40th World Othello Championship, Mito

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the woc 2016 poster, beautiful design

World Othello Championship, all over the internet​

Schedule for the 40th World Othello Championship tournament

Tuesday, November 1st  
16:00 - 18:00 Players registration open between 16:00 - 18:00 at W.O.C. office.
Be sure to be on time to register! All players and crews must register at W.O.C. office.
16:00 - 18:30   Welcome event
Japan Othello Association and the Mito City welcome all players and crews to experience Japanese and Mito's culture. There will be some traditional food & drinks. All events are not decided yet, but we welcome you all to taste, try and enjoy to some Japanese culture! This event will be very special and interesting for all players, so dont miss it! Plan to be in Mito in time! 

Welcome reception & 1st round pairing
​18:30 - ?.00
 
Wednesday, November 2nd 
 8:15 - 8:45 Table Judges' Briefing
 8:45 - 9:00 Players' Briefing
 9:00 - 18:30 Round 1-7
 
Thursday, November 3rd
 8:45 -  9:00 2nd Day Speech
 9:00 - 18:30 Round 9 - 13 (and play-off (if required)
 
Friday, November 4th
9:15 -  9:30 Final Day Speech
9:30 - 13:20 Semifinals
9:40 - 11:30 WOF Annual Meeting
14:10 - 18:30 Finals
19:30 - 22:00 Victory Dinner
  

Mito City Othello Week organised by the Japan Othello Association

Friday, November 4th 
Mito City Sightseeing Bus Tour

Saturday, November 5th, 09:30 - 16:40
Grande Othello World Championship 
Eight star Othello World Championship
  
Sunday, November 6th, 09:30 - 14:20
M5 Skyguest World Championship

Did you know? 

  • Attending players who have played in at least 10 W.O.C. (Note: players may have played for several national teams. Given country in this table is country of this year's team)​ In Mito Karsten Feldborg will play his 28th World Othello Championship!!!!
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27 WOC results of Karsten Feldborg 1982 - 2015
  • Attending WOC as players, TD´s and crews
Emmanuel Lazard, 27x
Benkt Steentoft, 17x
Tor Birger Skogen, 12x
Stephan Nicolet, 12x
Henry Aspenryd, 9x
2483 Yusuke Takanashi - Japan
2405 Yongzhi Lang - China (unofficial rating)
2394 Yan Song - China
2389 Yasushi Nagano - Japan
2350 Piyanat Aunchulee - Thailand
2344 Ben Seeley - U.S.A.
2335 Nicky van den Biggelaar - the Netherlands
2307 Alex Bo Chao Koh - Singapore
2262 Bo Xiang Koh - Singapore
2206 Jeroen Everts - Sweden
2203 Meng Joo Lai - Malaysia
2184 Hisako Kinoshita - Japan (female player)
2181 Arthur Juigner - Switzerland (junior player)
2178 Chun Wan Li - HongKong
2176 Nobuaki Mitsuya - Japan
​
see WOC players rating order
2184 Hisako Kinoshita - Japan
2133 Zhen Dong - China
2118 Joanna William - Australia
1986 Siew Kun Yap - Malaysia
1933 Yoko Sano Rose - USA
1846 Patcharaporn Tana - Thailand
1800 Veronica Stenberg - Sweden
1745 Yen Lee Ng - Malaysia
​
New at WOC 2016: the four best female players play semifinal and then final game. The three best female players get throphies and best lady prize money.
  • Top ten teams at WOC 2016 (average rating team members July 31st)
  1. Japan 2347
  2. China 2314
  3. Singapore 2215
  4. Thailand 2186
  5. USA 2166
  6. Netherlands 2109
  7. Hong Kong 2095
  8. Sweden 2087
  9. Italy 1992
  10. Great Britain 1975

New this year: gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the three best teams who also will receive prize money. 
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winning WOC teams 1987 - 2015
  • Hideshi Tamenori leads our WOC Swiss Expert list. This is a list of players who managed to score an average of 9 or higher, taking into account their 3 best Swiss performances at the World Othello Championship. The maximum score is 39 (3 x 13), but no player yet managed to win all 13 games in the Swiss rounds (before semifinal and final) at 3 WOC tournaments. 
    ​
    Note: for players that played at the WOC for different countries, the country code at the current WOF ratinglist is given.

​
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Swiss Expert
  • The average player at the W.O.C. 2016 is 34 years old, played Othello for at least 14 years, has a WOF rating of 1832 and participated in four World Championships.
The Young Ones under 15
​Mikael Lee, Korea, 9
Masaki Wada, Japan, 11
Arthur Juigner, Switzerland, 14
Jolyn Loh Yuan En, Singapore, 14
​
The Still Young Ones over 60​
​Leonid Shifman, Israel, 66
​Luigi Puzzo, Belarus, 69                                                                                             ​

First World Othello Champion: Hiroshi Inoue

  • The first WOC was held in 1977 in Tokyo, winner was Hiroshi Inoue from Japan, Thomas Heiberg from Norway finished second. More pictures of this event can be found here. ​Tourney info at WOC History
  • Earlier that year Hiroshi Inoue had won the All Japan Championship
  • In 1979 Hiroshi reclaimed his titles.  He won the All Japan Championship and the World Othello Championship in Rome, Italy
  • July 1980 Hiroshi lost against a computer for the first time in his life (but he won the tournament)
  • He returned  to the World Othello Championship 1996 in Tokyo, as tourney director
  • The Inoue is one of the oldest perpendicular openings
  • November 4th we crown the 40th World Othello Champion. A long list of champions and it all started with Hiroshi Inoue


Inoue Opening