Past GMs of the Year | A
GM’s Plea | How Are GMs Selected? | GM
Guidelines
As
is our custom, every year we select one GM
to single out as WBC’s GM of the Year. This GM is awarded
a free room for the five days of WBC. Using the
current selection process, GMs may score a
maximum of 96 points and a minimum of 12.
We
are pleased to award the Best GM honor for
2006 to Don Chappell with a score of 77,
based on two 1sts, a 2nd, two 3rds, two 4ths
and a 9th. Overall, scores ranged from Don’s 77 to a low of
28. Every nominee scored at least as high as
5th and as low as 9th with the Board splitting
its votes in a wide cross section based on
the importance each member gave the various
categories.
Don won the award as the longtime GM of We The People, which
has been a steady favorite anchoring the
Saturday CDW schedule. The Arlington,
TX native stood out in a field of fine GMs,
in part, by hosting a novice division in
a Class C event for new players and helping
them along in the competition while limiting
his own play largely to that of eliminator
or facilitator. Only after having gained the
experience of playing amongst themselves were
the newbies ushered into the shark pool. Don
also added to his event by offering numerous
supplementary prizes of period books out of
his own pocket.
The Board’s eight
1st votes were split among the top five nominees.
Finishing second in the voting was Tom McCorry
who garnered a score of 67 for hosting WBC’s
largest tournament, Ticket
To Ride, as well as one of its most
impressive new offerings, Caylus.
Tom also impressed the voters with a classy
Table ID and seating system which helped
him administer his large heats quickly.
Finishing in a tie for third with 61 points
each were a pair of relative newcomers
to WBC’s GM ranks, suggesting that experience
may be over-rated. Ivan Lawson (Lost
Cities) in his second year and Barry
Shutt (Air Baron) in his first,
both brought well-honed skills of preparation
and attention to detail to tame large events
quickly and efficiently—proving that
GMing is not rocket science and can be
handled in stride by well organized preparation.
Rounding out the top half of our nominees
were Vince Meconi (War
At Sea & Gettysburg) who
also chaired one of our GM 101 seminars
with a score of 58 and Keith Wixson (Wilderness
War)
coming off not only winning his own event
but the Service Award presentation with
a score of 57. Well done all. Our sincere
thanks to you and all others like you
who try to make WBC a little more special
every year.