alhambre [Updated October 2004]  

2004 WBC Report  

  2005 Status: pending 2005 GM commitment

Bruce Reiff, OH

2004 Champion

2nd: George Sauer, OH

3rd: Josh Cooper, MD

4th: Laurel Stokes, NJ

5th: Tom Wojke, PA

6th: Lee Presser, NY

Event History
2004    Bruce Reiff     69

Euro Quest Event History
2004    Holliday Jones     22


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 Laurels
Rank Name

From

Last
Total
 1. Bruce Reiff

OH

04
30
 2. Holliday Jones

MD

04
20
 3. George Sauer

OH

04
18
 4. Josh Cooper

MD

04
12
 5. Perrianne Lurie

PA

04
12
 6. Laurel Stokes

NJ

04
  9
 7. Tom Dunning

NY

04
  8
 8. Peter Putnam

PA

04
  6
 9. Tom Wojke

PA

04
  6
10. Jim Vroom

PA

04
  4
11. Lee Presser

NY

04
  3
12. Luann Stubbs

PA

04
  2

Palaces R Us

This was the first year for Alhambra at WBC. We had 20 tables during the two preliminary heats with every winner advancing to the semi-final round. The winning scores in the preliminary rounds were as low as 92 (Jennifer Drozd) and as high as 160 (Bruce Reiff).

The first heat saw ten tables of gamers attempting to build the biggest and best palace.

At the first table, Lisa Gutermuth built an early lead and then held on for a victory over Rhonda Reiff. Rumor has it that Rhonda, the better half of the Reiff family, has undergone the change - turned into a true gamer and will be attending WBC on a regular basis with the intention of taking home more wood than her famous husband. Now there's some bragging rights a lot of people would like to see.

The second game saw David Fritsch and Eric Brosius battle the entire game with David coming out on top in the end.

Bud Sauer and Chris Greenfield proved to the GM that her foresight in setting up tiebreakers in advance was not wasted as Bud won the tiebreaker over Chris in this dead even match.

Laurel Stokes monopolized the middle value buildings to cruise to victory at her table.

Dan Henry, forgetting about the walls and monopolizing colors, was victorious in a close fought match over Doug Williamson.

Aaron Fuegi built 15 wall segments in the final round to outdistance his competition.

Bruce Reiff, in a game with no defense, led the field with a 160 point score while the other players at the table also broke 100 points. This sounds like the same strategy Bruce uses in Football Strategy, all offense, no defense.

Alan Kaiser, another CABBIE, tried to give Bruce a run for his money as he posted 152 points in his blowout victory.

Lee Presser led in three different colors as he handily defeated his opponents to advance.

In the last table of the first heat, Liz DiSandro showed Debbie Gutermuth how hard it is to GM and play in your own event as she easily bested the GM and her fellow players.

The second heat once again produced ten tables of builders.

In a close game from top to bottom, Tom Wojke became the first person from the second heat to advance.

Laurie Wojtaszczyk showed she had learned a lot about construction from her boys as she built a 22-segment wall to propel her into the next round.

Ted Mawyer also used the wall strategy to move on to the semis despite not leading in a single color in the third scoring round.

In one of three games decided by one point, Nick Anner edged out Jim Carvin with Jim Vroom only three points behind.

In another of the heats' one point games, Eric Lenhart defeated Reiko Brooks to advance.

Perrianne Laurie led in three colors and wall segments to advance to the next round.

In the final one-point game of the heat, Thomas Robinson edged out Andy Lewis to secure a spot in the semis.

Josh Cooper began his strong showing on Friday as he outdistanced his table to easily move on to the next round.

In the lowest scoring game of the tournament, Jennifer Drozd scored points in five of the six colors to advance.

In a game that would come down to the final draws for all the players, Aaron Buchanan defeated Bruce Bernard, Ken Gutermuth, and Paul Haynes. The difference between first and last would be a mere nine points.

With both preliminary heats complete, 19 of the 20 winners arrived to compete in the semi-finals which would feature four tables with the winners of each table advancing to the final round.

On the first table, Tom Wojke and Thomas Robinson were tied for the lead after the first scoring round. Tom took the lead after the second scoring round but Josh Cooper came through with a great last scoring round and edged him out by one point.

On the second table, Aaron Fuegi and Bud Sauer were tied at the first scoring round. After the second scoring round, Bud took a lead with the longest wall and the lead in two building types with a shared lead in two other building types. In the third round, Bud sealed his win by locking in the lead in three building types and a shared lead in two others along with the longest wall.

On the third table, young Lisa Gutermuth, the only one to make the semis - having left the old folks in her wake, had the lead through the first two scoring rounds. In the last scoring round, Laurel Stokes held a lead in three building types and also pulled out a 16-count wall to lead at the end. .

On the fourth and final table, Bruce Reiff and Lee Presser battled neck and neck for three rounds until the end when Bruce pulled out the win by one point.

The finals were now set with Bruce Reiff (showing signs of nervousness since it was Friday and he still hadn't won wood and had already been eliminated in Football Strategy), Bud Sauer, Laurel Stokes, and Josh Cooper vying for the first ever WBC Alhambra championship. After the first scoring round, Bruce had a slight lead. During the second scoring round, Bruce had staked his territory which would make it an uphill battle for the others to overcome. Bruce was the only one with a big lead in two different building types. The other building types were in hot competition which meant points were being equally spread among the other finalists. During the third scoring round, Bud, determined to try and knock off Bruce, made a great recovery by achieving the longest wall and the majority in two building types. Unfortunately for Bud, it wasn't quite enough to catch Bruce. Bruce by this time had kept his lead in the same two building types from the first two scoring rounds and picked up a third building type majority along with a shared majority in another. Bruce's score of 137 allowed him to relax as his amazing streak of winning wood all 14 years remained intact.

 GM      Debbie Gutermuth  [1st Year]   NA
   dag63021@aol.com   NA

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