MSO 2023 LIVE

THE ENGINES ARE WARMING UP
Here we are ready for the 27th edition of the Mind Sports Olympiad, scheduled to take place in London from 20 to 28 August, we will be flying on the 18th.
For me an unmissable appointment, albeit with all its problems: as long as my head holds up (or at least as long as I feel it does) I will continue to participate.
Below is the complete schedule, which, as you can see, proposes tournaments of the most varied games and mental disciplines, as well as my preliminary schedule; not having the gift of ubiquity, I have had to make very painful choices and give up tournaments I would have gladly participated in, such as Mastermind, Oware, Mensa Connection, Cribbage…
With me there will be the now ever-present Riccardo Gueci (he’s become more ‘ludopathic’ than me” 😝), Daniele Ferri, Francesco Salerno; pity the defection of Andrea Muzii (due to the cancellation of the memory competitions) and a hug to old friend Piero Nabendu Zama, who has retired from international competitions. Neither will Cosimo Cardellicchio (they have removed Twixt from the programme), the group of Roman board-gamers, nor Maurizio De Leo and Marino Carpignano, who had also done very well in the online edition. A pleasant surprise instead, after only 27 years of persistence, was the presence of Dario Zaccariotto: he will only be there for the first two days, but I bet he will at least take home a medal.
As usual, Gueci and I will be competing in the senior category, but even this is becoming increasingly difficult; this year there will be the return of the great friend-enemy Paco de la Banda, more fierce than ever and with a programme that perfectly matches his many skills.
We’ll see, maybe we’ll propose to the organiser to establish the ultra-senior category, since we both entered the eighth decade 🤦‍♂️, so we would be practically without opponents… don’t worry, I’m joking!

Tomorrow starts the Mind Sports Olympiad… but we won’t be playing Piet Mondrian’s “Checkerboard Composition” (1919) that we uncovered on our now traditional visit to the Tate Modern!
We’ll start with a more reassuring Backgammon tournament (6 rounds with the Swiss system) and in the evening, just to relax a bit, a nice 7-card stud, a style of poker little practiced in Italy; Zaccariotto, on the other hand, will drop his joker in the evening: at Mastermind we will accept nothing less than the podium for him!

day 1

Italy is off to a good start with 3 medals.
In spite of a numerically much lower representation than in other years, only 4 of us for now (in the coming days, however, someone else will be added), we have already captured as many as 3 bronze medals (and one wooden one).
Our captain, Dario De Toffoli, the dragger with no less than 2 metals: in the morning and afternoon with Backgammon (6x7pt) with 4 points he captured the bronze, which he replicated in the evening with “Poker 7 card stud”.
The third medal was won on his debut in London, in the Mastermind, by Dario Zaccariotto of whom, however, given his well-known record in Italy (he was Italian champion), we were even hoping for something more, but here you know there are really strong people.
Of note was Francesco Salerno’s wooden medal in Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) in a fine tournament, however, populated by very strong Chinese.
The writer, on the other hand, did not particularly shine.
In Backgammon after being at 3 out of 4, I completely froze, accomplices not very lucky dice, and I finished mid-table. In Poker, on the other hand, it went much worse as I exited almost immediately, accomplice this time being a mishandling of 2 initial Aces that nabbed a straight and that out of nervousness I was unable to quit in time. Patience.
Tomorrow I will play Rapid Chess (25′), both morning and afternoon, although several strong players are expected at the start, but as is well known I can’t exempt myself 🙂 giving up Triolet which I like a lot and some small chance maybe I might have or even Continuo and Domino (5+3) which are fun. In the evening instead if I am not too tired I will go for Othello, vice versa the usual Poker Pineapple variant. Too bad I can’t do either Blokus or Perudo which I enjoy a lot because they are contemporary. In the evening there would also be Exchange-Chess (known in Italy as quadrille), but one would need to have a partner up to it to get results 🤷.
Bye bye.

UNINTERRUPTED RAIN… BUT OF MEDALS!
The award-winning D&D firm (Dario De Toffoli, that would be me!, and Dario Zaccariotto) in the first 2 days collected 8 medals! I would really say that as a start we cannot complain!

Day 1
Backgammon. A nice 6-round Swiss tournament. I get the bronze–and don’t get me started on how it got away from me on the DMP, I was at least going up to silver!
Poker 7-card stud. Classic variant, not very popular in Italy, which has given me more than a few satisfactions in the past. I’ll take another bronze-and don’t get me started on how he closed flush on my double pair!
Mastermind. Here Zack had the out: it was either podium or loss of the salute! And podium it was, bronze despite suffering two closes in 4.
Meanwhile, Francesco Salerno gets a very prestigious wooden medal in Chinese chess, first among Westerners!

Day 2
Triolet. Apotheosis! Italian double, gold for me and silver for Zack!!! I won all the matches and Zack lost only to me…but by a whisker (844-840)! I coach him and he even tries to beat me…where have gone the days of yore! Joking aside, that’s satisfaction!
Domino 5s&3s. We finish in 5 tied first; for the usual tiebreakers, I get silver and Zack bronze.
Poker Pineapple. Making his debut in the poker arena, Zack’s smash hit, taking home silver: braverrimo! (which is more than bravissimo…of course).
Meanwhile, great chess tournament with Gueci finishing 3rd ex-aequo (no medal, alas) in a nice tournament chock-full of highly-rated… braverrimo too!!!
And now Zack is leaving, after 27 years he has finally come to the MSOs and from the way he enjoyed himself, I sure hope he will be there for the whole period next year!
In the meantime, since Saturday is a day off, whoever wants to can keep the competitive trance going in our favorite pub with a super pizza eating contest… but we old guys don’t have the body anymore!
And in a few hours we start again…we will only stop if we tear up!

day 2

Precious metals for Italy today.
1 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze the splendid spoils we collect on the second day of competition.
The two Darios absolute protagonists:
De Toffoli Gold and Zaccariotto Silver in the Triolet.
De Toffoli Silver and Zaccariotto Bronze in the Domino (3+5).
Zaccariotto Silver in the Pineapple Poker.
Greats!
The writer improves and comes “slow pede” closer to the coveted podium, taking in sharing wooden medals:
In the double session (morning and afternoon) of Rapid Chess (25’+5″) with 4 out of 6 I finish in fourth place ex aequo with 4 others.
Some regret for having thrown away in the excitement of the final seconds two theoretical Pates with two strong players.
In the evening instead in Othello with 3 out of 5 I arrive third ex aequo with others, but by technical tie-breaker no Bronze. Patience.
Tomorrow day for me dedicated to Poker, since I deserted it tonight. It starts in the morning with Heads Up Holdem, while afternoon and evening Omaha. The alternative tomorrow was Lost Cities and Kindomino, both nice, the second not easy, but the immediate elimination in Poker on the first day calls for revenge (hopefully…).
Bye bye

day 3

Almost dry.
If it were not for our captain, Dario De Toffoli, to bring something home, even a single Bronze, we would have been left standing at the post today.
And it is always Poker, Omaha this time, to give the third place to ‘our’ who moreover really confirms a state of grace of other times and in the absolute Pentamind is even at the moment among the very first positions, Pentamind where the 4 times Champion Ankush Khandelwal has already taken the lead.
On my performance today I prefer not to dwell although with the 4th place I have another wooden medal in Heads Up Holdem Poker, a tournament however that could not be worse organized and that for decency I prefer not to tell in detail. Really ridiculous. Which unnerved me quite a bit and made me want to play barely decently the next Omaha tournament.
And whatever, we’ll have to live with it 🙂 .
Tomorrow I’m still undecided whether to do Mensa Connection (only in the morning) or try my hand for the first time at the double date with the Acquire tournament, a game I really like but certainly have no tournament experience. We shall see. In the evening instead we will insist on Poker, London Lowball variant giving up Quoridor, which I like a lot, but which is attended by many hyper specialists.
See you tomorrow.

FROM THE FORMULARY OF CATCHPHRASES, DECALOGUE OF PARTICIPATION 2023 BY DARIO ZACCARIOTTO

No. 1: There is always a first time. And for me it was this year at MSO.

No. 2: It’s not like we’re here to have fun. In fact, knife between our teeth for every move, every catch, every clock time change. And instead of smiles, sneers and subdued cursing: the real agon!

No. 3: The third… wheel. Started my MSOs with a very bad performance at backgammon to say the least, an unsatisfactory one at Mastermind in which I won yes the bronze but given the absence of Sergeant (although challenging him would have been a pleasure and an honor) and the less than nourishing parterre I was satisfied in part also because at the various tournaments in which I had entered was the one where I had aimed the 90 load and objectively after the embarrassment at backgammon I had managed to regain my energy enough to have played more than satisfactorily.

No. 4: Tomorrow is another day (or, your choice, It’s not always Sunday…and thankfully!). I join Triolet and find myself in the first round with Dario, succumbing narrowly (840 to 844) while in the neighboring table they even close in a tie 832 to 832! Then only victories so I take home silver behind Dario and ahead of that Marc Tastet (beaten both here and at Master Mind) whose Othellian exploits I used to read about when I was still a kid. It’s just too bad I didn’t have the podium photo, in which, with a bit of boastfulness, I wouldn’t have felt like the crock pot among the two iron men but in worthy and good company.

No. 5: Domino effect. An unexpected silver is better than a bittersweet bronze … so I approach the dominoes with the right attitude. In the first round a human affair to which I let improprieties go smoothly (in the end humanity prevails over garra) and I find myself down 60 to 45 at 61. No regrets, that’s okay. I end up winning both games, though. From there only draws to eventually find myself in the leading group where the “not exactly irresistible opponent from the first round” condemns me to bronze over the first two with whom I had drawn after winning the first. Also this time on the podium with Dario, but neither of us on the top step and also this time for the final image we will use photoshop cloning it from other podiums, sic!

No. 6: Pineapple juice nice and fresh. In the “pineapple” poker variant I had the last chance to bring home another medal, I knew when it was time to force and when to stand back and watch the opponents slaughter each other. That worked out well for me. Particularly when in 3, as an underdog, I relegated Ali to the bottom step of the podium, less so when as a favorite I found myself mauled by Tim in the hand in which, had it gone the other way, we would have been more or less even.

No. 7: It was good. Two silvers and two bronzes in two days of competition: beyond the highest expectations.

No. 8: Veni, vidi, “vice.” Two silvers, missed gold but for that there will be other editions in which to win it….

No. 9: What about the rest? I had been missing from London for many years, like everyone else I found it very expensive (apart from visits to museums, but you can’t sleep in the British and if you eat a sandwich there it costs you the same as a dinner for two in Naples), with an old-fashioned road system (no junctions or traffic circles) but with a widespread public service, culturally very lively (at the same time on Saturday there were dozens of musicals with theaters with thousands of seats all occupied), with no trash cans on the streets… I must say, however, that it was good to see it again!

No. 10: Mom, I missed the plane! Whatever, son, it’s big, you can easily find it again! This also happened to me… at the hour when the aviomobile I had booked was supposed to get off at Tessera I was arriving by “National-Express” at Stansted Airport… two accidents paralyzed traffic. The strange thing (but perhaps usual for those who frequent British soil more than me) was that no vehicles were trumpeting, no one in the bus was shouting, jarring my excited tone with the Ryanair attendant on the other end of the phone. At that point I adjusted, let’s take the “beauty” out of the experience and tack on Cambridge: a train caught on the fly, a location in “little Istanbul,” a morning tour of the (still closed) colleges, another train in the opposite direction, and this time plane caught with considerable ease!

4 day

Double Gold for Italy!
Great winning combination today for the Italian team, who bring home no less than two Gold medals.
One, it should not even need to be said, is won by the evergreen Dario De Toffoli, in his favorite game, “Acquire,” which by the way consolidates him overwhelmingly in third place in the overall Pentamind.
The second Gold is won by our specialty champion, Francesco Salerno, in Hive, where frankly he has few opponents his equal (in fact, he won every game!).
The writer, always dry of podiums (let’s say it right away), tried his hand for the first time at Acquire with great satisfaction and resoundingly touching the Bronze. In 3 long matches that lasted almost 5 hours I captured 3 second places finishing 5th overall. Very pleased.
The evening poker on the other hand, this time the London Lowball, brought both Dario and I no luck. That’s how it goes for me this year 🤷
The overall Pentamind sees Ankush Khandelwal in the lead with 445 points, followed by Andres Kuusk with 427 and third as mentioned our Captain with 395.
In the Senior Pentamind behind obviously Dario follows the French Champion Marc Tastet with 342 and third yours truly with 239.
Tomorrow is the scene for me in the Stratego Duel and Classic with a host of Korean kids on my heels and then I will have to decide between Hare & Tortoise, Backgammon (6×1) and yet another poker (5 card draw). I will decide on the spot.
Good Night.

ACQUIRE AND OTHER SATISFACTIONS

Day 3
Lost cities. Nice tournament, always well attended. I have the satisfaction of being the #1 “seed”, i.e., the player with the highest ranking. Result just above average (7/12), but still fun.
Poker Omaha. Only double session poker tournament and also one of my favorite styles. I sit next to the usual Ankush (who makes his living from poker omaha) and we try with some success to take advantage of the mistakes of the less experienced players; we remain 3, me Ankush and a certain Martin Thompson, who honestly didn’t have too clear a vision of what was going on … but enjoyed an irrepressible “run”: gold to him, silver Ankush and bronze to me. Let’s be content.

Day 4
Acquire. I win gold for the second year in a row, beating Ankush and Tim Hebbes in the finals again. Very intense matches, over 2 hours each. Beautiful, that’s just my game! And then Demis Hassabis coming to congratulate me! Now that’s satisfaction!!!
Poker London Lowball. Let’s leave it at that, which is better.

Pentamind
Of course it will be tentative, but in the meantime I am enjoying the thrill of the highest areas of the rankings. I am waiting for the latest updates, but I should be on 430 points, very close to Ankush and Kuusk. At the moment I am leading in the Senior, but the Frenchman Marc Tastet, the Spaniard Paco de la Banda, and of course Riccardo Gueci are right there tailing me and not letting up. Great fight!
Today a new backgammon tournament, with 11-point games. And in the evening the mythical “carrots” (aka Hare&Tortoise); tomorrow Carcassonne, in a hopeless tournament given the presence of so many super-specialists. But it will be equally fun.

Italy
Salerno gets gold at Hive, where he confirmed that he is the strongest in the world! But they put the British flag on him, since he lives in London… he will have to get it changed, on pain of losing his salute!
Underwhelming and a bit nervous Gueci, who still hasn’t given his best: today we will see him in action in Stratego, one of his favorite games.
Meanwhile, Daniele Ferri also took to the track, who has some good cards to play for sure.
Worth mentioning is the presence of a lot of Korean (and even Spanish) kids, who participate en masse in various tournaments: picturesque!

day 5

Bronze Italy.
Medals are signed today as well, although only Bronze:
– The usual Dario De Toffoli takes it in Backgammon (5x9pt).
– And hear, hear yours truly finally gets one, at Stratego Duel (which saw me a 3-time rainbow 😉).
Nothing else, but better than nothing.
In the overall Pentamind Dario is now fourth with 442, behind Ankush Kandelwall 471, Andres Kuusk 463, James Heppel 461, and of course leading in the Senior Pentamind ahead of Marc Tastet 406 , Paco Garcia de la Banda 390 and the writer 290.
Of note is the excellent performance so far of Francesco Salerno who is 13th at 370.
As for me, I continue to collect fourth places, at Stratego Classic and in the evening at Poker 5 card draw.
Not too lucky this year and also on the Bronze medal at Stratego Duel there would have been something to say, since first they award me Silver since I had won the direct match with a Spanish guy with whom I arrived ex aequo and then after 7 hours they change it to Bronze because they claim that the tie-breaker rules are different… We are verifying.
Tomorrow I’m going to do Kamisado and then 3-check Chess (a variation of Chess where the winner is whoever first manages to checkmate the opponent’s king for the third time. It is not trivial at all.
See you tomorrow.

day 6

1 Silver and 1 Bronze unexpected.
Italy continues to grind out medals, this time even where you don’t expect them:
Francesco Salerno absolute protagonist with the Silver in Kamisado, and it was his first tournament ever, and the Bronze in Gomuku, where even here he didn’t have high hopes. Really good is Francesco!
For the first time Dario De Toffoli sets the pace, but I don’t think it’s over for him yet in the last two days of competition left.
In the overall Pentamind he dropped to sixth place, but he remains in the lead of the Senior one even though threatening are Frenchman Marc Tastet and Spaniard Paco de la Banda. In the lead, on the other hand, with a winning double shot overtaking everyone at the moment is Englishman James Heppell with 477, ahead of Estonian Andres Kuusk 472 and Englishman Ankush Khandelwal 471.
As for me, sorry to say, but when one is not kissed by luck, unintentionally the mood tends to drop and the fatigue that sets in affects the concentration that a smidgen sometimes slackens in constancy. Today for example in Kamisado I got off to a very good start by beating with a dry 2-0 who then won the Gold, I stay in the lead alone until the fourth round, then inexplicably alternate glaring oversights and say goodbye to the podium. At the next 3-check chess tournament, on the other hand, I knew I had no chance, given the parterre of specialists present, and so the runner-up position fits, although several positions were squandered by poor accuracy.
I repeat for the umpteenth time “this year goes like this, patience” or as Dario says sometimes “age of birth demands toll” (indeed for him it doesn’t seem so, even though we are the same age 😂).
Rest day tomorrow and we will resume on Sunday with a conclusion on Monday. Still several tournaments to play and a couple of sectional rankings to honor. We shall see.
Greetings.

AH, the age, AHI AHI

Day 5
Second backgammon tournament and second bronze!
It was 5 games at 9 pt with a Swiss system and I won 4 of them; I lost to Etan who, in my very humble opinion, made more than a few blunders… and benefited from them. But this is backgammon, and its charm perhaps is precisely that nothing is ever totally written, until the end. For those who love the game only, I report the key position; we are 6-6, I have the dice at 2, and in the position pictured I double to 4. It was a clear pass, but he takes it without much thought and we play the match. At a glance I would have said I had an 85% chance of winning, actually the analysis gave me 79.6… however, he won. Shown is the position and analysis; the sequence of the dice was 53: 12-9, 6-1; 23: bar-23, 14-17; 52: 9-2*; 22 ouch ouch ouch, what a pain! We settle for a second place ex-aequo with the bronze around our necks.
At this point I’m exhausted, 8 hours of play with no breaks, just a couple of pee-pees on the fly. Not even half an hour for dinner and immediately the Hare&Tortoise (aka “carrots”) tournament, a very nice game that has given me great satisfaction in the past. I feel that I should give up, but in order to do so I had already given up the 5-card draw poker (losing the chance to enter the poker combo); in short, I felt I owed it to myself to play… but after a while my strength failed me altogether and I had to sadly withdraw. This cursed age has taken its heavy toll!

Day 6
There is nothing in it for me, I do Carcassonne just to have fun and learn something from the super-specialists who infest the tournament. After 6 rounds and only 2 wins I prefer to quit, better to draw breath and save myself for the final rush. I actually learned something though, who knows in the future.
Today rest for everyone and I take the opportunity to recover from the excessive fatigue of the past days.

Pentamind
I have been a few days in the stratosphere, but yesterday a couple of players overtook me and I am currently sixth; leading Heppel (477), over Kuusk (472), Tucker (472), Khandelwal (471), Jamain (451) and me (443).
Let’s try to understand each other, at my age it is an absolutely unhoped-for score, but in reality anything can still happen; I might gain a few more points in the last tournaments, but I might also lose the senior title, because my friend Paco de la Banda is chasing me and has some of his favorite tournaments at his disposal. In any case, it is already a great success to have come this far.

Italy
Double medal for the excellent abstractionist Salerno, silver in Kamisado and bronze in Go-moku, while the negative moment continues for the great Gueci, who in addition to being demoralized is also haunted by bad luck: left in 4 in the Poker Draw he finds himself holding a trio of 8 and ends up all in against a trio of 10 of the chip leader! Come on come on come on, that you can still have your say!!!

8 day

1 Gold and 1 Silver for Italians.
And finally Gold it was! For yours truly ☺️
That was in Texas Holdem Poker, while the Silver came from the King Cribbage obtained by Dario De Toffoli.
In the overall Pentamind resumes the lead Ankush Khandelwal with 491 points over Daniel Angelats 488, over James Heppell and Andres Kuusk paired with 477 (to be precise they are separated by 10 hundredths of a point), Tung Yat Cheng 476, Matt Tuker 471 Michail Alishaw 470. In short, all very close even if the top two seem to be a little bit apart. The last day of racing will therefore be decisive.
Our Dario has unfortunately dropped to ninth place again with 442, but he remains in the lead in the Senior pentamind, although Paco de la Banda who now has 423 has come very close. Third is Marc Tastet 406, while I remain fourth although I move up a little to 333, but too far from the podium.
This morning I tried my hand at the Azul (for the second time) and I had started very well with 2 wins including one with a specialist ( Matt Tucker), but then in the third round just with Ankush Kkandelwal for forgetting to remove a card already played, I am penalized by the referees excessively in my opinion (and not only) and I lose the game. Which dismantles me for the continuation especially because I also encounter Kuusk and two other specialists and remain at the pole.
Good thing then I reluctantly decide not to play the Chess 960 that I really cared about and opt for Poker, where I already told you how well it went ☺️
Tomorrow as I have already written to you the curtain will fall and I will have to decide whether to do the Chess blitz or the Rummikub, while in the afternoon we will honor the Vegetable of our friend Daniele Ferri.
Tonight golden greetings!

The curtain falls

– Ankush Khandelwal wins his 5th Pentamind overall!
– Dario De Toffoli wins the Senior Pentamind.
– Italy finishes second among the Nations.
– Today for Italian team: 2 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze.
– 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze my final haul.

British Champion Ankush Khandelwal deservedly wins his 5th Pentamind and equals the Record of the legendary Demis Hassabis, with an impressive 191 points, ahead of Catalan Daniel Angelats 188 and Estonian Andres Kuusk 179.
Way to go!!!
The Pentamind Senior went as expected to our Captain, Dario De Toffoli, with 442 points (9th overall), but it must be said that until the very last the Spaniard Paco Garcia de la Banda tried to steal the first place from him as he climbed up to 438. Third instead was Frenchman Marc Tastet with 414. I, although making a final comeback, finished fourth at 375 points (30th overall).
Of note among the top 100: young Francesco Salerno’s 29th place with 379, Daniele Ferri’s 31st place with 368, Dario Zaccariotto’s 60th (left early though) with 260.
The women’s Pentamind went to Natashia Natasha Regan ahead of Madli Mirme and Julia Sanchez.
The Junior Pentamind went to Mario Hernández Concepción ahead of George Altshul and Agustin Borgeat Zunino.
Italy finishes very well overall in second position among the Nations, behind the obvious Great Britain, with an impressive 6 Gold, 6 Silver and 8 Bronze. Very good performance also because this year we were almost half the usual Team. The significantly higher costs definitely had an impact.

Excellent final day today for Italy:
2 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze.
Main protagonist this time Daniele Ferri with Gold in Rummikub and his game Vegetables, then a prestigious Silver of mine in Rummikub and finally an excellent although unlucky (having arrived ex aequo with the first) Bronze of Francesco Salerno in Amazons.
My final personal report is ultimately satisfactory.
Nothing exceptional as other times happened to me, but certainly not negative either given 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze that towards the end rehabilitated me with myself.
Several regrets for too many fourth places obtained, between bad luck, questionable refereeing and organizational decisions and certainly also my mistakes sometimes really trivial. Today for example if in Rummikub I played really well, yielding only to super specialist Daniele, in Vegetables in the game he created, running out of time I made a trivial oversight that cost me a Silver/Bronze medal.
And whatever.
I tell myself every year that if I stay dry of medals, I’ll stop participating, but I’ll be forced to come back again next year 😂
Too bad it ended because I was finally warming up 😀
See you next year and especially thanks to everyone who followed and encouraged me!
Bye Bye

GUYS, IT WAS FINE AND EXCITING!
Well, I won (for the seventh time!) the Senior Pentamind, I took 9 medals (3-2-4), Zaccariotto finally participated (4 medals in 2 days), Italy is second in the medal table, Gueci redeemed himself in the finals, Ferri and Salerno took their medal fix, Ankush Khandelwal won the Pentamind for the fifth time (over Angelats and Kuusk). I would say largely positive! And then icing on the cake, what really gave me the most satisfaction: the hug from Demis Hassabis! Wow!

Day 7
I spent Saturday’s rest in bed exhausted and still not feeling in good shape; so I give up the albeit beautiful tournament of Azul, which I would have very gladly done but is too “brain-consuming” and opt for a quieter tournament of Backgammon, where many automatisms help me not to struggle too much. Gradually I recover and in the afternoon I give up Poker and let myself be tempted by the little Kings Cribbage tournament, pompously called “World Championship”. Well, I am one of the very few Italians who plays and appreciates Cribbage and perhaps I am the only one who knows of the existence of Kings Cribbage, a cross between Cribbage and Scrabble. I prepared myself by playing it myself, a few games between Me and Me! Well, come on, I get the silver after a series of really intense games, not to mention that there is also some regret, because the decisive game I lost by 2 points (215-213) and the opponent had called a score underestimating it by exactly 2 points, 2 points that were added after an improper intervention by a spectator. Fair play led me to concede without fuss … but some bitterness remains: I think that calling one’s own points is an integral part of the move, and if one misses it, too bad for him, it’s part of the game. Whatever!

Day 8
In Rummikub let’s say I was in competition with Ferri, 6 times I won and 6 times he won! In short I was counting on a medal and an increase in Pentamind points. Of course I wondered when the various foreign champions would learn our technique (developed just by Ferri) and put us in trouble. Well, said, done, a gaggle of strong Spanish and French players showed up, all having assimilated our technique of drawing all the tiles before dropping and then dropping as few as possible, to close in one big blow. Things go well for the first 3 rounds, I win all 3 games and so does Ferri. Then Gueci – coached by me – wins 2, losing to Ferri alone. In the fourth and penultimate round I get the French Grolleau, good, careful but not unbeatable. Well, I got a nightmare distribution, out of 52 tiles only one 11, two only 12 (both black) and two only 13. He was locked in all the high numbers, he well noticed and forced me to play the low tiles. Learned. Then the fifth one I lost to Ferri–and that fits. In short a reprehensible 3/5, too bad! However, the satisfaction that Gueci earned silver after Ferri’s gold. In short, it remains an Italian specialty.
After Rummikub I also tried VegeTables, I had been meaning to participate for years but the right opportunity had never presented itself. Well, 15 min per game is too little for me… it would take experience that I don’t have! However it is always interesting to try new playful adventures!

Pentamind
Ankush Khandelwal wins extra-deservedly with 491 points (I’ll spare you the decimals), followed by the Spaniard (but he says Catalan!) Daniel Angelats with 489 and the ever-present Estonian Andres Kuusk at 480. I finish ninth and win the Senior with 443 over Paco de la Banda who was trailing me at 438, truly a beautiful fight with a dear friend. Third the French Marc Tastet and fourth (too bad!) the albeit great Riccardo Gueci.
If I had to say my say about this formula (and I have pointed this out before) I would say that it is too easy to score points for euro-games specialists, that it should not be possible to rank without even a “classic” game, and that tournaments of one and a half sections should not be considered “long”… in short, I would be a bit stricter.