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I Won Chiva's Tourmant in Portugal

Posted By: Paul Weaver
Date: Sunday, 19 June 2011, at 10:09 p.m.

Chiva and Julie (from France) did a great job of running the tournament in Portugal.

There were 36 people in the draw and I got an antibye, meaning that I had to play an extra round. I won five rounds (13pt matches) to reach the finals of the winners' bracket.

Chiva used a tournament format I had never seen before. There were four people who cashed and this is how they were determined: the two finalists in the winners' bracket and the two finalists from the fighters' (consolation) bracket qualified for the playoffs. I beat my friend and roommate Tobias Hellweg in the finals and ended up with a 7-0 record.

There were players from about thirteen countries: USA (Bob Wachtel), Portugal, Spain, France, Sweden (two guys drove 3,600 km, about 2200 miles, one way from Stockholm), Denmark, the Netherlands (which, incidentally, is NOT the same as Holland), Belgium, Germany, Austria, Greece, Turkey and Georgia.

The tournament was held at the Riviera Hotel about ten miles west of Lisbon, a quarter mile from a long beautiful beach. The weather was perfect and sunny every day. The hotel was nice, with plenty of restaurants within walking distance.

Chiva and Julia did a terrific job. Clocks were mandatory. However Verner Schmuki of Austria and and Ricardo Malas of Spain played their first round match without a clock. Chiva told them they had to use a clock, but they said they played fast enough and refused to use one. First time I have ever seen any player(s) win an argument with Chiva.

I met the seventeen-year old Christain Sorensen from Denmark. He stated playing BG when he was five. He reached the finals of the Nordic Open this year in Copenhagen. His name on GridGammon is KillingKid. At seventeen, he already plays better than a few on the Giant-32 list. I also met his proud father.

I hope to come back next year, but instead of spending nine days in Portugal, I will spend at least two weeks. There is a lot to see and do, both in and out of Lisbon. It is very nice for me to visit a European country other than UK where I can speak a bit of the language, which I picked up during my two years in Brazil 1994-96.

I took photographs of dozens of positions. Perhaps I will post some of them later this week.

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