Diplomacy, Hasbro/Avalon Hill's Exciting Game of International Intrigue

   Due to a bad flu going around, Stratagem followed up its highest-ever turn-out in 2000 with its lowest ever this year.  Nevertheless, we saw several new players, and a good time was had by all,  Special guests included Diplomacy legend Edi Birsan from San Francisco, and Honourable MP for Calgary West Rob Anders.  Stratagem would like to thank all of the volunteers that made this tournament such a success, including Robert Vollman, James Istvanffy and Neil Goud for organising the event, Brian Mitenko and Edi Birsan for moderating, and Laurens Groen, John Laszlo, Rory Cory, John Burns, Steve Alexander, and Faisal Kassam for publicity.  A special thank you goes to Gord Johanson and the Sentry Box for providing us such a fine venue for the event.
 

Results

Final Top Ten

1	Edi Birsan	49
2	Ben Leung	30
3	Rob Vollman	28
4	Vick Hall	23
5	Ernie Kwok	22.5
6	Steve Alexander	19.5
7	Kevin Worth	19.5
8	Brian Mitenko	18
9	Josh Silbernagel	16.5
10	Faisal Kassam	12.5

Best Countries

 

Austria	Robert Vollman	4-way draw, 7 SC	15
England	Edi Birsan	2-way draw, 12 SC	27
France	Ben Leung	2-way draw, 13 SC	28
Germany	Edi Birsan	3-way draw, 12 SC	22
Italy	Vick Hall	3-way draw, 7 SC	17
Russia	Josh Silbernagel	elim, 1 SC	1
Turkey	Brian Mitenko	3-way draw, 8 SC	18

Game 1

Our first game ended in a 3-way draw between our two foreign guests, Vick Hall (Italy) and Edi Birsan (Germany) and former champion Brian Mitenko (Turkey).  Newcomers Artos Low and Ben Leung had strong debuts, and Ernie Kwok and Steve Alexander elevated their games despite falling behind.
 

Austria	Ben Leung	5	3	3	3	3	2
England	Ernie Kwok	5	6	7	8	8	4
France	Artos Low	4	3	1	1	1	1
Germany	Edi Birsan*	6	7	8	10	9	12
Italy	Vick Hall*	4	4	6	6	7	7
Russia	Steve Alexander	6	6	3	0	0	0
Turkey	Brian Mitenko*	4	5	6	6	6	8

Game 2

Edi Birsan (England) solidified his claim to the championship by sharing a 2-way draw with newcomer Ben Leung (France).  Newcomers Artos Low (Turkey) and Josh Silbernagel (Russia) both played impressively, besting respected champions like Steve Mills (Italy) and James Istvanffy (Germany).  Kevin Worth (Austria), a seasoned veteran, got off to a good start at his first time at the Diplomacy championships.
 

Austria	Kevin Worth	5	5	5	4	4	4	3
England	Edi Birsan*	4	6	5	6	9	10	12
France	Ben Leung*	5	5	6	9	10	11	13
Germany	James Istvanffy	5	3	3	2	1	1	0
Italy	Steve Mills	4	5	4	3	1	0	0
Russia	Josh Silbernagel*	6	6	6	6	4	2	1
Turkey	Artos Low	4	4	5	4	5	6	5

Game 3

Our longest game ended, when time elapsed, in a 4-way draw including Faisal Kassam (Austria), Steve Alexander (England), Ernie Kwok (France) and Robert Vollman (Turkey).  Seasoned veterans Brian Mitenko (Germany) and Vick Hall (Italy) were quickly attacked, a true sign of respect.  Newcomer Zach Silbernagel (Russia) played well and hung on until the very end.
 

Austria	Faisal Kassam	5	6	5	6	7	6	5	5
England	Steve Alexander	5	6	6	8	9	10	11	12
France	Ernie Kwok	5	5	7	8	9	11	11	11
Germany	Brian Mitenko	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Italy	Vick Hall	4	4	5	2	0	0	0	0
Russia	Zach Silbernagel	5	7	8	6	2	2	2	0
Turkey	Robert Vollman	4	3	3	4	6	5	5	6

Game 4

Our final game was also a long one, that ended in a 4-way tie including Robert Vollman (Austria), Vick Hall (France), Kevin Worth (Germany) and newcomer Josh Silbernagel (Turkey).  All 7 players were alive until 1907 due to tenacious play by Faisal Kassam (England), Zach Silbernagel (Italy) and John Burns (Russia)
 

Austria	Robert Vollman*	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	7
England	Faisal Kassam	4	4	1	1	1	1	0	0
France	Vick Hall	5	6	7	8	9	9	10	10
Germany	Kevin Worth	5	5	7	7	8	8	9	9
Italy	Zach Silbernagel	5	5	4	4	2	3	0	0
Russia	John Burns	5	5	5	3	2	2	2	0
Turkey	Josh Silbernagel	4	4	5	6	7	6	7	8

Stratagem would like to thank all the participants, and all those for their interest.  Check out last year's results.