war at sea [Updated October 2002]

WAS  5 prizes Beginners Swiss Elim Continuous 
   17
     9, 11, 13, 15, 17  Round 2 19 Semi    Round 3  21 Final   
     

   Valley  

Andy Gardner, VA

2002 Champion

2nd: Bruce Reiff, OH

3rd: Ray Freeman, CA

4th: Jonathan Lockwood, VA

5th: Rob Flowers, MD

6th: Mike Bailey, VA

Event History
1991    Bruce Monnin      20
1992    Tom Scarborough      23
1993    Bruce Monnin      28
1994    Phil Rennert      18
1995    Ray Freeman      33
1996    Steve Packwood      27
1997    Tim Hitchings      33
1998    Mike Kaye      32
1999    Ray Freeman     45
2000    Pat Richardson     42
2001    David Finberg     43
2002    Andy Gardner     51


AREA Ratings


GM: Vince Meconi

Best GM 2000

two Top-Six GM Nominations

Past Winners

Bruce Monnin - OH
1991, 1993

Tom Scarborough - MO
1992

Phil Rennert - MD
1994

Ray Freeman - CA
1995, 1999

Steve Packwood - MN
1996

Tim Hitchings - DE
1997

Mike Kaye - CA
1998

Pat Richardson - VA
2000


David Finberg - MA
2001
       
 

Dice At Sea

Andy Gardner of Fairfax, VA won the 2002 War At Sea Championship among a record breaking field of 51 entrants. Andy went 6-1-0, achieving two other firsts as well. Having won WAS's sister game Victory in the Pacific at the 2000 WBC, he becomes the only person to win both events. And, he is the first 4th-seeded semifinalist to win the championship. Andy defeated well known gamer Bruce Reiff (5-2-0) of Lewis Center, OH in the finals. Third place went to two-time champion Ray Freeman (5-1-0) of Berkeley, CA, who was the only player to win all five swiss rounds, while AREA leader Jonathan Lockwood (4-2-0) of Reston, VA took fourth. Before the semifinals could begin, Andy and Jonathan had to win a strength of schedule tiebreaker over last year's runner-up, Rob Flowers (4-1-0). All three had 4-1-0 ledgers and 40 victory points at the completion of the Swiss rounds. Unfortunately for Rob, he had the lowest of the three schedule strengths and took home the 5th place plaque as a consolation.

In the semifinals, Andy Gardner's Axis forces defeated Ray Freeman's Allies by seven POC (including a 2-POC bid), while Bruce Reif's Axis flotilla edged Jonathan Lockwood's Allied navy by the exact 2.5-POC bid. Andy's Axis prevailed in the finals as well with Bruce conceding after Turn 4. (Bruce had bid 1 for the Allies.)

Rounding out the top 10 were Mike Bailey, 4-1-0, (6th), Steve Packwood, 4-1-0, (7th), Frank Cunliffe, 4-1-0, (8th), John Strand, 3-2-0, (9th), and defending champ David Finberg, 3-2-0, (10th). Andy Gardner also copped Best Axis Player with a 5-0-0 log, while Ray Freeman won the Best Allied Player award, for the third time, at 5-1-0. John Strand was our Rookie of the Year.

The tournament was again conducted using a Swiss-elimination format and chess clocks, with the Allies having 1 hour and 5 minutes and the Axis 50 minutes. Clock time expired in only one of the 93 games. Most players prefer the clocks, but the feeling is by no means unanimous.

The Axis won 48 games, the Allies 44, and there was 1 tie. Players bid for the Allies in 44 games, the Axis in four, and in 45 contests there was no bid. The Allies won the majority of the games where there was no bid, but the Axis prevailed more often in games where the Allies made a bid. Champion Andy Gardner played most of his games, including his semifinal and final
wins, as the Axis. With the bidding system, it appears that we're getting pretty close to complete balance. The 51 entrants, 93 total games, and 21 players who played all five swiss rounds were all records. In fact, there were a record numbers of players competing in each of the five rounds. This year's quartet of finalists ought to bury forever the sobriquet "Dice At Sea." Not
that one can't win games with hot dice, but it wasn't by luck that players with AREA rankings #1 (Jonathan Lockwood), #3 (Ray Freeman), #5 (Bruce Reiff), and #12 (Andy Gardner) made it past the preliminaries. Experienced veterans all, they lived up to their ratings. It's especially impressive when you consider that anyone can read Ray and Jonathan's recommended strategies in the Gamers Guide to War At Sea!

The official War At Sea FAQ and Errata in effect for this event can be found at: http://www.markevich.com/was/rules99.html.

For the best of War At Sea strategy, discussions, Email play, etc visit: http://www.markevich.com/was/index.html.

 GM      Vincent Meconi  [4th Year]   NA
    NA   NA

View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page