Othello News October 2012
Othello, a killer gameGame Plan (千方百计)
Finally on October 30th the episode that all the othello players in Singapore have been waiting for . There were some interesting othello scenes in a locally produced TV drama from Singapore on local TV. Download of entire Episode 16: High Quality [HQ] (475.76MB) Standard Quality [SD] (210.23MB) 1st othello scene at 14:49. 2nd othello scene at 37:31. Credits: Othello Consultant - Alex Koh Bo Chao (黑白棋顾问 - 许博超) was shown at 42:58. Thanks Crystal Yeh for the info and links! |
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Introducing Tor Birger
Tor Birger is 46 years old, married and has a daughter age 17. He works as head of a department of software developers in the Norwegian Armed Forces.
Tor Birger plays Othello since 1988 and was co-founder of the Norwegian Othello Federation that same year. He has participated in the World Othello Championship 5 times and was Tournament Director of the 2008 WOC in Oslo.
Since 2010 he holds the position of secretary in the World Othello Federation council. He is running for the post of WOF president at the next annual WOF meeting in november. That's why Othello News asked him a few questions.
Tor, what are you plans for the WOF, if you get elected?
I want to make the WOF more visible. This can be done for example by improving the information provided through the WOF website. I also think the communication with the member nations shoould be better. We have very competent candidates for all the confederation positions in the new WOC council. It is important that the representatives for the confederations establish good relations with the countries in the region. There are a lot of countries that only have a contact person. I hope WOF can help them to establish national Othello federations, so we can see Othello grow all over the world.
You seem to have a vision for the future of the WOF.
Yes, I also think it is important to follow up the initiatives from the 2011 WOF meeting. At this meeting it was decided to set more clearly defined criteria to differentiate between the two types of WOF member nations; Federations and Countries with Contact Persons. At the same meeting there was talk about new WOC rules. Neither of these initiatives has been completed yet. This means that the responsibility to finalize these matters will be on the new WOF council.
And the future of the World Othello Championship?
As you know there is a conflict between Anjar and Megahouse. WOF is not a part in the discussion, but I feel it is important for the WOF to have a good dialogue with both, so that we can continue to organize annual tournaments to decide the best Othello player in the world.
Thanks for the interview Tor and good luck at the election.
October 29th 2012
Update: Tor got elected as president of the WOF on Nov 10th
Tor Birger plays Othello since 1988 and was co-founder of the Norwegian Othello Federation that same year. He has participated in the World Othello Championship 5 times and was Tournament Director of the 2008 WOC in Oslo.
Since 2010 he holds the position of secretary in the World Othello Federation council. He is running for the post of WOF president at the next annual WOF meeting in november. That's why Othello News asked him a few questions.
Tor, what are you plans for the WOF, if you get elected?
I want to make the WOF more visible. This can be done for example by improving the information provided through the WOF website. I also think the communication with the member nations shoould be better. We have very competent candidates for all the confederation positions in the new WOC council. It is important that the representatives for the confederations establish good relations with the countries in the region. There are a lot of countries that only have a contact person. I hope WOF can help them to establish national Othello federations, so we can see Othello grow all over the world.
You seem to have a vision for the future of the WOF.
Yes, I also think it is important to follow up the initiatives from the 2011 WOF meeting. At this meeting it was decided to set more clearly defined criteria to differentiate between the two types of WOF member nations; Federations and Countries with Contact Persons. At the same meeting there was talk about new WOC rules. Neither of these initiatives has been completed yet. This means that the responsibility to finalize these matters will be on the new WOF council.
And the future of the World Othello Championship?
As you know there is a conflict between Anjar and Megahouse. WOF is not a part in the discussion, but I feel it is important for the WOF to have a good dialogue with both, so that we can continue to organize annual tournaments to decide the best Othello player in the world.
Thanks for the interview Tor and good luck at the election.
October 29th 2012
Update: Tor got elected as president of the WOF on Nov 10th
WOC Training
October 29th
Just a week and a half to go till the Mayor of Leeuwarden, Ferd Crone, will officially open the 36th World Othello Championship. September was a busy month with many National Championships and October started out with some nice tourneys. Now everything seems to have stopped in anticipation of the "great event". I guess most WOC players are locked in their study, to prepare openings and flat-wall their stoner traps. I know the Dutch team met in Almere this weekend to practise with a bunch of other dutch players. I heard that it was more a social event, with nice food and lots of fun. The Thai team had a mini-tourney at the Ratchada Orchid Condo. Looks like that was real serious business. in Japan, Yusuke Takanashi was spotted in a training session with 2011 Champion Hiroki Nobukawa. Or did they just meet and have a fun game?
Upcoming weekend there is a WOC warm-up tourney in Germany with 18 players ( 7 WOC players).
Just a week and a half to go till the Mayor of Leeuwarden, Ferd Crone, will officially open the 36th World Othello Championship. September was a busy month with many National Championships and October started out with some nice tourneys. Now everything seems to have stopped in anticipation of the "great event". I guess most WOC players are locked in their study, to prepare openings and flat-wall their stoner traps. I know the Dutch team met in Almere this weekend to practise with a bunch of other dutch players. I heard that it was more a social event, with nice food and lots of fun. The Thai team had a mini-tourney at the Ratchada Orchid Condo. Looks like that was real serious business. in Japan, Yusuke Takanashi was spotted in a training session with 2011 Champion Hiroki Nobukawa. Or did they just meet and have a fun game?
Upcoming weekend there is a WOC warm-up tourney in Germany with 18 players ( 7 WOC players).
36th Othello World Championship, Bengt Steentoft
WOC Head Tourney Director Bengt Steentoft
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I had a talk about the 2012 Championship with WOC Head Tourneydirector Bengt Steentoft on thursday October 25th. He complimented the Dutch tourney organisation and expects that the tourney will be good fun and very interesting. Most of the world's top players will be present in Leeuwarden. Japan sends a team that Bengt thinks is the best team ever. "Asia is very strong right now. Besides the Japanese players, there is quite a number of strong Asian players at the WOC. I look forward to see if Aunchulee can take a step forward this year and be the WOC champion. But Japan has a very good team. I shouldn't be surprised if they all go to the semifinal this year!"
And how about Europe? No surprise that Bengt names Michele Borassi and Nicky van den Biggelaar. But he also points out that Imre leader and Matthias Berg are very strong tourney players. Canada will not have a team at the WOC this year, the Americas are represented by Argentina and the USA. Bengt: "Jian Cai is very strong and is probably very interested to be the first to win the female Championship two times in a row." Africa..... "Ivory coast is an interesting new country. Madagascar is back at the WOC now that their player Andriani is back. We welcome Bintsa and look forward to play with him", said Head TD Steentoft. |
Marc Tastet wins Tournoi Ile de France 4
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Paris, France, October 20th
Tourney format: 5 rounds Only five players at this tourney, among them Bintsa Andriani, back at on the board tourneys. According to Marc Tastet, Bintsa did not seem too rusty. Only 1 member of the French WOC team was present, Arnaud Delaunay. Marc won all his games but he was not too happy about his game against Arnaud. Marc Tastet leads the Grand Prix de France, second place Arnaud Delaunay. 
report by Marc Tastet (french)
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Marc Tastet
TASTET Marc 52 - 12 CLUZON Gilles comment by Marc: this game was closer than the final score indicates. White had 2 drawing moves at move 38, but not easy to find.
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pictures from FFO website
Albert Kortendijk and Jiska Helmes qualified for Dutch WOC team
Alkmaar, Netherlands, October 14th
Nicky van den Biggelaar ( 3rd), Patrick Aubroeck (17th) and Mark van Heere (39th) played in the 2011 Dutch WOC team. Nicky and Patrick have allready qualified for the 2012 team. Today was playoff for the last 2 spots on the team (main team and female player). It took Albert only 5 rounds to qualify, the sixth round was played to determine the reserve player. As Erwin van den Berg declined, Mark van Heere is reserve player.
Last time that Albert played at the WOC was in 2006 in Mito. He finished 42nd with 6,5 points. He was also part of the 2001 and 2002 team. In 2001 in New York he finished 22nd with 6,5 points and in 2002 in Amsterdam 20th with 7 points. Albert is from Friesland, the province where the WOC is held this year, I think that gave him an extra boost to qualify. And who will dare beat him at his own turf in Leeuwarden? Fryslân Boppe!!!
Jiska and Linda both had 2,5 points, but Jiska 's disc-count was better. So Jiska will get a chance to win back her 2010 WOC Female Champion trophy.
The tourney was also used to test a newly developed liveothello.nl. The website seems fast enough, but the size of the boards seems to vary a lot. It looks better on a cellphone. The layout needs a lot more attention and the WOC is only 25 days away. Lots of work ahead for the dutch tourney directors.
Nicky van den Biggelaar ( 3rd), Patrick Aubroeck (17th) and Mark van Heere (39th) played in the 2011 Dutch WOC team. Nicky and Patrick have allready qualified for the 2012 team. Today was playoff for the last 2 spots on the team (main team and female player). It took Albert only 5 rounds to qualify, the sixth round was played to determine the reserve player. As Erwin van den Berg declined, Mark van Heere is reserve player.
Last time that Albert played at the WOC was in 2006 in Mito. He finished 42nd with 6,5 points. He was also part of the 2001 and 2002 team. In 2001 in New York he finished 22nd with 6,5 points and in 2002 in Amsterdam 20th with 7 points. Albert is from Friesland, the province where the WOC is held this year, I think that gave him an extra boost to qualify. And who will dare beat him at his own turf in Leeuwarden? Fryslân Boppe!!!
Jiska and Linda both had 2,5 points, but Jiska 's disc-count was better. So Jiska will get a chance to win back her 2010 WOC Female Champion trophy.
The tourney was also used to test a newly developed liveothello.nl. The website seems fast enough, but the size of the boards seems to vary a lot. It looks better on a cellphone. The layout needs a lot more attention and the WOC is only 25 days away. Lots of work ahead for the dutch tourney directors.
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round 1:
Erwin van den Berg 32 - 32 Albert Kortendijk Mark van Heere 25 - 39 Roel Hobo Jiska Helmes 32 - 32 Linda Praseptyo round 4: Mark van Heere 21 - 43 Albert Kortendijk Erwin van den Berg 42 - 22 Roel Hobo Linda Praseptyo 44 - 20 Jiska Helmes standings after round 6: |
round 2:
Roel Hobo 26 - 38 Albert Kortendijk Erwin van den Berg 35 - 29 Mark van Heere Linda Praseptyo 36 - 28 Jiska Helmes round 5: Albert Kortendijk 36 - 28 Roel Hobo Mark van Heere 46 - 18 Erwin van den Berg Linda Praseptyo 25 - 39 Jiska Helmes |
round 3:
Roel Hobo 47 - 17 Erwin van den Berg Albert Kortendijk 37 - 27 Mark van Heere Jiska Helmes 57 - 7 Linda Praseptyo round 6: Albert Kortendijk 42 - 22 Erwin van den Berg Roel Hobo 23 - 41 Mark van Heere |
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Albert Kortendijk
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LiveOthello.NL
Jan C. de Graaf, WOC 2012 tourney director
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Othello players,
I present you the first public release of LiveOthello.NL. While not as beautiful and not as complete as LiveOthello.COM, it does have some good features: - Works without Java (nor Flash); pure HTML/JavaScript. - Works in most (all?) browsers, also on smartphones! - Should allow for many thousands of connections. Sunday 11:00 (GMT+1) the Dutch Othello Federation organises a ‘play-off’. The lady and the 3rd main-team-player going to WOC 2012 will be determined. Games will be broadcasted on LiveOthello.NL, LiveOthello.COM will be backup. You have to register to be allowed to chat. From the homepage, click ‘tournaments’, click ‘login’, click ‘register’. User names and passwords may only contain letters, numbers and an underscore (_). Email address has to be valid; you will receive a registration confirmation email automatically. Email your bugs, remarks and wishes to info@liveothello.nl. This is a test. We hope that very many of you all will give it a try! Jan C. de Graaf. |
Martin Ødegård wins Trondheim Othello Open
Martin Ødegård
KJELLSTADLI Jonas 13 - 51 ØDEGÅRD Martin 
group picture
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Trondheim, Norway, October 13th
Tourney format: 5 rounds, semifinal, playoff 3rd/4th place and final Martin had every reason to smile, as he won all his games! Final: KJELLSTADLI Jonas 13 - 51 ØDEGÅRD Martin Semifinal: SKOGEN Tor Birger 9 - 55 ØDEGÅRD Martin KJELLSTADLI Jonas 35 - 29 ALBRIGTSEN Vidar Playoff 3rd / 4th place: ALBRIGTSEN Vidar 9 - 55 SKOGEN Tor Birger
in front: Martin - Jonas. In the red shirt, Tor Birger
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Miroslav Voráček wins Czech Othello Open
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Prague, Czech Republic, October 6th
Tourney format: 7 rounds,Swiss system Miroslav attended 4 of the 5 Czech Grand Prix stages this year and won all four. He also won the Czech Championship in September. The Czech GPO 2012 was won by Tomás Douda who ended 2nd behind Miroslav 4 times and won 1. Miroslav had another perfect score at this tourney. It will be interesting to see how the Czech team (Miroslav Voracek, Tomas Douda and Ivo Rybarik) performs at the WOC. I really like the way the tourney results are presented by the Czech Federation. Thanks to Ján Rybárik |
 Czech website |
Team Hope wins Shinagawa Open Trio
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Shinagawa, Japan October 6th
Tourney format: team competition, 3 players per team, 6 rounds Swiss The three players of team Hope: Takashi Yamakawa (runner-up of 80th Shinagawa Open in March), Ogata ?, Satosi Asahina (7th at Shinagawa New Year Special) waiting for more results in english 
historic Shinagawa
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Murakami Takeshi 39 - 25 Imoto Wataru 
results in japanese
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Wang Wei 柯南 wins 3rd Tianjin Othello Open
the winners
the trophy!!
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Tianjin, China, October 3rd
Tourney format: 7 rounds + semifinal + final Venue: Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium The first Tianjin Open in 2007 was won by Asura (SONG Yan) and the 2nd Tianjin Open in 2008 was won by Ghostors (FENG Ling). Dragoniye (Jia Baolong) was unbeaten after 7 rounds but he lost the final against Wang Wei who had 5 wins after 7 rounds. Final: Wang Wei 34 - 30 Jia Baolong Playoff 3rd / 4th place: Zhao Jingtao 20 - 44 Wang Wuquan Top 4: Wang Wei (Heibai Conan) Jia Baolong (Dragoniye) Wang Wuquan (Xinhong) Zhao Jingtao (Haha) Ladies Final: Wu Qi (AriesSky) 40 - 24 Liu Yaqing (Tuibian) 
link to Othello Home (chinese)
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Wang Wei 34 - 30 Jia Baolong |
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Wang Wei received the #1 trophy
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group portrait / 2012第三届天津黑白棋公开赛全家福
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