Still hitting the beach ten years later ...

Twenty-four intrepid gamers stormed the beaches of Normandy in first round action on Wednesday. In all ,28 competitors played at least one round, up by two from last year, thanks mainly to Jim Doughan's excellent teaching demonstration on Tuesday evening. Eleven stalwarts played in all four preliminary rounds, and another five played in three rounds. When the smoke eventually cleared on Thursday evening, new champion Jim Eliason survived several harrowing moments en route to a perfect 6-0 record and his first BKN title.

While the tournament format comprised four rounds of Swiss competition followed by single elimination semi-finals, it might as well have been single elimination from the onset as Jim Eliason and Bruno Passacantando mowed down every obstacle in their respective paths to meet undefeated in the finals. Though a few prominent players were missing, including defending champion Alan Applebaum, the lineup boasted several WBC and D-Day champions, such as Michael Rinella, Andrew Cummins, Jim Doughan, Don Greenwood, Marvin Birnbaum, and Brian Eshleman. Throw in a strong cadre of players with recent successes like Mike Kaye, Bryan Thompson, and Scott Fenn, plus the usual contingent of returning veterans, and this field did not lack for competition.

As is usual with Breakout tournaments, there were a number of unexpected developments. Inactive veteran Byron Stingley resumed play with a vengeance, taking out D-Day champion and Caesar Award winner Marvin Birnbaum in the second round. Lady Luck positively frowned on three-time champion Jim Doughan by giving him the toughest draw of the tournament: three of the top eleven AREA-ranked players with an average rating of 5940. Jim Eliason seemed to have lost his third round match against Tom Pavy but salvaged the game with a breakout into Zone A on June 12 after Tom's Le Havre battery whiffed twice on counter bombardments. It took Mike Kaye until June 12 to contest Caen and gain his final four contested points to win vs Jim Doughan.

After three rounds of play, nine players still had a viable shot at making the semi-finals. Four players were 3-0 and five were 2-1. With only the Round 4 match between Andrew Cummins and Scott Fenn left to decide, Jim and Bruno were in at 4-0. Byron at 3-1 took the third slot by virtue of the next tiebreaker, opponents' average winning percentage.

That left only the fourth slot to be filled by Andrew, Don Greenwood, or Tom Pavy. Even if Andrew won, though, his strength of schedule would be inferior to the other two, but he could still play kingmaker. If Andrew won, Tom Pavy would grab the last spot with a .583 opponents' percentage. But if Scott won, Don's .600 percentage would give him the final available position. But the Cummins-Fenn match failed to complete on time and the game was adjudicated to Andrew for semi-final purposes, putting Tom Pavy in the semis, though we allowed the match to continue. After another turn, the board position had changed enough that we would have adjudicated Scott the winner and let Don slide into the semis. That's how close the final margin was.

In the semi-finals Jim faced Bryon and Bruno played Tom. When both Bruno and Jim won their matches, the stage was set for a battle of unbeatens. Bruno's Allies had excellent June 6 landings in the British sector and threatened to blow the game wide open. But, as he did throughout the tournament, Jim came through with the right moves at the right time. His last-second bridge demolitions kept the British 50th Division from penetrating beyond Bretteville.

On June 7 Bruno's dice turned stone cold. Five straight bombardments against Caen failed to inflict a single attrition point and prevented Bruno from assaulting the area. In the American sector, the situation was only marginally better. Bruno had failed the June 6 invasion against Utah Beach and the follow-up unit of the 4th was interdicted. Bruno didn't clear Utah until June 9. The final straw came on June 9 when Bruno's 14-11 assault into Caen was repulsed and also ended the day. Bruno's concession gave Jim his first championship.

Over the two days, forty matches were played. The Germans went 22-18 and the Allies 18-22. Congratulations to all and thanks to Assistant GMs Andy Choptiany and Andrew Cummins. Let's do it again next year.