2011 Open Classic Round 2

There was only 1 upset in the first and even that wasn't a true upset: hanzack is far stronger than his tournament rating would suggest. However, the opening round featured a few action packed games and near-upsets and round 2 is obviously expected to have many more competitive games due to the much closer rating differentials in the pairings.

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• Previous Round: 2011 Open Classic Round 1
• Next Round: 2011 Open Classic Round 3

Round 2 Standings

Rank	Participant	Name	WHR [Seed]	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Wins	SoS
1	chessandgo	Jean Daligault	2689 [1]	G 18 W	S 13 W	2	0.1107
2	Fritzlein	Karl Juhnke	2550 [2]	S 19 W	G 14 W	2	0.1107
3	Adanac	Greg Magne	2437 [3]	G 20 W	S 15 W	2	0.1107
4	99of9	Toby Hudson	2262 [4]	G 21 W	S 10 W	2	0.1107
5	rabbits	Gregory Clark	2140 [7]	S 22 W	G 17 W	2	0.1107
6	hanzack		1546 [29]	S 11 W	G 12 W	2	0.1107
7	Nevermind	Antti Laine	1927 [15]	S 33 W	G 9 W	2	0.0694
8	Tuks	Louis-Daniel Scott	2233 [5]	G 26 W	S 16 W	2	0.0588
9	The_Jeh	John Herr	2170 [6]	G 23 W	S 7 L	1	1.4446
10	woh	Hervé D'Hondt	1966 [12]	S 24 W	G 4 L	1	1.4446
11	Harren	Daniel Worm	1956 [13]	G 6 L	S 25 W	1	1.4446
12	jdb	Jeff Bacher	2112 [8]	S 27 W	S 6 L	1	1.0000
13	Nombril	Eric Momsen	2057 [9]	G 28 W	G 1 L	1	1.0000
14	Hippo	Vladan Majerech	2037 [10]	G 29 W	S 2 L	1	1.0000
15	omar	Omar Syed	2025 [11]	S 30 W	G 3 L	1	1.0000
16	ocmiente	Thomas Foy	1942 [14]	S 31 W	G 8 L	1	1.0000
17	Sconibulus	Trevor Page	1925 [16]	G 32 W	S 5 L	1	1.0000
18	megamau	Maurizio De Leo	1904 [17]	S 1 L	G 27 W	1	1.0000
19	ChrisB	Christopher Bovee	1898 [18]	G 2 L	S 28 W	1	1.0000
20	knarl	Neil Stephens	1851 [19]	S 3 L	G 29 W	1	1.0000
21	Heyckie	Heikki Rantalaiho	1815 [20]	S 4 L	G 30 W	1	1.0000
22	naveed	Naveed Siddiqui	1778 [23]	G 5 L	S 32 W	1	1.0000
23	ginrunner	Chase Todd	1790 [22]	S 9 L	G 31 W	1	0.5554
24	722caasi	Isaac Grosof	1596 [28]	G 10 L	S 26 W	1	0.5554
25	Rad	Michele Nesci	1265 [33]	Bye W	G 11 L	1	0.5554
26	qswanger	Quinn Swanger	1797 [21]	S 8 L	G 24 L	0	1.9412
27	ArifSyed	Arifuddin Syed	1772 [24]	G 12 L	S 18 L	0	1.8893
28	beancrisp	James Mabry	1690 [25]	S 13 L	G 19 L	0	1.8893
29	oali	Osman Ali	1626 [26]	S 14 L	S 20 L	0	1.8893
30	Belteshazzar	Charles Daniel Martin	1597 [27]	G 15 L	S 21 L	0	1.8893
31	b599		1480 [30]	G 16 L	S 23 L	0	1.8893
32	ddyer	Dave Dyer	1387 [32]	S 17 L	G 22 L	0	1.8893
33	Labradorboy	Gannon Lawlor	1435 [31]	G 7 L	Wthdr	0	1.4966

rabbits (Gregory Clark) 2140 vs. Sconibulus (Trevor Page) 1925 1-0

Sconibulus built a large space advantage in the opening with an invading camel on g3 supported by two attacking rabbits. Rabbits created a counter-threat in the west with his camel and so Sconibulus abandoned his camel attack in order to pursue the gold camel with his elephant. Camels were traded off the board and it left Gold with a large advantage due to the balanced position of his horses and the more exposed silver rabbits. The silver elephant forced the win of a gold cat on 28s but by this time Gold had already captured 3 rabbits as compensation. Sconibulus continued to try various attacking ideas throughout the game but Rabbits defended well to hold off all the threats. By move 55 silver goal attacks were repulsed on both wings, leaving the silver side with just 3 rabbits on the board. Facing the heavily depleted silver position, Rabbits began a rabbit advance on 57g and scored on turn 62.

hanzack 1546 vs. jdb (Jeff Bacher) 2112 1-0

Diagram 1: hanzack vs. jdb

After 15g Re4e Md4e Ed5s Dc6s Silver to move

The opening saw an attack by hanzack, as expected, and it quickly led to a back-and-forth struggle around the c6 trap. The attacking gold horse was framed, rescued, re-framed and then the gold camel prepared to free it a second time with the 11g move. Instead, jdb prevented his b6 horse from being pulled down to b5 where it would be unable to return to b6 and would be in further jeopardy of being dragged to b3 on the following turn. So the silver elephant pushed out to b5 and the silver camel rested at d5 on 11s. This initiated a series of tactical fireworks as the gold elephant had the silver camel directly in its cross-hairs while the silver elephant potentially had a chance to capture both the gold horse and dog in return. Jdb appeared to have a chance for a strong counter-attack on 15s (diagram 1) by bringing a horse to b3 and rabbit to b4 but instead he chose to consolidate his position around his c6 trap. Hanzack responded with a strong blockade move on 16g which cramped the silver position significantly. The ensuing trade of a silver camel for gold horse combined with the resulting strong mobility of the remaing gold horse & camel left hanzack with a strong advantage. Gold's space and mobility advantage led to a rabbit capture on 25g but then, unfortunately, the game came to an abrupt end on 26s when Silver's clock ran out.

beancrisp (James Mabry) 1690 vs. ChrisB (Christopher Bovee) 1898 0-1

Diagram 2: beancrisp vs. ChrisB

After 31s Gold to move

The opening featured lone elephant hunting by both sides. First, silver chased the gold camel to h2. With beancrisp's camel so far from the action, ChrisB fearlessly advanced a horse down the a-file. Without the camel's help, beancrisp couldn't do much to chase away ChrisB's horse, so he went after the silver camel, steadily driving it east. On 13g, the alternate move Ed5n ce6s Ed6e x would have led to the silver cat being forced offsides. But beancrisp was after a bigger target, and after 16g had pushed the silver camel towards the gold camp. Silver's army was poorly positioned to swarm, but gold was in an awkward position as well, with both a horse and the camel stuck behind the elephant. Giving up the hostage didn't stop ChrisB, who's solid tactics over the next series of moves allowed him to sacrifice a cat to win a horse and rabbit. 31g saw the gold camel advance by itself, and silver was more than happy to respond by offering an even camel trade (Figure 2). The alternate 32g of Mb6n Mb7w rb8s De4s would have forced silver to give up a dog and go back to protecting his camel, or be satisfied with giving up the camel while hostaging the opponent's camel. After the game move led to a direct trade, ChrisB had a good material lead and didn't give beancrisp a chance to get back into the game. Gold made a valiant goal attack, but silver had plenty of defenders left and was able to cruise down the empty center of the board for a win on move 54s.

Rad (Michele Nesci) 1265 vs. Harren (Daniel Worm) 1956 0-1

Gold was very careless with exposed strong pieces in the opening. First a horse advanced ahead of the elephant, and silver took it hostage. But without a strong silver piece on h5, gold was able to easily free it. Next the gold camel advanced, and was taken hostage. This time gold did capture a rabbit in compensation. Rad was able to disrupt the hostage situation at c6, but during that time Harren took overpowering control over f3, framing a dog in enemy territory. Gold attempted a counter attack down the a file, but silver's control over f3 led to a goal on 41s.

knarl (Neil Stephens) 1851 vs. Oali (Osman Ali) 1626 1-0

This game featured live commentary by John Herr (The_Jeh).

Gold set up his pieces using the 99of9 formation with dogs behind traps. Silver opted for a setup with all eight rabbits on the back row. On 6g gold took advantage of silver’s choice of setup, pulling a rabbit to d7. However, the rabbit slid to c7. On 8s the silver elephant moved to g3, threatening to capture a gold dog in f3. Gold’s chosen 9g did not remove the threat, and silver took advantage of the blunder by capturing the gold dog on 9s.

Diagram 3: knarl vs. oali

After 11g Hh4n Hh5s dh6s Ce2e Silver to move

Down a dog in material, gold tried to make the best of the situation by entombing the silver elephant in the southeast. However, the silver elephant tried to muster an escape by pushing a gold horse toward the silver side up the h-file. (Diagram 3) Gold managed to flip a silver dog toward f3 on move 12g. After a few moves, silver allowed this dog to be captured, permitting the equalization of material but hopefully gaining compensation by taking a gold horse hostage. Unfortunately for silver, it was his elephant keeping the horse hostage rather than his camel, a disadvantage that would linger.

While the silver elephant was planted on g6 holding the gold horse hostage, gold sought to menace the silver pieces on the opposite side of the board. Gold also held off the silver camel from moving to the east side, preventing it from relieving the silver elephant of its hostage-holding duties. On 18g a silver rabbit was captured. Gold flipped a silver cat to e5 on 19g, threatening to send it to oblivion in either c3 or f3. Unfortunately, Silver’s choice of defense allowed gold to threaten the capture of a silver horse while simultaneously defending the f6 trap. Silver opted to abandon f6 in order to save the horse, which opened the door for gold to capture a cat in and take control of f6.

On 22g Gold opted to move his elephant away from f6 in order to pursue the horse near his own traps. This allowed silver to create a counter-threat around f6 with his camel. However, the gold elephant later returned to f6, with the horse on the 3rd row secured by the gold camel. On 25g this horse was captured.

The rest of the game proceeded with gold using goal threats and threats against f6 in the east, occupying the silver elephant and camel, while the gold camel fished for material in the west. On 29s, Silver decided to try something new, as the current course of the game would only lead to a slow demise. The silver camel retreated to f8, presumably shying away from the gold elephant in order to free the silver elephant from f6 defense. On 31s, the camel retreated even further to g8, perhaps worried that if the gold elephant moved to f7 it would still be vulnerable to capture. However, the gold goal threats mounted even higher. By 32g there were tangible threats on both wings.

Diagram 4: ddyer vs. naveed

After 17s cf7w df6n mf5e mg5e Gold with a chance to break the frame

On 32s silver moved a dog to a6, putting the gold camel en prise. Gold defended this threat by moving a rabbit to f7 and threatening to goal. This threat was answered, but Gold continued to defend the en prise camel by renewing goal threats. On 35g gold made a move that captured a rabbit but did not create any goal-in-one threats. Silver responded to this hesitation by capturing the gold camel on 35s. However, this opened the door for gold to create a goal-in-two situation on 36g. Rather than moving a cat to f8, which would have delayed victory by a turn, silver moved his elephant four steps eastward. Gold therefore achieved goal on move 37g.

ddyer (Dave Dyer) 1387 vs. naveed (Naveed Siddiqui) 1778 0-1

The opening phase of this game came to a swift end. With an inopportune camel advance on 8g, gold walked into an early camel frame. Silver managed to rotate his camel away from the frame, giving him the strongest free piece on the board. On 18g (Diagram 4), gold had the chance to get in position to break the camel frame by moving a horse to a4. Not seeing this opportunity, gold instead tried to take control of f6 with two horses and a dog. After silver captured a cat and two rabbits at f3, he moved back to retake control of f6. After loosing a horse, on 30g gold finally gave up the camel and added the elephants strength to the attack at f6. Gold desperately tried to dig threw the defenders, but since all the silver pieces were still on the board, there were plenty available to slide into the holes. Silver breezed to goal on move 36s.

qswanger (Quinn Swanger) 1797 vs. 722caasi (Isaac Grosof) 1596 0-1

Silver scored the first victory on move 1s. Gold had started with an unbalanced setup, but after seeing the silver response, he used an entire move to balance his horses. After gold scared off a tentative E+H attack by silver, both sides resorted to rabbit pulling. 722caasi came out ahead in this contest, since he was using a horse to pull the rabbit and his elephant was in position to threaten the gold horse. Qswanger was pushing the rabbit with his elephant, and was stuck containing the silver rabbit instead of helping his horse retreat. By 16s, silver was in a strong position, with a camel holding a horse hostage, and a strong silver piece on h5 to protect the camel from being pulled and frozen. 17g was a blunder, it appeared qswanger was attempting to congest the center and possibly blockade 722caasi's elephant. But the blockade wasn't complete, and 722caasi simply pushed the gold camel into danger. On 20g, gold attempted to get a horse in exchange for his camel, but silver had enough steps available to capture the gold camel and also retreat the silver horse to safety. Gold resigned on 21g.

megamau (Maurizio De Leo) 1904 vs. ArifSyed (Arifuddin Syed) 1772 1-0

This game was the longest of the tournament so far. megamau setup with a 99of9 setup, but with both horses on the west and camel on the east. ArifSyed also used a similar 99of9 type setup with horses on the west and camel on the east. Both players advanced cautiously keeping the elephants on the east and tugging at each others camels. ArifSyed also willingly advanced rabbits on the east. While trying to pull on megamau's rabbit, ArifSyed's elephant found it self almost blockaded against the east edge of the board. As it struggled to get out megamau managed to pull out further one of ArifSyed's already advanced rabbits and frame it on F3. The opening was clearly advantageous for megamau. On 15g megamau may have been able to blockade ArifSyed's elephant using the silver rabbits. But concerned about the advance of rabbits on the h file he mobilized more rabbits towards the east. ArifSyed made good use of the opportunity by letting go of his framed rabbit and pushing megamaus rabbit further to the silver side and capturing it a few moves later. ArifSyed then continued tugging on megamau's pieces and having him use most of his steps to defend. Eventually a column of rabbits on the H file allowed ArifSyed's camel to begin assisting with the attack on megamaus's eastern home trap. When megamau's camel shifted to the west wing ArifSyed retreated his camel pulling a rabbit along with it and mobilized his elephant to the west. megamau captured an advanced rabbit, but soon also lost his advanced rabbit when his elephant had to dash to the west to protect the camel. On 35g megamau decided that rather than keeping his elephant tied down guarding the camel he would offer to exchange his camel for a silver horse with prospects of capturing additional advanced rabbits on the H file. When megamau threatened to capture the advanced silver rabbits, ArifSyed's elephant came to their rescue and became blockaded on the G3 square. While megamau tried to maintain the blockade with his elephant ArifSyed's camel became active on the west. Eventually megamau's elephant had to shift to the west releasing the blockade. After some tussling the players exchanged rabbits. But by threatening ArifSyed's camel on the west, megamau was able to distract the elephant to the west and make another rabbit capture on the east. The game was pretty equal material-wise with the difference being megamau's camel exchanged for ArifSyed's horse and rabbit. Things changed quickly soon after with megamau taking ArifSyed's camel hostage and ArifSyed framing a rabbit and pinning a horse. With most the strong pieces locked up on the west megamau was able to pick off the last of ArifSyed's advanced rabbit on the east. As ArifSyed tried to find a way to free his hostaged camel, megamau's horse ruled the east and managed to capture a dog.

Diagram 5: megamau vs. ArifSyed

After 62g Hf4n Hf5w He5w Hd5n Silver to move

After move 62g (diagram 5) megamau was now a dog and rabbit ahead in material and was threatening goal. ArifSyed's elephant had no option but to dash back to the silver side to stop the goal threat. ArifSyed was able to capture a horse and advanced rabbit in exchange for a cat and was suddenly back in the game. As megamau tried to advance his rabbits forward while keep them save he blundered on 69g and lost his horse, suddenly putting ArifSyed ahead materially. ArifSyed soon gained an even larger material lead as megamau traded his dog for a rabbit. However in a sparse end game megamau's four advanced rabbits to ArifSyed's two rabbits proved to be a stronger force on the board. Especially with ArifSyed's free camel being badly positioned deep on gold's side. Five moves after trading the dog for a rabbit megamau was able to reach goal. This game illustrates the advantage rabbits can provide when many pieces have been traded off. A player with more advanced rabbits in a sparse end game will tend to have the upper hand.

woh (Hervé D'Hondt) 1966 vs. 99of9 (Toby Hudson) 2262 0-1

Woh pulled a silver rabbit down to b5 with his 10th move and it appeared he might draw first blood a few moves later. However, inaccurate moves on 12g and 13g allowed 99of9 to turn the tables and push a gold horse into mortal danger at d5. Knowing that he was going to fall behind in material, Gold launched a rabbit attack up the east side but the silver camel had enough time to capture the gold horse then cross back to the east side to completely shut down the gold attack. With the gold pieces unable to make further progress the gold horse worked towards capturing a silver rabbit while 99of9 switched his focus to a counter-attack against the f3 trap. With a strong dog and two rabbits behind it, Silver was able to take control of the trap on 31s and capture a rabbit on 32s to again build the lead to a full horse. Woh tried to activate his camel on 33g to perhaps build a goal threat in the west but the silver elephant froze and captured it (in return for a silver dog), leaving silver with an enormous advantage in strength. The tactical battles continued to be in 99o9's favour due to his stronger army and by 47s he had won a gold dog for another silver rabbit. Woh tried another goal attack, this time in the west, as he drove a rabbit to a5 on 48g. Again, as earlier in the game, Silver had ample strong pieces to stop the gold rabbit in its tracks. The loss of the final gold horse on 57s gave Silver overwhelming strength in every sector of the board but it wasn't until the 66th turn that a goal was scored.

omar (Omar Syed) 2025 vs. Adanac (Greg Magne) 2437 0-1

Adanac started the game with an attack on the east wing, leading with E+H and following behind with M+R. Omar attempted to bring his camel to the east wing to deal with the attacking horse, but each time Adanac brought his elephant to e3. The repeated attempts to cross did prevent the silver elephant from staying at f4 to pull the gold horse out of place. Eventually silver gave up on the attack and retreated with a rabbit, leaving a horse behind. An advanced silver rabbit was quickly framed, but silver was poised to bring the silver camel back to f3 while threatening a gold rabbit. To avoid having threats on both east wing traps, Omar gambled with bringing his second horse to help at f6. Adanac decided to abandon the framed rabbit and by the time the dust settled on move 20s, a horse and rabbit had been captured by both sides.

Gold decided to go after the silver camel, but silver just brought a swarm along with it. 28s threatened to frame the gold dog on f3, but gold successfully defended against this threat. With the silver elephant once again loosely tied to f3, this time to protect the camel, move 30g saw Omar launch a M+D attack at c6. Adanac had a great 30s response, offering to start a capture race while using a goal attack to allow him to make the first capture. When the carnage was over, the tactics had worked out to give silver a material advantage. There were a few other tactical options for gold to chose from, but it is impossible to say if any would have worked out better. Perhaps framing the rabbit in f3 on move 31g would have allowed the gold horse to retreat from danger, or on 32g capturing the cat instead of the rabbit, would have helped gold come out ahead. The biggest mistake for silver in the exchange was move 34s. Luckily for Adanac, Omar missed the chance to get his camel out of danger with 35g Ddv4 Dd5w Mb5w Dc5e.

On a depleted board, silver made a goal run down the a-file. With nothing but rabbits anywhere near the threat, Omar scrambled to adjust his defenses. He was able to capture the rabbit, and then counter-attacked across the board. 49g Ed6s Re6w Rd6n Ed5n might have been difficult to stop, but the actual 49g gave silver a chance to dart a rabbit down the h file. Having to chase down the rabbit with his dog, gold began loosing material and then timed out on 51g.

ocmiente (Thomas Foy) 1942 vs. Tuks (Louis-Daniel Scott) 2233 0-1

Both sides started by fishing with their elephants, and pulled a center rabbit out one step. Rabbits pulled from the center can be tempting targets to continue pulling, or can be left to disrupt your opponent's movement during later attacks. In this game, gold broke off the rabbit pulling to go after a horse, while silver continued pulling out the rabbit. Tuks threat was faster, causing ocmiente to come back to defend his rabbit. After 15g, both sides were threatening an opponent's rabbit on the west wing. Tuks had a positional advantage: while the elephants were tied up with the rabbit threats, his camel was free to try and pry a piece loose in the east. Silver was able to capture a dog in return for giving up a horse hostage.

Diagram 6: ocmiente vs. Tuks

After 20g Hg4e Ed4n Ce2e Rb1n Gold one piece shy of a good hostage position.

Unfortunately for ocmiente, Tuks noticed a deficiency in the hostage pattern. (Diagram 6) Gold did not have a friendly piece on g2 next to his camel, so silver was able to move to g4 and freeze the camel. (Just a slight change was needed for move 20g: instead of rb1n, a rg1n step was required) After silver took the camel hostage, gold was just one rabbit shy of locking in partial control of f6 without using his elephant. The previously hostaged silver horse was in position to prevent a gold swarm, and gold was forced to defend f6 with his elephant. After Tuks advanced his other horse and a camel, gold quickly decided to cut his loses and initiated a capture race. The gold pieces were closer to the traps, and silver gained an additional horse and cat to add to his material lead. Tuks next traded away his remaining horse for a dog and rabbit. As the first trade, this material is relatively close, but here it left gold with only a cat to help out his elephant. Silver started advancing rabbits on 37s. Gold made a valiant effort at defense, and was able to hold out until 43s.

Nevermind (Antti Laine) 1927 vs. The_Jeh (John Herr) 2170 1-0

Both players set up with 99of9 configurations, gold with cats behind the traps and silver with dogs. Both sides seemed eager to advance gold rabbits, with The_Jeh going behind the f3 trap to pull a rabbit, then Nevermind voluntarily advancing rabbits. Silver next went after the gold camel, but gold advanced a horse ahead of his camel. The next series of moves highlighted one of the "new" attacking styles. On 13s, silver pushed the camel north, intending to work on creating a hostage situation. But the advanced horse allowed gold to use the camel for attacking, by first advancing additional rabbits and then moving the camel to g6 while creating a phalanx to prevent the silver elephant from getting directly back to its side of the board.

Diagram 7: Nevermind vs. The_Jeh

After 20g Gold with space to flip a framed piece from f6 to f4.

On 19g gold prepared to frame a silver horse at f6. A possible 19s response was he6e ce7s db6n Rb5n. This would have stopped the gold army from advancing further. The silver elephant at e5 prevents the f6 piece from being flipped to f4, as well as slows the gold elephant from attacking the silver camel. But silver did not react to the frame threat, and instead captured a gold rabbit. Even then not all appeared to be lost, since the frame could be made safe and silver had the strongest free piece after the frame was put in place. But Nevermind was in a position to flip pieces from f6 to f4, to threaten capture on f3 and f6. (Diagram 7) The silver elephant was immediately overloaded, being unable to protect both traps. Silver did make the best of the situation, capturing a gold horse while a silver dog was put in the frame on f6. 25g was a slight tactical mistake: by capturing the dog immediately, gold allowed room for the silver horse to break the dog frame. It would have been possible to push the dog to c4 on 25g and finish the capture on 26g. With the elephant at c5, the silver horse would be frozen on the way to push the dog from f5. Silver returned the favor with his own inaccuracy on 26s, by trying to sacrifice a dog to get his horse free. But gold was able to freeze both the silver horse and dog. Taking the gold camel hostage on 26s could have given silver an extra defender behind f6. Down two dogs (and a doomed horse) for a rabbit, The_Jeh made an impressive attempt at a comeback by framing then capturing the remaining gold horse. After 37g, all the horses had been captured and gold was ahead by a balance of two dogs. The dogs were a very powerful force, allowing gold to contest both silver traps even while the gold camel was temporarily frozen. After some additional captures, gold overwhelmed the silver defenses on 48g.

Fritzlein (Karl Juhnke) 2550 vs. Hippo (Vladan Majerech) 2037 1-0

The game started off with a rush forward by both players on the a and b file. Fritz brought his camel over to attack the silver horses, and Hippo could profit from a simple stalemate with his camel ready to attack in the east. Fritz was able to keep the forward motion going to prevent the stalement, advancing a horse with a rabbit behind it to drive a wedge up the a-file. Silver ended up chasing the gold horse with his elephant, leaving it out of position at b4. Gold pushed forward and created a mid-board blockade on c4 and c5, and rotated his elephant out of the formation. Silver decide to go the long way around the c3 trap, but as soon as the elephant left c6, gold resumed the attack. After 18g, gold was threatening to frame a silver horse on c6. Instead of defending against this threat, silver launched a counter attack at f3. With only the silver E and M attacking, gold had plenty of defenders to prevent capture. Hippo's plan did succeed in drawing the gold elephant away from c6, and he next turned to forcing a rabbit attack down the d-file. The goal attack was not fast, and Fritz took the time to threaten capture on f6. At 26g, Fritz played a great tactical move that defused the goal attack, advanced his own rabbit, and protected c3. With the advanced silver pieces now at risk, 27s saw Hippo decide to go after the gold camel. The initial trade was M for D+2R, but then the silver elephant was forced to leave a number of hostages behind and protect against a goal attack around c6. The single gold rabbit was captured to stop the goal attack, but it came at the expense of the silver camel and a rabbit. Gold continued to capture pieces and threaten goal, and silver finally conceded to the pressure on 40s, allowing a goal on 41g.

Heyckie (Heikki Rantalaiho) 1815 vs. Belteshazzar (Charles Daniel Martin) 1597 1-0

Both elephants spent the early parts of the game hunting for large prey and this led to a horse trade on the 9th turn. Belteshazzar made a tactical error on 24s when he tried to target both the gold horse and camel near the c6 trap. Heyckie alertly abandoned his camel in order to save the horse and win an extra cat prior to the exchange of camels. Silver needlessly sacrificed a rabbit on 27s to take a gold horse hostage which gave Gold the advantage of a cat + rabbit. The two players traded dogs on 31s/32g and on the depleted board Heyckie decided to begin a rabbit advance on 34g, and it scored a goal on the very next move.

ginrunner (Chase Todd) 1790 vs. b599 1480 1-0

Ginrunner as gold very quickly managed to get a horse hostage by the f3 trap. B599 as silver tried to use his camel to drag one of ginrunner's horses in the west to his own trap as compensation, however it was not to be. Ginrunner's elephant quickly migrated to threaten b599's camel in the west, which precipitated a swarm by silver on the c3 trap. B599 blundered away a horse there, and was unsuccessful in trying to extracate his other horse from the hostage situation in the east. Ginrunner appeared to be attempting an unlikely-looking elephant blockade in 18g, just as b599 prematurely advanced his camel in the west again. B599's overloaded elephant was forced to join his camel and abandon the hostaged horse to its fate in 19s. B599 doggedly tried to force a rabbit through on the a-file, however this plan would have required a blunder from ginrunner to succeed. Ginrunner did not oblige, stopping him in his tracks by 28g, and his unstoppable camel & dog attack around f6 supplemented by a horse charge to c6 enabled him to coast to a win on 37s.