Playing The Grand Prix Champion of Othello, David Beck!
I have never met a World Champion before - David Beck is a prodigy in waiting, and perhaps I could be forgiven for having never heard of him until now.
Of course being English, I could think of Paul Beck as a beer, and get confused - sorry David!
David Beck is beating me hands down in a game of Othello, on Facebook, and I can’t help thinking he must be akin to Bobby Fisher in Chess, one of the heros!
David Beck is the 2007 Grand Prix Champion of Othello and will shortly be going to Greece to play in the World Othello Championship (Athens-Greece) 2007, according to the Official Rankings for British Othello, David Beck is seeded 4th - closer scrutiny in the recent Grand Prix showed his points in first position.
I haven't played Othello for years, and it was only about six months ago that I was introduced to Facebook, and playing games like Othello gives me a little light relaxation, in running a business online, and outsourcing my life.
This is my third game of Othello in so many years, and I remember that it must have been twenty years ago and more, that my father gave me the game.
I always thought that if you stayed in the rectangle in the centre of Othello, you could eventually win by gradually taking the sides, but that philosophy did not work in my first game on Othello, when my opponent changed the goal posts and had me beaten in the end.
David Beck writes about strategy in Othello and cites, George Ortiz (1996) - the technique is to reduce the mobility of the other player, thereby limiting their moves, and the game is divided into three parts, the opening, the mid-game, and the end game.
Facebook has connected me with one of the greats, and allowed me access to a star.
Through playing David, I was able to not only improve my game, but also ask him some questions, to which he replied:
David Beck is flying off on Sunday from Heathrow to represent his country in the World Othello Championship in Athens, will you be there?
...........................................................................
Is there a job that you need done, that does not require a physical presence in your office?
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Why not ask Catch Friday, a leading Filipino provider of Virtual Personal Assistants to do it for you?
Of course being English, I could think of Paul Beck as a beer, and get confused - sorry David!
David Beck is beating me hands down in a game of Othello, on Facebook, and I can’t help thinking he must be akin to Bobby Fisher in Chess, one of the heros!
David Beck is the 2007 Grand Prix Champion of Othello and will shortly be going to Greece to play in the World Othello Championship (Athens-Greece) 2007, according to the Official Rankings for British Othello, David Beck is seeded 4th - closer scrutiny in the recent Grand Prix showed his points in first position.
I haven't played Othello for years, and it was only about six months ago that I was introduced to Facebook, and playing games like Othello gives me a little light relaxation, in running a business online, and outsourcing my life.
This is my third game of Othello in so many years, and I remember that it must have been twenty years ago and more, that my father gave me the game.
I always thought that if you stayed in the rectangle in the centre of Othello, you could eventually win by gradually taking the sides, but that philosophy did not work in my first game on Othello, when my opponent changed the goal posts and had me beaten in the end.
David Beck writes about strategy in Othello and cites, George Ortiz (1996) - the technique is to reduce the mobility of the other player, thereby limiting their moves, and the game is divided into three parts, the opening, the mid-game, and the end game.
Facebook has connected me with one of the greats, and allowed me access to a star.
Through playing David, I was able to not only improve my game, but also ask him some questions, to which he replied:
".......the British Grand Prix is made up of 5 tournaments, as you can see from
the British Othelllo Federation site. It's a kind of back door to get
onto the British team, because its easier to qualify through that route,
than it is to qualify thorugh the British Nationals tournament.
The British team is made up of three players: qualifying in the following order:
British National Champion
2nd place at British Nationals
British Grand Prix Champion
.........and then should anyone of those not be able to attend, the place is offered to the next person down the pecking order from the British Nationals.
i qualified via the Grand Prix, but doubly qualified by coming third at in the British Nationals.
So far as being one the greats - unfortunately im not quite there yet... perhaps up and coming. The other two players on the team however, would be classified as greats - Imre Leader & Graham Brightwell - both have been playing about 20 years and have various moves and concepts named after them.
.....with 74 players from 24 countries attending the World Othello Championship next week, i think we are hoping that we might have a shot at the team trophy rather than the actual world title itself.
Unfortunately the Othello scene is dominated by the Japanese - who cleaned up last year and the year before.
.......as for your questions:
ive been playing Othello for 5 years - starting off playing on various internet sites. the main one being http://www.kurnik.org - where you will find most of the worlds top players.
I had been expected to turn up to live tournaments for a long time, and was but a whisper amongst the British community for a long time, i think.
Until that is last year, while on a year travelling in Australia i played my first tournament - the Australian Nationals and then on the way back home stopped off to play ine the US nationals, where i stayed with former world champion - Ben Seeley - another internet prodigy - he'll be at the World Othello Championship next week.
......finally I've bee playing British Tournaments ever since my return, and tend not to be as consistent as i would like - but Othello is a very hard game to remain consistent at at the top levels".
The British team is made up of three players: qualifying in the following order:
British National Champion
2nd place at British Nationals
British Grand Prix Champion
.........and then should anyone of those not be able to attend, the place is offered to the next person down the pecking order from the British Nationals.
i qualified via the Grand Prix, but doubly qualified by coming third at in the British Nationals.
So far as being one the greats - unfortunately im not quite there yet... perhaps up and coming. The other two players on the team however, would be classified as greats - Imre Leader & Graham Brightwell - both have been playing about 20 years and have various moves and concepts named after them.
.....with 74 players from 24 countries attending the World Othello Championship next week, i think we are hoping that we might have a shot at the team trophy rather than the actual world title itself.
Unfortunately the Othello scene is dominated by the Japanese - who cleaned up last year and the year before.
.......as for your questions:
ive been playing Othello for 5 years - starting off playing on various internet sites. the main one being http://www.kurnik.org - where you will find most of the worlds top players.
I had been expected to turn up to live tournaments for a long time, and was but a whisper amongst the British community for a long time, i think.
Until that is last year, while on a year travelling in Australia i played my first tournament - the Australian Nationals and then on the way back home stopped off to play ine the US nationals, where i stayed with former world champion - Ben Seeley - another internet prodigy - he'll be at the World Othello Championship next week.
......finally I've bee playing British Tournaments ever since my return, and tend not to be as consistent as i would like - but Othello is a very hard game to remain consistent at at the top levels".
David Beck is flying off on Sunday from Heathrow to represent his country in the World Othello Championship in Athens, will you be there?
...........................................................................
Is there a job that you need done, that does not require a physical presence in your office?
Maybe it's not in your mind now, but when your running out of the door, and your partner calls to tell you one of the children is not well, and you'll have to stay home.....your thinking oh what will happen to your work?.....Then you have that inkling of an idea.....call CatchFriday and get them to do the job for you! Catch Friday and get the weekend early - let Catch Friday do the job for you.
One thing that Catch Friday actually does is pay as you go tasks, and often new client's are ringing to get a job done that only may last a few hours...can anyone pick up the phone and ask? Yes CatchFriday.com listens.
Why not ask Catch Friday, a leading Filipino provider of Virtual Personal Assistants to do it for you?
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