German Open 2008, first report

[Ingo_Zachos]

Hallo everybody,


Here are, with a little delay, the round-by round results of the German open 2008.

11 players showed up, and were ranked by WCDF-Ranking. If they weren’t on the WCDF list, I tried to estimated their ratings based on their results they has against me and in the German national 3-move championships in March.
This left Thomas Wien only on 1965 and Olaf Matschat on 1705 , which r their WCDF-rating, though I knew they are much better, but our pairing program required ratings for the pairing of round one.

The attendance was slightly lower then expected but a few players that had announced they would play on Friday but they withdrew the next day:
Christopher Kearns had to work, although his boss had previously told him differently.
Liam Stephens began to feel unwell on friday evening and came on saturday morning, but he looked pale and shaken, excused himself and stayed absent from the tournament.
But he recovered on sunday and became a spectator instead, just like Christopher.
Thomas Juergens and Johann Samiec also did not show up,
So the players were:
1. Igor Martynov, Germany, 2400 (estimated), German 3 move champion 2008
2. Donald Oliphant, Scotland, 2350, Candidate Master
3. Ingo Zachos, Germany, 2312, Candidate Master, German champion 2007
4. Bernard Coll, Scotland, 2214, Candidate Master
5. Maximilian Frese, Germany, 2150 (estimated), 2nd place German 3-move ty, 15 years old
6. Eygeniy Rymar, Germany, 2100 (estimated), 17 years old
7. Thomas Wien, Germany, 1965, 2nd German championships 2007,
8. Armin Krane, Germany, 1800( estimated), 9 years , 2nd best Junior at then German 3 move ty.,
9. Benjamin Krane, Germany, 1750 (estimated), 12 years, 3rd best Junior at the German 3-move ty.,
10. Olaf Matschat, Germany, 1705, 2nd place German Championships 2005,
11. Danuta Zioltkowki, Germany, 1700 (estimated), German Ladies draughts 100 champion 2008,

Results of day one:

Round one:
Martynov-Wien 1-3
Armin Krane-Oliphant 0-4
Zachos-Benjamin Krane 4-0,
Matschat-Coll 0-4
Frese-Zioltkowski 3-1
Bye: Rymar

Round two:
Oliphant-Coll 2-2,
Rymar-Zachos 2-2,
Wien-Frese 3-1,
Zioltkowski-Martynov 0-4,
Matschat-Armin Krane 4-0
Bye: Benjamnin Krane

Round three:
Wien-Oliphant 3-1
Coll-Zachos 1-3,
Martynov-Rymar 4-0,
Frese-Benjamin Krane 4-0,
Zioltkowski-Matschat 0-4

Round four:
Zachos-Martynov 1-3,
Matschat-Wien 0-4,
Oliphant-Frese 2-2,
Rymar-Coll 1-3,
Benjamin Krane-Armin Krane 4-0,
Bye: Zioltkowski

That resulted in the following table after day one:
1. Wien 13,
2. Martynov 12,
3. Zachos 10, 18HP
4. Frese 10, 17HP, 30 HP 2
5. Coll 10, 17 HP, 27HP 2,
6. Oliphant 9,
7. Matschat 8, 15 HP
8. Benjamin Krane 8, 14 HP
9. Rymar 7,
10. Zioltkowski 5,
11. Armin Krane 4,

Results of day two:

Round five:
Wien-Zachos 0-4
Coll-Martynov 0-4,
Frese-Matschat 3-1,
Rymar-Benjamin Krane 2-2,
Armin Krane-Zioltkowski, 0-4,
Bye: Oliphant (“Could I have two more byes plz ?”)

Round six:
Martynov-Frese 4-0,
Zachos-Oliphant 2-2,
Benjamin Krane-Wien 0-4,
Zioltkowski-Coll 0-4,
Armin Krane-Rymar 0-4,
Bye: Olaf Matschat

Round seven:
Oliphant-Martynov 2-2,
Coll-Wien 2-2,
Zachos-Armin Krane 4-0,
Rymar-Matschat 4-0,
Zioltkowski-Benjamin Krane 1-3
Bye: Maximilian Frese



Final Table:
1. Martynov 22,
2. Zachos 20,
3. Wien 19,
4. Oliphant 17, 76 HP
5. Frese 17, 72 HP
6. Rymar 17, 66 HP
7. Coll 16,
8. Benjamin Krane 13, 67 HP,
9. Matschat 13, 64 HP,
10. Zioltkowski 10
11. Armin Krane 4

In round one Thomas Wien surprised with a comeback victory by a spectacular resource against the puzzled Igor. Oliphant was in a bad position in in one game against youngster Arnin, but Armin moved very quickly (9 years old!), and blundered it away.
In round two I lost my first game to Rymar, falling for a shot after he went into a bad pp-position
In round three Thomas Wien again found a brilliant resource against the even more puzzled Danny, and also found an elegant draw in the other game, while I, Olaf Matschat and Igor made ground.
In round four Thomas crushed Olaf convincingly ("I still can't play against the big boys"), securing a well deserved lead.
Igor and me had two very though games. I lost the first, being a men up in his time-trouble, going for something that turned out to be an illusion of a shot. But to my surprise the man–up position was not a clear win, but still a hard fight, so I probably suffered on over-optimism.
Danny could not defeat the bravely fighting Maximillian, and the table looked very well for Germany now.

On Sunday I played my best game against Thomas, when in a Cross-Choice Thomas tried to sweep off the pieces to a “save” draw , I found a way to force him into a lack of moves with a surprising 31-27, breaking my bridge.
Though he tried hard to recover and for the first time spent more time on his moves then his opponent, I managed to avoid all tricks and traps and won.
In our second game I also managed to win in an ending, where I trapped his two kings immobile, one in the single corner and the other one in the double corner.
Meanwhite Igor crushed Bernard in both games and took the lead that he kept until the end.
In the last but one round me and Danny played a difficult Single Corner, but Danny ran very short on time, but claiming a draw.
As I was the referee myself, and thought I was better in this ending, maybe even winning, I offered him extra time on his clock and we agreed to play on, but I immediately blundered and fell for a pretty shot that I could /( and should!)have avoided easily.
I recovered to win the 2nd game, but as Thomas crushed his opponent I was only third now.

In the last round I won both games against my young opponent, though he had a good position for a very long time in one game, falling for a shot as he moved hastily.
He only took 3 minutes for his game, and I 24!
In a few years he will be more controlled and surely a strong player.
Meanwhile Thomas and Igor both won their fist games against Danny and Bernard, securing medal places.
In fact, Igor was already the winner, as he had a three points lead before that round.
But in their second games Bernard and Danny made a recovery and managed to equalize the scores.
Anyway, only Danny received a trophy, and he thus prevent the Germans from taking all prices home.

The final table shows that after five years of trying, the Germans are finally competitive, and the players that were nominated for Beijing took the first two places.
Thomas Wien would have won the ty, if he had not met me and lost two games.
He showed very fine tactical abilities, and impressed by the fact, that in all games but the three he lost against me and Bernard, he only took about a quarter of an hour, playing quick and strong, while his opponents took almost all of their 35 minutes.
If he continues to improve like that, he wins it next year.
Igor showed a fine recovery, after he was beaten by Thomas in round one, won with great fighting spirit a game against me, which later turned out to he the key game for the tournament victory and won 5 straight games on sunday, only losing to Danny when he had already won the event in the very last round.
Danny had a though time after he lost against Thomas and also had Problems against Maximillian and me, but his win over Igor made him finish 4th, and as the German Champion is not counted in the ranking for the German Open victory, for we r not giving away double prices, he took the third price trophy, that he graciously donated to the local club.
Maximilian showed great crossboard abilities, but he has no pp-knowledge and that was too hard to overcome this time.
Anyway, he took the youth trophy in a very close race against Eygeniy, who also showed great talent. Those two, and the Krane brothers that were by far the youngest players and showed very good ideas during the games, but also blundered more then all others on account of hasty play, will certainly be heard of in the next years.
Danuta took the Ladies title, and would have finished higher, but especially the endings with “those short kings” made her struggle, but her result is also good, considering the fact that she was very busy organizing the event, which she did very well.
I don’t know when we will hold the next German Open in 2009 yet, but I will promise that our pp-knowledge, tactical abilities and endgame technique will improve and that our best players will be a though match indeed.

Finally I want to thank Jan Zioltkowski, the chairman of the draughts club in Korbach for his bid and the organisation. He could not be there, as he visited the FMJD executive meeting in Tallinn the same weekend for Germany. He also organized a demonstration for draughts 100 and checkers at an sports exhibition in nearby Frankenthal on Saturday, where Clemens Crucius explaint the game, played all comers and Clemens promised to play at the next German Open, when he visited the German Open on saturday evening and sunday.


Greetinx from cloudy Dortmund, Germany

Ingo Zachos

[Dennis Pawlek]

Wow sounds like the event is getting a lot better every year. Congratulations to all participants and special Thomas Wien who significant improved in recent years probably to the good practice he had with Ingo.

Ingo you put a great performance to finish second. Pitty I could not make it again but I am sure I would have not made more as mid table with so many fine players.

[kiwinurse]

Congratulations to Thomas and Ingo for their fine performance,and a real shame for Liam Stephens who ended up unwell and could not play,thats such bad luck,especially as i know Liam would have prepared well for the tournament,he won the match last year.

[Jay H]

Congratulations to Thomas and Ingo for their fine performance,and a real shame for Liam Stephens who ended up unwell and could not play,thats such bad luck,especially as i know Liam would have prepared well for the tournament,he won the match last year.

Greetings kiwinurse,
Liam wrote me that he is feeling better....I am sure you will join me in wishing him a full and speedy recovery ...

Regards

Jay H

[Lindus Edwards]

It saddened me greatly to hear that Liam was unable to defend his German Open title due to illness. I was pleased to know he is much better now.