Othello News September 2015
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Jeannot Ouréga wins Ivory Coast ChampionshipLocation: Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Date: September 23rd The preliminary rounds of this Championship were played in July. Jeannot Ouréga won the final of the Ivory Coast Championship / Grand Prix Africain. He defeated Mamadou Koné 42 - 22 Both players are registered for the WOC in Cambridge. The two other team members are Ibrahima Togba and Fanta Chérif. Ladies: Fanta Chérif won the final against Marie France Guiehoua. Fanta is a real Othello talent. She was girls champion and junior champion in the previous years. Junior Men : Jacob Agnero won the final 38 - 24 against Ange Ouréga Junior Ladies: Diomandé Massi won 47 - 17 against Juliana Mobio Boys: Franck Nampé defeated Fils Togba 38 - 26 Girls: Modero Ouréga won against Ama Kouadio 50 - 14 |
Imre Leader wins British Othello Championship, Marie Lightman wins Women's Title
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Location: Matlock, UK
Date: September 26th - 27th Link: BOF website Tourney format: 9 rounds and final Guy Plowman won the National Championship in 2014, Marie Lightman was Lady Champion. A list of British National Othello Champions since 1977 can be found here. Imre Leader won the British National Championship 10 times, 1983, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007 and in 2010. To stay in the top 3 of National Champions, he needs to win this one. Karsten Feldborg (Denmark) is now at 17 titles, Matthias Berg (Germany) at 14 and Brian Rose (USA) who was at 10 wins same as Imre scored his 11th title last August. Four rounds were played on Saturday. David Hand won all his games and finished the first day with 4 points. Right behind him with 3 points: Joel Feinstein, Imre Leader, Iain Barrass and Helen Dexter. On Sunday David Hand again won all his games in the Swiss rounds. But the 2008 and 2013 champion lost the final against Imre Leader who won his 11th national title. A bit further down you can find Imre's interesting analysis of the final game. Marie Lightman is the 2015 Lady Champion. Her third title in a row, well done Marie! The play-off for 3rd - 4th place: Joel Feinstein 29 - 35 Steven Robinson. Ranking of the 15 players after round 9: 1: 9 pts [770] HAND David (2357) {GBR} 2: 8 pts [791] LEADER Imre (79) {GBR} 3: 6 pts [746] FEINSTEIN Joel (75) {GBR} [744] ROBINSON Steven (100005) {GBR} 5: 5 pts [720] BARRASS Iain (2047) {GBR} [708] PLOWMAN Guy (320) {GBR} [655] ARNOLD Roy (2006) {GBR} [648] LIGHTMAN Marie (100004) {GBR} [610] BRAND Richard (2341) {GBR} 10: 4 pts [684] DEXTER Helen (100002) {GBR} [591] PRIDMORE Ben (4019) {GBR} [539] PLOWMAN Mark (100027) {GBR} 13: 3 pts [455] PLOWMAN Jessie (100029) {GBR} 14: 2 pts [462] BRAND Sophie (100026) {GBR} 15: 1 pt [381] BRAND Lucy (100025) {GBR} |
Iain Barrass - Imre Leader
The two champions: Imre Leader and Marie Lightman
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LEADER Imre 35-29 HAND David British Othello Championship 2015, final 
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Final: Imre Leader 35 - 29 David Hand
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Game analysis by Imre Leader:
That was one of the most tense and complicated games I have played in for a long time. Both players were out of book after move 18. After move 22, there is so much going on all over the board. For example, a5 by me would unpoison e8 for him, which in turn would unpoison h4 for me, which in turn would unpoison d1 for him! I thought I _had_ to get b3 in while it did not flip diagonally, even though it allowed 24g3. The players have positions that can completely degrade over the course of a few moves. We both thought that probably White was slightly ahead.
Move 26 to c8 was the move I was most scared of. David did it after a long think, and we both felt it was excellent. In fact, the only comment either of us made during the game (apart from him laughing at my move 3) was that I said `nice move' after his 26. Then 27 and 28 seemed sensible, and then I have to play to a5 and b4 while he gets c7, and I also have to pray that he has no nice way to attack my wall at the West.
I was pleased with 35a3, as it gave me a lot of control and choice on the East edge. He sensibly gave me the North edge -- again, each of us is teetering on the brink of collapse.
I thought for a long time about move 39. I was worried about all kinds of things -- I imagined that if I ended up losing the spectators would say `why did you take that stupid open edge?' (I clearly remember having this thought.) What I was most frightened of was him going (now or later) to g2. Because then I cannot play f2, since then he has h6 h4 h2 -- so instead I would need to get to h2, and I currently did not have access to h2. I could probably get access by playing f8 (after he played to g2), but I had to be sure that this would not go away (for example, by f8 not flipping diagonally when I played it). Once I had checked this, I also had to choose between 39h7 and 39h4. I ended up preferring 39h7 for two reasons. The first was that, comparing h7 with h4 h6 h7, the latter meant that if I did play f8 later on (for access somewhere) then this h8 corner region looked worse for me that in the former line. The second was that 39h4 also gave him the option of 40h2, and since I could not work out what was going to happen in the West I did not want to give him extra possibilities for finding a good sequence.
Now I sat back and hoped that he had nothing good in the West. I knew that 40a6 was met by 41a7, and I did not know exactly what would happen after 40a4, and after 40a3 I knew it would go a4 a6 b2 but then I had absolutely no idea what was going on. But David played 40a7, which was perhaps the only weak move of the game. He did it because of a diagonal-control plan -- after the West was played out he wanted to play h6 h4 b2.
So at move 45 I did not want to play the obvious-looking b7, because of that. Or, to be more precise, I could not see what happened after h6 h4 b2 f2 g1. Whereas 45f8, getting the key e7 disc, looked much easier to analyse. I saw that if 46g8 then 47b7 won easily, and that only left 46b7 to analyse, but I could count out that I would have 39 discs after move 51, and that (unless some weird swindle happened) I would get to g7 and so keep the South edge (or else get parity in the a1 corner region).
David did threaten a super-evil swindle at 52: if I take the corner then he plays h6, making the g column all White and winning 33-31. But luckily I had time left to think about it!
pictures by Richard Brand and Marie Lightman
Othello promotion at Bandai Asobi Festival 2015
Yukiko Tatsumi-Iijima at 8-star Othello Meijin-sen 2015
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Naoki Shimizu wins 8-star Othello Meijin-senLocation: Hamamatsu-shi, Japan
Date: September 20th I've seen it played at OWC 2013 in Tokyo, but never really played it myself (maybe once or twice at VOG in the old days, they had a large variety of boards). Tricky strategy in the corners, 88 squares, too complicated for me. I stick to the old 64-square game. Unless......... the 88 discs are made of chocolate! Final result: Winner is Naoki Shimizu. 1st Runner-up is Yuta Ito. 2nd Runner-up is Kenta Tominaga. 3rd Runner-up is Hiroshi Goto. ***** 9th Runner-up is, Yukiko Tatsumi-Iijima, (Female division, winner) |
Tachiro Akagi wins 11th Chiba Open
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Location: Chiba, Japan
Date: September 20th Link: JOA website Tourney format: 6 rounds Three players with 5 wins at this tourney: Tachiro Akagi, Hayao Sakoda and Makoto Suekuni. Can the Japanese WOC team please bring some of those Othello Chocolates? I know I love chocolate even more than Othello. |
Japanese Othello Chocolates
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Korean Othello Association at 2015 Seongnam game Festival
Joung-mok Oh posted these pictures of the Korean Othello Association at the Seongnam Game Festival to promote the Othello game.
Maximiliano Pellizzari wins Argentine Othello Championship
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Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date: September 20th Link: FB event, LiveOthello Tourney format: 5 rounds After 4 rounds Maximiliano Pellizzari and Daniel Olivares were in the lead with 3 points. But they still had to play against each other and that decisive last game was won by Maximiliano Pellizzari 44 - 20. Maximiliano won the Argentine Championship for the third time. A very happy occasion though the champion regretted he suffered his only loss at Othello in 2015 at this tournament. His winning opponent was Marcelo Lisnovsky. The only one that came close to beating him this year was Paula Iturbide who played a draw game against Maximiliano at a tourney in May. Qualifid for the WOC in Cambridge: Maximiliano Pellizzari, Alejandro Coello, Daniel Olivares and Paula Iturbide. Final result after 5 rounds: Maximiliano Pellizzari, 4 points 238 discs Alejandro Coello, 3 points 170 discs Daniel Olivares, 3 points 170 discs Marcelo Lisnovsky, 2 points 147 discs Paula Iturbide, 2 points 132 discs David Nakasone, 1 point 103 discs |
PELLIZZARI Maximiliano 44-20 OLIVARES Daniel Argentine Championship 2015, round 5 |
Andrey Malnev wins Israeli Championship
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Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Date: September 19th Format: 5 rounds Andrey Malnev defeated Leonid Shiffman 41 - 23 in the first round, but lost against Pavel Radzivilovsky 36 - 28 in round 4. Two players with 4 points, Andrey and Leonid, but there can only be 1 winner! Final result: 1. Andrey Malnev, 4 pnts 360.5 Leonid Shifman, 4 pnts 329.5 3. Pavel Radzivilovsky, 3.5 pnts 4. Lev Radzivilovsky, 3 pnts 5. Michael Margaliot, 2.5 pnts 6. Ilya Shifman, 2 pnts 7. Michael Shifman, 1 pnt |
Andrey Malnev
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Emmanuel Caspard wins French Othello Championship
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Location: Paris, France
Date: September 19 - 20 Link: FFO website, LiveOthello Format: 11 rounds + final Arthur Juigner won the French Othello Championship in 2014. Runner-up was Takuji Kashiwabara. You can find the complete list of French Champions from as early as 1981 here. As many as 7 former French Champions compete at this 2015 edition: 1x: Arthur Juigner (2014) 2x: Emmanuel Lazard (1985, 2009), Takuji Kashiwabara (2011, 2013) 3x: Marc Tastet (1991, 2004, 2008), Stéphane Nicolet (1997, 2000, 2005) 4x: Emmanuel Caspard (1996, 2002, 2007, 2012) 7x: Philippe Juhem (1989, 1992,1993, 1998,1999, 2001, 2003) 
Arthur Juigner - Emmanuel Caspard
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Results after 7 rounds:
1: 7. pts [440] CASPARD Emmanuel 2: 6. pts [422] JUIGNER Arthur 3: 5. pts [436] DELAUNAY Arnaud 4: 4. pts [460] TASTET Marc [408] JUHEM Philippe [362] ANDRIANI Sandry 7: 3.5 pts [387] LAZARD Emmanuel [382] LEVY-ABEGNOLI Thierry [374] KASHIWABARA Takuji 10: 3. pts [405] NICOLET Stephane [331] TOUCHENE Fouad 12: 2.5 pts [383] ANDRIANI Bintsa [323] JUIGNER Felix 14: 2. pts [311] BENOIT Serge 15: 1.5 pts [281] BUSUTTIL Michel 16: 1. pt [231] CLUZON Gilles A perfect score for Emmanuel Caspard on the first day of the French Championship. Right behind him Arthur Juigner with 6 points. Arthur's one loss was in round 4 against Caspard. Just behind the top two Arnaud Delaunay with 5 points. He lost against both Juigner and Caspard. 
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LAZARD Emmanuel 32-32 KASHIWABARA Takuji French Championship 2015, round 1 |
DELAUNAY Arnaud 40-24 JUHEM Philippe French Championship 2015, round 4 |
TASTET Marc 41-23 LAZARD Emmanuel French Championship 2015, round 4 |
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Results after 11 rounds :
1: 10. pts [847] JUIGNER Arthur [824] CASPARD Emmanuel 3: 8. pts [836] DELAUNAY Arnaud 4: 7. pts [817] TASTET Marc [777] JUHEM Philippe 6: 6.5 pts [769] LAZARD Emmanuel [727] LEVY-ABEGNOLI Thierry 8: 6. pts [769] NICOLET Stephane 9: 5.5 pts [765] KASHIWABARA Takuji 10: 5. pts [719] ANDRIANI Sandry 11: 4.5 pts [622] JUIGNER Felix 12: 3.5 pts [697] ANDRIANI Bintsa 13: 3. pts [645] TOUCHENE Fouad 14: 2.5 pts [553] BUSUTTIL Michel 15: 2. pts [555] BENOIT Serge 16: 1. pt [518] CLUZON Gilles
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JUIGNER Arthur 43-21 KASHIWABARA Takuji French Championship 2015, round 9 |
LAZARD Emmanuel 38-26 CASPARD Emmanuel ) French Championship 2015, round 9 | ||
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Emmanuel Caspard won 3 out of 4 games on the second day (lost against Emmanuel Lazard). Arthur won all his games and that's how they both finished at 10 points and made it to the final. Arnaud Delaunay won 3 more games on the second day and finished two points behind them.
Emmanuel Caspard won the final 2 - 0 and won his 5th National Championship. Congrats! Takuji Kashiwabara, Arnaud Delaunay and Marc Tastet will play in Cambridge for the French WOC team. Emmanuel Caspard qualified for the team but declined the invitation. Arthur Juigner will play for Switzerland where he lives now. |
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CASPARD Emmanuel 37-27 JUIGNER Arthur French Championship 2015, final game 1 |
JUIGNER Arthur 19-45 CASPARD Emmanuel French Championship 2015, final game 2 |
Muhammad Ishfaq wins Pakistan National Othello Championship
Location: Islamabad, Pakistan
Date: September 10th
A nice group of 32 players at the start of the Pakistan Championship. It was a different tourney format. The winners of the first round qualified to play in the second round. The winners of round 2 were paired for a best of 3 games quarter-final. The next hurdle was the best of 3 games semi-final. Muhammed Ishfaq defeated Mushtaq Naeem 3 - 0. In the other semi Wasim Akram won 2 -1 against Vikiey Pitras. The final was a best of 5 between Muhammad Ishfaq and Wasim Akram. Muhammad won all games in the final. In the preliminary rounds he also won all his games. That's the way to win a tourney!
Date: September 10th
A nice group of 32 players at the start of the Pakistan Championship. It was a different tourney format. The winners of the first round qualified to play in the second round. The winners of round 2 were paired for a best of 3 games quarter-final. The next hurdle was the best of 3 games semi-final. Muhammed Ishfaq defeated Mushtaq Naeem 3 - 0. In the other semi Wasim Akram won 2 -1 against Vikiey Pitras. The final was a best of 5 between Muhammad Ishfaq and Wasim Akram. Muhammad won all games in the final. In the preliminary rounds he also won all his games. That's the way to win a tourney!
Takanori Oshimizu wins 18th Sendai Open
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Location: Sendai, Japan
Date: September 13th Link: JOA website, FB Tohoku block Format: 6 rounds Thirteen players at this tournament. It was an undefeated victory for Takanori Oshimizu. Runner-up was Daichi Inomata with 4 wins. 日本オセロ連盟東北ブロック |
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Nicky van den Biggelaar wins 17th Dutch Open Othello ChampionshipLocation: Bussum, The Netherlands
Date: September 13th Link: NOV website, FB event Format: 7 rounds The 2014 Championship was won by Nicky van den Biggelaar. Runner-up was Roel Hobo. Nicky had another great tourney this Sunday and won his 7th National Championship with 7 wins. A second place for Belgian player Tom Schotte with 5 pts. Jan de Graaf also finished with 5 pts. Top 3 Dutch Grand Prix 2015: 1. Nicky van den Biggelaar, 2. Roel Hobo, 3. Jan de Graaf. These three will play for The Netherlands at the World Othello Championship in Cambridge. To my great surprise I won the 2015 Grand Prix for Ladies. I was best lady in 2001, but that was before there was a special ladies trophy. Took me only 14 years to set that right :) 
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Denksportcentrum Bussum
Final result after 7 rounds:
1. Nicky van den Biggelaar, 7 pts 2. Tom Schotte (BE), 5 pts Jan de Graaf, 5 pts 4. Erwin van den Berg, 4 pts Roel Hobo, 4 pts Albert Kortendijk, 4 pts 7. Martin Fransen, 3 pts 8. Marcel Sneek, 1 pt Frauke Van de Moortel (BE), 1 pt Trees van Seggelen, 1 pt |
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SNEEK Marcel 25 - 39 SEGGELEN Trees van Dutch Championship 2015, round 1 |
BERG Erwin van den 27 - 37 SCHOTTE Tom Dutch Championship 2015, round 4 comment by Tom: I played 3 x-squares in 4 moves (could have been 3 in 3 moves, but I decided otherwise). After that sequence it was really difficult to see what would happen and who was ahead.
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SEGGELEN Trees van 26 - 38 GRAAF Jan C. de Dutch Championship 2015, round 4 |
GRAAF Jan C. de 33 - 31 SCHOTTE Tom Dutch Championship 2015, round 4 comment by Tom: I struggled to survive, Jan did not find the way to win it, the game goes both sides several times and I finally gave away the game at move 56 due to time pressure.
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Chun Wan Li wins Hong Kong Othello Open
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Location: Hong Kong,
Date: September 13th Link: FB event Format: 7 Rounds Swiss, Semi-Finals 1 game, Finals 1 game Semi-final Lam, Maverick 30 : 34 Chan, Lik Fung Li, Chun Wan 41 : 23 Dong, Zhen 3rd / 4th Playoff Lam, Maverick 23 : 41 Dong, Zhen Final Li, Chun Wan 39 : 25 Chan, Lik Fung Congratulations to the winners!! |
香港黑白棋公開賽2015
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LI Chun Wan 20 - 44 LAM Maverick Hong Kong Championship 2015, round 5 |
LAM Maverick 30 : 34 CHAN Lik Fung Hong Kong Championship 2015, semifinal |
LAM Maverick 23 : 41 DONG Zhen Hong Kong Championship 2015, playoff 3rd/4th |
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Miroslav Voráček wins Czech Othello ChampionshipLocation: Prague, Czech Republic
Date: September 12th - 13th Tomáš Douda won the Championship last year in a 3-game final against Miroslav Voráček. Miroslav played a lot of European tourneys this year. This proved to be good practise for the National Czech Championship. Miroslav Voráček won the final against Tomáš Douda 2 - 0. Father Ján and son Ivo Rybárik battled for 3rd and 4th place. 
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Karsten Feldborg wins Danish National Othello Championship
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Location: Valby, Denmark
Date: September 12th Link: LiveOthello, FB event Format: 7 round, final 1 game in 2014 Erik Lund Jensen, won the final 45-19 against Karsten Feldborg. It was Erik's 6th Danish title (he won in 1988, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2009 and 2014). Erik played the final 16 times – won 6 and lost 10, while Karsten played the final 21 times – won 16 and lost 5. Erik and Karsten have played in the final together 11 times – Karsten won 8 and Erik 3. This year the same two players in the final. Anything can happen at the 64 squares, but the other 8 players did not succeed in keeping Karsten and Erik from qualifying for the final. After round 6 Karsten was well ahead with 6 pts, 4 pts for Palle Badsted, Erik Lund Jensen and Erik Nielsen. Erik Nielsen lost in round 7, Palle Badsted and Erik Lund Jensen both won their games. The disccount was in favour of Erik Lund Jensen. Karsten Feldborg won the 33rd Danish Championship. It was his 17th title, so Karsten has won more than 50% of all Danish Championships. He won the final 36-28 against Erik Lund Jensen. Henrik Vallund commented that it was nice to see Erik Nielsen play again in a tournament (he has not played since 2003). Mikael Maartensson is now the oldest player ever in the Danish Championship. He is 82 years old. His first tournament was the 1992 Danish Championship. The Danish Grand Prix 2015 was won by Henrik Vallund. The Danish WOC2015 team: Karsten Feldborg, Henrik Vallund, Jens Aagaard-Hansen and Solrun Stokke. 
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Karsten Feldborg - Erik Lund Jensen
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NIELSEN Kim J. 34-30 VALLUND Henrik Danish Championship 2015, round 2 |
LUND JENSEN Erik 28-36 FELDBORG Karsten Danish Championship 2015, final |
If you have questions about the press release, World Othello Federation, the World Othello Championship and the future of Othello;
Please contact Tor Birger Skogen, President the World Othello Federation Benkt Steentoft, W.O.F Event manager, W.O.C. and event co-operations. Roger Gehrke, Sponsorships Video from the James R. Becker obituary at the Tagie Awards website
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For a lot of us Othello and WOC means Anjar. What memories do you have of Anjar, Jim and / or Jonathan Becker. What's your response to the Megahouse Anjar Press release. Send us your comments and we'll post some on Othello News website.
I never met Jim or Jonathan personally, but Anjar provided funds for me to stay at the WOC in Leeuwarden in 2012 and that was a great boost for the Othello News Website. Thank you to the Becker family for all they have done for the Othello community.
I never met Jim or Jonathan personally, but Anjar provided funds for me to stay at the WOC in Leeuwarden in 2012 and that was a great boost for the Othello News Website. Thank you to the Becker family for all they have done for the Othello community.
A special and big "Thank You!!" to the Becker family for all they have done for Othello, especially for the USA, over the years. Othello is still very much alive and kicking because of them. |
I am happy the fight is over so that we can focus on the future. My thoughts and gratefulness goes to the Becker family, for all that they have done for our game, but also for their personal tragic. |
It is with great pleasure I register that Anjar and Megahouse now have entered into an agreement about the Othello trademark. This is the end of an era, so today we should be grateful for what the Becker family has done for Othello through many years. I am sure many players will miss their engagement for Othello, and especially the important role they have had with organizing World Othello Championships since 1977.
But today is also the beginning of a new era. I am glad that Megahouse from now on will be World Othello Federation's main collaborator, and I am sure that we together can continue the prevalence of Othello all over the world. I look forward to start the cooperation with Megahouse, and believe the coming years will be exciting for all lovers of Othello.
Best Regards,
Tor Birger
The Becker family and Anjar have been supportive to W.O.C and since 2005 to W.O.F. A lot of gratitude goes to them for all those years. W.O.C. wouldn't be as it is today if it wasn't for the sponsorship from Anjar. Thanks for all you done for the Othello since the start 1977! You will be a big part of the Othello history, that'ss for sure! |
It's the end of an era... I will miss the Beckers. Thanks to them for everything they did. For a small company I thought they got a lot done. I hope this means we can all focus on promoting Othello going forward. |
Yusuke Takanashi wins the 10th Ouza-sen
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Location: Mito, Japan
Date: September 6th Format: 6 rounds and final Links: JOA website, video at USTREAM A lot of players at the 10th Ouza-sen at the Lake View Hotel in Mito. Junya Ito had a perfect score of 6 points. Yusuke Takanashi and Kazuki Okamoto both scored 5.5 points but Yusuke qualified for the final. And the winner was.... Yusuke Takanashi! Special mention for two junior players Keita Yamazaki and Keisuke Fukuchi who played at table 1 in round 4 as both had won all their games so far. The game can be seen on video here. I don't know how long it will be up. No more wins for either of them after this round, but no doubt a great perfomance. Ouza-sen Champion: Yusuke Takanashi. Runner-up: Junya Ito Female Champion: Toshie Hayasaka. Runner-up: Yukiko Tatsumi. Junior High School winner: Keita Yamazaki. 
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Two of Yusuke's games (round 5 and final)
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TAKANASHI Yusuke 32 - 32 OKAMOTO Kazuki 10th Ouza-sen 2015, round 5 |
Final: Junya Ito - Yusuke Takanashi
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ITO Junya 29 - 35 TAKANASHI Yusuke 10th Ouza-sen 2015, final |
Games at table 1:
thanks to Ben Seeley for the transcripts
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TANIDA Kunihiko 21 - 43 SUEKUNI Makoto 10th Ouza-sen 2015, round 1 |
SUEKUNI Makoto 49 - 15 TAKIZAWA Masaki 10th Ouza-sen 2015, round 2 |
KAMIKURA Daisuke 46 - 18 SUEKUNI Makoto 10th Ouza-sen 2015, round 3 |
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FUKUCHI Keisuke 30 - 34 YAMAZAKI Keita 10th Ouza-sen 2015, round 4 |
YAMAZAKI Keita 23 - 41 ITO Junya 10th Ouza-sen 2015, round 5 |
TAMENORI Hideshi 23 - 41 ITO Junya 10th Ouza-sen 2015, round 6 |
Yasushi Nagano wins Mito Othello Bus Tour(nament)
Location: Mito, Japan
Date: September 5th
After the press-conference on the 40th WOC in Mito, November 2016, the JOA organised an Othello Bus Tour(nament) as a pre-tourney session for the 10th Ouza-sen.
For the final the organisation selected a perfect spot in Mito Kairaku-en park. The final Kunihiko Tanida - Yasushi Nagano was won by Yasushi Nagano.
Date: September 5th
After the press-conference on the 40th WOC in Mito, November 2016, the JOA organised an Othello Bus Tour(nament) as a pre-tourney session for the 10th Ouza-sen.
For the final the organisation selected a perfect spot in Mito Kairaku-en park. The final Kunihiko Tanida - Yasushi Nagano was won by Yasushi Nagano.
Tom Schotte wins Belgian National Championship
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Location: Zonhoven, Belgium
Date: September 6th Tourney format: 7 rounds Link: BOA website, LiveOthello Belgian Othello Champion 2015! 
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Belgian Othello Grand Prix 2015: 1. Tom Schotte, 2. Dimitri Vaes, 3. Marcel Peperkamp
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DE GRAAF Jan C. 28-36 SCHOTTE Tom Belgium National Championship 2015, round 3 |
REUNES Nick 30-34 VAES Dimitri Belgium National Championship 2015, round 4 |
PEPERKAMP Marcel 39-25 REUNES Nick Belgium National Championship 2015, round 5 |
Roberto Sperandio wins Italian National Championship
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Location: Rome, Italy
Date: September 5 - 6 Tourney format: Saturday qualifying rounds open for everyone, Sunday the semi-finals and finals. Link: Torneo Assoluti, Torneo di Categoria, Torneo Juniores Pictures: Biagio Privitera The Italian Othello Federation celebrates its 30th anniversary this year Some of the players that were there the first year are still active now, Francesco Marconi and Biagio Privitera. Congrats to the FNGO and we wish you all have a great weekend at the 30th anniversary. Roberto Sperandio won the National title for the third time (2015, 2004 and 2002). Runner-up Francesco Marconi failed to take his 10th title and remains at 9 National titles (2011, 2009, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1994, 1992, 1991 and 1990). 
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Biagio Privitera and Italian Champion 2015 Roberto Sperandio
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The semifinalists
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Results round 1:
CAMP. ASSOLUTI Roberto Sperandio - Allessandro Di Mattei 1-0 (38-26) Francesco Marconi - Paolo Scognamiglio 1-0 (38-26) CAMP. di CATEGORIA Giuseppe Chiarulli - Francesco Privitera 1-0 (47-17) Paolo Tormene - Leonardo Caviola 1-0 (52-12) |
Results round 2:
CAMP. ASSOLUTI Roberto Sperandio - Allessandro Di Mattei 1-1 (31-33) Francesco Marconi - Paolo Scognamiglio 2-0 (44-20) CAMP. di CATEGORIA Giuseppe Chiarulli - Francesco Privitera 2-0 (36-28) Paolo Tormene - Leonardo Caviola 2-0 (49-15) |
Results round 3:
CAMP. ASSOLUTI Roberto Sperandio - Alessandro Di Mattei 2-1 (36-28) |
Paolo Scognamiglio and Allessandro Di Mattei played a draw game in their playoff for third place in CAMP. ASSOLUTI. They started to played a 5 minutes fast game to decide the winner but according to the tourney rules the third place goes to Alessandro, best placed yesterday.
Francesco Privitera defeated Leonardo Caviola 48-16 in the playoff for third place in CAMP. di CATEGORIA
Francesco Privitera defeated Leonardo Caviola 48-16 in the playoff for third place in CAMP. di CATEGORIA
Maria Serena Vecchi is Female Italian Champion for the second year in a row. Her opponent Chiara Gigliucci had a lot more discs, but lost on time.
Final Italian Championship 2015: Roberto Sperandio - Francesco Marconi
Final Italian Championship: Roberto Sperandio 2 - 1 Francesco Marconi
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Final Categoria: Paolo Tormene - Giuseppe Chiarulli .
Final sub-top: Paolo Tormene 2 - 1 Giuseppe Chiarulli
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Niklas Wettergren wins Swedish National Championship
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Location: Enskede, Sweden
Date: September 5 - 6 Tourney format: 7 rounds Swiss on Saturday, semifinals and final on Sunday Link: SOF website, LiveOthello Top 4 day 1:
On Sunday Marcus Frönmark defeated Jeroen Everts in the semifinal 2- 1. Niklas needed only 2 games to qualify for the final in the semifinal against Oskar Eklund. The final was a 2-1 win for Niklas. Congrats! |
Niklas Wettergren, Swedish Champion 2015
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Semifinal:
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EVERTS Jeroen 20-44 FRÖNMARK Marcus Sweden National Championship 2015, semi-final game 1 |
EKLUND Oskar 30-34 WETTERGREN Niklas Sweden National Championship 2015, semi-final game 2 |
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EVERTS Jeroen 20-44 FRÖNMARK Marcus
FRÖNMARK Marcus 29-35 EVERTS Jeroen EVERTS Jeroen 14 - 50 FRÖNMARK Marcus |
WETTERGREN Niklas 45-19 Oskar EKLUND
EKLUND Oskar 30-34 WETTERGREN Niklas |
Final:
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WETTERGREN Niklas 41-22 FRÖNMARK Marcus Sweden National Championship 2015, final game 1 |
FRÖNMARK Marcus 49-15 WETTERGREN Niklas Sweden National Championship 2015, final game 2 |
WETTERGREN Niklas 51-13 FRÖNMARK Marcus Sweden National Championship 2015, final game 3 |
Takuji Kashiwabara, EGP Champion 2015, the numbers..........
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By Tom Schotte, September 3rd
Of the last 131 European Grand Prix tournaments, Takuji played 111 (84,7%). He managed to score points in 105 of them (94,6%). He has won 22 tournaments (19,8%), has played 46 finals (41,4%), has obtained 59 podiums (53,2%) and has reached the top 4 at 70 occassions (63,1%). He has totalised 10410 points, which is an average of 94 points per tournament. He has not only won 9 EGP titles, but reached the top 3 for the last 15 seasons and scored points in the last 18 seasons. He played and scored points in 18 consecutive tournaments (Copenhagen 2010 until Athens 2013). He has scored points in 51 consecutive tournaments he played. This streak is still ongoing and has started in Amstelveen 2008. He has won tournaments in 12 of the 14 organising countries. He is only missing Cambridge (United Kingdom) and Moscow (Russia). WOW... |
Takuji Kashiwabara: 9 times European Champion, 22 EGP victories
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Handshake for WOC in Mito Japan, 2016. In the video the Mayor of Mito (middle), mr. Goro Hasegawa (2nd right) and Bengt Steentoft (right)
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National Championships, 39th and 40th World Othello ChampionshipA lot of National Othello Championships in the weeks to come. Don't think you have to be a top-player to attend such an event. Most of the National Championships are open to all. Contact your National Federation, play at the tourney, improve your game, meet the people. New players are always more than welcome. National Federations can be found at the World Othello Federation website for Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe.
After the nationals, most Federations will decide on their WOC teams. The 39th WOC in Cambridge end of October will be another great event. Othello News tries to stay ahead of the news and found a video of a meeting in Japan about the 40th WOC, November 2016 in Mito. Japan had the 1st, 10th, 20th and 30th WOC and is now preparing for the 40th WOC. My guess, if you don't get selected for the 2016 team, your next chance to play at the WOC in Japan is in 2026. September 3rd |
Mirosac Voráček (2nd), Takuji Kashiwabara (winner), Francesco Marconi (3rd)
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EGP 2015 was decided in Paris, August 29th and 30th
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EGP Champions 1986 - 2015
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