The 2009 World Othello Championship will be held in Gent, Belgium on November 4-7.

The seeded players are the French Stephane Nicolet, the Germans Matthias Berg and Andreas Hoehne, the Italian 2008 world champion Michele Borassi, the Polish Dominik Nowak, and Makoto Suekuni representing Singapore.

The top rated players are the Japanese trio of Yusuke Takanashi, Masaki Takizawa, and Kazuki Okamoto, the Spaniard Ruben Saiz, plus the aforementioned Suekuni and Borassi.

The women title should be an affair between Shuk Man Katie Wu (representing Finland), the Japanese Mei Urashima, and Caroline Sandberg and Veronica Stenberg, both from Sweden.

The team competition sees Japan as the overwhelming favorite. Italy, Poland, and France should be fighting for second place.

On a personal note, the U.S. team will be represented by Randy Fang, Robert Bishop, Eric Lindstrom, and Sharom Katzman. I had the pleasure to play Randy, Eric, and Sharon either in New York (U.S. Championships) or in California (U.S. Open). I’m 0-6 against Randy, 1-0 against Eric (the highlight of my brief on-the-board career), and 3-0 against Sharon.

Predictions, analyses, previews, news, anecdotes? Post them here!

Why Ben Seeley no more plays US championship and WOC ?

He was one of the top players. He also often plays on playOk and is one of the best players.

The Japan could send 100 players that could compete very hard with the best other players. I think they have over 60 players between the top 100.

Ben Seeley (2003 and 2004 world champion) took a break from Othello that is turning into a long one. He played in the 2008 U.S. Open in Lynwood, California where he finished second to Yohanes Chitra after beating him twice in the second round. The great team the U.S. could field is unfortunately disappearing piece by piece (Seeley, Chitra, Williams) due to other commitments or necessities after they were only one point shy of the Japanese masters in the World Championship in Mito, Japan.

You’re right, the Japanese could field as many good players in the WOC has all other teams combined. The size and quality of their movement is unmatched.

By the way, New York is supposed to host the next World Othello Championships.

For those championships in Belgium, I hope the French team (which seems to be very strong this year) will win.

By the way, New York is supposed to host the next World Othello Championships.

Next year will probably be in Asia, 2011 quite likely in New York. And the Netherlands hopes to get the WOC in 2012, 10 years after their first WOC.

Yes, Jan, you're correct. My mistake. New York is scheduled to host the 2011 WOC. Like in 2001 and 1991.

Here are the top 10 according to the French Federation Ratings:

1 2543 +/- 50 322 TAKANASHI Yusuke J

2 2484 +/- 79 134 TAKIZAWA Masaki J

3 2475 +/- 72 129 TAMENORI Hideshi J

4 2468 +/- 51 296 SUEKUNI Makoto J

5 2447 +/- 72 123 TOMINAGA Kenta J

6 2444 +/- 31 664 NAKAJIMA Tetsuya J

7 2432 +/- 121 47 SONG Yan CN

8 2414 +/- 75 199 KAMPHUIS Leon NL

9 2411 +/- 50 245 YAMAKAWA Takashi J

10 2395 +/- 56 205 SEELEY Ben USA

I'm proud to say I'm still in the top … 900 !

I'm proud to have played with (currently No 5 and 2007 world champion) Kenta Tominaga :)

Greece is sending 2 girls to the WOC this year by the way.

The WOC 2009 has started.

Pairings and results here: http://www.woc2009.be/

Live games here: http://www.liveothello.com/

Great start for the Polish team!

Standings after round 4

1. Miłosz Cupiał {POL} 4 (221)

Katie Wu {FIN} 4 (216)

Yusuke Takanashi {JPN} 4 (213)

4. Masaki Takizawa {JPN} 3.5 (230)

Duangkamol Sokankate {THA2} 3.5 (226)

Jacky Fu {CAN} 3.5 (223)

Tomáš Douda {CZE} 3.5 (211)

8. David Hand {GBR} 3 (236)

Dominik Nowak {POL} 3 (229)

Paweł Pęczkowski {POL} 3 (227)

Makoto Suekuni {SIN} 3 (217)

Anon Hongthong {THA} 3 (215)

Martin Ødegård {NOR} 3 (213)

Mei Urashima {JPN2} 3 (209)

Marc Tastet {FRA} 3 (208)

Michael Handel {GBR} 3 (205)

Patrick Aubroeck {NED} 3 (201)

Sébastien Barre {FRA} 3 (193)

Karsten Feldborg {DEN} 3 (190)

Jiska Helmes {NED2} 3 (189)

Nicky van den Biggelaar {NED} 3 (184)

Team ranking

after round 4

1. Poland 10

2. Japan 9.5

3. France 8

Great-Britain 8

Netherlands 8

If www.woc2009.be has problems, try this link (it may work better) : http://woc2009.hot-smoke.com/

Thanks. I had problems too with the other two links earlier.

Standings after the first day:

1. Masaki Takizawa {JPN} 6.5 (476)

2. Makoto Suekuni {SIN} 6 (469)

Miłosz Cupiał {POL} 6 (468)

Yusuke Takanashi {JPN} 6 (468)

5. Anon Hongthong {THA} 5.5 (453)

Katie Wu {FIN} 5.5 (452)

7. Martin Ødegård {NOR} 5 (432)

Dominik Nowak {POL} 5 (431)

Sido Helmes {NED} 5 (424)

Nicky van den Biggelaar {NED} 5 (417)

Sebastian Schmidt {GER} 5 (412)

Karsten Feldborg {DEN} 5 (404)

Stéphane Nicolet {FRA} 5 (396)

Siwasan Nuprasert {THA} 5 (389)

Team standings - Japan back on top:

1. Japan 16.5

2. Poland 15

3. Netherlands 14

4. Germany 13.5

5. France 13

Thailand 13

Are any of these players LG-players? I seem to recall a “Nicky” from the Netherlands…

Looking at the archives I see that Michele Borassi (the 2008 World Champion) used to play here and so did a few other very good players. The arrival of “computerized players” has forced some of them toward real-time sites and one or two-minute blitz games.

Tom from Belgium plays here. Ruben from Spain too.

With only two rouns left to play before tomorrow's semifinals Suekuni is in the lead. Seventeen other players are fighting for the remaining three spots.

1. Makoto Suekuni {SIN} 10 (860)

2. Masaki Takizawa {JPN} 8.5 (887)

3. Miłosz Cupiał {POL} 8 (888)

Kazuki Okamoto {JPN} 8 (849)

Sebastian Schmidt {GER} 8 (783)

6. Yusuke Takanashi {JPN} 7.5 (866)

Sébastien Barre {FRA} 7.5 (821)

Matthias Berg {GER} 7.5 (821)

Michele Borassi {ITA} 7.5 (820)

Nicky van den Biggelaar {NED} 7.5 (813)

Martin Ødegård {NOR} 7.5 (786)

12. Karsten Feldborg {DEN} 7 (801)

Paweł Pęczkowski {POL} 7 (794)

Siwasan Nuprasert {THA} 7 (792)

Alessandro Di Mattei {ITA} 7 (782)

Mei Urashima {JPN2} 7 (780)

Randy Fang {USA} 7 (779)

Team rankings. Japan with a strong 2.5 point lead. Four European teams are battling for second place.

1. Japan 24

2. Germany 21.5

3. Poland 21

4. Italy 20.5

5. Netherlands 20

Final standings. Suekuni, Takizawa, Takanashi, and Berg (who beat Barre in a play-off game) qualify for tomorrow's semifinals.

If I'm not mistaken Urashima-Stenberg is the woman final.

1. Makoto Suekuni {SIN} 10 (1130)

2. Masaki Takizawa {JPN} 9.5 (1137)

Yusuke Takanashi {JPN} 9.5 (1103)

Sébastien Barre {FRA} 9.5 (1077)

Matthias Berg {GER} 9.5 (1069)

Nicky van den Biggelaar {NED} 9.5 (1058)

7. Miłosz Cupiał {POL} 9 (1126)

Kazuki Okamoto {JPN} 9 (1091)

Sebastian Schmidt {GER} 9 (1015)

10. Anon Hongthong {THA} 8.5 (1064)

Michele Borassi {ITA} 8.5 (1053)

12. Karsten Feldborg {DEN} 8 (1034)

Paweł Pęczkowski {POL} 8 (1016)

Alessandro Di Mattei {ITA} 8 (1015)

Mei Urashima {JPN2} 8 (1000)

Dominik Nowak {POL} 8 (996)

Randy Fang {USA} 8 (995)

Tom Schotte {BEL} 8 (977)

19. Siwasan Nuprasert {THA} 7.5 (1021)

Martin Ødegård {NOR} 7.5 (1009)

Stéphane Nicolet {FRA} 7.5 (990)

Stéphane Dousse {SUI} 7.5 (977)

Andreas Höhne {GER} 7.5 (971)

24. David Hand {GBR} 7 (1018)

Veronica Stenberg {SWE} 7 (979)

Duangkamol Sokankate {THA2} 7 (974)

Michael Handel {GBR} 7 (964)

Tomáš Douda {CZE} 7 (948)

Alexander Samchenko {RUS} 7 (944)

Erik Lund Jensen {DEN} 7 (935)

Francesco Marconi {ITA} 7 (924)

32. Patrick Aubroeck {NED} 6.5 (1013)

Jacky Fu {CAN} 6.5 (998)

Marcel Peperkamp {BEL} 6.5 (983)

Lari Pihlajapuro {FIN} 6.5 (935)

Sido Helmes {NED} 6.5 (935)

Marlis Elger {GER2} 6.5 (913)

Henry Aspenryd {SWE} 6.5 (895)

Linsue Panajarn {THA} 6.5 (892)

Jiska Helmes {NED2} 6.5 (892)

41. Jeroen De Wael {BEL3} 6 (985)

Marc Tastet {FRA} 6 (972)

Henrik Vallund {DEN} 6 (920)

Miroslav Voracek {CZE} 6 (900)

Ruben Saiz {ESP} 6 (897)

Ilya Shifman {ISR} 6 (873)

Alexandr Syachin {RUS} 6 (856)

Vidar Albrigtsen {NOR} 6 (850)

49. Katie Wu {FIN} 5.5 (995)

Caroline Sandberg Odsell {SWE} 5.5 (909)

Geoff Hubbard {AUS} 5.5 (891)

Eric Lindstrom {USA} 5.5 (809)

53. George Ortiz {AUS} 5 (883)

Leonid Shifman {ISR} 5 (852)

Rosalinde de Boer {BEL2} 5 (828)

Mehul Vyas {IND} 5 (828)

Tor Birger Skogen {NOR} 5 (827)

Michiko Yanagi {AUS} 5 (804)

Ivo Rybarik {CZE} 5 (799)

Pavel Radzivilovsky {ISR} 5 (787)

Rita Sawala {NOR2} 5 (734)

62. Nick Reunes {BEL} 4 (851)

Christina Mitsi {GRE} 4 (765)

Monique Lecat {FRA2} 4 (735)

Helen Starkey {GBR2} 4 (651)

66. Robert Bishop {USA} 3 (729)

Steven Robinson {GBR} 3 (693)

Sharon Katzman {USA2} 3 (684)

Pia Støvring {DEN2} 3 (643)

70. Vivia Nikolaidou {GRE} 2.5 (594)

Final team standings.

Well done to Japan who repeats as world champion and to Germany and Poland for finishing so close to the masters.

1. Japan 28

2. Germany 26

3. Poland 25

4. Italy 23.5

5. France 23

6. Netherlands 22.5

Thailand 22.5

8. Denmark 21

9. Sweden 19

10. Belgium 18.5

Norway 18.5

12. Czech Republic 18

13. Great-Britain 17

14. USA 16.5

15. Israel 16

16. Australia 15.5

17. Russia 13

18. Finland 12

19. Singapore 10

20. Switzerland 7.5

21. Canada 6.5

Greece 6.5

23. BEL3 6

Spain 6

25. India 5

The finals have started. The 2 finalists are:

Yusuke Takanashi (Japan) - Matthias Berg (Germany)

Game 1 for the japanese, who is very very strong

… and the victory goes to Japan.

Yusuke Takanashi is the 2009 World Othello Champion!

Hat trick for the Japanese team. They won team, women, and men competitions:

Women:

Stenberg vs Urashima 7-57

Men semifinals:

Takizawa vs Takanashi 25-39 21-43

Berg vs Suekuni 39-25 14-50 33-31

Men 3rd place final:

Takizawa vs Suekuni 31-33

Men final:

Berg vs Takanashi 23-41 22-42