Yup, another year, another Dipsters Annual Tourney. I've blogged about playing in this here and here. And I have exciting news! Okay, I'm excited. The 2021 Tourney results are out, and I had my best showing ever! Here are my historical results:
That's a screen grab from this googledoc spreadsheet I made.
As you can see, I had my best showing ever! A win -- my first since 2015 in this tourney! -- plus a three-way draw and a four-way draw. I placed 11th (in a tie). I'm pretty proud of my win because I got it as Russia, a power I usually have a hard time playing. For the few to zero people interested in the game in depth, here's the entire course of the game as a PDF, a summary of the game, and a link to the original game. And for everyone else, well, look on my work, ye mighty, and despair!
In this game I had a decent start, then stabbed Turkey to get ahead. Even though I lost St. Pete, I was able to push through Austria, most of Germany, and then Italy. It came down to me vs E/F, but England had stabbed France, and that bad blood kept them from stopping me in the end.
Now I'm under pressure to better my record next year!
As I have done in the past, let me copy and paste Martin's always-entertaining tourney report. Thanks Martin!
Well, we almost finished the 2021 tournament in 2021; however, there was one game (dnp2123) that persisted into the new year. But it finally ended with an English solo in 1929, so the tournament is now complete. The winner was Andy Tomlinson (now a three-time champion) with a score of 665 points from one solo, one loss, and *five* draws (four 3-ways and a 4-way). Winning the tournament with a single solo may be a first, and it shows the power of accumulating enough draws.
There were 36 players, down from our pandemic-fueled turnout of 45 last year, but still one of the best turnouts in recent years. The full results are below. Be sure to let me know ASAP if there's a discrepancy in your score.
Rank Player Results Score
1 Andy Tomlinson W33334L 665
2 Martin Kaplan WW3LLLL 560
3 Andrew Brierley WW4LLLL 525
4 Charles Welsh W3444LL 455
5 Alan Lange W334LLL 385
5 Ron Poet W334LLL 385
7 Martin Rubens W344LLL 350
8 Mike Yatchman 23334LL 315
9 Chris Fridrich W33LLLL 280
9 Keith Schneider W33LLLL 280
11 Michael "Cayzle" Alterio W34LLLL 245
11 Scott Ellis W34LLLL 245
13 Igor Janke W3LLLLL 140
13 John Quarto-vonTivadar W3LLLLL 140
15 Yves Grosdidier 3344LLL 70
16 David Norman WLLLLLL 0
17 Gabe Racz 334LLLL -35
17 Gian Paolo Costantino 334LLLL -35
17 Robin Walters 334LLLL -35
20 Ken Navarro 23LLLLL -70
21 Arto Hakkarainen 33LLLLL -140
21 Christian Dreyer 33LLLLL -140
21 Markus Kaestenbauer 33LLLLL -140
24 Miguel Goldfeld 34LLLLL -175
25 Kent Disch 3LLLLLL -280
25 Mark Isenberger 3LLLLLL -280
25 Mark Perryman 3LLLLLL -280
25 Pete Wyatt 3LLLLLL -280
29 James Geluso 4LLLLLL -315
29 Jason Whitby 4LLLLLL -315
31 Aleksandr Bradaric LLLLLLL -420
31 Bruce Williams LLLLLLL -420
31 Dov Kass LLLLLLL -420
31 Hamish Williams LLLLLLL -420
31 John Van Voorhis LLLLLLL -420
31 Mark Gregory LLLLLLL -420
The 36 games resulted in 16 solos (a fairly typical solo percentage for DNP tournaments), 1 two-way draw, 14 three-way draws, and 5 four-way draws. Looking at the results by power, France returned to the top after an off year in DNP20, followed by Russia and surprising Italy, usually one of the weakest powers. On the other end, last year's top two (Austria and England) were the bottom two this year. Results by power:
1. France: 1130 points (four solos, ten 3WD, two 4WD, 20 loss)
2. Russia: 1095 points (five solos, six 3WD, three 4WD, 22 loss)
3. Italy: 500 points (three solos, seven 3WD, four 4WD, 22 loss)
4. Turkey: -340 points (one solo, one 2WD, seven 3WD, two 4WD, 25 loss)
5. Germany: -550 points (one 2WD, seven 3WD, four 4WD, 22 loss)
6. England: -655 points (three solos, one 3WD, one 4WD, 31 loss)
7. Austria: -1180 points (four 3WD, four 4WD, 28 loss)
It's interesting that France edged out Russia despite having one fewer solo, and that England finished so badly despite three solos. It was feast or famine for England, as it actually had fewer draws than solos!
And now for a few awards...
The Partition of Europe award goes to Mike Yatchman (Germany) and Ken Navarro (Turkey) for achieving the rare no-press two-way draw in dnp2105.
The Cat at a Mousehole award goes to Charles Welsh as England in dnp2123 for exercising great patience in a marathon game until the right moment arrived to strike for a (successful) solo.
The Give Peace a Chance award (most draws with no solos) also goes to Mike Yatchman for five draws (one 2WD, three 3WD, and one 4WD) and two losses. Honorable mention goes to our champion Andy Tomlinson, who also had five draws, but doesn't qualify because he also soloed. Charles Welsh would have tied Mike for this honor with a draw in the final game (which looked for a while like the probable outcome), but he blew it by deciding to solo instead.
The Victory or Death award (most solos with no draws) goes to David Norman, who was in fact the only person to qualify for it. David had one solo and six losses, which is a lot of effort to get back to where you started (a score of zero points).
Thanks to everyone for playing. It was a good tournament. For those wondering about the next one, registration for DNP22 will probably open up in late March.
Martin
