This is an attempt to try and discuss on this forum the “real” game and not just the reversi problems of the site. If anyone is interested, he can write his opinion about the highlights of the recent WOC. If there is a response to this message, I will write my highlights as I “saw” them through the internet.

I was told that game 20571 opened exactly like the WOC game between kortendijk and claassen. Claassen screwed up eventually. Where did he screw up? Was it already in the opening?

you mean that your WOC 2002 highlight was the screw up of Claassen in the game Claassen vs Kortendij ???!!!!!!

you deserved this comment lol.

Well these are my highlights: (even though only Klaashaas and me appear to be reading this forum)

1. The return of the “oldies” Shaman and Leader. Everybody expected Shaman to go well but I do not think anybody expected Leader to do so well

2.The 3 Europeans in the final four. Just one American and no Japanese!!

3. The organisation of the tournament especially the live games on GGS of the final four. Congratulations to Jan de Graaf for that.

4. Kashiwabara's “transformation” on the second day. He came back with 5 wins in 6 games to secure a place in the final four after a play off. On the negative side Berg's poor showing in the tournament.

5. The high standard of the the majority of the players in the tournament. Anyone could beat anybody… well may be with the exception of Seeley who appeared very strong in the qualifying round.

Well these are my highlights: (even though only Klaashaas and me appear to be reading this forum)

2.The 3 Europeans in the final four. Just one American and no Japanese!!

Well.. Technically, Shaman is ofcoruse an American. He did qualify and play for the Netherlands, but in various rankings, he is still listed as American.

3. The organisation of the tournament especially the live games on GGS of the final four. Congratulations to Jan de Graaf for that.

I cannot agree more to that!

5. The high standard of the the majority of the players in the tournament. Anyone could beat anybody… well may be with the exception of Seeley who appeared very strong in the qualifying round.

Again, very true. There even was a whipe (64-0), and not in the first few rounds! I think there were three 'groups' (1..15, 16..49, 40..52) in which each of the players could beat eachother.

i found the referee that refereed the final was the best :D:D

As for game 20571, I think black went wrong at move 17, opting for a double wall game, instead of trying to cut through. As for the opening itself, it is one of the fewer played cat variations, no real errors made there.

I'm not sure if anyone actually reads this. But i'd like to point out my highlights of the WOC's.

1. Alexander Boe was defeated by Mathijs Claassen. Mathijs used an opening which he copied from me. I used it against Agoui and he told him. Nice =)

2. Jan de Graaf gave my a set of finnish euros. He got them from Markku Poysti. I collect the euro coins so i was very happy about that. However the 1 and 2 cent coins were not included.

3. Albert Kortendijk got killed by Caspard: 0-64. Funny =)

4. I was asked to be referee of the 3/4 playoff game between Imre and Takuji. Takuji played a brilliant move 43 (at least, that's what i thought at that moment). However he lost the game 33-31.

5. Harri Levanen gave me another two sets of finnish euros. This time the 1 and 2 cent coins were included. So i was even more happy.

6. During the victory dinner i was on a table with Jens, Benedetto and Serena. It was especially nice to meet Serena who i know for a long time from the internet.

7. All referees and players got a so-called kitty-cat. It's like a cat/bunny-shaped rubiks cube. I still haven't solved it =)

8. After the victory dinner i went with a group to the hotel-pub and David Shaman bought beer for everybody who was there. =)

That's about it!

Ciao

About the game of Mathijs vs. Albert:

I think move 17 f2 is very wrong. It builds up a wall and black cannot play a3 anymore. It also gives white the opportunity to play f6 later in the game.

Instead of f2 black should have played a3 immediately or maybe a5.. Anyway, i think black was allready in a bad position. In fact i think black should never play the cat-opening, at least not the g4 variation (in my opinion c2 makes it harder for white to find good moves than g4).

I read this forum Robin and welcome to the site :)

How did you know that I suggested that opening to Mathijs? What you say it is true but I am not going to reveal all (unless you know them already). Btw Mathijs played well through out that game.

How did you know that I suggested that opening to Mathijs?

Because I told him :-)

What you say it is true but I am not going to reveal all (unless you know them already).

What exactly of what i said is true and what is it that you are not going to reveal?

“true”: the fact that I suggested that white opening to Mathijs after you used it with me.

“not revealed”: why I liked that opening and what other openings we discused :) Not that we “discovered” anything new or anything the wzebra will not show. Just a few things that, to an average player like me, appeared interesting.

ha ha 64-0 funny :)

probably the best game of the entire woc however was the 2nd round game between me and goran andersson, which i won 36-28. you can have that game analyzed by 24ply zebra and tell me how many errors we each made :)

another personal highlight was my round 4 against tatsuya komano. not so much because of the level of play, but because of the psychological battle :) i'm sure that komano dude will remember me next time :)

did Komano actually play d3? or is it just something that got messed up during the input progress?

komano played 1.d3 from his point of view

i thought in Japan it is considered “impolite” not to play 1c4, because you should always play to your opponents right hand. that's why i asked.

Does anyone know if the two male japanese players that played in the 2002 WOC were the actual top two players in Japan last year? During the “live” internet games there was a discussion about the performance of the japanese players and someone said that the top japanese players like Takeshi, Tamenori and others did not come to Europe.

In Japan the qualification system is as follows (i think):

There is a tournament called the Meijin which is held every year. The winner of that tournament qualifies for the WOC, this year the winner was Hideki Kitajima.

There is also another tournament called the All Japan. The winner of that tournament was Tatsuya Komano. He also qualifies.

They might not be the best players in Japan, but at that time they were.

It seems I have missed something after leaving the victory-dinner. ;)