Ticket to Ride 20th Anniversary World Tournament

[Rwain]

Thanks everyone ! I will have to make big shortcuts for the 6th round, I ́m sorry for this (away from home, and a very poor internet connexion).

About numbers of wins, a fast prevision estimates that around 15 players will reach 6 victories at the end of the semifinal. That means that, to be 100% sure to get a ticket to Paris, you have to aim 7 wins. Those will 6 victories will have to count on their tiebreakers to be in the 8 at the end.
This means that you must not lose more than 3 games to stay in the "possible finalists".

And that also means that, after his defeat against Batze, SuperPello is officialy out ! And that's a huge surprise ! SuperPello was amongst the 10th year anniversary finale, he won one of the most disputed qualifying tournament and started the semifinal with 2 wins ! But, luck turned... and everything went wrong since then... with a 2 - 4 record, he joins thekid in the surprising prematurous eliminated players...
And so does onyx puffin ! Defeated by lalozz 141 - 100, he lost all hope to be in Paris in May !

Other favorites were in difficult position, but managed to keep hope alive : Knockando got to a 3 - 3 record after his victory against riche739... he is still in an inconvenient place, with the urge to win his 3 games to come, but at least, he still has a chance to qualify !
And so does Loindufroid, who won his 3rd game 121 - 92 against MattECM2.

One favorite who had a missed start is getting better and better. Eichi05 got a 4th victory that will take him back in the upper part of the standings. He will be next to will_will, MadManMark and mr_snuffelupagus who all present a 4 - 2 record after round 6. They are now at the same ranking as LeGoupil and sunny369 who both lost their last game... they might be disappointed but a 4 -2 record stays quite good as this stage.
All of them keep good chances to be in the 8 finalists !

But Schwen84 and Olimpionik get better chances thanks to their last victories ! It was close for Olimpionik with a 131 - 121 against sunny369... it was even closer for Schwen84, who won 108 - 106 over LeGoupil ! Game after game, Schwen84 shows his ability to adapt his moves and tempo to each situation. He seems now in a very good position to reach Paris in May.

[Rwain]

Only one day before the end of round 6... and only one game left : the one between ExaltedAngel and Rudzin71. That gives us a good vision of what happened and who are still in the game for the 8 finalists seats.

First, the main information is the victory of Cournot in the undefeated player's confrontation. Starting with a western combo : Calgary - Salt Lake City and Denver - El Paso, and the start, he was the first to claim a route, spending one locomotive to link Helena to Duluth before having completed his hand. G7 womble chose not to respond, and continued drawing till she reached her 44 train cards (something that sometimes might cost a move, as the second player does not always have the time to play all his trains)... Finally, she opened with Houston - El Paso. Cournot aimed for the longest tracks in the west : LA - El Paso, Portland - Salt Lake City and Seattle - Helena ! At this time of the game, he had 60 points and 21 trains left while G7 womble got only 36 and 6 trains more. And it got worse for her, as Cournot collected ony 6 long routes : Sault Ste Marie - Winnipeg followed by Winnipeg - Calgary ! The game was already over and Cournot did not wait to end it : Sault Ste Marie - Duluth, then Calgary - Helena and finally Seattle - Portland to complete his ticket and claim the longest path ! It seems so easy when it goes on like this. G7 womble could not do much against such a fluid track... 9 moves, 6 of them earning 15 points... it went fast.
With a 6 - 0 record, Cournot is the new leader of the standings ! After MorientesZL, Olimpionik and G7 womble, he is the 4th player to become n°1. But that might not be the most important for him, as the best part of this is that he's almost already qualified ! He only needs one more victory to get his ticket... and even if he were to lose his next three games, his tie breaker might be high enough to offer him a place in the 8.



G7 womble, with a 5 -1 record, still stays in a very good position to end in the 8. After the victories of scorps4, BalduvianHorde and nyan-cat, we now have 7 players with at least 5 wins after round 6. That means that 3/4 of them will reach the 6 wins level, the one that is necessary to be a finalist. Let's see how players stand now :


The provisional standings (yet to be completed as one game is still pending)

6 - 0 Almost qualified : Cournot.

5 - 1 Very good chances : G7 womble, Olimpionik, scorps4, Schwen84, BalduvianHorde, nyan-cat.

4 - 2 Still in a good position : daedin28 ; Trainalot ; will_will ; Nicolas21 ; Elric_S ; pegaso74 ; LeGoupil ; MadManMark ; Diger74 ; Sunny369 ; Sysyphus ;
Eichi05 ; mr_snuffelupagus

3 players from Germany in the 20 first players of the standings (and the 4th, Batze, is 21th with a 3 - 6) German players met the expectations. There might be at least one of them in Paris ! USA places 4 representatives (4 on 9) in the 20, and maybe not the ones we could expect (ommie32 is struggling in this semifinal, with a 3 - 3 record, and thekid lost for the 5th time, against MacLeod who won his first game here...)
Another "big" nation is well represented here, with 4 players from France... yet, none of them are in the 7 best... France cannot be sure to send a representative in finale !
And it gets worse for Italy, who was amonst the most expected nation with a very good squad at the beginning of the semifinals... only one of them is still in a good position to reach Paris : BalduvianHorde !
Finally, the nation that is nearly the most successful is Hong Kong, with 100% of its players in the 20 best : will_will and Sunny369 are still in a very good position after round 6...
And to complete the focus on countries : Canada has one (and this one might really be in Paris in May), Spain two, Belgium one, Montenegro one and RF one.

ExaltedAngel might join them should he win against Rudzin71... (if they manage to end it before the deadline too)


For the 18 players with a 3 - 3 record, there is still a hope to end in the 8... but victories are now mandatory.

And at this time of the semifinal, 20 players are officially out ! We have already mentionned the surprising eliminations of thekid, Gattivo4, and then SuperPello and onyx puffin... there are some more now ... like the champion of the CET3 tournament : Micalis, defeated by smartin23 in his last game...or the finalist of the CET1 tournament acebano. With a 2 - 4 record, they lost all hope to be in Paris.
Two qualifying tournaments'winners already out, three (or 4) in the middle part of the standings, and two (or three) in the 4 -2 section... that definitely shows the difficulty of this semifinal !

Round 7 starts tomorrow... many players must be waiting for the end of ExaltedAngel-Rudzin71 game to know who will be their next opponent. Some tough games are expected, and the ones occuring in the upper part of the standing will place the winners in a perfect position to end a finalist.
Good luck to all of you, and many thanks also to all of you, as you all make many efforts to respect your commitments. 180 games have been launched till now, and 179 went to their end before the clock runs out (and I really hope it will be 180 at the end of the day)... and even now when players know they have no more chance to end in the 8, they manage to complete their games, despite some real disparities in timezones. So thank you all once again !

[Sysyphus]

Thanks Rwain for everything, the end looks thrilling.

Little side-note for those who are interested in continuing to explore the competitive play of TTR.
I opened reigstration for a 2-player USA and Europe League.

More info : https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41248

[Rwain]

It went quite fast here, with many games that already got to their ending less than 24 hours after the start.

The first to strike was seasonalsleeper, with a 118 - 69 victory against Espidifen ! But unfortunately for him, this victory does not change anything for him in this semfinal as he already lost 4 of his first games. With a 3 - 4 record, seasonalsleeper stands no chance to qualify. Anyway, that does not end his willingness to play seriously all the games of the semifinals, as this last game shows it, and that's the perfect spirit that I applause here. I'm glad to see that all players involved are still here, whatever their standing is, and all are making big efforts to play all games they are meant to play. So thank you once more to all of you ! It's just the dream of all tournament administrators to gather only respectful players in one's tournaments.

Regarding players who are competing for a place in Paris, two of them joined the few "happy ones" with a 6th victory, meaning they will be amongst the pretendants for a seat in Paris. As explained before, all players with 7 victories are certain to be qualified, those with 6 victories will get the last seats depending on their tiebreakers. That means that BalduvianHorde and nyan-cat are certain to take part to the qualifying process. Should they get a high enough tiebreaker, and they will be in Paris in May ! (or a most secure option for them : to win at least one more game between rounds 8 and 9).

BalduvianHorde was playing against the start (Olimpionik had it), but with two very compatible destination tickets : Helena - LA and Duluth - Houston. The blind draw gave him 6 orange quite soon, but too few black and green for his southern part. He then could claim Duluth - El Paso quite early in the game (move 54), but had to pick in the river for his black and green, giving much information to his opponent ! But Olimpionik seemed not interested in the south... and made no attempt to block BalduvianHorde's track. On the opposite, he focused on the north, starting with Winnipeg - Sault Ste Marie and expanding his track from Calgary to NY ! And that's where BalduvianHorde had the good insight : knowing that his tickets were only 16 pts worth, and anticipating a big ticket, like Seattle - NY, he left aside his own development for a time, focusing on blocking Seattle. That cost him time (like the 1 train played to claim Seattle - Portland), but that paid in the end !
In fact, Olimpionik had not to link Seattle to NY, but he had Seattle - LA and NY - LA ! BalduvianHorde's blokus did not cost much to Olimpionik : only 9 points... but it put pressure on him, and that can explain why he who chose to draw tickets for his last move... drawing nothing good for him... he had to kept Winnipeg - Houston (- 12 pts)... And that cost him the game !!!! Without this last move, Olimpionik had the longest path, and enough points to ensure his victory ! Drawing destination tickets in his last move lead to his defeat... 107 - 96 !



An incredible ending once more ! Let's remember that, for his first game in the semifinal, BalduvianHorde won against thekid thanks to a "last hope draw" that gave him the advantage on his opponent... and here, the opposite happened : he should have lost the game, but the "last hope draw" from Olimpionik offered him the victory ! Definitely, this last hope draw is a good friend of BalduvianHorde !
Thanks to this 6th victory, BalduvianHorde is in a perfect position for a place in Paris. He now has to win at least one more game to be in the 8 finalists of this 20th anniversary tournament !


And almost the same happened to nyan-cat in his game against G7 womble ! Starting with Kansas City - Houston and Winnipeg - Houston, he had two destinations that could be easily associated... but that can also be quite difficult to play fast (Kansas City is surrounded by small routes). Fortunately for him, G7 womble also had to count on very slow tickets : Montreal - New Orleans and.... Boston - Miami ! The famous one, considered by many as the slowest of all. And yet, G7 womble nearly managed to get a 6th victory... She succeeded in completing both her tickets, and also tried to disturb nyan-cat's track when claiming Portland- Salt Lake City. That slowed him a bit... enough to get the win ? It should have !
nyan-cat reacted well, finding a second way to go for the longest path while completing his tickets. He launched the end of the game... and was ahead 84 - 83... but G6 womble could count on 25 points from her destinations, while he only had 17... and the longest path. It was close ! Very close !
And that lead G7 womble to make the wrong choice here (I say it knowing how it ended, I clearly don't want to say that it was a mistake. With the information she had, she estimated that it was the best thing to do... but unfortunately, she could have won if she made another choice). As Olimpionik sooner, she chose to try the last hope move and draw three destination tickets... and it did not work : she had to keep Calgary - Salt Lake City, and that cost her 7 points... for a final score 112 - 101. That's where you say : "7 points would not have been enough to win anyway"... but, the main point here is that G7 womble still had 4 green in hand... 7 points to earn with, for instance, Calgary - Helena or Helena - Denver... 101 + 7 + 7 = 115 ! Sometimes, TTR games really go for small little tiny things ! And the slightest hesitation could cost a lot, as we saw here with Olimpionik and G7 womble.



Thanks to this sixth victory, nyan-cat conforts his status of n°1 US player. Seeing him in Paris seems quite certain now, although he was not on the favorites'list at the start of the semifinal. A nice feat for this player, who has to stay focus in his next two games, to ensure a 7th victory that would offer him a place among the finalists !


I had other things to discuss, but not enough time here, so see you soon...

[Rwain]

Other things to notice in this round 7 :

- After some nice victories against some of the favorites : Loindufroid and onyx puffin, Niall adds another top player (ELO 704!) to his list of defeated players. His Calgary - Salt Lake City associated with Chicago - Santa Fe took the best on the Denver - Pittsburgh and Toronto - Miami possessed by his opponent... dandee15. In fact, dandee15 seemed to have soon chosen to forget about Toronto - Miami, Niall making too much progress in the North. He tried to draw a third destination early in the game : Sault Ste Marie - Oklahoma City... and then to block Niall's track... but nothing could prevent the british player to build his winning track. With this 4th victory, Niall stays in the run for a place in Paris... but that's not the case for dandee15... The best ELO of the italian squad was seen as a great pretendant for the finale, but, with this 4th defeat, he's now out of the competition.



Niall keeps hope alive with this 4th victory ! It will be hard, as he needs two more to participate in the tiebreaking choice for the last finalists, but he still have a little chance to end in the 8.

The same goes for MorientesZL, sonics2054 and cannonade, who all got their 4th victory in this round 7 (a better round for our ukrainian players ! ) But the joy for them to stay in the run has consequences for their opponents, as it means the elimination of zabergau, nicoxiaozai and olihelm.
Another player got out of the possible finalists : smartin23 was the only 3-3 who was opposed to a 4-2 player. This could have been a good opportunity for him, as it would have raised his tiebreaker... but the game against ExaltedAngel did not go as nicely as it could... and smartin23 suffered a 4th defeat that ended his hope for a french trip in May.

ExaltedAngel, with this second victory in 24 hours, now displays a 5 - 2 record that leaves him in the upper part of the ranking. He joins there Sunny369, Eichi05, LeGoupil, Nicolas21, will_will and daedin28 who all won in this seventh round, leaving small hopes for their opponents (Trainalot, diger74, MadManMark, Sysyphus and mr_snuffelupagus).
In the 5 - 2 record, we also have Schwen84, Olimpionik and G7 womble, who all missed an opportunity to get to the 6th win level. That makes 14 players with 5 victories or more (and soon 15 when the game between pegaso74 and Elric_S will end)... meaning that 7 or 8 of them will get to the 6th win after round 8 ! Games to come promise a lot of tension !

And finally, I would like to speak a little of our last player to get a victory in this tournament : Bunger ! His start in the semifinal was not lucky, with some close defeats that could have turned in victories for small details... but, even if it must have been hard for him (after all the victories he had in the qualifying tournaments, chaining 6 defeats in a row might have been difficult to accept), he did not quit or let go, and continued to play for the win ! And finally he got it : 122 - 107 against MacLeod ! Now, all our 60 semifinalists have won at least once in this tournament. And who know, he might end with a 3 - 6 record that would leave him in the 2/3 of the standings.

There are still some games running, notably the top game between scorps4 and Cournot... so I will make a third comment of this round 7 in a few days. Good luck to all players still playing !

[acebano]

is it ok, that 4th game in a row my opps have 1st turn? or i am so unlucky.

Man, I feel you, but I think I win this one. I’m on a 6-game streak starting second


Huge thanks to Rwain for all the game analysis and organization! I’m really enjoying the tournament (great level of competition), and things are getting intense at the top of the leaderboard. Good luck to all players!

[Rwain]

We were waiting for one game in this round 7... the game that could have lead to knowing the first player qualified for the finale in Paris the duel
Cournot VS scorps4

After 6 victories in a row, Cournot could earn his ticket for Paris with a 7th... but scorps4 decided otherwise ! Starting with a nice association : Vancouver - Montreal with Calgary - Phoenix, he was for 33 pts from his destination tickets... while Cournot had only central/eastern tickets in hand. He deciced to keep NY - Atlanta and Sault Ste Marie - Nashville, leaving Winnipeg - Little Rock. Only 14 points to get in the end... and some slow tickets too (with the need to use one move to connect Atlanta and Nashville with one train). The only advantage for Cournot was the start.
The game started with a fierce battle in the north...

Scorps4, in blue, had prepared his track from east to west... but Cournot did not let him free and placed his trains on some important routes. scorps4's intention to link both coasts could have been foreseen by Cournot at this stage of the game, and maybe we could have expected that he went for Winnipeg - Duluth. It could have slowed down scorps4 in his attempt to connect Vancouver to Montreal. But Cournot did not. Was it a wrong choice ? Not really. In fact, Cournot had no choice at all ! The blind draw gave him only 1 locomotive, that he already played to claim Winnipeg- Sault Ste Marie. With only 3 blacks in hand, he had no opportunity to block scorps4, who could optimize the end of his track.
Cournot, with almost no flexibility in hand, tried to ensure the completion of his destinations... but he had to overdraw, in ordre to get the black needed for Sault Ste Marie - Montreal (losing the advantage of the start with this "extramove".



Cournot did well, managing to complete his destinations and to stay competitive for the longest path. But that could not be enough against a player who managed to complete 33 points from his tickets ! That's the first defeat of Cournot in this semifinal ! At the time, we have no more undefeated player, and no more unvictorious neither.
Cournot still keeps great chances to be in the 8 finalists, and so does scorps4. With a 6 - 1 record, they only need one more victory to ensure their place.

We could have had the name of the first qualified player, we will have to wait for round 8 ! And here, we are sure to know 2 of the finalists ! The Swiss System will oppose Cournot to another 6 - 1 player : either BalduvianHorde or nyan-cat... The one who does not face him will play against scorps4. That will lead to 2 players with a 7 - 1 record. Two players who will be certain to be in Paris in May !

We have no name for the qualified players... but we have some more for the eliminated ones. And it was a bad step for our polish players... The finalists of the Central European Tournament 2, chooosen and Loindufroid, had to win all of their games to keep a chance to be in Paris... but they both lost in this 7th round, respectively against Qorlas and Pechnik. They are officialy out... And so do lalozzz, Jgutierrez77 and .... Knockando !!!!
The winner of the CET3 tournament is the 4th champion to be amongst the "early" eliminated players. He had a tough draw for this 7th round, facing another qualifying tournament's winner, ommie32. The Pacific champion won 130 - 119 and kept a little chance to qualify with her 4 - 3 record (and the same for Qorlas, Pechnik and Batze).

Finally, let's mention the victory of Elric_S over pegaso74, that placed the french player in the 5 - 2 group. He is now one of the 15 players that will compete for the first places in round 8... but we still don't know who will face who, as one game is still running... A game between nickismyname and .... Rudzin71 (who seemed to appreciate being in the last game to end ! )

Round 8 starts tomorrow at 10h CET, good luck to all of you.

[Rwain]

It finally happened ! After a few weeks struggling in tough competitions, two players managed to stay constant enough in their games to gain their ticket to Paris !

And the first to do it was...
BALDUVIANHORDE
Member of the italian squad, he won his place in the semifinal thanks to a quarterfinal in the Central European Tournament (one of the most disputed qualifying tournament)... That was the bare minimum to get a place in the semifinal, as he lost 123 - 96 against a compatriot there, dandee15.
But, in Ticket To Ride games, things can change fast, and even top players can face bad times (awful destination tickets, lack of locomotives, wrong colors,...) and dandee15 did not meet the same success afterwards,being eliminated since round7. On the opposite, BalduvianHorde managed to keep his way on the right track, with some help from Lady Fortune sometimes (like "a last hope move" : the draw of a destination ticket that gave him the victory in his first game against thekid... and the same kind of move that cost the victory to his opponent, Olimpionik, in round 7 !)

During this 8th round, he was opposed to scorps4 in a very important game as the winner would get his ticket to Paris. But BalduvianHorde seemed not to feel the pressure of such a game, daring to keep his 3 destination tickets : Calgary - Salt Lake City ; Helena - LA and Winnipeg - Houston. Of course, there's a nice track that can link all these cities, but it can be dangerous in the south, with the need to collect green and black... and the risk to get blocked around LA. Fortunately for him, scorps4 had to play east, with Toronto - Miami and Montreal - New Orleans.
BalduvianHorde had the start, and chose to ensure Houston - El Paso with 2 locomotives. And he did it quite early, with still some cards to draw. A smart move for what can be seen at the most dangerous route for him (and scorps4 had the green to claim it !)
Scorps4 decided to stay patient, and to focus on the development of his own track. The game saw the map separated in two : BalduvianHorde moving fast in the west while scorps4 tried to follow the rythm in the east... but it went too fast and BalduvianHorde succeeded in completing his three destinations while building the longest path. A clear victory, that made him the first player to qualify for the finale !



Congratulations BalduvianHorde ! I told before the start of the semifinals that Italy was one of the great team, and that it was expected to see some italian players in the 8 finalists. But, to stay honest, I had a bet on SuperPello and dandee15, who have been eliminated sooner... and also on ExaltedAngel who can still join BalduvianHorde in the plane with his current 5 - 2 record (his 8th game against Nicolas21 has just started, with their hands almost completed and no train on the board).
For scorps4, the qualification is still attainable, he still has the 9th game to reach a 7th victory that would mean qualification... or else he could count on his tiebreaker if he ended with a 6 - 3 (but he should not bet everything on this, as his tiebreaker is for now only the 14th of all semifinalists).


And who is the second finalist ?

COURNOT
Leader of the Canadian team (that counted 3 representatives : Cournot, Olihelm and Bunger), he was one of the "tier 3" list that I awkwardly made at the start of the tournament : the "so many other good players that could pretend to the final ! " list. And it was true that many players seemed able to be one of the 8 finalists... and Cournot was clearly amongst them, as his semifinal in the Eastern Standard Time Tournament had already proved it. At the time, he suffered a close defeat against the champion to come, Eichi05 : 120 - 111. But after this, he made a perfect run in the semifinals, winning his first 6 games ! He did not get the opportunity to take his revenge against Eichi05 but that might happen in Paris as Eichi05 managed to get his 6th victory in round 8, and is now at one more to get his ticket!

During this 8th round, he was opposed to the"surprise guest" of these two "qualifying games" : nyan-cat (ELO 549, the 33th of the semifinal). But ELO doesn't mean everything, and nyan-cat proved it in many occasions, with victories against 650+ players in the previous rounds (dandee15, Elric_S ; G7 womble). Cournot chose to keep Sault Ste Marie - Oklahoma and Duluth - El Paso (leaving aside Chicago - New Orleans) : only 19 points... less than the 28 that could be gained by nyan-act with Seattle - NY and Atlanta - NY... but, Cournot had the start, and he saw a track that could go much faster than the one chosen by nyan-cat. It took a very long time for nyan-cat to complete his destinations, because Cournot was the first to settle in the centre with Helena - Duluth. Nyan-cat had to take a detour, and then to claim many small routes, for small points and too many moves... and thus he ended with 8 trains in his stock.



Once more, Cournot showed his ability to optimize his track, and this lead him to his 7th victory... and a ticket to Paris ! In round 9, he will play "for prestige" against BalduvianHorde. A game with no pressure, as both of them are now qualified. But... the winner of this game will also be the official winner of the semifinals... and for competitors like them, it's not something that can be let down.

For nyan-cat, the hardest part is still ahead ! He made such a good run till now, with a 6 - 2 record... and yet, he still is in danger as he needs one more victory to get his ticket for Paris. And he must count on it, as his current tiebreaker is not very high (26, one point behind the 27 of scorps4).


Two qualified players... and two eliminated ones...

Of course there is joy and there is disappointment... while in the upper part of the standings, players play to earn their qualifications, in the middle part of it, players have to win to keep hope alive... and that means that more and more players are facing elimination game after game..
So who got out in the last hours ?
- The first one was Diger74 , who had a very tense game against MorientesZL that ended with a tie : 101 - 101 ... and another tie with the first tiebreaker : only one destination completed for both of them... In this case, the second tiebreaker is the longest path... and there, MorientesZL had 33 trains aligned, Diger74 only ... 32 ! A cruel ending for the only player from Montenegro. His 4 - 4 record means the end of his hopes to be in Paris in May...
- The second one was sonics2054 , defeated by cannonade 118 - 83. With a ELO hardly higher than 400, sonics2054 was not one of the favourite here. And yet, he was amongst the last 30 to still compete for a finalist ticket in this 8th round. He can be proud of his course in this semifinal, with a 4 - 4 record that many top players could not reach !

The two ukrainian players, MorientesZL and cannonade, managed to stay in the possible finalists ! With a 5 - 3 record, they need a victory in their last game to get a chance to qualify. For now, cannonade is in the best position, with a tiebreaker of 30. But things might change quite quickly here, as the evolution of the tiebreaker will depend on the results of his 9 opponents in the end. That means that, after the last round, some of the players to be decided could gain a +9 in their tiebreaker while others could stand with a +0 !


Is there anything else to say ?

Yes, in between qualified and eliminated, there were players that could neither qualify neither go out. They were the ones with a 5 - 2 record... A defeat in round 8 was not welcome, but it would not lead to elimination...
Who were concerned ?
First, Eichi05 and G7 womble, two german players facing each other... G7 womble was one of the two undefeated players after 5 rounds... but then she lost against Cournot. And from then, everything went from best to worse, like her 7th game where her last move transformed a victory in defeat... And here came a third defeat in a row, compromising her chance to be in Paris in May. With a 5 - 3 record, she must win her last game to be one of the departed 6 - 3 players. The good thing for her is that she played in the upper part of the ranking from day 1, meaning that she has the best tiebreaker (for now) with 33. That placed her in the best chances of being selected should she win her last game.
On the opposite, Eichi05 did not start very well, with 2 defeats in his first 3 games, but after that, he won in every other rounds, leading him to a 6 -2 record. Only one more victory, and he will be in Paris !

Another ex-n°1 of the standing was having a chance to reach a 6 - 2 record... another ex-n°1 that created the situation of his defeat in round 7 with a last hope move that cost him the game... Olimpionik made a very nice start in this semifinal... and he could have thought he had the lucky draw in this round 8, being the only 5 - 2 player to face a 4 - 3 : mr snuffelupagus... But the story did not end as expected, and mr_snuffelupagus defied the odds and took the best of Olimpionik : 102 - 92. Thanks to this victory, mr_snuffelupagus became the lowest ELO (479) who still runs for Paris ! A nice feat for this american player, who managed to defeat some of the best players of this tournament : SuperPello, smartin23...and now Olimpionik. Who will be the next in this list ?


That's all for today.... Still many games to be played before we can have a better view of the chances of all players on hold.
See you soon !

[sonics2054]

Thank you Rwain - thoroughly enjoyed playing against some of the best throughout this tournament and reading the running commentary. All the best to those still within a shout of being in the top 8.

[MadManMark]

If I anticipate correctly how the final round scheduling will go, there will be exactly two players with 6-3 records advancing on to Paris - no more, no less? Exactly 6 players will have > 6 wins?