kremlin [Updated October 2006]  

2006 WBC Report   

 2007 Status: pending 2007 GM commitment

Pete Stein, OH

2006 Champion

Offsite links:

 

Event History
1991    Jim Fuqua      25
1992    Sean Cousins      20
1993    Jim Fuqua      49
1994    Caleb Cousins      42
1995    Sean Cousins      36
1996    Sean Cousins      20
1997    Tracy Graf      46
1998    Chris Geggus      46
1999    Bruce Glassco     38
2000    Tom McCorry     45
2001    David Buchholz     51
2002    Steve Cuccaro     50
2003    Llew Bardecki     56
2004    Steve Cuccaro     48
2005     Steve Cuccaro     40
2006     Pete Stein     39

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Steve Cuccaro      MD    05    112
  2.  Peter Stein        OH    06     60
  3.  Tom McCorry        VA    01     46
  4.  Llew Bardecki      ON    03     40
  5.  Marc Houde         VA    04     35
  6.  David Buchholz     MI    01     30
  7.  Bruce Glassco      NJ    99     30
  8.  Sean McCulloch     OH    06     28
  9.  Charles Davis      WV    04     25
 10.  Peter Pollard      TN    02     24
 11.  Bob Jamelli        PA    00     24
 12.  Chris Geggus       UK    06     18
 13.  Brian Carr         VA    05     18
 14.  Nick Smith         UK    01     18
 15.  Peter Staab        PA    99     18
 16.  Jason Wagner       NJ    00     16
 17.  Lee Rodrigues      VA    05     12
 18.  Jim Jordan         MD    04     12
 19.  Jerry Ohlinger     NY    03     12
 20.  Ron Wuerth         VA    02     12
 21.  Sean Cousins       ME    01     12
 22.  James Hopkin       CA    00     12
 23.  Ray Stakenas II    MI    05      9
 24.  Joe Delaney        NY    06      9
 25.  Steve Cameron      PA    01      9
 26.  Linda Pattison     MD    03      8
 27.  Ray Stakenas       MI    02      8
 28.  Greg Tanner        AZ    06      6
 29.  Roy Pettis         VA    04      6
 30.  Jay O'Donnell      OH    99      6
 31.  Barry Shoults      MI    03      4
 32.  David Rohde        MI    02      4
 33.  Elizabeth Lang     MA    00      4
 34.  Martin Davis       CT    06      3
 35.  Nick Smith         UK    05      3
 36.  Don Tatum          MD    04      3
 37.  Zach Fietsch       NC    01      3
 38.  Mark Neale         ME    99      3

2006 Laurelists

Chris Geggus, UK
2nd

Sean McCulloch, OH
3rd

Joe Delaney, NY
4th

Greg Tanner, AZ
5th

Martin Davis, CT
6th


Past Winners

Jim Fuqua, MI
1991, 1993

Sean Cousins, ME
'92, '95-'96

Tracy Graf, MD
1997

Chris Geggus, UK
1998

Bruce Glassco, VA
1999

Tom McCorry, PA
2000

David Buchholz, MI
2001

Steve Cuccaro, MD
2002, 2004-2005

Llew Bardecki, ON
2003


 1998 champ Chris Geggus (upper left) again favored us with a trip across the pond and nearly regained his Kremlin title.

 John Pack, Jason Wagner and Bob Jamelli (left to right) are among the gulag bait in this preliminary round contest.

Laughing at the Cold War ...

Long suffering Pete Stein ran this event faithfully for 11 years and was the subject of much self deprecating humor in his annual reports as he entertained all who would listen with the saga of his never ending travails. Whether it be the outrageous fortunes of a cruel fate or some basic flaw in his strategy, poor Pete was always left wanting ... hopes dashed yet again. Finally, he could take it no more and bid adieu to his role as Kremlin GM. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So, Pete turned over the reins to three-time champ Steve Cuccaro and melted into the crowd like a banished Russian politician shuffling off to the gulag.

A total of eleven games (six 5-player, five 6-player) were run in the four Kremlin heats. Of these games, five were won by a player getting three October Parade waves from a controlled Party Chief (two of those in the first three turns), three by controlling the highest active politician in the Politburo after killing/banishing so many politicians that there weren't enough left to fill the offices, and three on turn 10 by the player who controlled the highest active politician at the end. Ten people qualified for the semi-final (the GM played and won as an eliminator) with two declining to advance.

The eight-player semis, by random draw, pitted former champs Llew Bardecki and Chris Geggus against each other. Also at that table: former GM and perennial contender Peter Stein, and relative newcomer Keith Schoose. Pete took control of the sick Party Chief on the first turn, but had his usual luck with the dice, only getting one wave out of his four turns at the top. When Nestor finally kicked the bucket,. Llew took the helm, but was unable to consolidate his position and lost control to Chris, who ended the game with three consecutive waves; Pete's early performance was good enough for second place and a ticket to the finals.

At the other table, Martin Davis took an early lead with Nestor netting him a wave on the first turn, but sickness took its toll and he was unable to wave again on Turn 2. Control passed to Sean McCulloch on Turn 3, with the same results ­ one wave, one failure. Greg Tanner's ill party chief was not able to wave in his three turns at the helm, and the torch eventually passed to Joe Delaney. The game ended on turn 10 when there were too few politicians available to fill the politburo. Sean took the victory, having the highest ranked politician still active, with second place going to Joe.

The four-player Final started with heated competition for control of Nestor, who turned out to eventually reside in Chris' camp. The game seemed to be heading to a quick end, with two waves for Chris in the first three turns, but the health die decided otherwise on Turn 4. A clever card play by Pete busted the Foreign Minister to the people after the first round of votes for the new Party Chief, leaving him in total control of the election. His young, healthy party chief gave him an easy wave before falling sick on Turn 5 and failing to make it through the parade. Same old Pete ... but to the amazement of all, Pete succeeded on the next two die rolls and won the game and the tournament on three waves ... thus ending a decade of torment on his first try as a face in the crowd.

 GM      Steve Cuccaro [1st Year]  NA
    Cuccaro@verizon.net   (NA)

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