Gipf: I play the game

Ranking Tournament

Organization: "Tamske" (abstract games club) together with games club "Speelduivel" and games shop "Mertens"
Place: "Ensor", Diestsesteenweg, Kessel-Lo, Leuven (B)
Date: November 24, 2002
Format: Swiss system, 7 rounds, 25 min. player/game
Participants: 19

A WC !!!

The previous GIPF WC's took place during the yearly Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) in London. Not so this year. We knew too late that there was going to be a MSO in England again, and, even after having been informed about that, we still had no details about what the 2002 edition was going to be like. So, we decided to pass - and that normally would have implied that there was not going to be a GIPF WC in 2002. But then Christoph Nuyttens stood up. He contacted people from abstract games club "Tamske", games club "Speelduivel" en games shop "Mertens" (all having their basecamp in Leuven, Belgium) and that resulted in a plan: a "WC", more precise: a "GIPF WC 2002".

There was not much time left, so the championship was hardly announced in advance. 19 players showed up, amongst which 16 Belgians, 3 Duchtmen, and 1 German. For the occasion the organizing committee issued the prohibition to register under a true nationality. In other words: all the participants had to play for another country. This very, very, very clever trick made that suddenly 19 nationalities from all over the globe were present in "Zaal Ensor", Kessel-Lo, Leuven, Belgium. Now, a tournament with players from 19 different countries, that is true World Championship!

For the record! The participants - and respective nationalities - were :

Patrick Van de Perre (B) -  from England
Romeo Ruyters (B) - from Germany
Kurt Van den Branden (B) - from Bulgaria
Werner Dupont (B) - from South-Africa
Raf Ruyters (B) - from Austria
Rita Pauwels (B) - from the USA
Angelo Wentzler (NL) - from Belgium
Nico Habraken (B) - from Zimbabwe
Joke Adam (B) - from Marocco
Robrecht Jacques (B) - from Togo
Bruno Claes (B) - from Ireland
An Baeleman (B) - from Wales
Christof Nuyttens (B) - from the Netherlands
Robrecht Claes (B) - from Norway
Gerhard Koops (NL) - from Croatia
Michael Reitz (D) - from New Zealand
Marjan Corten (B) - from Greece
Wynke Stulemeijer (NL) - from Luxemburg
Cecile Simoens (B) - from Bolivia

Raf Ruyters is back!

19 participants in total, amongst which 3 newcomers: Robrecht Jacques, Cecile Simoens and Gerhard Koops. It's always a pleasure to welcome new players. Maybe they'll be playing to become World Champion next year, but this year two of the experienced players fought for the titel: Raf Ruyters (playing for Austria) and Kurt Vandenbanden (all the way from Bulgaria). Kurt is always a top favourite; Raf not any more. He used to be one of the strongest players, but he didn't do too well in the last tournaments he played, and as a result of that lost his place in the top 10 of the rankings. But - no doubt about it - he's back! Raf and Kurt both ended with 6 wins out of 7 games. And in spite of the fact that Kurt had beaten Raf in the 6th round, the latter ended with a higher Medio-Bucholds score and, unfortunately for Kurt, that score was used as the tie-breaker. In other words: Raf Ruyters become the winner of this year's World championship! Kurt Vandenbranden was second, and Werner Dupont and Patrick Van de Perre shared the third place with 5 wins each. Concratulations to all 19 players !!!

Cross table

No  Name                    Rtg    R1   R2   R3   R4   R5   R6   R7  

1.  Van de Perre, Patrick   1765  10:W  9:W  5:L  8:W  2:L 11:W  3:W
2.  Dupont, Werner          1761  11:W  6:W  3:W  5:L  1:W 15:W  4:L
3.  Ruyters, Romeo          1744  12:W 14:W  2:L  9:W  5:L  8:W  1:L
4.  Van den Branden, Kurt   1733  13:W  8:L 15:W 17:W 11:W  5:W  2:W
5.  Ruyters, Raf            1623  15:W 17:W  1:W  2:W  3:W  4:L  9:W
6.  Pauwels, Rita           1539  16:W  2:L 14:W 12:W  8:L  9:L 13:W
7.  Baeleman, An            1506  17:L 13:L 16:W 11:L 18:W 10:W 14:W
8.  Wentzler, Angelo        1475  18:W  4:W  9:L  1:L  6:W  3:L 12:W
9.  Habraken, Nico          1448  19:W  1:L  8:W  3:L 13:W  6:W  5:L
10. Reitz, Michael          1379   1:L 15:L 17:L 14:W   :W  7:L 18:L
11. Adam, Joke              1340   2:L 16:W 19:W  7:W  4:L  1:L 17:W
12. Claes, Robrecht         1334   3:L 18:W 13:W  6:L 17:L 19:W  8:L
13. Nuyttens, Christof      1315   4:L  7:W 12:L 18:W  9:L   :W  6:L
14. Stulemeijer, Wynke      1247    :W  3:L  6:L 10:L 19:W 19:L  7:L
15. Claes, Bruno            1217   5:L 10:W  4:L 19:W 16:W  2:L   :W
16. Corten, Marjan          958    6:L 11:L  7:L   :W 15:L 18:L 19:W
17. Jacques, Robrecht              7:W  5:L 10:W  4:L 12:W 14:W 11:L
18. Knoops, Gerard                 8:L 12:L   :W 13:L  7:L 16:W 10:W
19. Simoens, Cecile                9:L   :W 11:L 15:L 14:L 12:L 16:L

Standings

Place Name                   Rtg     Sc.  M.-B. Buch. Prog.

1-2   Ruyters, Raf           1623    6    22.0  31.5  26.0
      Van den Branden, Kurt  1733    6    20.5  29.0  22.0
3-4   Dupont, Werner         1761    5    23.0  32.5  23.0
      Van de Perre, Patrick  1765    5    21.0  28.5  20.0
5-12  Ruyters, Romeo         1744    4    21.0  28.5  19.0
      Wentzler, Angelo       1475    4    20.0  28.5  17.0
      Habraken, Nico         1448    4    19.5  26.0  17.0
      Adam, Joke             1340    4    19.5  26.0  16.0
      Jacques, Robrecht              4    18.5  26.0  17.0
      Claes, Bruno           1217    4    17.5  24.0  14.0
      Pauwels, Rita          1539    4    15.0  21.5  17.0
      Baeleman, An           1506    4    12.0  17.5  11.0
13-15 Nuyttens, Christof     1315    3    18.5  27.0  12.0
      Claes, Robrecht        1334    3    17.0  21.5  13.0
      Knoops, Gerard                 3    14.5  20.0   8.0
16-18 Reitz, Michael         1379    2    17.5  24.0   7.0
      Corten, Marjan         958     2    17.5  22.0   5.0
      Stulemeijer, Wynke     1247    2    17.0  21.5  10.0
19    Simoens, Cecile                1    15.5  21.0   6.0