Any news from Korbach?

[john reade]

Anybody got any results from Korbach?

[Ingo_Zachos]

Dear John,

I had 17 players that had announced that they were coming.
Only one, Thomas Wien, had to cancel his trip for urgent business reasons the day before.

I expected much, and my expectations were even exceeded.
Three more players decided to attend at the last moment, and so we had 19 players, a record that we hope to break next year.
Altough it was announced as an open tournament, all players were from Germany, which shows how much the game gained popularity since 2004, when Dennis Pawlek organized the 1st German Open.

The great favorite IM Igor Martynov showed no mercy and beat everyone, though he had luck on his side against me and Clemens Crucius, a fromer German draughts 100 champion who played our game for the first time in a tournament.
Surprisingly Clemens almost scored the same result as he scored in the draughts 100 event prior to the German Championships.
A surprise 2nd place finish was scored by Jan Zioltkowski, who celebrated his birthday during the days in Korbach, and who was also elected the new president of the IGDD (German Draughts Federation).
Also a surprise 3rd was Juri Geisenblas, a fomer Shashki player who also represented Germany at the WMSG in draughts 100.
He played very well against the top players, but lost to some youth talents, but to his relief he was not balloted against them too often
Only 4th came last years winner, me, ahead of our youth champion Maximilian Frese, who again showed great talent, and if his endgames improve, he will be a future champion for sure.
Irene Paetzold of Horst became German Lady Champion, and now won the German title as often as no-one else (four times).
Oldest players were 88 old Johan Samiec from Korbach and 80 years old newcomer(!) Juergen Sievert, who travelled from Hamburg to play together with his son.
Youngest player was Filip Jaslar, who showed improvement since his debut last year, though he claimed to have almost forgotten the rules, but I am sure that the shots he saw prove the opposite.

A tournament table will be given at the website of the IGDD:

http://www.dame-online.de/
("Turniere", "Turnierergebnisse").
The event was covered by the local newspapers and a deputy major awarded the prizes at the closing ceremony.

Many spectators from the draughts 100 tournament also showed great interest and asked for advice and literature.
I hope to see a few foreign friends as well as a few newcomers in 2011.
Then it will be played in GAYP (3 move this time), and serve as the national qualifier to the QT of the WCDF again.
Igor Martynov already announced that he will play in Dublin, and it is likely that we will sent two players.


2011 the German Open will be held at Korbach again.
Try your luck and visit this beautiful small town for a nice weekend filled with blood, sweat and checkers.

Greetinx from sunny Dortmund, with the promise of a few games from the tournament,

Ingo Zachos

[john reade]

Ingo.

Congratulations on a brilliant tournament! I'm only sorry I wasn't able to be there to meet all these German checkers players. I hope I can make it next year.

John.

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Well done, Ingo - way to go !!! Congratulations to Igor Martynov, Irene Paetzold and Maximilian Frese for winning their respectable titles ! Congratulations to directors, organizers, sponsors and all participants.

19 attendants - WOW ! I am glad to hear that Igor Martinov and another Germany representative will play this fall in 3-moves QT 2010 in my home town Dublin

Will Irene and Maximilain also plan to attend and play in Ladies and Youth QT's this year ?

Regards,

AM

[john reade]

Ingo,

You'll maybe need 2 sections next year?

Or 3 or 4 depending on how many hundreds of entries you get!

John.

[Ingo_Zachos]

lol.

I am not a pessimist, but hundreds of players would lead to a totally different system.
Already with 19 players 7 rounds swiss system were hard to organize.
On the top 2 or 3 boards the games were all played hard fought and lasted almost all the time that the players could take.
While on the lower boards games tended to be shorter and shorter.
That resultet in unplanned breaks for the tailenders and no lunch break for the top players, which was even harder for most, as on the first evening the IGDD also held its General Assembly.

I am thinking about a different system in 2011. Maybe one game per round (it will be GAYP then) and a system with more balanced pairings like accelerated swiss system.

My problem with classes (masters, majors, minors):
Some players are hard to rate.
Geisenblas for instance never played before, and would not have been allowed for "masters" in a system with classes.
And some players like Irene and Fabian Jaslar (he did very well in many games, but also very bad in others) are hard to tackle.
With a little bit of luck in swiss system they could have made 18 or 17 points and would then have been 4th or 5th.

Maybe a system with preliminary rounds and final groups would do better, or a rapid tournament with 15 minutes per side on saturday morning to qualify for the sections that would start after a lunch break and different time rates for the respective groups.

But all this is hypothetical without knowing the number of players.
But I am seriously thinking about it.

To Alex:
Maximillian Frese does not intend to play in Ireland.
He will play the draughts 100 European Youth Championships, where the organizers (until now) cover the hotel costs for one German player.
With full costs he (and many others) would not play there, too.

I did not ask Irene about her intentions yet, but all the German Federation could cover would be the starting fees (if the budget allows that), and hotel and flight costs are a great obstacle indeed.
For me private circumstances prevent me from going to Ireland this year.
But two other players are thinking of joining Igor Martynov, but need time to check their schedules.

Greetinx from sunny Dortmund,

Ingo Zachos

BTW:
At http://www.dame-online.de/
("Turniere", "Turnierergebnisse") the full result is now online as well as a few photos (click "Die Fotos").
I am working on the games and an excel version of the crosstable.