Shogi

Awake defeated Ponanza, claiming the top spot in the Shogi Deno Tournament in Saitama, Japan. Both are computer programs, and along with three other computer players earned the opportunity to compete against humans for a 2.5 million Yen prize next March.

Scrabble

Nigeria placed first at the Africa Scrabble Championship, followed by South Africa and Zambia.

Christopher May clinched the British National Scrabble Championship with a record of 13-4 +1287 by playing “MATH”. Yep, that’s it.

Go

In a repeat performance of last year, Kim Sooyoung and Jeon Junhak of Korea claimed the trophy at the International Amateur Pair Go Cup. Their final game was against Chinese Taipei and was won on a resignation.

Draughts

The World Youth Draughts Championship in Tallinn, Estonia was divided in to boys and girls, minicadets (under-14) and hopes (under-11) sections. Among all the sections, the top spots were dominated by players from Russia and Belarus. In minicadets girls, the winner was Vera Gorbacheva of Russia. In minicadets boys, the winner was  Anatolyi Protodyakonov of Russia. Leading hopes girls was Maryia Chasnakova of Belarus. Leading hopes boys, Miraslau Kuzniatsou of Belarus.

In Lishui, China the 3rd Xingqui Tianxi Cup International Open Draughts Tournament saw Mourodoullo Amrillaew of Russia at the top of the general section, Natalia Shestakova of Russia lead the women’s section, Yiming Pan of China boys under-14, and Yurui Liu of China girls under-14.

Rubik’s Cube

At Człuchów Panzer Cube 2014 (Poland), Jakub Kipa set a world record at solving the 3×3 cube with feet, 25.90 seconds.

With an average time of 9.47 seconds in 3×3 cube, the winner of the Asian Championship in Matsudo, Japan was Sei Sugama. The same tournament saw a world record 37.83 Megaminx solve by Mitsuki Gunji.

Chess

After six rounds of the World Chess Championship, current champion, Magnus Carlsen, leads challenger and previous champion, Viswanathan Anand, 3½-2½.

First place in the Tashkent leg of the FIDE Grand Prix went to Dmitry Andreikin with 7/11 points.

Magic: The Gathering

Grand Prix Nashville was a Khans of Tarkir team limited event. Of the 464 registered teams, the one of Matthew Nass, Jacob WIlson, and Jesse Hampton came out on top.

At Grand Prix Santiago (standard), Brazilian players proved tough opponents for local Chileans, with Eduardo dos Santos Vieira coming out on top.

Immanuel Gerschenson of Austria won Grand Prix Madrid, where the modern format saw a strong performance by a variety of older cards.

More than 4,000 players showed up for Grand Prix New Jersey (legacy) but in the finals it came down to roommates, Tom Ross and Brian Braun-Duin, with the latter taking home the trophy.

Other

Fantasy Flight Games’ World Championship Weekend saw eight different players declared champion, one in two separate games:

• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Melee)—Dan Seefeldt
• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Joust)—Sam Braatz
• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Overall)—Alexander Hynes
• Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game—Jeremy Zwirn
• Star Wars: The Card Game—Mick Cipra
• X-Wing—Paul Heaver
• Warhammer 40,000: Conquest—Jeremy Zwirn
• Warhammer: Diskwars—Francois Fressin
• Android: Netrunner The Card Game—Dan Dargenio

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On November 7th, FFG announced how they will be using a recently acquired printing facility.  It turns out they will be  cranking out random packs for two successful living card games, Androind:Netrunner, and A Game of Thrones.  Randomized?  What is this all about?

That’s right, random packs for a special drafting format.  One popularized by magic players, as well as other CCGs.

It will be interesting to see how this is put into practice, and what the reaction of the fan-base will be.   Many of us have embraced the LCG format as a way to control, or at least plan out, our spending.  This new format will work directly against that, as FFG seeks to grab a larger share of the customer’s wallet.

In addition to the players, we would hope that FFG worked with the Friendly Local Game Store to find a slot for this.  While players can draft at home and in dorm rooms, traditionally game stores have been the nexus for community drafting, allowing players who would otherwise never cross paths to come together at a specific place and time to scratch their itch.  Successful planning across metropolitan areas, creates opportunities to draft on many different nights, not just at Friday Night magic events.  Will stores be able to carve out time for two more drafting events, between all the magic events already on the schedule, the minis players, boardgamers, and roleplayers?

I’ll be watching.  Until draft packs start hitting the street, check out FFG’s official announcement here.

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Scrabble

The final game of the UK National Scrabble Championship was played between two former champions, Paul Allan and Allan Simmons. This time, Paul Allan clinched the title with the play of “bandura” (which is a Ukrainian lute) for a triple-word bingo worth 86 points. (For those trying to figure out how “bandura” is worth 86, the “d” was a blank, the “r” finished “tar”, and the final “a” was placed on the triple-word space and also finished “ta”.)

Chess

Chess continues to be played while the World Championship is underway…

In fact, other matches being played in India to celebrate the Championship included one for blind players, which was won by 16 year-old Sai Krishna, and the Women Grandmaster Tournament.

Ryan Harper of Trinidad & Tobago won the Umada Cup in Aruba.

FIDE selected 13th-ranked Peter Svidler for the open slot in the next Candidates Tournament, bypassing higher ranked players such as Alexander Grischuk (ranked 5th) and Hikaru Nakamura (ranked 4th).

While the FIDE Presidential Board approved plans for six Grand Prix events in 2014, agreements for only four have been signed so far. If the remaining two end up not happening, the two spots reserved in the next Candidates Tournament for Grand Prix winners will instead be selected one from the World Cup and one from the ratings list.

Backgammon

In the open section of the Capital Classic Backgammon Championships in Herndon, Virginia, the winner was Greg Merriman of Michigan.

At the Merit Open International Backgammon Championship in Cyprus, Sergey Erokhin of Russia took home the masters trophy and the team of Haris Christidis and Konstantinos Mitrelis from Greece the doubles trophy.

Collectible Card and Miniatures Games

Fantasy Flight Games’ World Championship Weekend was held in Roseville, Minnesota, where Alvaro Rodriguez of Spain claimed the title of Joust World Champion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game. Ryan Jones, though, was crowned Melee World Champion and Overall World Champion. In the Android: Netrunner tournament, the winner was Jens Erickson. Jeremy Zwirn, the 2012 champion of Netrunner and Warhammer: Invasion, this year won at Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game. Dennis Harlien triumphed in the tiebreaker for Star Wars: The Card Game. Oliver Franke of Germany moved up from his second place finish last year in the Warhammer: Invasion championship. And in the final game of the Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game tournament, Paul Heaver battled back from a two-ship deficit and eliminated his opponent’s last ship with only one hull point to spare.

Rookie and new hometown hero, Luis Navas, won Magic: The Gathering Grand Prix Santiago.

Samuel Marti of Switzerland claimed victory with a blue-green deck at Magic: The Gathering Grand Prix Valencia.

At the Legend of the Five Rings Pacific Rim Championships, Edward Bareng claimed victory for Lion. Alexander Iarstev, playing Scorpion, was the winner at the Legend of the Five Rings South American Championships.

Go

For the fifth year in a row, a Korean team has won the International Amateur Pair Go Championship in Tokyo.

Draughts

The winner of the European Draughts Championship was Peter van der Stap of the Netherlands.

The winner of the Portugal Open was Guntis Valneris.

Other Games

The winner of the 24th World Perudo Championships in London (the game is also known as Liar’s Dice) was Dan Reade.

From a touring series, 14 youngsters were invited to participate in the UK Lego Chima Challenge Championship, where Reggie Pegrum (age 9, from Waltham Abbey, Essex) was declared the winner.

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Mahjong

In Hongkou, Sichuan Province, China, 2,380 players claimed the world record for the most participants in a Mahjong activity. [I’m sorry but this one’s not that impressive.]

Chess

The Women’s World Chess Championship is over, which is a good thing for the winner, Hou Yifan. Still only 19 years old and a full-time student, she has to get back to the university and cram for exams.

After 13 rounds at the World Junior Chess Championship in Kocaeli, Turkey the winner in the open division was Yangyi Yu of China and the runner-up Alexander Ipatov of Turkey (both Grandmasters). In the girls division the winner was Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia and the runner-up Zhansaya Abdumalik of Kazakhstan, a Women’s Grandmaster and Women’s International Master, respectively. I don’t know the other ages, but Ms. Abdumalik is only 13.

The Lake Sevan International Chess Tournament was won by 18 year old Karen Grigoryan of Armenia.

San Sebastian finished 8 points ahead of St. Benilde to win the 89th Philippine NCAA Chess competition.

Humpy Koneru is the winner of the Women’s Grand Prix in Tashkent.

Scrabble

Amazingly, the winner of the Godswill Akpadio International Scrabble Classic in Uyo, Nigeria was not Nigel Richards. The New Zealander came in fourth place, behind Sammy Okosagah, Olatunde Oduwole, and Komol Panyasonponlet. Mr. Okosagah took home a prize of $15,000. And Chief Godswill Akpabio, Akwa Ibom state governor, was named a Pillar of African Scrabble by the Association of Africa Scrabble Federations.

Despite being the favorite to win at the World Youth Scrabble Championship qualifiers in Karachi, Pakistan, Javeria Mirza was trailing by almost 100 points, when in her last turn she scored a bingo and pulled ahead 453 to 452.

The winner of the Guyana Association of Scrabble Players Open Championship, Leon Belony, however, finished with a lead of 767 points.

Xiangqi

Reigning women’s champion Ngo Lan Huong of Vietnam retained her title at the Asian Xiangqi Championship in Sydney, Australia with a record of 4-1 at the event.

Sia Leh Ching won the youth division of the Kapit Foochow Association Chinese Chess Competition in Borneo.

Collectible Card Games

The 2013 Australian National Joust Champion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game is Colin Liang.

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Board Games

Matthew Pierce was the winner of the Catan North America Championship at Gen Con.

At Gen Con, Mayfair also organized a world record game of Settlers of Catan with 922 players.

Dominoes

Sixty divers of the British Sub-Aqua Club set a record for the largest underwater Dominoes game.

Backgammon

A team of Israeli seniors won the 38th Backgammon World Championship.

Magic: The Gathering

Grand Prix Warsaw’s Standard format was dominated by Red-Green and won by Wenzel Krautmann of Germany.

At Grand Prix Kitakyushu (also Standard), Raymond Tan of Malaysia earned the trophy after mulliganing down to four cards but still coming out ahead in game two of the final round.

Grand Prix Oakland was a Sealed/Booster Draft event and conquered by Hall of Fame player William Jensen.

Another Sealed/Booster Draft event, Grand Prix Prague was won by Anatoly Chuhwichov of Russia.

Other Card Games

After taking fist place in the Melee event (four-player games) and second in Joust (one-on-one games), Steve Simoni was declared North American Champion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game at Gen Con.

The 2013 World Champion for the Legend of the Five Rings CCG was also at declared at Gen Con. His name, Tom Kirchgesner.

Bobby Drake won the first Kaijudo Summer Championship in Seattle. During the weekend event, the invited competitors also spent time with Wizards of the Coast’s Kaijudo R&D team to help develop future cards.

Chess

Vladimir Kramnik has taken the 2013 FIDE World Cup, though he won only one game in the final match with Dmitry Andreikin. The other three games were a draw.

At the always outdoors Moscow Blitz Championship contestants prepared for the cold and wet weather had an advantage. In the main competition, top-10 FIDE ranked player, Sergey Karjakin, was victorious. In the women’s division, Daria Charochkina bested her nearest competitor by 2.5 points. The veteran men’s division was led by Vladimir Voevodin and the veteran women’s division (first time at the tournament) by Galina Strutinskaya. junior championships were won by Stanislav Romanov won the boys’ junior division and Anna Vasenina won the girls’ junior division.

Alex Lenderman won the Atlantic Open.

Awonder Liang is the youngest Chess master in the United States. At 10 years old, his rating is 2,220.

Scrabble

The Guyana Association of Scrabble Player’s Open tournament was won by the organization’s president, Leon Belony.

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