästeri, Bergakungen, Engelen, Livrustkammaren and more. A big thanks to Anjar so we could arrange the 37th WOC!

Have I forgotten someone, I am sorry! But dont feel forgotten! many thanks to you too!

Last I want to thank all Othelloplayers all over the World. They who was there and also all players who was not there but supported WOC 2013 anyway!
Thanks all!

And again a big congratulations to Kazuki Okamoto and Katie Wu! You are the real World Champions 2013! Congratulations!

Dear Othello friends! We hope that WOC 2014 will be a good success too, and we hope to meet you there! We will need your help to make it possible, your support and your positivity! make Othello well known! Play Othello live and online! Play in the local tourneys, or why not arrange tourneys in your country? Help others to start playing! 

I am sure 2014 will be a great Othello year!! Are you?

Bengt Steentoft, Head Tourney Director WOF


 
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