16 Dec
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Classic Board Games, Miniatures, Modern Board Games, Other
Magic: The Gathering
Shahar Shenhar won the World Championship and is the first person ever to do so twice. The championship trophy comes with a $50,000 prize. In the World Magic Cup team competition, held together with the Championship in Nice, France, it was Denmark that came out on top.
In order to accommodate players impacted by a transit strike, a special tournament structure was arranged for Grand Prix Milan. Still, 1,760 players made it. And the winner was Magnus Lantto of Sweden. Magnus is a regular Magic Online player but this was his first time winning a live title.
On the same weekend, Gerard Fabiano was the winner of Grand Prix Baltimore.
Chess
At the Russian Championship in Kazan, Tatarstan, 10-player round-robin tournaments were won by Igor Lysyj and Valentina Gunina, men’s and women’s sections, respectively.
Anquandah Francis Eric of Ghana was the winner in the general section of the Africa Zone 4.4 Chess Championship. His performance at the tournament also qualified him for the title of International Master. In the women’s section, the winner was Rabiu Olabisi of Nigeria.
A strong field at the Qatar Masters Open was dominated by Yu Yangyi of China, whose 7.5/9 score put him ½ point in front and $25,000 richer.
Demonstrating that he’s still a strong competitor, former World Champion Viswanathan Anand finished first at the London Chess Classic, beating out Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri on tiebreak.
Junior, Senior, and Amateur Championships were held recently under the auspices of the Asian Chess Federation. At the Junior event, Narayanan Srinath of India took the general section trophy for the third year in a row, while Mikee Charlene Suede earned the first such title for the Philippines in the women’s section. Among the Seniors, Baimurzin Aitkazy of Kazakhstan won with a score of 8.5/9, including no losses and only one tie. Though representatives of ten countries participated, it was local player Buddhika Amarasinghe of Sri Lanka that won the Amateur Championship.
Back in the Philippines, it was Levan Pantsulaia of Georgia who came in first place at the Philippine International Chess Championship.
Dev Shah of India won the under-7 category while qualifying as Candidate Master at the World Schools Chess Championships in Juiz de Fora, Brazil.
Two familiar names topped the leader-boards at the SportAccord World Mind Games blitz tournament, Alexander Grischuk of Russia for the men and Hou Yifan of China for the women. Grischuk also claimed gold in men’s rapid. Yifan, however, fell to Valentina Gunina of Russia in women’s rapid.
Shogi
Tetsuro Itodani, the 26 year-old winner of the 27th Ryuo Shogi title, is confident that his performance will continue to improve for another 10 years.
Bridge
The team competition has concluded at the SportAccord World Mind Games. Israel took gold in open teams and England gold in women’s.
Draughts
The gold medal at the SportAccord World Mind Games women’s rapid tournament went to Tamara Tansykkuzhina of Russia, while gold for men went to Roel Boomstra of The Netherlands. Blitz men’s gold was claimed by Alexander Shvartsman of Russia, while in the gold podium position for women was Darya Tkachenko of Ukraine.
The winner of the US Open was Miguel Almanzar of the Dominican Republic.
Go
The Chinese team has started strong at the SportAccord World Mind Games, taking gold in both the men’s team and women’s individual competitions. At the top of the podium for women’s individual was Yu Zhiying.
Backgammon
Jonah Seewald won the 2014 US Backgammon Federation Grand Championship.
Subbuteo
The Merlion Cup in Singapore was an international affair. Ouabi Rouis of France took home the trophy.
Similar international representation at the Yokohama Open also resulted in a French win, this time by Cédric Garnier.
At the FISTF Open of Milano, Portuguese player Vasco Guimaraes defeated World Champion Juan Noguera in the final game 2-1.
Rubik’s Cube
Marcin Kowalczyk set a new world record for single solve of the 3×3 blindfolded, finishing in 21.17 seconds.
A world record single Skewb solve was set by Jonatan Kłosko 1.81 seconds.
And in Niddrie, Australia, three world records were set, Feliks Zemdegs with the 5×5 at an average 54.20 seconds, Feliks agains with the 3×3 one-handed at an average 11.72 seconds, and Jayden McNeill with Skewb at an average 3.10 seconds.
Dominoes
A world record 50,000 domino circle bomb was pulled off in Germany:
Scrabble
Craig Beevers of the U.K. was declared the World Scrabble Champion at the Scrabble Champions Tournament in London. On the strength of “talaq”, “diorite”, and “ventrous”, he won the best-of-five final match 3-1. Beevers rarely competes in Scrabble tournaments. He does, however, organize them professionally.
Perudo
At the 25th Annual Perudo Championship in London the winner was Minna Fry.
Chess
Thirteen-year-old Sam Sevian earned his place in the record books as the youngest ever U.S. Chess grandmaster.
Go
Chimin Oh won the Go to Innovation tournament in Berlin. Chimin Oh is a 7-dan, former Korean instructor who now resides in the U.K. The tournament employed the Hahn scoring system, which awards points to the winner and loser of each game.
Rubik’s Cube
At the Austrian Big Cube Open, Mattia Furlan of Italy achieved a world-record average solving time for the 7×7 cube of 2:48.03.
At the Toronto Open, Antoine Cantin did the 3×3 one-handed in 8.75 seconds for a world record.
Subbuteo
Local favorite Nikos Beis took the trophy at the Grand Prix of Greece, besting 43 other contestants in the open category.
Hundreds of players from across Europe gathered for the Cardiff Grand Prix. The team event was won by the Valletta Lions of Malta, the open section by Wolfgang Haas of Austria.
For the third time in four seasons, Mark Farrell of Dublin was declared the World Amateur Subbuteo Association’s All-Ireland Champion.
Magic: The Gathering
Seth Manfield of the United States triumphed at Grand Prix Ottawa. In the draft top-8, Manfield squeaked by in the quarter-finals but proceeded to decisive victories in the semi-final and final matches.
Grand Prix Strasbourg marked the first title win for Tamás Nagy of Hungary. He hopes to take that winning spirit with him to the upcoming Magic World Cup.
The win at the standard-format Grand Prix San Antonio went to Ryan Scullin of Rhode Island.
Yu-Gi-Oh!
In Anaheim, Patrick Hoban of Georgia survived three round of single-elimination top-16 draft to claim the title of Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series Champion. Among the younger Dragon Duel competitors, the winner was Kenneth Bevens of California.
Facing Viswanathan Anand, whom he defeated last year to claim the title, Magnus Carlsen of Norway has again come out on top in the 2014 World Chess Championship match. After 11 games, the final score was 6.5-4.5 5.5 for Carlsen. Three games went to Carlsen, one to Anand, and seven were draws.
Anand’s performance this year was stronger than last, yet Carlsen was still able to outlast him, even after apparently falling asleep during one game.
17 Nov
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Classic Board Games, Miniatures, Modern Board Games
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:
Chess
First place at the Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan was shared by the rising young star and established older veteran pair, Fabiano Caruana and Boris Gelfand. During one game of the tournament, Caruana was aided by an equipment failure. His opponent, Sergey Karjakin, lost 15 minutes of time when taking a break in the rest room he failed to notice that the monitor did not update for Caruana’s move.
The World Junior Chess Championship in Pune, India finished with 19 year-old Lu Shanglei of China at the head of the open section. Four players went in to the final round with 9 points but only Shanglei won his final game. The girls’ section was clinched a round earlier by Aleksandra Goryachkina of Russia. As a result of their wins, both qualify for positions in the 2015 World Cup, part of the World Championship Cycle.
Magic: The Gathering
While variety was the predominant story for most of Grand Prix Los Angeles, in the end it was California local Daniel Scheid’s traditional red green monster deck that propelled him to the top.
At Grand Prix Stockholm, veteran competitor Matej Zatlkaj of Slovakia claimed the trophy with a Jeskai deck.
Settlers of Catan
Sander Stroom of Estonia won the Catan World Championship.
Scrabble
The winner of the $22,000 first place prize at the Godswill Akpabio International Scrabble Classics in Nigeria was Nigel Richards, who’s record in the tournament was 21-7 +1767.
Chess
The World Youth Chess Championships in Durban, South Africa featured girls and boys sections for under-8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18. Two players went undefeated, Qiyu Zhou of Canada, who took the trophy in the girls under-14 section, and Jennifer Yu of the United States, who won in the girls under-12 section. At one point, Nguyen Anh Khoi of Vietnam had dropped to 16th place but with a two-win finish claimed first on tie-breakers in the boys under-12. This was not Khoi’s first time as champion. He was the winner of the under-10 category 4 years ago. Among the first-place finishers, 11 different countries were represented.
In first place at the Poker Stars Chess tournament (open section) in Isle of Man was Nigel Short of the UK. In the women’s section, the winner was Dronavalli Hakira of India.
Yu-Gi-Oh!
At the Championship Series event in Dallas, Billy Brake used a control deck to duel his way in to the top 16, where he survived four rounds of single-elimination Battle Pack 3: Monster League drafting to come out the winner. In the Dragon Duel section (for players born in 2002 or later), the winner was Tyler Hanson. Both winners were Texas natives.
Rubik’s Cube
A world record blindfolded solution of the 4×4 cube was achieved in 2 minutes, 18.65 seconds by Oliver Frost at the Cuthberts Open in Hatfield, UK.
Another world record, for solution of a 7×7 cube, was achieved in 2 minutes, 38.93 seconds by Vladislav Shavelskiy at the CCC Autumn Open in Moscow, Russia.
Magic: The Gathering
Grand Prix Shanghai, the first Khans of Tarkir limited, was won with The Abzan Houses by Yu Yin of China.
The Mardu clan dominated Grand Prix Orlando, which was won by Eugene Hwang.
Ari Lax made his first podium appearance at Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir in Honolulu with the aid of a mid-range Abzan deck.
Backgammon
The 6th German Backgammon Champion is Christoph Wagener.
Draughts
At the European Championship in Tallinn, Estonia, Roel Boomstra of the Netherlands claimed the title in the men’s general section, while the title in the women’s general section went to Olga Baltazhy of Ukraine. Russians Matrena Nogovitsyna and Mourodoullo Amrillaew won the blitz women’s and men’s sections, respectively.
Alexander Getmanski of Russia placed first in the blitz section and second in the general section of the International Open Draughts Tournament in Bacoli, Italy. The first place finisher in the general section was Alexey Chizhov of Russia.
Chess
In Bilbao, Spain, Viswanathan Anand led the Chess Masters Final and team SOCAR of Azerbaijan the European Chess Club Cup.
Bartlomiej Macieja, Chess coach at the University of Texas at Brownsville, won the United States Masters Championship at the head of a field of 19 grandmasters.
Xiangqi
Mark Wang WeiQiang won the Toronto Open Championship for the fourth year in a row, the first person ever to achieve that record.
Go
At the 9th Korea Prime Minister Cup International Amateur Baduk Championship in Seoul, Wei Taewoong of Korea took home the first place trophy after defeating a fellow student of the Choongam Baduk Academy in the final round.
Backgammon
The winner of the U.S. Backgammon Federation’s Masters Divisional II tournament was Ted Chee.
At the UK Backgammon Open, the winner was an American, Jason Pack, who scored 13-5 over Martin Birkhahn of Germany in the final round.
Other
German Manuel Ramirez Piňa drafted to first place at the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series in Lima, Peru.
To show off its tournament management system, Oomba sponsored a world-record Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament at Gen Con—2,950 participants, certified by Guinness.
Chess
Fabiano Caruana killed it at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis. The six contestants represented the highest rated field ever in a Chess tournament, yet Caruana still won 7 out his 10 games, and tied in the remaining three. Caruana fished first with 8.5 points, 3 points ahead of World Champion Magnus Carlsen.
As has been the tradition since 1948, the Moscow Blitz Chess Championship was held outdoors, where the winner in the open section by a significant margin was Alexander Morozevich: 15.5 points in 19 rounds.
With a first place finish at the 6th stage in Sharjah, UAE, Hou Yifan won the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series and claimed a place at the Women’s World Championship to be held later in 2015.
With both challenger, Viswanathan Anand, and champion, Magnus Carlsen, having now signed their contracts, the World Chess Championship will take place November 7-27 in Sochi, Russia.
Draughts
Alexander Shvartsman won the 40th annual International Mori Open in Italy.
Sergio Scarpetta of Italy was crowned Go-As-You-Please (GAYP) World Champion. after defeating the champion of two decades, Ron King of Barbados.
Magic: The Gathering
Veteran player but first-time victor, Brandon Nelson won Grand Prix Salt Lake City with a blue/white deck, qualifying for Pro Tour Fate Reforged.
Xiangqi
At the First World Xiangqi Open team event, first place went to China and second to Vietnam.
Scrabble
The winner of the U.S. National Scrabble Championship was amazingly not Nigel Richards. Rather it was Conrad Bassett-Bouchard of Portland, Oregon who finished with a record of 22-9 and a point spread of +812.
Two tournaments took place as part of the Colombo Scrabble Festival in Sri Lanka. The winner of the Open International Scrabble Championship was Nigel Richards (with 19.5 wins and a positive spread of 2299), while the winner of the World Youth Scrabble Championship was Jack Durand of the UK.
Chess
Magnus Carlsen claimed both titles at the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championship in Dubai, meaning he now wears all three world championship crowns. In the Rapid tournament, Carlsen finished with 11.0/15, just ahead of Caruana at 10.5. Also at 10.5 but trailing on tie-breakers were, in order, Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, and Alexander Morozevich. In the Blitz tournament, Carlsen led with 17.0, while Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura tied for second with 16.0.
The World Open tournament in Arlington, Virginia finished with three people tied for first place: Ilya Smirin of Israel, Ilia Nyzhnyk of Ukraine, and Conrad Holt of the United States. Actually, that was down from last year, when 11 tied for first. Each of the three claimed prizes of $9,891. Smirin earned an extra $254 for beating Nyzhnyk in a tiebreak game.
In the open section of the World Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway, China claimed the gold medal with 19 match points, Hungary the silver with 17 points, and India the bronze also with 17 points. In the women’s section, the winner of the gold medal was the Russian team (20 points), while the silver went to China (18 points), and the bronze to Ukraine (18 points).
FIDE has announced the schedule for the Grand-Prix 2014-2015 series and issued invitations to 11 players and three alternates. Tournaments will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan October 1-15; Tashkent, Uzbekistan October 20-November 3; Tehran, Iran February 14-28; and Moscow, Russia May 13-27. The top two players in the series will qualify for the Candidates Tournament, which leads to the World Chess Championship.
Mahjong
The Open European Mahjong Championship in Strasbourg, France was dominated by Japanese players, who claimed four of the top five spots. First place went to Yoshihiro Suzuki of Japan, second place to Michael Zahradnik of Germany, and third to Kazutoshi Miyake of Japan. The highest result for a Chinese player was 30th place.
Go
Yitien Chan’s trophy at the World Amateur Go Championship represents the first time on top of that event for Chinese Taipei.
The winner, on tie-breaking points, of the Toto Cup International Junior Go Championship was Nishimura Ryotaro of Japan. The runner-up was Ren Yihua of China.
Hong Seok-ui, formerly of Korea but now a resident of Japan, successfully defended his title in the Japanese Amateur Meijin tournament for the third straight year. He also won the Amateur Honinbo tournament for the second year.
Draughts
Freddy Loko of the Democratic Republic on Congo is the new African Draughts Champion.
Backgammon
Taking home the trophy at the World Backgammon Championship in Monte Carlo was Akiko Yazawa of Japan.
The winner of the inaugural U.S. Backgammon Federation Masters Divisional tournament is Peer Toftsoe.
Other
Charlie Worrall, age 10, won the Top Trumps Schools Tournament in London and is the first girl to have done so. In fact, this year, five of the 12 contestants in the Grand Final were girls. Charlie won on a Kylie Minogue Pop Stars card.
At the Ticket to Ride North American Championship, Kenneth Heilfron won seven straight games to claim the top position. Both he and runner-up, Scott Scribner, move on to the World Championships in Paris.
A world record for toppling mini-dominoes was achieved in Büdingen, Germany. The chain of 2,000 was set up on one table. Halfway through, the table was bumped (or someone breathed too hard) and the whole setup had to be started over.
New Rubik’s Cube world records were established for:
At the Sri Lanka Open International Scrabble Championship, 9-year old Hasham Hadi Khan of Pakistan scored a world record 878-point single game of Scrabble. His opponent in the game, Matheesha De Silva of Sri Lanka, scored 151.
Hasham’s feat included at least four bingos: “sheriat”, “retsina”, “headers”, and “gruntles” (the last also a triple-word-score).
[via The Express Tribune]