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| | Gomoku World Championship 2009 - The final | 2009-10-11 18:58:41 | Gomoku World Championship 2009 - The final
The parameters of the final: Round robin system (7 rounds), swap2 rule, 80min+30sec/move time limit.
After 3 days of hard fights and nice games we finally got the 8 players who can continue playing to become the world champion. The finalists:
1. Attila Demján, Hungary
2. Artur Tamiola, Poland
3. Vladimir Nipoti, Czech Rep./Italy
4. Gergő Tóth, Hungary
5. Pavel Laube, Czech Rep.
6. Maciej Nowakowski, Poland
7. Michal Zukowski, Poland
8. Lu Wei-Yuan, Taiwan
Right after the QT the referees decided to make the lotting, but one day after they changed their mind cause some players were missing. So we made a new lotting. According to the new, fix lotting I can say that I was rather lucky than unlucky. My most important wish was that I would put the opening against Tamiola, and it succeeded.
My evaluation of players’ chances:
Tamiola: The potential World Champion, there should be some big surprise in order not to see him among the top 3.
Laube: He has good chances, but can not be the champion. His skill is not enough for that in my opinion, but he can be 3-6.
Lu: I could not predict his chances because his style and skill is very strange from others. Some said he has no chances cause he was qualified with the 8th place, some said he can even be among top 3. I thought he will be in the 2nd half of the competitors.
Tóth: Before the QT, I thought that he won’t be in the final, but for my biggest happiness, he qualified on the 4th place. After this, I could imagine him finishing the championship with any place from 4 to 8.
Nowakowski: I didn’t think that he can be champion, neither silver medalist; I gave him a small chance to finish with 3rd place. I was sure that he won’t be 7th or 8th.
Nipoti: After seeing his games in the QT, I was quite sure that he will finish the tournament among the last 3 places.
Zukowski: Guaranteed 8th place; should see big surprise to see him better than last place.
My schedule and predictions of the coming 3 days:
1. Demján-Laube: Since I always won against Laube I was not worried about this game, I was confident and thought that I will win. It was not that important for me in this game that who starts the game.
2. Tóth-Demján: The same thing as Laube. I shouldn’t be worried although he puts the opening. I thought that I will beat him if I give my 100%.
3. Demján-Nipoti: We only played one live gomoku game before and that was won by him. This fact made me a bit worried, but fortunately I could put the opening, which was important in this game.
4. Nowakowski-Demján: I have never played with him, I consider him as a strong and dangerous, very talented player. I would have great advantage if I would open (see his other games, in which he got opening into the center), but according to the lotting, it’s his chance, so I have to be very careful.
5. Demján-Tamiola: I thought that this will be the key game of the World Championship and since I can start the game, I have quite big advantage. If I win this game, I become World Champion – that’s what I thought.
6. Lu-Demján: A new, never seen player in the final (at least for us, the gomoku competitors) can make surprises. I really wished that I could open, but in this case I was unlucky. Nevermind, I am looking forward to the big struggle.
7. Demján-Zukowski: The last game, the easiest opponent in my opinion. Since I am the opening player, I considered this round as the easiest one.
Now let’s see how the championship went on:
Round 1:
Demján (43) – Laube (46) 0:1, R: -, 14 moves, 1=h8
| | The biggest disaster ever in my entire career, which I will regret in my whole life probably.
To this World Championship I was preparing with a special opening, and I was waiting for a long time to try and show my home preparations. At the morning I walked down to the tournament hall, sat down, shake hands and put my secret opening very confidentially. I think that I was prepared with theories and also knew my opponents well. I knew that Pavel doesn’t know many center theories and prefers to put 2 more stones. Considering this and knowing the fact that I know almost every branch of this opening I didn’t have to worry at all. After like 15 minutes he chose white and put the strongest move. It’s okay, I know it well, nothing can threat me. I put 5 and 7 fast, cause I remembered that according to my analysis, these are the best moves. When I checked the position after 9, I started to think, is my preparation really trustworthy? I coincidentially imagined what happens if he moves 10-10. Then I checked the position briefly and wished in myself: Please, Pavel, don’t move 10-10. 1 minute passed and I faced 10-10. I checked everything afterwards but I had to realize, I lost the game. My preparation was wrong! I should’ve played the another 5th move, 5-i9 cause this 5th is losing. First game in the long waited World Championship and I lost in 14 moves, what happened?
Looking forward as: I tried to calm down and focus on the coming games. Before this game I was almost sure that there won’t be a world champion with maximum points, so I believed that I still have chances. I told myself that Laube will lose at least 2 points in the coming 6 rounds and I can win all the games left.
Meanwhile:
- Tóth beated Lu in a pretty game. I was very happy for his success, good job Gergő!
- Tamiola beated Nipoti in an extremely great battle. Artur played perfectly and also Vladimir played good. This play would be worth from a potential world champion.
- Nowakowski beated Zukowski in a quite boring game starting from the corner.
The standings after 1 round:
1. Tamiola 1p
2. Laube 1p
3. Tóth 1p
4. Nowakowski 1p
5. Nipoti 0p
6. Demján 0p
7. Lu 0p
8. Zukowski 0p
Round 2:
Demján (50) – Tóth (48) 1:0, R: +, 17 moves, 1=c5
| | I expected a similar game from this round as our QT game. Since we are in the final and I have to win all the games left, I was trying to show my best with all my forces. In this game I didn’t have a difficult task cause Gergő played surprisingly bad. Easy game, easy point, maybe cause Gergő got tired or out of control.
Looking forward as: I just did what I could, I have 1 point, and I am in the middle of the list. I am focusing to the coming rounds, I really have to win all the 5 games left.
Meanwhile:
- Lu beated Nipoti. This game is probably the funniest and secondly the most shameful for Vladimir. Nipoti was the starting player and he chose a schematic, surewin opening, which is almost impossible to solve in 80 minutes. The Taiwanese guy, Lu didn’t choose swap2 option as everyone expected, he chose white! The game is full of interesting, funny and shameful moves. If we face the fact that these 8 players are the best players of the world, we probably feel that the game and the quality of play has something to develop on :). After 12, black has incredibly easy win, but Nipoti somehow got confused concerning the edge of the board and lost the game afterwards.
- Tamiola beated Nowakowski. Another funny game. In my opinion both players played very bad comparing their real skills. Tamiola was attacking straight style, continuously killing his own chances; Nowakowski was losing huge amounts of his time while playing logical and simple defending moves. After 37, I was sure that Tamiola can not get more than a draw, but maybe he will even lose. If white uses his four on B4, then can block black’s threat on K6 and the win is almost guaranteed. What the hell happened? Maciej just put 38-38, the worst possible move! Tamiola just used his chance and got his 2nd point with quite a big luck.
- Laube won against Zukowski. After the above mentioned 3 games, we finally could see a nicer game thanks to these guys. The game started from the most popular opening of this world champinship (called the “Russian”). Laube played very offensively and nicely. Zukowski had several attempts to stop his opponent but failed all the time. Laube got his 2nd deserved point.
The standings after 2 rounds:
1. Tamiola 2p
2. Laube 2p
3. Tóth 1p
4. Demján 1p
5. Nowakowski 1p
6. Lu 1p
7. Nipoti 0p
8. Zukowski 0p
Round 3:
Demján (12) – Nipoti (33) 1:0, R: -, 31 moves, 1=h8
| | I chose the same opening as against Laube, although that was my worst game ever. I thought that I can play it again cause I can fix the problems happened in the past. When the others saw which opening I chose they told me that I am a stupid gambler, but I don’t think so. I am well prepared and believe that I won’t make such mistake again. Nipoti chose the same 4th move as Laube, hoping that he will get a point aswell. I changed my 5th move, then the game went on and I won quite easily. My opponent played a bit powerless.
Looking forward as: I finished the first day with 2 points out of 3, I didn’t have any hard game, didn’t have to play strong as expected. The level of the championship now is much more below than I thought before. I still have 4 games, my chances are growing but I am still not in the top 3. Let’s go on!
Meanwhile:
- Lu beated Nowakowski in such a short, easy and simple game. What’s happened Maciej?
- Laube beated Tóth. Before the game I suggested Gergő to put these 2 more stones if Pavel uses his traditional opening. Me and the strong hungarian player, Dupszki had the same starting position in the biggest hungarian championship until the 7th move. I won that game with black and Gergő was also black. Pavel put different 8th move than Dupszki, Gergő got out of control soon and lost the game for my biggest sadness. How will Laube lose 2 games out of the 4 rest?
- Tamiola beated Zukowski. This was the first time when Artur published his secret opening. In my opinion this is not possible to solve this opening in 80 minutes; neither is easy to react with 2 more stones. Zukowski didn’t show any intention that he wants to win, he lost easily without fight.
The standings after 3 rounds:
1. Tamiola 3p
2. Laube 3p
3. Lu 2p
4. Demján 2p
5. Tóth 1p
6. Nowakowski 1p
7. Nipoti 0p
8. Zukowski 0p
Round 4:
Demján (74) – Nowakowski (82) 1:0, R: +, 47 moves, 1=L12
| | I got the expected corner opening. At first, I didn’t have any plan but after some thinking I decided to play as black. I chose the same 5th move as Artur did in the 2nd round, but I changed the 7th move. I think that 7-7 is better than 7-8. After the 9th move I thought that this game won’t be fast and I will win soon. He defended well, the game continued. From 19 to 25, I built up a very strong base, white doesn’t seem to have much chances. His 18 seems okay but in fact this is losing. I had a very long, hard and deep VCT starting with 19. After 28, I used quite much time to figure out what to do. Finally I found the magical 29-29. 37 is the last threat, after this, white can do anything but black will win anyway. This was the nicest game of mine so far in the final.
Looking forward as: Finally I had a hard and nice game, 3 games are left and my main rivals are not losing, someone should really stop them.
Meanwhile:
- Tamiola beated Lu in a nice but lucky game. He put his well prepared opening just like against Zukowski. This time, Lu chose the swap2 option and put 2 more stones which made the position very interesting. Artur chose white and began building. After 12 Lu had an easy win but didn’t move there, rather started to block! Why? Same thing as Tamiola-Nowakowski. If Lu would have played 13-34 and 15-k12 then Artur would have nothing and must have to accept lose. For his biggest luck, the Taiwanese started to block and some moves after he was suffering, Tamiola got his 2nd point thanks to luck in the final.
- Zukowski won against Tóth. This game was quite boring and simple. Gergő was very tired and played showed very powerless play; Zukowski got his first and last point in the final.
- Laube continued his success and beated Nipoti confidentially. This game was good and exciting, and Laube has 4/4.
The standing after 4 rounds:
1. Tamiola 4p
2. Laube 4p
3. Demján 3p
4. Lu 2p
5. Tóth 1p
6. Nowakowski 1p
7. Zukowski 1p
8. Nipoti 0p
Round 5:
Demján (23) – Tamiola (46) 1:0, R: -, 13 moves, 1=g10
| |  | The most important game in the championship. If I don’t win this game, I lost all my chances to become the World Champion. 5 minutes before the game I still couldn’t decide which opening to put. I sat to the table tried to calm down and pick one opening from my mind. Seems I chose well. When he saw my choice he thought a lot. I was sure that he will choose swap2 option but finally he said he plays with white. I don’t know this opening so well but I know that there is only one good 4th move, which actually leads to big white advantage. He chose another 4th. When I faced it I felt that I got my point. I calmed down, checked everything and played as I should. I got my point and catched my opponent.
Looking forward as: Good, it succeeded. I have to win the two last games, someone should stop Laube and I get what I came for. Tamiola and Laube still didn’t play; if Tamiola wins and all 3 of us win all the games left then the situation becomes pretty tense. I thought that it can not happen; the chance for this is not big enough.
Meanwhile:
- Lu won against Zukowski. He showed such a great play and got the deserved point. Very nice win.
- Laube beated Nowakowski. I was really hoping that Nowakowski will stop Laube, because he seemed to be my last hope, except Tamiola. Laube put the russian opening and for our biggest surprise, Nowakowski chose one of the worst theories. His first moves are extremely weak. He lost after 23 moves.
- Nipoti beated Tóth. Gergő had a win after 8 moves, but he chose to defend instead of playing offensively. Nipoti got his first point.
The standing after 5 round:
1. Laube 5p
2. Tamiola 4p
3. Demján 4p
4. Lu 3p
5. Nipoti 1p
6. Tóth 1p
7. Nowakowski 1p
8. Zukowski 1p
Round 6:
Demján (99) – Lu (98) 1:0, R: +, 55 moves, 1=m7
| | I was a bit worried before the game cause I think that my opponent is able to make smaller surprises. When I looked at the opening, I decided to play as black and try to use calm, positional style. Everything seems logical until the 10th move. I chose 11-11 cause I wanted to give a little opportunity to my opponent, I was expecting him to destroy his base and give me some advantage. 11-12 looks nice aswell but there is a hard and good continuation by white afterwards which I wanted to avoid. 15-15 shows my intention, positional style. After 16, I used quite a much time to choose a good 17. I think this 17 is good, because if white doesn’t have win at the bottom (and white doesn’t have win) then black is almost undefendable on the upper side, thanks to the strength of 17-17. After 22, I regretted 17-17 a bit. At first look, I just felt that my position is not that good, so I began to search a good defense. 10 minutes passed and I didn’t find anything. I thought that I lost when finally I realized that the only move which can save me is 23-23. 24-24 came very fast, I don’t know why, I expected 24-25. So the game went on, I survived the threat. Thanks to my opponent’s 28, I could take away the tempo and my 33 secured it. After my 39, black looks much better, I was wondering if my opponent can block it or not. From 40 to 46 I did not understand Lu’s moves but I was happy to see them. My 47 is a double threat, Lu had to choose what to defend. 51-51 is the final threat; this is a nice and undefendable double VCT threat. After the 55th move and more than 3 hours of playing, my opponent gave up the fight. I really enjoyed this game.
Looking forward as: Good, I am on the way. I have one game left, and there is no player with maximum point anymore. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Meanwhile:
- Tamiola beated Laube. Tamiola used his secret opening and Pavel was expecting it. The leader of the tournament put his prepared 2 more stones to Artur’s opening. After like half hour Tamiola decided to play as white and won the game very fast and easily. The game was 14 moves long. Laube’s preparation was not good enough, there was a way which he did not consider, just as I did against him in the 1st round. It is funny and interesting that the games between Tamiola, Laube and me were not longer than 14 moves.
- Nipoti beated Zukowski very confidentially from the russian opening.
- Tóth won against Nowakowski in a very tense and interesting game. It was good to see a nice game from the guys.
The standing after 6 rounds:
1. Laube 5p
2. Tamiola 5p
3. Demján 5p
4. Lu 3p
5. Tóth 2p
6. Nipoti 2p
7. Nowakowski 1p
8. Zukowski 1p
Round 7:
Before presenting my game I would like to write some words about the possible outcomes of the last round. There are 3 players who still have chance to be the world champion, they all have 6 points and one game left to play: Laube, Tamiola and me.
Laube plays with Lu and he opens, it means huge advantage for him.
Tamiola plays with Tóth and Tóth opens, Tamiola is in a little disadvanage.
I play with Zukowski and I open, it means that I must get the point.
The possible outcomes:
Laube wins, Tamiola wins, Demján loses -> The world champion is Tamiola
Laube wins, Tamiola loses, Demján wins -> The world champion is Laube
Laube loses, Tamiola wins, Demján wins -> The world champion is Demján
Laube loses, Tamiola loses, Demján loses -> The world champion is Demján
Laube wins, Tamiola wins, Demján wins -> Extra games
Considering this all, my wishes were the following: I wanted Lu to beat Laube so much, cause if he does and I win, I am the champion. If Laube would win and my and Tamiola’s game would be still in progress, I would Gergő, my friend to lose, cause if he does and I win, then I still have some chance to be the champion.
Demján (104) – Zukowski (75) 1:0, R: -, 61 moves, 1=h8
| |  | One of my nicest games ever. I decided to put a quite new opening which is much harder than it seems. In my opinion this is white advantage, my opponent chose white so I played all the games in the final as black. The first part of the game is not so stormy, very peaceful and logical moves follow each other. I tried to play positional, global, controlling style, waiting for the time when I can start to build up a strong base. I wanted my opponent to fail at the beginning, but he didn’t want to play so offensively, it seemed that he goes for being safe and reach a draw. When I realized it, I had to change my plan. After 21 moves, we can see that my stones 11, 13, 3, 15 are overcontrolling the position and are waiting to be the part of the final attack. I waited so long to use 11 and 13. His 26 shows that he doesn’t really want to win, rather to make a peaceful tie. My 29 probably doesn’t seem to be the best, but I think I can be grateful for this move. This was the first small step to my win. After 32, I had to begin to figure out the first part of the final attack, my time has arrived. 33-33 proves my words. The reason why I chose 35-35 is very complex. I could have played a more offensive 35 also, but I think that this 35 provides the chance for further connections and attack in another area. 37-37 is strong aswell; I am continuously building my attack with little steps. I guess that my opponent didn’t even think about that I am already planning to build up my final attack. 39-39! -> Thanks to my 35, I could use this 39 which is very dangerous. 40 came fast; I think that 40-41 would be much better. 43-43! -> I was waiting to move here for such a long time. First after the 36th move, but at that point I didn’t have enough material which could make point G5 strong enough to win the game. Now, it was the time. 44? Surprise, it seems that my opponent doesn’t know what we are doing on the board. 45-45, another wonderful move, the key of my win. 46 is logical. After 46, I had like 5 minutes left, my opponent had like 30 minutes. I had to use some of my intuitions cause I didn’t have enough time. As I felt and checked as much as I could, 47-47 is perfect. The combination of 49 and 51 is so nice, it is undefendable indeed. My opponent was able to play the best defending moves but fortunately that was not enough. After 52 I had 1,5 minutes left and I got worried as never. The seconds were running, I had half minute, my opponent had 20 minutes and I still didn’t move yet. There were 2 moves in my head, 53-53 and 53-55. Which to choose? Oh my god, there is only 5 seconds left. I listened to my intuitions and moved 53-53 as my clock showed 1 second. While Zukowski was thinking about 54, I had enough time to check everything. He put 54, I answered fast with 55-55. After 58, I had a very nice VCF, my opponent gave up the game after 61. This was my nicest game in the final.
I was the last out of the 3 potential champions who finished his game. At first, Laube beated Lu quite soon and easily. When I knew his result, I know that I must win. The game between Gergő and Artur seemed very balanced, if Tamiola couldn’t win and I could, then Laube would be the world champion and I would be second. So I had to cheer for Tamiola because if he wins, I still have chance to be the champion. Gergő couldn’t find the correct and easy defense so Tamiola got his point luckily. I think that this game was rather a draw than Tamiola’s win, but for my and Artur’s happiness, Tamiola got his 3rd lucky point in the final.
Meanwhile Nowakowski beated Nipoti with showing a very nice endgame.
So after all, Laube, Tamiola and me finished the championship with same points and our coefficients were exactly the same. So what now? The referees said we will play extra games in order to decide the champion. The interesting thing was that neither me, Artur and Pavel wanted to play anymore, we all agreed to share the places and take a rest after many days of hard fights. Unfortunately it was not possible, so the referees called us to pick numbers to decide the schedule of the extra games. I lost all my fun already; I didn’t want to fight anymore. The rules are rules, we had to continue. As we got the draw, I was very unlucky. The schedule of the extra games: 1. Tamiola – Demján, 2. Laube – Tamiola, 3. Demján – Laube. I only wanted one thing before the extra games. I wanted to open against Tamiola. My wish didn’t become true…
One hour passed and we were there to finish the championship. The parameters of the extra games: 20min/player, swap2, round robin system. In my honest opinion it was a very bad idea to decide the world champion title with such system. I think the results of the QT would be much more effective and fair, but since it didn’t matter that you are 1st or 8th in the QT, it would have be unfair to decide the title based on QT results. If not the QT results, then why didn’t we play normal time limit games? 20min is not enough for anything. Or if 20min, then why didn’t we play double round robin? The system which the referee chose was the worst possible I guess. It was almost like we flip a coin to decide who wins. Nevermind, we had to play…
Game 1:
Tamiola (8) – Demján (12) 0:1, R: 2 more stones, Tamiola didn’t swap, 25 moves, 1=h8
| |  | I expected this opening but I didn’t have time to prepare anything. Choosing color was not a good idea cause Artur knows everything about this opening. So I had to use swap2 option. I still don’t understand why I chose this swap2, this is totally stupid and senseless. The 4th and 5th move doesn’t change anything on the position; it is like it wouldn’t even be there. I have to say that I was sitting there on the board, facing the opening and suffering. My soul and brain was not there, somewhere out, only my body was there. I was so nervous, angry and felt unlucky that it ensured my painful lose. I was simply very angry to life, couldn’t think at all. I put the swap2, Artur chose his color and after I was just suffering until I could resign. He got the point.
Game 2:
Laube (22) – Tamiola (14) 0:1, R: -, 52 moves, 1=b14
| | This game doesn’t look like the one which decides who is the best player on the world. I was really cheering to Pavel to win but he was probably in the same situation as I was in the 1st extra game. He played so powerless and weak, but also Tamiola. When I looked at the board after the 36th move I became so happy, Pavel has win! 37-39, 39-i6 and white can give up the game! Damn, Laube chose to defend instead of win the game! After the 38th move and the worst 39th move, it was easy win for Artur. He just used his luck and became the World Champion of 2009.
Game 3:
Laube (28) – Demján (26) 0:1, R: +, 68 moves, 1=h8 | |  | The last game of the World Championship 2009. Since Tamiola became the champion on such an incredibly lucky way with not that great play I lost all my fun and intention to reach anything. Laube the same I think. So we just sat down, shake hands and started to put stones on the board. It was like a game of a funeral – at least for me. I used some seconds for each move; I just waited the end of the game. The first part of the game was quite balanced; it seemed that the chance for draw is growing as the time passes. He was driving the game until the 23rd move, but after I took away the tempo and started to try to make something. 36 looks fine and seems I got big advantage but soon I had to realize that this attempt failed. I had a win after the 39th move as I realized after the game, if I would have move 40-j9 instead of 40-40, than it’s VCT. From 40 to 48 I was trying to make my opponent fail with weak and primitive attempts but he did well. So I thought I move to another area. 56! My last chance. Both of us were in a big time trouble already. His 57 seemed good at first sight but after I recollected all my force and skill, I found the wonderful 58, the winning move. After the 68th move I got five in a row and a silver medal aswell. Although we didn’t take this game so serious, it happened to be a nice game.
The final results and my opinion about the players’ performance:
1. Artur Tamiola 6p – First of all I would like to congratulate to Artur, he did a great job and I can say that I am happy to see him as the champion. But, if I only look at the facts that I got the 2nd place and he became champion, I feel a little sadness and disappointment. I think that he was very lucky and didn’t play the best out of the competitors. I would think that a world champion doesn’t need such big luck and can win games easier. His 5 draws in the QT, his 3 lucky wins in the final, plus the thing that he could open and put a nonsense opening against me in the extra games and that Laube missed a win against him made me feel that he is not the best player on the world. All in all, congratulations to my friend! :)
2. Attila Demján 6p – I think that I played good, the best I guess (without being big headed), I made only one tactical mistake which resulted my 2nd place. I could not pick a game which I won by luck, I had to fight a lot, had many hard and nice games. I realize this result rather as a failure than a success. I went there to win and I was afraid to be the 2nd. It just happened, like a nightmare. My one silly little mistake is the reason of this and the incredibly big unluck. The scenario which we followed was the worst possible for me. After the championship I asked such questions from myself: Why couldn’t Laube lose 2 games in the final? Why didn’t we decide the champion title based on the QT results? Why didn’t we play longer time limited extra games? Why didn’t we play the extra games in double round robin system? Why was I so unlucky that Tamiola opens against me, and why didn’t he open a 50-50, playable opening? How could the world champion have such big amount of luck? These questions were still in me 1-2 weeks after the tournament. Now, as months have passed I feel happy about the past. I played well, I am happy for my friend’s, Artur’s success and I am not angry at life. It just happened, maybe it had to happen, I don’t know.
3. Pavel Laube 6p – My biggest congratulations to him! He played much better than anyone expected I think. He lost only one game in the final, he didn’t have luck, played nice games and fought hard for each point. Although he didn’t play so well in the QT, he could show his real skill in the final. He absolutely deserved the 3rd place; I would maybe say that he also even played better than Tamiola. Unfortunately he was the biggest loser of the extra games, but still, he got the 3rd place in the world championship, which is such a great result.
4. Lu Wei-Yuan 3p – The black horse of the championship. He just learned the rules right before the first round of QT and could reach the 4th place in the final. What an amazing performance! It was really nice to see a Taiwanese among the top gomoku players. It was also very interesting and fine to experience such a strange, new playing style (at least for me). I really hope that we will see him in the coming gomoku tournaments.
5. Gergő Tóth 2p – The biggest happiness for me concerning the results. There are two Hungarian players in the top 5, who would have guessed it before? I am very glad that Gergő could play so well although he sometimes made some silly moves. I hope that he will continue playing and show himself in 2011 also, as Hungary got 2 national places thanks to him.
6. Maciej Nowakowski 2p – I think that his playing skill and result is in harmony. He deserved the 6th place, shouldn’t be better, and shouldn’t be worse. He proved after many years break that he is still a very strong and talented player.
7. Vladimir Nipoti 2p – Considering his start in the QT it is already a great result for him to be in the final. I think his 7th place is real; he had many games which he could win and lost actually. I think that he could have play better, but not reach better place.
8. Michal Zukowski 1p – He finished as I expected. He didn’t really do anything special, neither in the QT and in the final. I think his goal was to be among the top 8, he succeeded.
After all, I can say that I really enjoyed being in Pardubice, I am happy that I could attend this event. It was very nice to meet that many nice people and spend almost 2 weeks with them. The niveau of the gomoku world championship was maybe a bit below than we expected but I think after 18 years break, it is okay. I can say already that I am satisfied with my performance although I rather handle it as a failure. See you all in the next gomoku world championship in 2011!
Attila Demján, October 10, 2009
|  | | The three medalists (Attila Demján 2nd - Artur Tamiola 1st - Pavel Laube 3rd) |  | | ...and the hungarian delegation on its way back home:)... | | |
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