alhambre [Updated October 2007]  

2007 WBC Report  

  2008 Status: pending 2008 GM commitment

Vassili Kyrkos, NY

2007 Champion

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Event History
2004    Bruce Reiff     69
2005     Nate Hoam     97
2006    Michael Mullins     88
2007     Vassili Kyrkos     84

Euro Quest Event History
2004    Holliday Jones     22

 Laurels

 Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
   1.  Nate Hoam          OH    06     36
   2.  Vassili Kyrlos     NY    07     30
   3.  Michael Mullins    MA    06     30
   4.  Bruce Reiff        OH    04     30
   5.  Holliday Jones     MD    04     20
   6.  Luke Koleszar      VA    07     18
   7.  Matt Calkins       VA    06     18
   8.  Richard Meyer      MA    05     18
   9.  George Sauer       OH    04     18
  10.  Tom Dunning        NY    05     14
  11.  Brian Kowal        WI    07     12
  12.  Christian Moffa    NJ    06     12
  13.  Ilan Tadmor        NY    05     12
  14.  Josh Cooper        MD    04     12
  15.  Perrianne Lurie    PA    04     12
  16.  Faisal Kassam      AB    07      9
  17.  Jeff Mullet        OH    06      9
  18.  David Buchholz     MI    05      9
  19.  Laurel Stokes      NJ    04      9
  20.  Matthew Amitrano   VA    07      6
  21.  Peter Putnam       PA    04      6
  22.  Tom Wojke          PA    04      6
  23.  Jim Vroom          PA    04      4
  24.  Robert Kircher     RI    07      3
  25.  John Faella        RI    06      3
  26.  David Gagne        QC    05      3
  27.  Lee Presser        NY    04      3
  28.  Luann Stubbs       PA    04      2

2007 Laurelists

Luke Koleszar, VA
2nd

Brian Kowal, WI
3rd

Faisal Kassam, AB
4th

Matthew Amitrano, VA
5th

Robert Kircher, RI
6th


Past Winners

Bruce Reiff, OH
2004

Nate Hoam, OH
2005

Michael Mullins, MA
2006

Vassili Kyrkos, NY
2007


Ok, so if that's our hard working photographer and her camera, how'd she take this shot? And GM the event too? I knew one person couldn't take all these pictures!

The stakes increase as the Final table gets underway. All six Laurelists were new to the rarified atmosphere of Alhambra laurels.

Palaces R Us

We had 22 5-player tables during the two preliminary heats with every winner qualifying for the semi-final round. There were five 4-player games in the semis advancing the five winners to a 5-player Final.  

The results during the first heat were as followed:

* Jennifer Drozd won the bragging rights over the defending chmpion, Mike Mullins, in his first abortive attempt to defend his title in a close game with Jennifer winning by only 2 points.  

* Davyd Field claimed similar glory by downing 2005 champion Nate Hoam by an even slimmer margin - a single point.

* Rob Kircher had to settle for beating Chris Moffa, a 2006 laurelist, but was glad to advance nonetheless.

* Laurel Stokes won her table edging out Andy Latta in a contest that also included 2006 laurelist Matt Calkins.

* Malinda Kyrkos won her table against Debbie Gutermuth, the Alhambra GM, and Jeff Mullet another 2006 laurelist. Needless to say, none of the 2006 winners fared well this year.

* Anthony Daw won his table with the biggest spread in scores with his 110 dwarfing the lowest of 49.

* Perrianne Lurie had the closest game by beating Alfred Smith on a tiebreaker. Alfred was the first alternate for the semi-finals and would have advanced had he been present.

* Karen McCulloch relieved her stress levels while on break from Monitor duty in the Juniors room to win her table.

* Brian Jones won his table by beating Sean McCulloch and dooming the latter to a year of spousal bragging rights as wife Karen became the only McCulloch to advance.

* Matt Amitrano, won his table to advance to the Semis for the second straight year.

* Lyle Wenger became the last of the first heat qualifiers by winning his table.

The second heat used a like number of tables and provided one last chance to advance with a win and saw the following make good on the opportunity:

* Faisal Kassam not only won the right to advance but he denied defending champ Mike Mullins' last attempt to defend his title.

* Brian Kowal punched his ticket to the semis by denying 2005 champ Nate Hoam in his second attempt. Vassili Kyrkos finished a close second and his two-point loss made him a possible high alternate. Vassili would eventually advance as the second and last alternate to make the semi-final.

* Luke Koleszar was victorious at his table beating Chris Moffa, and ending the latter's attempt for back-to-bck laurels.

* Peter Stein continued his new winning ways in the "Year of the Stein" by defeating Matt Calkins. Peter, however, was a victim of his own success and was unable to attend the semi-final to attempt further advancement.

* Eric Lenhart won his table by beating the reigning Caesar, Jeff Mullet, and thereby guaranteed that all of the 2006 laurelists were out of the mix for 2007.

* Fran Hall had the closest game in the second round beating Jean-Francois Gagne by a single point. This close loss qualified Jean-Francois to advance as first alternate.

* Michelle Barger schooled her table, which included the GM.

* Andrew Maly, Nicholas Henning and Lrry York each won their respective tables but chose not to advance, opening alternate slots for one of the runner-ups.

* Mike Backstrom became the last qualifier with his win.

With the two preliminary heats complete, 18 winners - and two alternates - manned five 4-player games for the Semi-Final round.

* Vassili Kyrkos who advanced as an alternate had the closest call, beating Rob Kircher by a single point with Perrianne Lurie close behind.

* Brian Kowal had the next closest game with a 4-point win over Davyd Field.

* Faisal Kassam pulled ahead of Mike Backstom to win his table.

* Luke Koleszar won his table by the biggest spread with 131 dwarving the 73 of Michelle Barger.

* Matthew Amitrano topped Anthony Daw for the last seat at the Final.           

The Final commenced immediately following the Semis.. All five were new visitors to the hallowed third round.. After the first scoring round, Vassili enjoyed a slight lead with 13 points to 10 each by Luke Koleszar and Faisal Kassam. By the second scoring round, Brian Kowal had made up ground to be a contender with Luke and Vassili. Brian accomplished this by taking the lead in two of the six color buildings and seconds in two others. In the last scoring round, it came down to just Luke and Vassili. In the end, the difference between them ended up being just five points. In looking at all the rounds, Vassili had earned six points more than Luke in the wall points, which made all the difference. Vassili won to become the 2007 Alhambra Champion without winning a preliminary heat.

 GM      Debbie Gutermuth  [4th Year]   NA
   NA   NA

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