This Fortnight in Puzzles

• Some great crosswords in the NYTimes recently; the all-name puzzle from last week, and today's Heaney/Blindauer construction was great. (It was interesting: I figured out what the gimmick was going to be, and then only once did I consciously use that gimmick when solving the puzzle, since I ended up getting most of the "theme" entries the other way in the end.)
• Although, the most fantastic crossword of the year was Matt Gaffney's most recent contest puzzle. Even though the contest is over, if you haven't done it go there now. (Granted the meta is hard. You will still like it, and if you don't figure it out you will be amazed when you read the writeup.)
• The Puzzle Boat puzzles are progressing, which I didn't think six months ago I would ever say again. I managed to get through ring three in less than a week. I still don't have ring two done, nor have I even yet figured out the basic conceit of the metapuzzle, let alone solve the thing. I'm temporarily stopped in ring four, as puzzle #1 has gone completely by me, and puzzle #3 involves getting what appears to be some '90s version of WoW (which is therefore presumably a '90s version of D&D) and playing a specially-crafted world/level/whatever. I'm filing that one in "do only if necessary" (along with the Paper Folder puzzle and the one with all the images to sort in ring two).
  
• And in a shock, I have the contest in this week's Fill Me In. Please, somebody, do this puzzle, so that I am not the first person to have a contest go completely dead. Please?
  

Walmart Juxtapositions

Seen next to each other at WalMart today: (1) a bag of "Bliss" mint-and-chocolate candy; (2) a can of generic-brand sliced beets.

Wonders of an Alumni Magazine

1. The article about social networking refers several times to "[and several other percussion video hosting sites]". I am frankly amazed there's even one "percussion video hosting site".
2. From the "please give us money" article:
   

   "My parents helped pay for my first year, then I told them I would pay the rest. I don't want my parents to help," he says, as if it's a point of independence and pride.

   
   "As if"? As if? Do the writers/editors not recognize it as such? What do they believe are independence and pride?
   

Things that are Happening

1. I am running another tournament at apterous.org; calling this one the Winter Closed because (a) it's close enough to winter for me and (b) it's a closed tournament (based on rating). A little smaller than the Summer Open was (45 total, compared to I believe 48 for the Summer Open, counting only distinct entrants). The side speed event is another 30 (but pretty much the same people). I deliberately made these as self-running as I could (hello Holland system!), and you can watch them vicariously at their own website (thanks Google sites!). Yes I did do that with the championship division pool names, thanks.
2. Speaking of tournaments, the World Mahjong Championship is coming up in about ten months. I haven't qualified here (there are 20 spots for "the rest of the world" -- non-Europe and non-Asia) and am not even sure who is verifying those qualifiers. (The official site says that the "national mahjong organizations" are setting the standards. What the national mahjong organization is for "the rest of the world" I'm still working on. The US mahjong association doesn't seem to have anything up at the moment.) There are also 5 spots for online qualifiers, which might be more likely; although even there I haven't played a serious game of mahjong for about ... four or five months? I'm not sure my membership at MahjongTime is still valid. (Checks... I was able to log in just now so that's good.)
3. The hybrid class is progressing, slightly. I was not at all surprised when a grand total of one person appeared to have done the hybrid work for the off day last week (out of a class of 20-ish, depending on how many people have (been) dropped). Why some of these people agreed to a hybrid class when they don't have a computer or internet access I'm not sure.
4. Did not die in the storm this weekend, even though I was in Virginia Beach at the time. We all got caught in a game of chicken (IMO) since the site of the awards banquet didn't want to lose a lot of money by canceling on us, despite the fact that they were flooded at the time (we had to drive out via the golf cart track, since the road was gone) and we didn't want to lose a lot of money by not showing, despite the fact that it was sheer lunacy to go (since they were flooded at the time). I think I will continue to resist promotion so I don't have to do this again next year.
5. I now have a new debit card to replace the one that got misappropriated over Halloween.
   

I need the Internet's help

So the standings for the speed demon tournament -- "a colorful way to display information so that you can see at a glance what's going on", or "garish"?

Amtrak and Airtran are conspiring against me (a/k/a ACPT travel woes)

I've been using Airtran to get to NYC every year since I got here (even when the ACPT was in Connecticut, nobody actually goes to Connecticut. How else would we get our Connecticut Limo horror stories?). So I'm trying to do some preliminary planning, on the assumption that Willz will only change the date once (which has already happened).

I'm pretty sure Airtran used to have a lot more flights than they do now; at least they're still the cheapest option I'm pretty sure ($62/72 each way, plus taxes). But there's only two flights a day each way now: I can leave here at 8 in the morning, and then think of something to do in NYC that day or leave at 6 in the evening and probably miss the Friday night stuff. And then the only possible flight home leaves at 7:30 pm. Delta doesn't even fly to New York from PHF any more; I'd either have to fly to Atlanta or drive to Norfolk and fly to JFK; that comes out to $168 (plus taxes).

I've done the train up to DC, and the Northeast still seems to have this idea that trains are good. Eight hours on a train each way isn't necessarily the fastest travel plan, but usually Amtrak isn't too bad. And if I could get both ways for $77, then that would not be that much worse than anything else. Unfortunately: 1) the return trip is $110, and 2) it leaves at 1pm, which means no lunch (although having a good reason to skip the generally over-priced and under-catered banquet may not be a bad thing). And I suppose 3) the 25%-off on the NPN-New York run expires December 28. I suppose someone would have to teach me how to use the NYC subway system to get from Penn Station to the hotel and back.

Strange Design Choices

So when you go to the GMail login page, your password is filled in for you and you can start typing your username. BUT: As soon as you hit tab or enter, the password is erased (meaning that at least you can't log in without actually typing your password). But what is the point of showing you what your password looks like filled in? "Oooh, that's a lot of dots, I must be using the long password here!"

Today's product of the day

Is here. (h/t Instapundit) I firmly agree with the first commenter: (1) this is a good idea and (2) this shouldn't be (or shouldn't have to be, perhaps) a good idea.

We'll call it a draw

So my slide rules need some definite attention paid to them, and part of providing that attention is slathering on some white petroleum jelly. The only difficulty here is that I do not actually possess any Vaseline and therefore had to acquire some. Even after 30 minutes in Walmart today, I still could not tell you where Vaseline is stocked there. Fortunately the mouthwash aisle had some in the little travel-size containers, which is more than I need anyway (since it's not as though I have that many slide rules). I am looking forward to soon having the slickest-moving slide rules this side of my front door.

It must be that time of year

I wandered into the kitchen just now, noticed a box of stuffing, and said "Oooh!" So I will have stuffing as a snack in about seven minutes.

Also if someone could find my fingernail clippers I'd appreciate it.

Today's Wikipediaism

So clearly [citation needed] is not really a bad thing in Wikipedia. But I'm guessing someone got a little too trigger happy on the "Kernel trick" page:

The origin of the term kernel trick is not known.^{[citation needed]}

If anyone can find a definitive reference for this, I for one would be happy to see it.

I guess you've been a Red Sox fan for a while then

The Lexus I was behind today coming home from work (well, not coming home so much as going to the Dairy Queen, but it's almost on the way) had three bumper stickers: New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, and "The most excellent jihad is the conquest of self."

Puzzles puzzles puzzles

Someday soon I'll finish up my Sites page with some tools. Someday.

We got some good weekends coming up: the first hints for P&A comes out this weekend (hey, I've already got one puzzle, and most of four others, that's not bad, right?). Eric Berlin's puzzles are coming out soon, and then there's DASH the weekend after that. But those actual, physical, hunts have never been my strong suit, and I don't know anybody local that would tolerate my presence for that (not that there's a huge number of people who would tolerate my presence anywhere), so maybe that one will be a miss.

The Return of the Puzzles

So, obviously, Google has webspace for people. For whatever reason (perhaps my ignorance, perhaps an oversight, perhaps a deliberate decision) you can't get there from Blogger so far as I can tell. So while the blog is still here, things that need to be posted will get posted at my new Google Sites page under Puzzles and Tools. Currently I've put up four crostics (which, alas, is currently my entire crostic output). The tools will go back up soon, and maybe one day I will post my utterly utterly pathetic puzzle suite.

Apterous Summer U1200 Final Results

The final crosstable for the U1200:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Overall	Games	PPG
2	Matthew Green	1183	16 2 - 0	13 2 - 1	14 2 - 0	12 2 - 0	11 2 - 1	5	+8	85.3
13	Aaron Higgs	1086	27 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	4 2 - 1	3 2 - 1	5 2 - 0	4	+5	91.7
11	Jeff Clayton	1115	25 2 - 1	19 2 - 0	17 2 - 1	15 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	4	+5	83.1
6	Marcus Hares	1162	21 2 - 0	14 1 - 2	19 2 - 0	17 2 - 1	20 0 - 0	3	+4	86.7
7	Mark Harrison	1135	20 0 - 2	26 2 - 0	21 2 - 0	18 2 - 0	15 0 - 0	3	+4	86.3
15	Lesley Hines	1072	28 2 - 0	8 2 - 0	1 2 - 0	11 0 - 2	7 0 - 0	3	+4	42.5
12	Andy Kravis	1104	26 2 - 0	20 2 - 0	18 2 - 1	2 0 - 2	3 0 - 0	3	+3	87.3
17	Simon Myers	1058	4 2 - 1	9 2 - 0	11 1 - 2	6 1 - 2	10 2 - 0	3	+3	82.3
20	Matt Morrison	1033	7 2 - 0	12 0 - 2	8 2 - 0	9 2 - 1	6 0 - 0	3	+3	79.6
4	Donald Gordon	1165	17 1 - 2	24 2 - 1	13 1 - 2	23 2 - 0	16 2 - 1	3	+2	81.3
5	Henry Meier	1164	19 1 - 2	25 2 - 0	16 2 - 1	14 2 - 0	13 0 - 2	3	+2	80
3	Ross Allatt	1177	18 1 - 2	23 2 - 0	10 2 - 0	13 1 - 2	12 0 - 0	2	+2	77.6
14	Jeff Burgin	1076	1 2 - 0	6 2 - 1	2 0 - 2	5 0 - 0	21 0 - 0	2	+1	99
9	Tyron Potts	1121	23 2 - 0	17 0 - 2	22 2 - 0	20 1 - 2	18 0 - 0	2	+1	79.1
16	Tom Rowell	1065	2 0 - 2	27 2 - 0	5 1 - 2	24 2 - 0	4 1 - 2	2	+0	78.9
18	Paul Erdunast	1047	3 2 - 1	10 2 - 0	12 1 - 2	7 0 - 2	9 0 - 0	2	+0	76
21	Jay Murphy	1031	6 0 - 2	28 2 - 0	7 0 - 2	25 2 - 0	14 0 - 0	2	+0	56.1
22	Peter Crawley	1004	8 0 - 2	1 1 - 2	9 0 - 2	19 2 - 0	27 2 - 0	2	-1	74.2
23	Liam Tiernan	984	9 0 - 2	3 0 - 2	26 2 - 0	4 0 - 2	28 2 - 1	2	-3	75.5
10	Peter Lee	1119	24 2 - 1	18 0 - 2	3 0 - 2	28 2 - 0	17 0 - 2	2	-3	72.8
8	James Doohan	1126	22 2 - 0	15 0 - 2	20 0 - 2	1 0 - 0	1 0 - 0	1	-2	54.3
24	Shaun Hegarty	983	10 1 - 2	4 1 - 2	27 2 - 1	16 0 - 2	19 0 - 0	1	-3	74.1
1	Barry Evans	1199	14 0 - 2	22 2 - 1	15 0 - 2	8 0 - 0	8 0 - 0	1	-3	54
19	Daniel O'Dowd	1043	5 2 - 1	11 0 - 2	6 0 - 2	22 0 - 2	24 0 - 0	1	-5	74.3
28	Ian Dent	665	15 0 - 2	21 0 - 2	25 2 - 0	10 0 - 2	23 1 - 2	1	-5	46.6
27	Andy Wilson	898	13 0 - 2	16 0 - 2	24 1 - 2	26 2 - 1	22 0 - 2	1	-6	66.2
25	Rob Thomas	928	11 1 - 2	5 0 - 2	28 0 - 2	21 0 - 2	26 2 - 1	1	-6	47
26	Phil Collinge	900	12 0 - 2	7 0 - 2	23 0 - 2	27 1 - 2	25 1 - 2	0	-8	71

Congratulations to Matthew Green, defeating Jeff Clayton in a de facto final match, and thanks to everyone for making this work.

Apterous Summer Open Final Results

The final crosstable for the Summer Open is here:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Overall	Games	PPG
5	Innis Carson	1625	15 2 - 0	20 2 - 0	33 2 - 0	1 0 - 2	11 2 - 0	4	+6	100.5
13	Ben Wilson	1457	3 1 - 2	26 2 - 0	30 2 - 0	33 2 - 0	28 2 - 1	4	+6	94.5
4	Charlie Reams	1643	14 2 - 1	17 2 - 0	28 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	8 2 - 1	4	+5	102.2
3	Jon Corby	1696	13 2 - 1	10 0 - 2	22 2 - 0	12 2 - 0	7 2 - 0	4	+5	102.0
1	Kirk Bevins	1833	11 2 - 0	6 2 - 1	8 2 - 1	5 2 - 0	2 0 - 2	4	+4	107.2
2	Junaid Mubeen	1781	12 2 - 0	8 0 - 2	10 2 - 1	4 2 - 1	1 2 - 0	4	+4	100.7
8	David O'Donnell	1577	18 2 - 0	2 2 - 0	1 1 - 2	20 2 - 0	4 1 - 2	3	+4	98.7
9	Andrew Hulme	1575	20 0 - 2	22 2 - 0	25 2 - 0	21 0 - 0	23 2 - 0	3	+4	80.8
6	Dinos Sfyris	1597	16 2 - 1	1 1 - 2	23 2 - 0	17 0 - 1	21 2 - 0	3	+3	98.9
7	Kai Laddiman	1579	17 1 - 2	21 2 - 0	24 2 - 0	16 2 - 0	3 0 - 2	3	+3	95.3
16	Jim Bentley	1318	6 1 - 2	29 2 - 0	31 2 - 0	7 0 - 2	30 2 - 0	3	+3	82.9
31	Simon Myers	1058	21 1 - 2	37 2 - 0	16 0 - 2	18 2 - 0	14 2 - 1	3	+2	83.2
11	James Hurrell	1549	1 0 - 2	24 2 - 0	27 2 - 0	28 2 - 1	5 0 - 2	3	+1	96.4
27	Andy Kravis	1104	37 2 - 1	14 0 - 0	11 0 - 2	15 2 - 1	12 2 - 1	3	+1	83.5
10	Damian Eadie	1550	19 2 - 0	3 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	25 0 - 0	25 0 - 0	2	+3	98.4
14	Martin May	1338	4 1 - 2	27 0 - 0	36 2 - 0	29 2 - 0	31 1 - 2	2	+2	96.2
17	Neil Zussman	1307	7 2 - 1	4 0 - 2	32 2 - 0	6 1 - 0	33 0 - 0	2	+2	92.4
26	Peter Lee	1119	36 0 - 0	13 0 - 2	40 0 - 0	40 2 - 0	37 2 - 0	2	+2	85.7
28	Aaron Higgs	1086	38 2 - 0	15 2 - 1	4 0 - 2	11 1 - 2	13 1 - 2	2	-1	89.8
15	Jack Hurst	1325	5 0 - 2	28 1 - 2	37 2 - 0	27 1 - 2	20 2 - 1	2	-1	82.5
21	Ross Allatt	1177	31 2 - 1	7 0 - 2	35 2 - 0	9 0 - 0	6 0 - 2	2	-1	81.6
23	Henry Meier	1164	33 1 - 2	36 2 - 0	6 0 - 2	32 2 - 0	9 0 - 2	2	-1	81.1
22	Donald Gordon	1165	32 2 - 1	9 0 - 2	3 0 - 2	34 0 - 0	35 2 - 0	2	-1	80.8
18	Julie Taylor	1256	8 0 - 2	30 1 - 2	38 2 - 0	31 0 - 2	32 2 - 0	2	-1	80.3
12	Oliver Garner	1469	2 0 - 2	25 2 - 0	29 2 - 0	3 0 - 2	27 1 - 2	2	-1	78.6
30	Tom Rowell	1065	40 0 - 0	18 2 - 1	13 0 - 2	19 2 - 0	16 0 - 2	2	-1	77.3
20	Richard Priest	1255	9 2 - 0	5 0 - 2	34 2 - 0	8 0 - 2	15 1 - 2	2	-1	72.5
33	Matt Morrison	1033	23 2 - 1	19 2 - 1	5 0 - 2	13 0 - 2	17 0 - 0	2	-2	72.1
29	Jeff Burgin	1076	39 2 - 1	16 0 - 2	12 0 - 2	14 0 - 2	38 2 - 0	2	-3	77.4
34	Jay Murphy	1031	24 0 - 2	40 2 - 0	20 0 - 2	22 0 - 0	19 0 - 0	1	-2	91.7
24	Mark Harrison	1135	34 2 - 0	11 0 - 2	7 0 - 2	35 0 - 0	36 0 - 0	1	-2	74.2
36	James Levison	884	26 0 - 0	23 0 - 2	14 0 - 2	38 2 - 0	24 0 - 0	1	-2	58.7
35	Julie Russell	934	25 1 - 2	39 2 - 0	21 0 - 2	24 0 - 0	22 0 - 2	1	-3	81.9
19	Ian Volante	1255	10 0 - 2	33 1 - 2	39 2 - 0	30 0 - 2	34 0 - 0	1	-3	69.6
40	Ben Ziek	619	30 0 - 0	34 0 - 2	26 0 - 0	26 0 - 2	39 2 - 1	1	-3	63
25	James Doohan	1126	35 2 - 1	12 0 - 2	9 0 - 2	10 0 - 0	10 0 - 0	1	-3	53.6
32	Paul Erdunast	1047	22 1 - 2	38 2 - 1	17 0 - 2	23 0 - 2	18 0 - 2	1	-6	80.4
37	Marc Meakin	850	27 1 - 2	31 0 - 2	15 0 - 2	39 2 - 1	26 0 - 2	1	-6	69.3
39	Ian Dent	665	29 1 - 2	35 0 - 2	19 0 - 2	37 1 - 2	40 1 - 2	0	-7	65.3
38	Niall Seymour	834	28 0 - 2	32 1 - 2	18 0 - 2	36 0 - 2	29 0 - 2	0	-9	64.7

Congratulations to Innis Carson for topping the charts, and thanks to everybody for making this work.

Rather Delayed Apterous Summer Tournaments Week 4

Oops! Here are some rather tardy crosstables before the last week.

For the Open:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Overall	Games	PPG
1	Kirk Bevins	1833	11 2 - 0	6 2 - 1	8 2 - 1	5 2 - 0	4	+6	110
8	David O'Donnell	1577	18 2 - 0	2 2 - 0	1 1 - 2	20 2 - 0	3	+5	102
7	Kai Laddiman	1579	17 1 - 2	21 2 - 0	24 2 - 0	16 2 - 0	3	+5	93.3
4	Charlie Reams	1643	14 2 - 1	17 2 - 0	28 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	3	+4	102
5	Innis Carson	1625	15 2 - 0	20 2 - 0	33 2 - 0	1 0 - 2	3	+4	71.1
11	James Hurrell	1549	1 0 - 2	24 2 - 0	27 2 - 0	28 2 - 1	3	+3	99.2
3	Jon Corby	1696	13 2 - 1	10 0 - 2	22 2 - 0	12 2 - 0	3	+3	97.6
2	Junaid Mubeen	1781	12 2 - 0	8 0 - 2	10 2 - 1	4 2 - 1	3	+2	99.5
14	Martin May	1338	4 1 - 2	27 0 - 0	36 2 - 0	29 2 - 0	2	+3	101
10	Damian Eadie	1550	19 2 - 0	3 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	25 0 - 0	2	+3	98.4
13	Ben Wilson	1457	3 1 - 2	26 2 - 0	30 2 - 0	33 0 - 0	2	+3	92
17	Neil Zussman	1307	7 2 - 1	4 0 - 2	32 2 - 0	6 1 - 0	2	+2	92.4
9	Andrew Hulme	1575	20 0 - 2	22 2 - 0	25 2 - 0	21 0 - 0	2	+2	70.7
6	Dinos Sfyris	1597	16 2 - 1	1 1 - 2	23 2 - 0	17 0 - 1	2	+1	97
21	Ross Allatt	1177	31 2 - 1	7 0 - 2	35 2 - 0	9 0 - 0	2	+1	83.7
16	Jim Bentley	1318	6 1 - 2	29 2 - 0	31 2 - 0	7 0 - 2	2	+1	81.1
30	Tom Rowell	1065	40 0 - 0	18 2 - 1	13 0 - 2	19 2 - 0	2	+1	80.3
31	Simon Myers	1058	21 1 - 2	37 2 - 0	16 0 - 2	18 2 - 0	2	+1	79.9
23	Henry Meier	1164	33 1 - 2	36 2 - 0	6 0 - 2	32 2 - 0	2	+1	79.8
28	Aaron Higgs	1086	38 2 - 0	15 2 - 1	4 0 - 2	11 1 - 2	2	+0	90.1
27	Andy Kravis	1104	37 2 - 1	14 0 - 0	11 0 - 2	15 2 - 1	2	+0	80
12	Oliver Garner	1469	2 0 - 2	25 2 - 0	29 2 - 0	3 0 - 2	2	+0	70.9
20	Richard Priest	1255	9 2 - 0	5 0 - 2	34 2 - 0	8 0 - 2	2	+0	63
33	Matt Morrison	1033	23 2 - 1	19 2 - 1	5 0 - 2	13 0 - 0	2	+0	59.8
26	Peter Lee	1119	36 0 - 0	13 0 - 2	40 0 - 0	40 2 - 0	1	+0	84.5
35	Julie Russell	934	25 1 - 2	39 2 - 0	21 0 - 2	24 0 - 0	1	-1	84.1
34	Jay Murphy	1031	24 0 - 2	40 2 - 0	20 0 - 2	22 0 - 0	1	-2	91.7
15	Jack Hurst	1325	5 0 - 2	28 1 - 2	37 2 - 0	27 1 - 2	1	-2	79.1
24	Mark Harrison	1135	34 2 - 0	11 0 - 2	7 0 - 2	35 0 - 0	1	-2	74.2
36	James Levison	884	26 0 - 0	23 0 - 2	14 0 - 2	38 2 - 0	1	-2	58.7
18	Matt Bayfield	1256	8 0 - 2	30 1 - 2	38 2 - 0	31 0 - 2	1	-3	77.6
22	Donald Gordon	1165	32 2 - 1	9 0 - 2	3 0 - 2	34 0 - 0	1	-3	76.7
19	Ian Volante	1255	10 0 - 2	33 1 - 2	39 2 - 0	30 0 - 2	1	-3	69.6
25	James Doohan	1126	35 2 - 1	12 0 - 2	9 0 - 2	10 0 - 0	1	-3	53.6
32	Paul Erdunast	1047	22 1 - 2	38 2 - 1	17 0 - 2	23 0 - 2	1	-4	81
37	Marc Meakin	850	27 1 - 2	31 0 - 2	15 0 - 2	39 2 - 1	1	-4	69
29	Jeff Burgin	1076	39 2 - 1	16 0 - 2	12 0 - 2	14 0 - 2	1	-5	73.8
40	Ben Ziek	619	30 0 - 0	34 0 - 2	26 0 - 0	26 0 - 2	0	-4	54.5
39	Ian Dent	665	29 1 - 2	35 0 - 2	19 0 - 2	37 1 - 2	0	-6	64.9
38	Niall Seymour	834	28 0 - 2	32 1 - 2	18 0 - 2	36 0 - 2	0	-7	65.7

Kirk tries to survive unbeaten against Junaid, while Junaid tries to create a massive tie for the top spot.

The U1200:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Overall	Games	PPG
2	Matthew Green	1183	16 2 - 0	13 2 - 1	14 2 - 0	12 2 - 0	4	+7	87.1
11	Jeff Clayton	1115	25 2 - 1	19 2 - 0	17 2 - 1	15 2 - 0	4	+6	87.7
6	Marcus Hares	1162	21 2 - 0	14 1 - 2	19 2 - 0	17 2 - 1	3	+4	86.7
7	Mark Harrison	1135	20 0 - 2	26 2 - 0	21 2 - 0	18 2 - 0	3	+4	86.3
15	Lesley Hines	1072	28 2 - 0	8 2 - 0	1 2 - 0	11 0 - 2	3	+4	42.5
13	Aaron Higgs	1086	27 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	4 2 - 1	3 2 - 1	3	+3	89.6
12	Andy Kravis	1104	26 2 - 0	20 2 - 0	18 2 - 1	2 0 - 2	3	+3	87.3
20	Matt Morrison	1033	7 2 - 0	12 0 - 2	8 2 - 0	9 2 - 1	3	+3	79.6
5	Henry Meier	1164	19 1 - 2	25 2 - 0	16 2 - 1	14 0 - 0	2	+2	102
3	Ross Allatt	1177	18 1 - 2	23 2 - 0	10 2 - 0	13 1 - 2	2	+2	77.6
14	Jeff Burgin	1076	1 2 - 0	6 2 - 1	2 0 - 2	5 0 - 0	2	+1	99
17	Simon Myers	1058	4 2 - 1	9 2 - 0	11 1 - 2	6 1 - 2	2	+1	80.8
9	Tyron Potts	1121	23 2 - 0	17 0 - 2	22 2 - 0	20 1 - 2	2	+1	79.1
16	Tom Rowell	1065	2 0 - 2	27 2 - 0	5 1 - 2	24 2 - 0	2	+1	78.9
4	Donald Gordon	1165	17 1 - 2	24 2 - 1	13 1 - 2	23 2 - 0	2	+1	78.3
18	Paul Erdunast	1047	3 2 - 1	10 2 - 0	12 1 - 2	7 0 - 2	2	+0	76
21	Jay Murphy	1031	6 0 - 2	28 2 - 0	7 0 - 2	25 2 - 0	2	+0	56.1
10	Peter Lee	1119	24 2 - 1	18 0 - 2	3 0 - 2	28 2 - 0	2	-1	74.6
8	James Doohan	1126	22 2 - 0	15 0 - 2	20 0 - 2	1 0 - 0	1	-2	54.3
24	Shaun Hegarty	983	10 1 - 2	4 1 - 2	27 2 - 1	16 0 - 2	1	-3	74.1
22	Peter Crawley	1004	8 0 - 2	1 1 - 2	9 0 - 2	19 2 - 0	1	-3	72.6
1	Barry Evans	1199	14 0 - 2	22 2 - 1	15 0 - 2	8 0 - 0	1	-3	54
23	Liam Tiernan	984	9 0 - 2	3 0 - 2	26 2 - 0	4 0 - 2	1	-4	68.5
27	Andy Wilson	898	13 0 - 2	16 0 - 2	24 1 - 2	26 2 - 1	1	-4	67.5
28	Ian Dent	665	15 0 - 2	21 0 - 2	25 2 - 0	10 0 - 2	1	-4	38.5
19	Daniel O'Dowd	1043	5 2 - 1	11 0 - 2	6 0 - 2	22 0 - 2	1	-5	74.3
26	Phil Collinge	900	12 0 - 2	7 0 - 2	23 0 - 2	27 1 - 2	0	-7	69.4
25	Rob Thomas	928	11 1 - 2	5 0 - 2	28 0 - 2	21 0 - 2	0	-7	35.1

A de facto final game in this division, with the two last undefeated players squaring off.

In the U1000:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Overall	Games	PPG
1	Liam Tiernan	984	10 2 - 0	7 2 - 0	5 2 - 1	4 1 - 2	2 0 - 0	3	+4	81.8
2	Shaun Hegarty	983	9 2 - 1	8 2 - 1	6 2 - 1	3 2 - 0	1 0 - 0	4	+5	86.1
3	Jason Turner	958	8 2 - 0	6 0 - 2	4 0 - 2	2 0 - 2	9 0 - 0	1	-4	75.6
4	James Hall	955	7 2 - 0	5 2 - 0	3 2 - 0	1 2 - 1	10 0 - 0	4	+7	83.4
5	Julie Russell	934	6 2 - 0	4 0 - 2	1 1 - 2	10 2 - 0	7 0 - 0	2	+1	77.7
6	Phil Collinge	900	5 0 - 2	3 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	9 2 - 1	8 0 - 0	2	+0	82.9
7	Andy Wilson	898	4 0 - 2	1 0 - 2	10 2 - 1	8 2 - 0	5 0 - 0	2	-1	73.3
8	James Levison	884	3 0 - 2	2 1 - 2	9 0 - 2	7 0 - 2	6 0 - 0	0	-7	65
9	Niall Seymour	834	2 1 - 2	10 2 - 0	8 2 - 0	6 1 - 2	3 0 - 0	2	+2	80.8
10	Ian Dent	665	1 0 - 2	9 0 - 2	7 1 - 2	5 0 - 2	4 0 - 0	0	-7	57

If James Hall can finish it off against Ian Dent this week, then there will be a special final match between Shaun Hegarty and James Hall.

Apterous Summer U1200 Week 3

Heading into the homestretch here, with two weeks to go and four undefeated players, three of whom come from the middle of the pack. Those players marked with * by their names are on the injured reserve list (i.e., they have vanished). With any luck, Lesley H will get to play a game this week. The crosstable:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Overall	Games	PPG
1	Barry Evans	1199	14 0 - 2	22 2 - 1	15 0 - 2F	21 0 - 0	1	-3	54
2	Matthew Green	1183	16 2 - 0	13 2 - 1	14 2 - 0	12 0 - 0	3	+5	86.6
3	Ross Allatt	1177	18 1 - 2	23 2 - 0	10 2 - 0	13 0 - 0	2	+3	76.9
4	Donald Gordon	1165	17 1 - 2	24 2 - 1	13 1 - 2	23 0 - 0	1	-1	74.3
5	Henry Meier	1164	19 1 - 2	25 2 - 0	16 2 - 1	14 0 - 0	2	+2	79.6
6	Marcus Hares	1162	21 2 - 0	14 1 - 2	19 2 - 0	17 0 - 0	2	+3	89.6
7	Mark Harrison	1135	20 0 - 2	26 2 - 0	21 2 - 0	18 0 - 0	2	+2	86.3
8	James Doohan*	1126	22 2 - 0	15 0 - 2F	20 0 - 2	25 0 - 0	1	-2	54.3
9	Tyron Potts	1121	23 2 - 0	17 0 - 2	22 2 - 0	20 0 - 0	2	+2	83.8
10	Peter Lee	1119	24 2 - 1	18 0 - 2	3 0 - 2	28 0 - 0	1	-3	71.9
11	Jeff Clayton	1115	25 2 - 1	19 2 - 0	17 2 - 1	15 0 - 0	3	+4	88.3
12	Andy Kravis	1104	26 2 - 0	20 2 - 0	18 2 - 1	2 0 - 0	3	+5	90.3
13	Aaron Higgs	1086	27 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	4 2 - 1	3 0 - 0	2	+2	90.3
14	Jeff Burgin	1076	1 2 - 0	6 2 - 1	2 0 - 2	5 0 - 0	2	+1	76.3
15	Lesley Hines	1072	28 2 - 0	8 2 - 0F	1 2 - 0F	11 0 - 0	3	+6	30.3
16	Tom Rowell	1065	2 0 - 2	27 2 - 0	5 1 - 2	24 0 - 0	1	-1	78.7
17	Simon Myers	1058	4 2 - 1	9 2 - 0	11 1 - 2	6 0 - 0	2	+2	83.8
18	Paul Erdunast	1047	3 2 - 1	10 2 - 0	12 1 - 2	7 0 - 0	2	+2	76.9
19	Daniel O'Dowd	1043	5 2 - 1	11 0 - 2	6 0 - 2	22 0 - 0	1	-3	78
20	Matt Morrison	1033	7 2 - 0	12 0 - 2	8 2 - 0	9 0 - 0	2	+2	81.2
21	Jay Murphy	1031	6 0 - 2	28 2 - 0	7 0 - 2	1 0 - 0	1	-2	74.5
22	Peter Crawley	1004	8 0 - 2	1 1 - 2	9 0 - 2	19 0 - 0	0	-5	68.6
23	Liam Tiernan	984	9 0 - 2	3 0 - 2	26 2 - 0	4 0 - 0	1	-2	74.3
24	Shaun Hegarty	983	10 1 - 2	4 1 - 2	27 2 - 1	16 0 - 0	1	-1	75.7
25	Rob Thomas*	928	11 1 - 2	5 0 - 2	28 0 - 2F	8 0 - 0	0	-5	45.1
26	Phil Collinge	900	12 0 - 2	7 0 - 2	23 0 - 2	27 0 - 0	0	-6	68.2
27	Andy Wilson	898	13 0 - 2	16 0 - 2	24 1 - 2	26 0 - 0	0	-5	63.6
28	Ian Dent	665	15 0 - 2	21 0 - 2	25 2 - 0F	10 0 - 0	1	-2	32.5

Notes: I played James Doohan's round 3 match. Matches listed as 0-0 are treated as unplayed; matches marked with "F" are treated as two 1-0 walkovers (good for the first tiebreaker, games won minus games lost; bad for the second, points per game).

Apterous Summer Open Week 3

Some terrific matches at the top this week (Kirk overcoming 14 maxes by D O'D to win?!) and there are going to be come terrific matches at the top this week too. The middle is sorting itself out (it always takes a little bit in an accelerated schedule); hopefully this week's matches will be more fun for the "average bloke".

This week, because you've earned it, I've sorted the crosstable by standings. I've left in the players who are currently on injured reserve (i.e., either they've withdrawn themselves or they've missed two games) so that you can see who they've played, but put a * next to their name. The standings, then:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Overall	Games	PPG
5	Innis Carson	1625	15 2 - 0	20 2 - 0	33 2 - 0F	1 0 - 0	3	+6	66.7
4	Charlie Reams	1643	14 2 - 1	17 2 - 0	28 2 - 0	2 0 - 0	3	+5	105
1	Kirk Bevins	1833	11 2 - 0	6 2 - 1	8 2 - 1	5 0 - 0	3	+4	111
8	David O'Donnell	1577	18 2 - 0	2 2 - 0	1 1 - 2	20 0 - 0	2	+3	103
10	Damian Eadie*	1550	19 2 - 0	3 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	25 0 - 0	2	+3	98.4
7	Kai Laddiman	1579	17 1 - 2	21 2 - 0	24 2 - 0	16 0 - 0	2	+3	93.6
13	Ben Wilson	1457	3 1 - 2	26 2 - 0	30 2 - 0	33 0 - 0	2	+3	92
16	Jim Bentley	1318	6 1 - 2	29 2 - 0	31 2 - 0	7 0 - 0	2	+3	89.6
6	Dinos Sfyris	1597	16 2 - 1	1 1 - 2	23 2 - 0	17 0 - 0	2	+2	97.9
11	James Hurrell	1549	1 0 - 2	24 2 - 0	27 2 - 0	28 0 - 0	2	+2	97.8
9	Andrew Hulme	1575	20 0 - 2F	22 2 - 0	25 2 - 0	21 0 - 0	2	+2	70.7
12	Oliver Garner	1469	2 0 - 2	25 2 - 0F	29 2 - 0	3 0 - 0	2	+2	66.3
20	Richard Priest	1255	9 2 - 0F	5 0 - 2	34 2 - 0	8 0 - 0	2	+2	56.2
2	Junaid Mubeen	1781	12 2 - 0	8 0 - 2	10 2 - 1	4 0 - 0	2	+1	100
3	Jon Corby	1696	13 2 - 1	10 0 - 2	22 2 - 0	12 0 - 0	2	+1	96.7
17	Neil Zussman	1307	7 2 - 1	4 0 - 2	32 2 - 0	6 0 - 0	2	+1	91.6
28	Aaron Higgs	1086	38 2 - 0	15 2 - 1	4 0 - 2	11 0 - 0	2	+1	87.6
21	Ross Allatt	1177	31 2 - 1	7 0 - 2	35 2 - 0	9 0 - 0	2	+1	83.7
33	Matt Morrison	1033	23 2 - 1	19 2 - 1	5 0 - 2F	13 0 - 0	2	+0	59.8
14	Martin May	1338	4 1 - 2	27 0 - 0	36 2 - 0	29 0 - 0	1	+1	101
35	Julie Russell	934	25 1 - 2	39 2 - 0	21 0 - 2	24 0 - 0	1	-1	84.1
18	Julie Taylor	1256	8 0 - 2	30 1 - 2	38 2 - 0	31 0 - 0	1	-1	81.6
31	Simon Myers	1058	21 1 - 2	37 2 - 0	16 0 - 2	18 0 - 0	1	-1	78.6
23	Henry Meier	1164	33 1 - 2	36 2 - 0	6 0 - 2	32 0 - 0	1	-1	78.3
15	Jack Hurst	1325	5 0 - 2	28 1 - 2	37 2 - 0	27 0 - 0	1	-1	78
27	Andy Kravis	1104	37 2 - 1	14 0 - 0	11 0 - 2	15 0 - 0	1	-1	76.2
30	Tom Rowell	1065	40 0 - 0	18 2 - 1	13 0 - 2	19 0 - 0	1	-1	72.8
19	Ian Volante	1255	10 0 - 2	33 1 - 2	39 2 - 0	30 0 - 0	1	-1	69.4
34	Jay Murphy	1031	24 0 - 2	40 2 - 0	20 0 - 2	22 0 - 0	1	-2	91.7
32	Paul Erdunast	1047	22 1 - 2	38 2 - 1	17 0 - 2	23 0 - 0	1	-2	83.1
24	Mark Harrison	1135	34 2 - 0	11 0 - 2	7 0 - 2	35 0 - 0	1	-2	74.2
22	Donald Gordon	1165	32 2 - 1	9 0 - 2	3 0 - 2	34 0 - 0	1	-3	76.7
29	Jeff Burgin	1076	39 2 - 1	16 0 - 2	12 0 - 2	14 0 - 0	1	-3	74.3
25	James Doohan*	1126	35 2 - 1	12 0 - 2F	9 0 - 2	10 0 - 0	1	-3	53.6
26	Peter Lee*	1119	36 0 - 0	13 0 - 2	40 0 - 0	40 0 - 0	0	-2	71
40	Ben Ziek*	619	30 0 - 0	34 0 - 2	26 0 - 0	26 0 - 0	0	-2	51.5
36	James Levison	884	26 0 - 0	23 0 - 2	14 0 - 2	38 0 - 0	0	-4	46.8
37	Marc Meakin	850	27 1 - 2	31 0 - 2	15 0 - 2	39 0 - 0	0	-5	65.6
38	Niall Seymour	834	28 0 - 2	32 1 - 2	18 0 - 2	36 0 - 0	0	-5	65.6
39	Ian Dent	665	29 1 - 2	35 0 - 2	19 0 - 2	37 0 - 0	0	-5	59.1

Some notes for completeness: I played James Doohan's round 3 match; Matt Bayfield played Julie Taylor's round 1 match; pairings are, as always, based on seeds not performance to date, hence Junaid was "promoted" to play an undefeated player last week and this as the top-seeded one-loss player; games scored as 0-0 are treated as unplayed, while those marked with "F" are treated as two 1-0 walkovers (good for the first tiebreaker, games won minus games lost; bad for the second tiebreaker, which is points per game).

Apterous Summer U1000 Week 3

Edit: Phil and Shaun finished their game, so round 3 has completed. The crosstable:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Overall	Games	PPG
1	Liam Tiernan	984	10 2 - 0	7 2 - 0	5 2 - 1	4 0 - 0	3	+5	82.3
2	Shaun Hegarty	983	9 2 - 1	8 2 - 1	6 2 - 1	3 0 - 0	3	+3	86.3
3	Jason Turner	958	8 2 - 0	6 0 - 2	4 0 - 2	2 0 - 0	1	-2	80.2
4	James Hall	955	7 2 - 0	5 2 - 0	3 2 - 0	1 0 - 0	3	+6	85.5
5	Julie Russell	934	6 2 - 0	4 0 - 2	1 1 - 2	10 0 - 0	1	-1	78.3
6	Phil Collinge	900	5 0 - 2	3 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	9 0 - 0	1	-1	84
7	Andy Wilson	898	4 0 - 2	1 0 - 2	10 2 - 1	8 0 - 0	1	-3	72.7
8	James Levison	884	3 0 - 2	2 1 - 2	9 0 - 2	7 0 - 0	0	-5	68.3
9	Niall Seymour	834	2 1 - 2	10 2 - 0	8 2 - 0	6 0 - 0	2	+3	80.1
10	Ian Dent	665	1 0 - 2	9 0 - 2	7 1 - 2	5 0 - 0	0	-5	61.4

This week will decide the winner of pool 1 (sort of the semifinals if you will): Liam Tiernan can win the pool with a win; and with a win James Hall would put himself in the driver's seat (he would still have to get past Ian D to clinch it); if James does go through we will have to have an extra game in week 5. Shaun Hegarty is now the only undefeated player left in pool 2 and is guaranteed to at least be tied at the top when the dust settles.

Apterous Summer U800 Week 3 -- the playoffs begin

So pool play is over (more or less) for the U800 group; our final standings in the preliminary phase look like this:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Overall	Games	PPG	Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Overall	Games	PPG
4	Ian Dent	665	5 2 - 0	8 2 - 0	1 0 - 0	2	+4	69.5	2	Maxine Silkstone	722	7 2 - 0	6 1 - 2	3 2 - 1	2	+2	74.4
1	Adam Dexter	724	8 2 - 0	5 0 - 0	4 0 - 0	1	+2	80.5	6	Ben Ziek	619	3 2 - 1	2 2 - 1	7 0 - 0	2	+2	71
5	James Leroux	662	4 0 - 2	1 0 - 0	8 2 - 0	1	+0	61	7	Steve Rogers	461	2 0 -2	3 0 - 0	6 0 - 0	0	-2	68.5
8	Supee Juachan	378	1 0 -2	4 0 - 2	5 0 - 2	0	-6	42.3	3	Gregor Morgan	686	6 1 - 2	7 0 - 0	2 1 - 2	0	-2	67

This brings us now to the playoff phase: the top two from each pool will go into the top playoff bracket, and play against their counterparts in the other bracket. (The game between, say, Maxine Silkstone and Ben Ziek will travel with them into the playoff bracket.) Unplayed matches between individuals now in different playoff brackets will remain double zeros forevermore; matches between players in the same playoff bracket can still be made up (and are listed again on the schedule). So the new pools, and the carryover games:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Overall	Games	PPG	Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Overall	Games	PPG
1	Adam Dexter	724	4 0 - 0	2 0 -0	6 0 - 0	0	+0	-1.#J	3	Gregor Morgan	686	7 0 - 0	5 0 - 0	8 0 - 0	0	+0	-1.#J
2	Maxine Silkstone	722	6 1 -2	1 0 - 0	4 0 - 0	0	-1	67.3	5	James Leroux	662	8 2 - 0	3 0 - 0	7 0 - 0	1	+2	72.5
4	Ian Dent	665	1 0 - 0	6 0 - 0	2 0 - 0	0	+0	-1.#J	7	Steve Rogers	461	3 0 - 0	8 0 - 0	5 0 - 0	0	+0	-1.#J
6	Ben Ziek	619	2 2 - 1	4 0 - 0	1 0 - 0	1	+1	72.7	8	Supee Juachan	378	5 0 - 2	7 0 - 0	3 0 - 0	0	-2	54.5

The left side, of course, is the top bracket, and the right side is the lower bracket. Round 1 was (or should have been) played already, and this week is round 2 of the playoffs.

Apterous Summer Open Week 2

And finally, the big one. Again, a little trouble with scheduling, as two matches ended up unplayed this week. (Still, that's a 90% completion rate which isn't too bad.) Seven players remain undefeated going into this week's play. Three or four of them will remain so for next week.

The table: (again in seed order, not in order of results):

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Overall	Games	PPG
1	Kirk Bevins	1833	11 2 - 0	6 2 - 1	8 0 - 0	2	+3	110
2	Junaid Mubeen	1781	12 2 - 0	8 0 - 2	10 0 - 0	1	+0	99.5
3	Jon Corby	1696	13 2 - 1	10 0 - 2	22 0 - 0	1	-1	92.2
4	Charlie Reams	1643	14 2 - 1	17 2 - 0	28 0 - 0	2	+3	105
5	Innis Carson	1625	15 2 - 0	20 2 - 0	33 0 - 0	2	+4	99.5
6	Dinos Sfyris	1597	16 2 - 1	1 1 - 2	23 0 - 0	1	+0	96.5
7	Kai Laddiman	1579	17 1 - 2	21 2 - 0	24 0 - 0	1	+1	94.8
8	David O'Donnell	1577	18 2 - 0	2 2 - 0	1 0 - 0	2	+4	101
9	Andrew Hulme	1575	20 0 - 2	22 2 - 0	25 0 - 0	1	+0	54.5
10	Damian Eadie	1550	19 2 - 0	3 2 - 0	2 0 - 0	2	+4	106
11	James Hurrell	1549	1 0 - 2	24 2 - 0	27 0 - 0	1	+0	96
12	Oliver Garner	1469	2 0 - 2	25 2 - 0	29 0 - 0	1	+0	50
13	Ben Wilson	1457	3 1 - 2	26 2 - 0	30 0 - 0	1	+1	88.4
14	Martin May	1338	4 1 - 2	27 0 - 0	36 0 - 0	0	-1	97
15	Jack Hurst	1325	5 0 - 2	28 1 - 2	37 0 - 0	0	-3	76
16	Jim Bentley	1318	6 1 - 2	29 2 - 0	31 0 - 0	1	+1	89.4
17	Neil Zussman	1307	7 2 - 1	4 0 - 2	32 0 - 0	1	-1	89.4
18	Matt Bayfield	1256	8 0 - 2	30 1 - 2	38 0 - 0	0	-3	77.6
19	Ian Volante	1255	10 0 - 2	33 1 - 2	39 0 - 0	0	-3	67.8
20	Richard Priest	1255	9 2 - 0	5 0 - 2	34 0 - 0	1	+0	40.3
21	Ross Allatt	1177	31 2 - 1	7 0 - 2	35 0 - 0	1	-1	77.2
22	Donald Gordon	1165	32 2 - 1	9 0 - 2	3 0 - 0	1	-1	79.2
23	Henry Meier	1164	33 1 - 2	36 2 - 0	6 0 - 0	1	+1	83.4
24	Mark Harrison	1135	34 2 - 0	11 0 - 2	7 0 - 0	1	+0	82.5
25	James Doohan	1126	35 2 - 1	12 0 - 2	9 0 - 0	1	-1	50.2
26	Peter Lee	1119	36 0 - 0	13 0 - 2	40 0 - 0	0	-2	71
27	Andy Kravis	1104	37 2 - 1	14 0 - 0	11 0 - 0	1	+1	77
28	Aaron Higgs	1086	38 2 - 0	15 2 - 1	4 0 - 0	2	+3	95.4
29	Jeff Burgin	1076	39 2 - 1	16 0 - 2	12 0 - 0	1	-1	79.8
30	Tom Rowell	1065	40 0 - 0	18 2 - 1	13 0 - 0	1	+1	84.7
31	Simon Myers	1058	21 1 - 2	37 2 - 0	16 0 - 0	1	+1	79.4
32	Paul Erdunast	1047	22 1 - 2	38 2 - 1	17 0 - 0	1	+0	83.8
33	Matt Morrison	1033	23 2 - 1	19 2 - 1	5 0 - 0	2	+2	79.7
34	Jay Murphy	1031	24 0 - 2	40 2 - 0	20 0 - 0	1	+0	97.3
35	Julie Russell	934	25 1 - 2	39 2 - 0	21 0 - 0	1	+1	81.8
36	James Levison	884	26 0 - 0	23 0 - 2	14 0 - 0	0	-2	54
37	Marc Meakin	850	27 1 - 2	31 0 - 2	15 0 - 0	0	-3	69.6
38	Niall Seymour	834	28 0 - 2	32 1 - 2	18 0 - 0	0	-3	65.2
39	Ian Dent	665	29 1 - 2	35 0 - 2	19 0 - 0	0	-3	61.8
40	Ben Ziek	619	30 0 - 0	34 0 - 2	26 0 - 0	0	-2	51.5

Some very good matchups this week: Bevins-O'Donnell; Mubeen-Eadie. The giant-killers get another shot: Aaron Higgs vs. Charlie; Matt Morrison vs. Innis. The honor of the Ian is at stake with Ian Volante - Ian Dent.

Apterous Summer U1200 Week 2

A few more upsets. You might expect the top 7 to be 2-0 (they aren't), the middle 14 to be 1-1 (they aren't), and the bottom 7 to be 0-2 (alas, they are). Some interesting matchups, although the "closest" in terms of rating are in the 1-1 group. Surprisingly, Matt Morrison is doing worse here than he is in the Open; and Peter Crawley can't catch a break with his third top-10-seed opponent in three matches, despite being 0-2. (Since there's an odd number of 0-2 players, the top seed (which he is) gets promoted to the bottom player in the 1-1 group, so he's playing the middle player with that record. You would expect, in a normal tournament, for that to be #15 or so, but not this time.)

Here's the table (in seed order, not in order of results):

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Overall	Games	PPG
1	Barry Evans	1199	14 0 - 2	22 2 - 1	15 0 - 0	1	-1	75.6
2	Matthew Green	1183	16 2 - 0	13 2 - 1	14 0 - 0	2	+3	84.4
3	Ross Allatt	1177	18 1 - 2	23 2 - 0	10 0 - 0	1	+1	77.6
4	Donald Gordon	1165	17 1 - 2	24 2 - 1	13 0 - 0	1	+0	73.7
5	Henry Meier	1164	19 1 - 2	25 2 - 0	16 0 - 0	1	+1	76.4
6	Marcus Hares	1162	21 2 - 0	14 1 - 2	19 0 - 0	1	+1	89.2
7	Mark Harrison	1135	20 0 - 2	26 2 - 0	21 0 - 0	1	+0	88.8
8	James Doohan	1126	22 2 - 0	15 0 - 2	20 0 - 0	1	+0	44.8
9	Tyron Potts	1121	23 2 - 0	17 0 - 2	22 0 - 0	1	+0	79.8
10	Peter Lee	1119	24 2 - 1	18 0 - 2	3 0 - 0	1	-1	75.8
11	Jeff Clayton	1115	25 2 - 1	19 2 - 0	17 0 - 0	2	+3	86.8
12	Andy Kravis	1104	26 2 - 0	20 2 - 0	18 0 - 0	2	+4	94
13	Aaron Higgs	1086	27 2 - 0	2 1 - 2	4 0 - 0	1	+1	87.6
14	Jeff Burgin	1076	1 2 - 0	6 2 - 1	2 0 - 0	2	+3	84.2
15	Lesley Hines	1072	28 2 - 0	8 2 - 0	1 0 - 0	2	+4	45
16	Tom Rowell	1065	2 0 - 2	27 2 - 0	5 0 - 0	1	+0	76.3
17	Simon Myers	1058	4 2 - 1	9 2 - 0	11 0 - 0	2	+3	84
18	Paul Erdunast	1047	3 2 - 1	10 2 - 0	12 0 - 0	2	+3	75.8
19	Daniel O'Dowd	1043	5 2 - 1	11 0 - 2	6 0 - 0	1	-1	78.8
20	Matt Morrison	1033	7 2 - 0	12 0 - 2	8 0 - 0	1	+0	74.5
21	Jay Murphy	1031	6 0 - 2	28 2 - 0	7 0 - 0	1	+0	79
22	Peter Crawley	1004	8 0 - 2	1 1 - 2	9 0 - 0	0	-3	73.4
23	Liam Tiernan	984	9 0 - 2	3 0 - 2	26 0 - 0	0	-4	69
24	Shaun Hegarty	983	10 1 - 2	4 1 - 2	27 0 - 0	0	-2	74.2
25	Rob Thomas	928	11 1 - 2	5 0 - 2	28 0 - 0	0	-3	63.2
26	Phil Collinge	900	12 0 - 2	7 0 - 2	23 0 - 0	0	-4	64.8
27	Andy Wilson	898	13 0 - 2	16 0 - 2	24 0 - 0	0	-4	61
28	Ian Dent	665	15 0 - 2	21 0 - 2	25 0 - 0	0	-4	48.3

Apterous Summer U800 Week 2

Only two of the four games were played this week, which makes me very unhappy. Fortunately, it's pool play so they can be made up without damage to the schedule. Perhaps unfortunately, we're coming to the end of the pool play so this is it, all games done this week or 0's for everybody.

Where we are right now:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Overall	Games	PPG
1	Adam Dexter	724	8 2 - 0	5 0 - 0	4 0 - 0	1	+2	80.5
2	Maxine Silkstone	722	7 2 - 0	6 1 - 2	3 0 - 0	1	+1	71
3	Gregor Morgan	686	6 1 - 2	7 0 - 0	2 0 - 0	0	-1	63
4	Ian Dent	665	5 2 - 0	8 2 - 0	1 0 - 0	2	+4	69.5
5	James Leroux	662	4 0 - 2	1 0 - 0	8 0 - 0	0	-2	49.5
6	Ben Ziek	619	3 2 - 1	2 2 - 1	7 0 - 0	2	+2	71
7	Steve Rogers	461	2 0 - 2	3 0 - 0	6 0 - 0	0	-2	68.5
8	Supee Juachan	378	1 0 - 2	4 0 - 2	5 0 - 0	0	-4	36.3

In Pool 1 (1/4/5/8), Ian Dent has the advantage at 2-0, and Adam Dexter is at 1-0. If Adam wins his second round game, then the third round game would end up just being for seeding, as Adam and Ian would be the qualifiers to the top playoff bracket. If Adam loses round 2 but wins round 3, then they would both be 2-1, and if James L can then win his third game he would also be 2-1, meaning game records would then be important.

In Pool 2 (2/3/6/7), Ben Ziek at 2-0 has the advantage; the only way for there to be a three-way tie in this pool is for Maxine to beat Gregor and for Steve to win out. If Ben wins his third game, then whoever can get to 2-1 will take the other top bracket spot.

Apterous Summer U1000 Week 2

Our modified round robin continues apace. The current state of play, with the matches for Week 3 is as follows:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Overall	Games	PPG
1	Liam Tiernan	984	10 2 - 0	7 2 - 0	5 0 - 0	2	+4	79.5
2	Shaun Hegarty	983	9 2 - 1	8 2 - 1	6 0 - 0	2	+2	86
3	Jason Turner	958	8 2 - 0	6 0 - 2	4 0 - 0	1	+0	84.8
4	James Hall	955	7 2 - 0	5 2 - 0	3 0 - 0	2	+4	84
5	Julie Russell	934	6 2 - 0	4 0 - 2	1 0 - 0	1	+0	85.3
6	Phil Collinge	900	5 0 - 2	3 2 - 0	2 0 - 0	1	+0	89.3
7	Andy Wilson	898	4 0 - 2	1 0 - 2	10 0 - 0	0	-4	70.8
8	James Levison	884	3 0 - 2	2 1 - 2	9 0 - 0	0	-3	72.6
9	Niall Seymour	834	2 1 - 2	10 2 - 0	8 0 - 0	1	+1	74.6
10	Ian Dent	665	1 0 - 2	9 0 - 2	7 0 - 0	0	-4	58.8

Liam Tiernan and James Hall are still undefeated in pool 1, while Shaun Hegarty and Phil Collinge are undefeated in pool 2 (although Phil did lose his crossover game in week 1). Even more exciting is the fact that Shaun and Phil are playing this week, so there will definitely be a target for the last two weeks in pool 2.

Apterous Summer Open Week 1

And finally, the premier division. There were some snags, as a couple groups forgot to play their games, which is why there's more losers than winners. On the bright side, I do already have one round 2 game in. If I'm not mistaken, that round 2 game guarantees that there will be a 5-0 player at the end of the tournament (assuming all future matches are played). So that's exciting.

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Overall	Games	PPG
1	Kirk Bevins	1833	11 2 - 0	6 0 - 0	1	+2	108
2	Junaid Mubeen	1781	12 2 - 0	8 0 - 0	1	+2	109
3	Jon Corby	1696	13 2 - 1	10 0 - 0	1	+1	97
4	Charlie Reams	1643	14 2 - 1	17 0 - 0	1	+1	105
5	Innis Carson	1625	15 2 - 0	20 0 - 0	1	+2	91.5
6	Dinos Sfyris	1597	16 2 - 1	1 0 - 0	1	+1	93
7	Kai Laddiman	1579	17 1 - 2	21 0 - 0	0	-1	92
8	David O'Donnell	1577	18 2 - 0	2 0 - 0	1	+2	96
9	Andrew Hulme	1575	20 0 - 2	22 0 - 0	0	-2	0
10	Damian Eadie	1550	19 2 - 0	3 0 - 0	1	+2	98
11	James Hurrell	1549	1 0 - 2	24 0 - 0	0	-2	84.5
12	Oliver Garner	1469	2 0 - 2	25 0 - 0	0	-2	99
13	Ben Wilson	1457	3 1 - 2	26 0 - 0	0	-1	91.3
14	Martin May	1338	4 1 - 2	27 0 - 0	0	-1	97
15	Jack Hurst	1325	5 0 - 2	28 1 - 2	0	-3	76
16	Jim Bentley	1318	6 1 - 2	29 0 - 0	0	-1	85.7
17	Neil Zussman	1307	7 2 - 1	4 0 - 0	1	+1	88.7
18	Matt Bayfield	1256	8 0 - 2	30 0 - 0	0	-2	64
19	Ian Volante	1255	10 0 - 2	33 0 - 0	0	-2	75.5
20	Richard Priest	1255	9 2 - 0	5 0 - 0	1	+2	1
21	Ross Allatt	1177	31 2 - 1	7 0 - 0	1	+1	90.3
22	Donald Gordon	1165	32 2 - 1	9 0 - 0	1	+1	89.3
23	Henry Meier	1164	33 1 - 2	36 0 - 0	0	-1	74
24	Mark Harrison	1135	34 2 - 0	11 0 - 0	1	+2	102
25	James Doohan	1126	35 2 - 1	12 0 - 0	1	+1	83.7
26	Peter Lee	1119	36 0 - 0	13 0 - 0	0	+0	-1.#J
27	Andy Kravis	1104	37 2 - 1	14 0 - 0	1	+1	77
28	Aaron Higgs	1086	38 2 - 0	15 2 - 1	2	+3	95.4
29	Jeff Burgin	1076	39 2 - 1	16 0 - 0	1	+1	77
30	Tom Rowell	1065	40 0 - 0	18 0 - 0	0	+0	-1.#J
31	Simon Myers	1058	21 1 - 2	37 0 - 0	0	-1	79
32	Paul Erdunast	1047	22 1 - 2	38 0 - 0	0	-1	78
33	Matt Morrison	1033	23 2 - 1	19 0 - 0	1	+1	87
34	Jay Murphy	1031	24 0 - 2	40 0 - 0	0	-2	86.5
35	Julie Russell	934	25 1 - 2	39 0 - 0	0	-1	76.7
36	James Levison	884	26 0 - 0	23 0 - 0	0	+0	-1.#J
37	Marc Meakin	850	27 1 - 2	31 0 - 0	0	-1	72.7
38	Niall Seymour	834	28 0 - 2	32 0 - 0	0	-2	59.5
39	Ian Dent	665	29 1 - 2	35 0 - 0	0	-1	65.3
40	Ben Ziek	619	30 0 - 0	34 0 - 0	0	+0	-1.#J

Apterous Summer U800 Week 1

This is the "normal" division: two pools of four, with the top two from each pool playing their counterparts in the other pool for rounds four and five and the bottom two doing the same. The pools here were "snaked" without regards to rating, so 1/4/5/8 in one pool and 2/3/6/7 in the other. The entire round-robin:

Seed	Name	Rating	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Overall	Games	PPG
1	Adam Dexter	724	8 2 - 0	5 0 - 0	4 0 - 0	1	+2	80.5
2	Maxine Silkstone	722	7 2 - 0	6 0 - 0	3 0 - 0	1	+2	76.5
3	Gregor Morgan	686	6 1 - 2	7 0 - 0	2 0 - 0	0	-1	63
4	Ian Dent	665	5 2 - 0	8 0 - 0	1 0 - 0	1	+2	67
5	James Leroux	662	4 0 - 2	1 0 - 0	8 0 - 0	0	-2	49.5
6	Ben Ziek	619	3 2 - 1	2 0 - 0	7 0 - 0	1	+1	69.3
7	Steve Rogers	461	2 0 - 2	3 0 - 0	6 0 - 0	0	-2	68.5
8	Supee Juachan	378	1 0 - 2	4 0 - 0	5 0 - 0	0	-2	44.5