Monthly tournament

27 February 2008

February's tournament reached its climax in the fifth round. Alan had won his first four games, but he was being chased by Gabriele. Gabriele had lost his first game, but then decided that enough was enough. Three comfortable wins in a row (including a 21-7 playing with Alan) put him in second place, only one point behind Alan. And, for once, the computer appreciated the momentousness of the occasion and drew the two main contenders in opposing teams. Despite great support from his team mates, Alan couldn't cause an upset and Gab's team won 21-14. There was still time for a sixth round, but that fifth round match proved to be decisive. Gabriele won his first tournament of the season. 

In the shadow of these two great men, Lucie and debutant Patrik also had a very successful evening, losing only one game. Unfortunately, they won their games typically with a narrower margin than Alan and Gabriele and couldn't really challenge for first place. Dean, Rob, and Olga only lost two games. Julia and Kerstin both won only one game, but Julia's night could easily have been much better: she lost two games by 21-20 and one by 21-19. 

In the player of the year table, Gabriele has made a huge jump from 12th to 5th. He is back in the race and again the bookie's favourite to defend his title. But Neil, Guillem, and Alan are still in front of him. Alan now has the opportunity to show that his high position is not a fluke. He is currently fourth in the IVC ranking which means that he will be one of the top seeds in next month's tournament. Neil and Gabriele are the highest ranked players at the moment. 

Pete and Ingrid had a night to forget. They shared 3rd place before the start of the tournament, but they dropped to 10th and 14th, respectively. Ingrid did manage to stay at the top of the ladies' table though, just ahead of Deirdre and Julia. Rob, Dean and Lucie all made good progress. At the bottom of the table, Marc's only hope seems to lie in the possibility that his injury will keep him from playing any more tournaments. In that case he will not have played in more than half of the games, and his name will not appear in the final table.