Author Topic: National Carcassonne Championships in 2016  (Read 11534 times)

Offline danisthirty

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Re: National Carcassonne Championships in 2016
« Reply #15 on: February 22, 2016, 12:17:36 AM »
Congratulations on that result Chooselife! :(y) Sounds like you would have made top 10 easily if not for that draw...

Offline Chooselife

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Re: National Carcassonne Championships in 2016
« Reply #16 on: February 22, 2016, 12:25:48 AM »
Yes indeed but sincerely when we started to count the final points I thought I had losed that one.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me, Shall be my brother;

Offline Leven

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Re: National Carcassonne Championships in 2016
« Reply #17 on: December 27, 2016, 04:18:41 PM »
Here's a short (and a little bit overdue) report about my participation in the Hungarian Championships which were held back in late November.

This was the first time I took part in a non-online championship, and to tell you the truth I needed some research to find out where and when it would take place at all (even the publisher Piatnik had no idea) and how I would be able to participate. As it turned out there is no official agreement with the publisher lately, therefore the Hungarian champion cannot participate in the World Championships held in Essen (even this year Hungary was not represented there which is a shame since almost all other Central European countries had a player there). Well, I was a little bit disappointed hearing that but at least I didn't need to worry about that special factor.

Actually I didn't know what to expect from this championship. Considering that most of the players, unlike me, came from qualification tournaments (I got a wild card thanks to one of the organizers) my first two games were surprisingly easy (139:93, 109:74). It was obvious that my opponents didn't even know what kind of tile configurations can be found in the base game set as on some occasions they trapped their own followers. ??? Just for fun I mention that my first ever championship game (which was my first new edition game as well) broke a record (at least I was told that): at the previous championships no game lasted longer than 45 minutes which was declared as time limit for a single game, but this time my opponent was thinking so much during the game that we had to finish the game without playing the last 6 tiles. Not that it mattered. ;)

So I started with 2/2 but as the first part of the tournament consisted of 3 rounds of head-to-head games in Swiss system, my 3rd game promised to be more difficult against another player with already two wins. Indeed, this one was a tough game but near the end I had the feeling of having a slight lead so I even helped my opponent at her last tile giving her an additional point. I was quite surprised (moreover, a bit shocked) then that the final result became 88:88. Actually this draw helped both of us to reach the semi-finals. :o

My semi final game was decided quite early as I was able to trap two of my opponent's followers after playing only the first 15 or so tiles. It was a huge advantage which eventually led to my most convincing victory of the whole day (159:104).

As my previous opponent also won her semi-final we faced each other one more time in the final. This game was even more difficult than our previous one. My opponent played well, had the lead most of the time, but in the end I had a very good chance to win the main farm (which would have changed the outcome of the game): I only needed one of the two remaining RRXX tiles to join another farmer there. Unfortunately my opponent drew both. This way I lost the game by 101:114 (I attached a photo of the final landscape; I played with yellow) and finished 2nd at the championships. But as I mentioned earlier even the winner did not qualify to next year's world championship. I had a conversation with one of the organisers after the tournament and he promised to take steps to change that and to try to come to an agreement with the publisher next year. I hope he will succeed.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2016, 04:47:34 PM by Leven »

Offline danisthirty

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Re: National Carcassonne Championships in 2016
« Reply #18 on: December 28, 2016, 01:33:05 AM »
I was wondering when you would get round to writing this up Leven! It sounds like all the online competition ensured that you were well prepared for your first "real" competition...

With the game that ended before playing the last 6 tiles, was your opponent penalised in any way? If not, surely a system like this is open to abuse e.g. if you go first and get a 4-point city, then on your next turn spend 45 minutes pretending to think about what to do so that the game ends after just 2 tiles being placed and you win?

Sorry you didn't win overall but it sounds like you were unlucky even to finish second. Hopefully next year you will be at the world championships.

Whilst 2016 has been a bit of a disaster in many ways, it sounds as though it's been a good year for your Carcassonne playing!

Offline Leven

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Re: National Carcassonne Championships in 2016
« Reply #19 on: December 28, 2016, 02:35:03 PM »
With the game that ended before playing the last 6 tiles, was your opponent penalised in any way? If not, surely a system like this is open to abuse e.g. if you go first and get a 4-point city, then on your next turn spend 45 minutes pretending to think about what to do so that the game ends after just 2 tiles being placed and you win?
No, he wasn't penalized. Actually I wouldn't be able to prove that we ran out of time because of him as the players had no clocks. I assume if the game had been still open when the time was up the organizers would have given us some more minutes. But in our case it didn't matter.
In your example the player's strategy would be clearly unfair, I suppose that behaviour would deserve a disqualification from the tournament.

Offline danisthirty

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Re: National Carcassonne Championships in 2016
« Reply #20 on: December 29, 2016, 12:16:56 AM »
In your example the player's strategy would be clearly unfair, I suppose that behaviour would deserve a disqualification from the tournament.

I agree. Just thinking of an extreme example to demonstrate my point as clearly as possible. It still seems strange that they don't use timers if games are timed though.


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