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World Championship
Organization: MSO & GIPF Centre
Place: Alexandra Palace, London (GB)
Date: August 26, 2000
Format: Swiss system, 7 rounds, 25 min. player/game
Participants: 17
"Octopus" becomes 1st GIPF World Champion
Alexandra Palace… What a magnificent place for
an event like the Mind Sports Olympiad! The organizers couldn't
have found a better temple: a large neo-classicistic building on
the top of a hill in the middle of a park. Bathing in the sun, it
didn't need a lot of imagination to look at it as if the MSO-logo
had materialized in London: the Partenon, where the Greec Gods gathered.
When climbing the stairs to the main entrance, it must have crossed
the mind of many participants that playing games is a divine occupation…
It definitively is! August 26, 11 AM… 17 GIPF-players gather at
the GIPF-post in the huge central hall. 17, that is not really an
impressive lot for a World Championship. But it is Saturday and
many other tournaments are overlapping each other today. If that
would not have been the case, we would most certainly have been
with at least 5.000 (*). A pity, but we have good faith that we'll
have that many entries for next year's GIPF WC, though.
So, we settle for a group of 17 participants, consisting of a strong
nine-headed Belgian delegation, 3 Englishmen, 2 Dutchmen, 2 Italians,
and 1 Japanese. The favorites are Werner Dupont (B), Kurt Van den
Branden (B), Patrick Van de Perre (B) and Koen de Jongh (NL). Good
chances can also be given to Karel Daelemans (B), who is playing
very consistent the last months. Stephen Tavener (GB) has the potential
to surprise everybody - but if he does so in the first rounds, then
will it still be a surprise in the ending stage of the championship?
Aksel De Meester (B) (who registered but didn't arrive yet) would
normally be a favourite, too, but he has hardly been playing in
2000. Gianni Cottogni (I) got sick the very moment he arrived in
London and already looks as if he's about running out of pieces
before having started his first game. Brave man! Fred Kok (NL) is
collecting 4th places at this years Olympiad (LOA and Hexdame) and
resigned himself in not getting a medal this time (although he likes
gold very much!). Rita Pauwels (B) can beat the best - but so far
she hasn't succeeded in holding on to her normal level for 7 games
in a row and the same does count for André De Laet (B). Frédérick
Van Aelst (B) has made a lot of progress but has a bad habbit: he
always seems to remove the wrong GIPF-pieces. Mozes De Bruyn continues
to play like a benji-jumper: the deeper the gap, the more fun it
is to go for it - and than hope that the elastics will hold. There
are also 3 new-comers: David Faldon (GB), Harold Lee (GB) and Giancarlo
Niccoli (I), who only recently learned how to play and participate
with no other ambition than to be back next year. And, last but
not least, there is Yoshi Ikkai (J)... No doubt that he, being the
number 1 ranked player, is a favourite, too, but he has had an extremely
occupied year. And last summer he also attended the MSO GIPF-Championship
as the top-favorite but lost 3 games. How good is his play today?
In January he had become the Japanese GIPF-Champion, but how strong
were his opponents? And what about his trip? He arrived yesterday
evening, straight from Japan, for no other reason then to play GIPF.
When I ask him about his jet-lag, he nods yes and says: no, my eyes
slept well! So, he clearly isn't going to put all of his cards on
the table before the start of the championship...
The favorites win their first game. In the second round Kurt is
the first to crack; Koen leaves him no chance. In de 3rd round a
few more must bend: Patrick beats Werner with his cautious play
(the heritage of his chess background, he says) and a very concentrated
young Koen gets Yoshi on his knees after a tight game in which both
took turns leading the dance all the way - and it happened that
it was Koen's turn when the games ended. In the 4th round Koen beats
Patrick in no time. Patrick opened very poor, loses 3 pieces in
a very early stage and is so mad at himself that he can't concentrate
any more: game over. Koen is the only player left without defeat:
4 down, 3 to go. He has 4 players on his tail with 3 wins each:
Yoshi, Patrick, Werner and Karel.
Meanwhile there are only 15 players left in the championship: Giancarlo
and Harold have resigned. No prob. The level of play is high; even
with only 15 players the spirit is good and the players measure
up with each other with a lot of drive and perseverance. Yes, there's
a world title at stake.
Round 5… Kurt can't find his normal shape and gets beaten by Rita.
Patrick and Yoshi win against, respectively, Karel and Aksel. Koen
encounters Werner… Beautiful to watch, these two: they are probably
the most "natural" players of the lot. They play GIPF like Jimmy
White used to play snooker: fluent, apparently without stress, always
preferring an attack above a consolidating defensive move. The best
prove of their instinctive play is that they never seem to be running
out of time; even when they get behind, they nonetheless give the
impression to have the upper-hand. Werner - a former judo-fighter
- puts every ounce of his body in the match and that may have made
the difference: Koen capitulates. That means that we have again
4 players sharing the lead with 4 wins: Patrick, Koen, Werner and
Yoshi. Still in the running for the medals with 3 wins are Stephen
(will he, indeed, surprise everybody?), and Rita and Karel, who
both seem in control of their nerves (which always appeared to be
their Achilles tendon during previous tournaments).
Up to round 6: 2 of the leaders meet each other: Patrick and Yoshi.
Werner and Koen encounter 2 of the pursuers: Rita and Stephen. Werner
shows no mercy to Rita. And Stephen shows no mercy to Koen! He puts
Koen under pressure from the very beginning with lots of GIPF-pieces;
he claims the center of the board, pushes Koen into a corner, takes
a few deep breaths to finish the game and then, literally, makes
the wrong move (i.e. not the move he intended). Koen jumps up and
steels the point. As said in the beginning: Stephen a very surprising
player! (Or was is mercy after all?) Karel wins against the struggling
Kurt (last year's silver medal winner), which results in the following
standings after 6 rounds: Yoshi, Werner and Koen with 5 points;
Patrick and Karel with 4 points… And Werner and Yoshi haven't played
against each other yet…
One round to go… and we have a true final: the first World Champion
will be the winner of the game "Werner - Yoshi" (both have a higher
MB-score than Koen). Koen plays against Karel; if he wins, he'll
be sure to become the vice World Champion. But Patrick and Karel,
too, still have the possibility to snatch the second place, or at
least the third. Patrick beats André in a quick game, but must wait
to know where he'll end. Koen doesn't leave Karel much chance; Karel
looks tired and doesn't find a way into the game. He seems to be
a bit short with every moves he makes. Koen, almost playing nonchalant
because he already knows he missed the gold medal, still shows enough
concentration to win without having been in trouble. He'll be the
runner-up, that is a fact know. The third place depends on what
Werner and Yoshi will do - and the first place too, of course…
The final… Werner and Yoshi are nervous: they shake hands with shaking
hands. Another indication that stress is running through their veins
is that they both start the game with caution: both open with only
4 GIPF-pieces. Yoshi normally plays with 5 and Werner sometimes
with even more. So, a careful start. Werner goes for the e-diagonal;
Yoshi counters on the a5-i1 diagonal. Werner gets the upper-hand
and goes a GIPF-piece ahead in the 12th move - but gets out of position
through it. Yoshi immediately takes advantage of his numerical preponderance
on the board, puts a pair of Werner's GIPF-pieces under pressure
and next claims the center of the board. Werner defends his GIPF-pieces
with despair - and that may have been his mistake. It would probably
have been better to give up one of his GIPF-pieces and, instead
of a series of defensive moves, concentrate on breaking through
Yoshi's central pieces. Yoshi captures a GIPF-piece and still controls
the game, which results in another capture. All the other games
of the 7th round are finished by now and everybody is gathered around
board 1. Werner finds a way back in to the game, levels the score
and even takes the lead again with a 5th captured piece. And then
Yoshi shows why he is called the "Octopus": no other player succeeds
of using all 6 sides of the board like he does. He gets the advantage
of having more pieces in his reserve, holds on to it, and attacks
each time when Werner has only few pieces to play with. He sacrifices
2 pieces to set up a capture of 3. Being one piece ahead again,
he also removes his last but one GIPF-piece (i.e. to be sure to
hold the last move) and sets for Werner's last GIPF-piece - not
to capture it, but to force Werner to spend pieces in defence. By
doing so two rows get blocked and leave Werner no possibility to
recycle pieces without losing his last GIPF. Yoshi Ikkai wins a
great final and becomes the first GIPF World Champion. Koen, in
spite of having won against Yoshi, gets the silver medal, Patrick
jumps over Werner and snatches bronze.
(*) In total just above 5000 people participated at the MSO 4.
Standings
| Place |
Name |
Score |
M-Buch. |
Buch. |
Progr. |
| 1-2 |
Ikkai, Yoshi (J) |
6 |
22.0 |
30.5 |
23.0 |
| |
De Jongh, Koen (NL) |
6 |
20.0 |
27.5 |
25.0 |
| 3-4 |
Van De Perre, Patrick
(B) |
5 |
22.0 |
30.5 |
22.0 |
| |
Dupont, Werner (B) |
5 |
22.0 |
30.0 |
22.0 |
| 5-9 |
Daelemans, Karel (B) |
4 |
20.0 |
27.5 |
18.0 |
| |
Tavener, Stephen (GB)
|
4 |
17.0 |
24.5 |
15.0 |
| |
Pauwels, Rita (B) |
4 |
15.5 |
23.0 |
15.0 |
| |
De Meester, Aksel (B)
|
4 |
15.5 |
23.0 |
14.0 |
| |
De Bruyn, Mozes (B) |
4 |
15.5 |
22.0 |
13.0 |
| 10-11 |
De Laet, André (B) |
3 |
19.5 |
26.0 |
12.0 |
| |
Kok, Fred (NL) |
3 |
18.0 |
25.5 |
12.0 |
| 12-15 |
Van Den Branden, Kurt
(B) |
2 |
19.5 |
28.0 |
12.0 |
| |
Van Aelst, Frédéric (B)
|
2 |
17.0 |
22.5 |
7.0 |
| |
Cottogni, Gianni (I) |
2 |
15.5 |
23.0 |
6.0 |
| |
Faldon, David (GB) |
2 |
14.5 |
20.0 |
8.0 |
| 16-17 |
Niccoli, Giancarlo (I)
|
1 |
2.0 |
7.5 |
2.0 |
| |
Lee, Harold (GB) |
1 |
2.0 |
6.5 |
1.0 |
Cross table
| No |
Name |
Total |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
| 1. |
Ikkai, Yoshi (J) |
6 |
10:W |
7:W |
5:L |
12:W |
4:W |
3:W |
2:W |
| 2. |
Dupont, Werner (B) |
5 |
11:W |
6:W |
3:L |
8:W |
5:W |
10:W |
1:L |
| 3. |
Van De Perre, Patrick
(B) |
5 |
12:W |
9:W |
2:W |
5:L |
7:W |
1:L |
11:W |
| 4. |
De Meester, Aksel (B)
|
4 |
: |
14:W |
9:W |
7:L |
1:L |
12:W |
13:W |
| 5. |
De Jongh, Koen (NL)
|
6 |
13:W |
8:W |
1:W |
3:W |
2:L |
6:W |
7:W |
| 6. |
Tavener, Stephen (GB)
|
4 |
14:W |
2:L |
10:L |
9:W |
12:W |
5:L |
15:W |
| 7. |
Daelemans, Karel (B)
|
4 |
15:W |
1:L |
11:W |
4:W |
3:L |
8:W |
5:L |
| 8. |
Van Den Branden, Kurt
(B) |
2 |
16:W |
5:L |
17:W |
2:L |
10:L |
7:L |
9:L |
| 9. |
De Bruyn, Mozes (B)
|
4 |
17:W |
3:L |
4:L |
6:L |
11:W |
14:W |
8:W |
| 10. |
Pauwels, Rita (B) |
4 |
1:L |
13:W |
6:W |
11:L |
8:W |
2:L |
14:W |
| 11. |
De Laet, André (B) |
3 |
2:L |
16:W |
7:L |
10:W |
9:L |
15:W |
3:L |
| 12. |
Kok, Fred (NL) |
3 |
3:L |
15:W |
13:W |
1:L |
6:L |
4:L |
:W |
| 13. |
Cottogni, Gianni (I)
|
2 |
5:L |
10:L |
12:L |
15:W |
14:L |
:W |
4:L |
| 14. |
Van Aelst, Frédéric
(B) |
2 |
6:L |
4:L |
15:L |
:W |
13:W |
9:L |
10:L |
| 15. |
Faldon, David (GB) |
2 |
7:L |
12:L |
14:W |
13:L |
:W |
11:L |
6:L |
| 16. |
Lee, Harold (GB) |
1 |
8:L |
11:L |
:W |
: |
: |
: |
: |
| 17. |
Niccoli, Giancarlo (I)
|
1 |
9:L |
:W |
8:L |
: |
: |
: |
: |
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