Lines of Action in the Real World

This page is devoted to sporadic events which may be of interest to LOA players.

LOA in the Eighth Mind Sports Olympiad
(reported by Fred Kok, Aug 25, 2004)

Th
e results of the MSO 8 Loa tournament August 24th Manchester.   13 players

1. Fred Kok (The Netherlands) 5 -5
2. James Hepell (Great Britain) 4 -5
3. Carl-Johann Ragnarsson (Sweden) 3-5

Other players with 3 points: George Lane (GB), Jan Palmgren (Swe), Tim Hebbes (GB), Dario de Toffoli (IT)

It was not easy. After 2 clear wins Carl-Johann Ragnarsson defeated well from a lost position but overlooked win in 1 and lost against me.  And in round 5 Jan Palmgren could have drawn by repetition! (very odd!) but declined a draw offer (he wanted a medal and didnt thought bronze was possible) and lost.  James Heppell was the big surprise. He is only 16 years old and beat experienced players. He told me only a few weeks agoo he learned the proper rules of Loa. He had played it without the rule you can jump over your own pieces!

LOA in the Sixth Mind Sports Olympiad
(reported by Fred Kok, Aug 19 2002)

This time MSO 6 was at the University of Loughborough near Leceister, England. The Loa WC had 10 participants.Title Defender Grandmaster Nicolas Koichi did not participate.

Fred Kok took his changes and regain his title with a score of 7 of 9. It started easy with a 6 out of 6 start but two defeats ,one against newcomer Jan Hauglandt from Norway brought back the excitement. In the last round Fred won his game while Jan had an unfortune defeat but Jan was satisfied with his silver (6 out of 9). The bronze was won by George Miller from England with 5 out of 9.

I noticed that 1.d1-b3 was more than ever met with 1..h5-f7. In 2001  mostly 1...a5-c7 was played.
The time limit was only 10 minutes so the weirdest things happened during the ever so difficult endgame.


LOA in the Fourth Mind Sports Olympiad

(reported by Fred Kok)

The MSO LOA tournament in 2000 had 22 players.

We played 7 rounds with a 30 minutes time limit, and "olympiad" rules; repetition of moves is allowed and is scored a draw. If the two players both have connected groups it is a draw too. Needless to say no draws were scored!

Many new talented players took part and collected the medals.

  1.  Jochen Drechsler from Germany had GOLD with a score of 6/7 and is the new world champion.
  2. Koichi Nicholas from Englang had SILVER with a score of 6/7
  3. Demis Hassibis from England had BRONZE with a score of 5/7


There was also a LOA computer tournament with very strong programs, already capable to beat the top LOA players.

(reported by Darse Billings)  A treasure trove of pictures from the event
 

LOA in the Third Mind Sports Olympiad
(reported by Lies Kok, 1999)

The 3 th world championship has been held with 18 contestants (compared to 4 in 1997  and 8 in 1998).

The world champion of 1998 and current no 1 on the Loa Internet standings, Hartmut Thordsen, lost two games on the first day, which gave Fred Kok a 2 point lead which Hartmut could not overtake; even by winning against Fred Kok in round 6.

Because Fred Kok won everything else the Gold returned to the 1997 winner.

The 1st prize was 300 pounds, the 2nd was 150 pounds, the 3rd was 50 pounds.

Fred Kok was awarded the grandmaster title by the MSO committee.

Ragnar Wikman was awarded the international master title.

1.           F.Kok, the Netherlands (GOLD) 7 - 8
2.           E.Cali, France  (SILVER)  6 - 8
3.           G.Miller, England (BRONZE)
             D.Faldon, England
             H.Thordssen, Germany
             P.Smith, England   5 - 8

Junior prize : D.Tan, Malaysia

LOA in the Second Mind Sports Olympiad
(reported by Lies Kok, 1998)

The second World Championship Lines of Action has been held at the Mind sports Olympiad at London, Hammersmith. This time 8 players from various European countries played a very interesting tournament with a time limit of 30 minutes.

Last winner, Fred Kok and runner-up Ragnar Wikman had some pretty hard competition from two strong newcomers to the scene, Hartmut Thrordsen from Germany and Marc Tastet from France.

The title holder lost in the fist round to an outsider then won two hard-fought games against Marc Tastet (with only two stones against an overwhelming 10 opponents stones ) and Hartmut Thordsen. After 5 rounds Tastet, Kok, Wikman and Thordsen had each 4 points so the 6th round was crucial. Fred Kok lost against Ragnar Wikman and Hartmut Thordsen won over Marc Tastet . In the last round a real final for the gold : Hartmut Thordsen against Ragnar Wikman and Hartmut won and took the world title !! Wikman, Tastet and Kok shared the 2nd place and there was an exciting match for the silver and bronze . Ragnar Wikman took the silver and Mac Tastet the bronze.

1.Hartmut Thordsen,  Germany     6  GOLD & WORLD CHAMPION LINES OF ACTION
2.Ragnar Wikman,  Finland           SILVER after a rematch
  Marc Tastet, France               BRONZE after a rematch
  Fred Kok, the Netherlands      5
5.Norbert Shaeffer, Germany      3
6.David Sedgwick, England
  Peter Horlock, England         2
8.Gianni Cottogni, Italy         0

The new world champion also won SILVER on the TWIXT tournament, another connecting game.

Analyses may follow...
 

LOA in the First Mind Sports Olympiad

LOA is one of a handful of board games which was played in the first Mind Sports Olympiad, in London, in August. Although it's billed as an Olympiad, its more like the Olympics in 1896; an event by and for amateurs. Anyone can come to play and enjoy.

This event is being organized by David Levy (of the famous Chess wager) among others, so is bound to garner attention from many who would not otherwise hear of LOA.

LOA at the Olympiad

London 19 and 20th August, 1997

Gold Fred Kok, The Netherlands; PBEM as "tangram" ( 6/6 )
Silver Ragnar Wikman, Finland; PBEM as "ragnar"
Bronze John Bosley, New Zealand

According to Fred Kok: There were only four participants but we had a great time. The internet players tangram and ragnar dominated the whole tournament. Fred Kok has supplied commented game records for the two games between himself and Ragnar Wikman, which can be downloaded for offline viewing, or click below to launch a viewer:

Annual PBEM LOA tournament

A tournament is held every year using Richards play by email server, starting in October.

The fourth annual Email LOA tournament Results
The third annual Email LOA tournnament Results.
The second annual Email LOA tournament  Results.
The first annual Email LOA tournament Results.



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