18th Friedrich World Championship, 2023
The Qualification Round
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In the qualification round, 28 games were played. They can be summarized as follows:
Game 1: Daniel Zarazaga's Prussia collapses after 55 minutes. Winner is David Önkür with France in turn 5. Guy Atkinson (Elisabeth) and
Bartek Żmuda (Maria T.) manage to conquer a little bit more than 50% of their objectives.
Game 2:Alex Calderon wins with Prussia after 18 turns. Andrew Brown (Elisabeth), Marcus Straßmann (Maria T.) and Michael Kothe (Pompadour) make 8 and more points. Game 3:For Peter Hannappel, Prussia seems to be doomed very fast: Against Sweden, Prussia has only 1 clubs card (a 12); the combat ends in a tie. The other theatres don't develop good either. However, despite an early Lord Bute (turn 7) Peter manages to consolidate. France (Loughlin Deegan) exits in turn 12, Russia (Richard Sivel) in turn 14. Peter wins after a long and intense struggle in turn 22. A real great play! Game 4: Stephan Jordan has the early Lord Bute as well (turn 6). To make matter worse, Prussia has only 2 diamonds and 2 spades cards after 3 turns. How should Prussia defend against Austria? At least there is an early exiting Russia (turn 11, Karsten Droste). But in turn 14 the game is over: John McCullough wins with France. Jürgen Winter makes 9.17 points with Austria. Game 5: In this game, Jose Bonilla Rau manages to have conquered all objective except Minden (!) when France drops out. Mark Luta plays his Russians methodically: The first combat happens in turn 8. Maurice de Wijs initially plays on a Hildi-victory, but turns his troops to Silesia after France's exit; he achieves 7.5 points. After Lord Bute in turn 15, Prussia (Ramon Guillamat) eventually wins in turn 17. Game 6: Stefan Schönweiß holds out 21 turns, until Austria wins (Steffen Schröder). Against Russia (Klaus Blum) and France (Tobias Kriener) Stefan's defense is very stable: They achieve 6 and 4 points, respectively. Noteworthy: France would have dropped out in turn 22, and Russia in turn 23. Game 7: Bernd Preiß receives his first reserve for Prussia in turn 14! But a mild fate is a good compensation: There is no subsidy reduction until game end; and the game is quite short: Only 16 turns! So Bernd makes perfect the 4th Prussian victory on Friday evening. Alex Schröder (Elisabeth), Bjorn von Knorring (Maria T.) and Christian Blattner (Pompadour) achieve solid 8 to 9.17 points. |
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 Game 3: Peter Hannappel moves his pieces.  Game 6: Steffen Schröder moves his pieces. |
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 Game 10: Karsten Droste seems astonished about what is going on in Silesia.  Game 12: Ramon Guillamat Rubin and Alex Calderon thinking. |
Game 8:
Maurice de Wijs and his Prussians are defeated after 15 turns. Winner is Russia (Bjorn von Knorring). Guy Atkinson (Maria T.) and Klaus Blum (Pompadour) make 7.5 and 9 points, respectively. Note that France dropped you in turn 11, so 9 points are quite remarkable!
Game 9: Arnold, the 2nd of the de-Wijs-brothers, suffers almost the same result: Austria (Mark Luta) wins in turn 18. In this game, France exited after 17 turns, Sweden in turn 15. Jürgen Winter achieves 8 points with Russia, and so dos Andrew Brown with France. Game 10: Karsten Droste wins with Prussia after 17 turns. The stroke of fates come in a steady rhythm: Sweden (turn 8), America (11), India (14), Elisabeth (17). And if would have continued with: Prussia (20), and Lord Bute? No, not turn 23, but turn 22. Bernd Preiß (Elisabeth) makes 9 points and Daniel Zarazage (Maria T.) 8.33 while Stefan Schönweiß achieves 9 points. Game 11: Loughlin Deegan finds no recipe against the clever cooperating Russians and Austrians (John McCullough und Jose Bonilla Rau). Winner is Russia in turn 16. And this was Russia's last chance, since Elisabeth would have died just in that turn! France (Marcus Straßmann) would have dropped out in turn 17, and Sweden in turn 20. Game 12: Richard Sivél wins with Prussia/Hanover in turn 16. Stephan Jordan (Elisabeth), Ramon Guillamat (Maria T.) and Alex Calderon (Pompadour) achieve 7, 5.83 and 9 points, respectively. Note that Alex was very lucky that the game ended so early, since his French had suffered a big blow-out just the turn before, and Hanover would have made several re-conquests. But they could not, and so Alex made 9 points! Game 13:In a 22-turn game, where the first stroke of fate was Sweden in turn 11 (followed by America (16), India (17), Lord Bute (18), Poems (20), Elisabeth (22)) Alex Schröder's victory was never in danger. His opponents make 6.67 (Tobias Kriener, Austria), 8 (Peter Hannappel, Russia) und 7 points (Bartek Żmuda, France). Game 14: Michael Kothe's Prussians get encircled at Lauchhammer in the early stage of the game, and are swept off the board. David Önkür makes optimum use of this glorious victory and wins in turn 11 with the Imperial Army. However, it is a shared win: Steffen Schröder joins in with France. Christian Blattner makes 9 points with Russia. |
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Game 15: Bjorn von Knorring wins clearly with Prussia/Hanove. The game lasted 21 turns, and the attackers hardly had any chance. When Stefan
Schönweiß's Austrians by the Prussians at Ziegenhals, he exclaimed the pure truth: "But why? What did I ever do to you?". David Önkür makes 8 points with Russia,
Richard Sivél 6 with France, and Stefan 7.5 with Austria. Game 16: With Prussia/Hanover, John McCullough achieves his third win of the tournament, when Russia (Arnold de Wijs) drops out in turn 20. The only attacker with a chance to win was Austria (Bernd Preiß), since at the end John was running out of spades. But Austria would have ca. two more turns for its win. Game 17: Marcus Straßmann's Prussians are defeated after 20 turns. Christian Blattner wins with Austria. Guy Atkinson and Tobias Kriener make 9 points each with France and Russia. Game 18:Bartek Żmuda succeeds in repelling the attacks of Michael Kothe (Elisabeth), Klaus Blum (Maria T.) and Mark Luta (Pompadour) till the game end (turn 21). The big strokes of fates all came very late: France's exit in turn 16, Lord Bute (18), Poems (20), Elisabeth (21). Game 19: Steffen Schröder holds out 20 turns, until his Prussians suffer their defeat against Austria (Stephan Jordan). Against Russia and France (Daniel Zarazaga und Alex Schröder) Steffen's defense was stable. And the bitter irony: One more turn, and Steffen would have won! Game 20: With 22 turns, this was another long game, won by Prussia/Hanover (Andrew Brown). Jose Bonilla Rau suffers his next early drop out with Russia (turn 10); he takes over the Imperial Army and achieves at least 8 points. Peter Hannappel and Karsten Droste make 9.17 and 8 points, respectively. Game 21: Jürgen Winter's Prussians are defeated by Alex Calderon's Austrians. Louhglin Deegan and Maurice de Wijs score 8 points each. |
 Game 18: Bartek Żmuda thinking about his defense against France (Mark Luta).  Game 21: Loughlin Deegan moves his Russian pieces. |
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 Game 23: Hildi, the true Prussian nightmare, shortly before his third combat against Prussia in turn 3.  Game 28: Michael Kothe in good mood. |
Game 22:
Alex Calderon wins with Russia in turn 17, and will enter the final as 2nd ranked player. Mark Luta (Prussia) holds off his other opponents quite well:
Karsten Droste scores 6.88 points with Austria, and Bjorn von Knorring scores 8 points with France ‐ which is enough for the final as well.
Game 23: Jose Bonilla Rau is shocked: The new Prussian nightmare is called Hildi! In turn 2, Hildi (holding only 1 TC) forces the attacking Winterfeldt to retreat, and eliminates him in his counterattacack. In turn 3, he dauntless attacks Seydlitz and manages to pull one Prussian reserve, before reteating by −2. In turn 4, Hildi receives his 4th clubs TC and wins once again (Seydlitz −1). Russia (Bartek Żmuda is able to profit from these clubs battles, and scores 9 points in the end. Jürgen Winter does not realize that he could win with France in ca. turn 10, since Madgeburg was unprotected. Richard Sivél goes for a Hildi-victory, but in turn 18 he makes 2 real blunders within 10 seconds and gives away victory. — Immediately thereafter, the Empire switches to Bartek, and Jose eventually wins after 22 turns. Game 24: Christian Blattner has to fight a long living Tsarina (Stefan Schönweiß): Elisabeth dies in turn 23. But, despite this and despite Lord Bute in turn 6 and despite a late exiting France (turn 21), Christian wins! Loughlin Deegan und Stephan Jofdan score 9.17 and 8 Punkte, respectively, while Stefan Schönweiß makes 9 points. With this win, Christian is another finalist. Game 25: Guy Atkinson's Prussia fends off the attacks of Steffen Schröder (Elisabeth), John McCullouigh (Maria T.) and Peter Hannappel (Pompadour) and wins! However, John's 9.17 points are enough for the first rank of the qualification round; so the final is complete. Game 26: David Önkür is defeated after 19 turns. Winners are Andrew Brown with Austria and Bernd Preiß with France. Bernd misses the final by 0.34 points, and David by only 0.17 points! Game 27: Klaus Blum cannot prevent another double victory: After 17 turns, Marcus Straßmann wins with Russia and Alex Schröder with Austria. Game 28: Tobias Kriener, FWC newbie, wins with Prussia after a 22 turn long struggle. Ramon Guillamat scores 9 points with Russia, Michael Köthe 9.17 points with Austria, and Daniel Zarazaga 7 points with France. |
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Tabellenstand nach der Vorrunde:
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 Game 15: In Silesia, Stefan Schönweiß's Austrians have no chance against Prussia. So, he sends 2 generals to the Kammin area!  Game 23: Since Richard Sivél goes for a Hildi victory, Saxony becomes very crowded and colourful.
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 The newly introduced Freddy-Award goes to the best FWC newbie: Karsten Droste. (In the upcoming year, the award will be renamed to Der junge Fritz (The Young Fritz).)
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 Marcus Straßmann is awarded with the the Fair Ehrensvärd.
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 And Daniel Zarazaga receives the Golden Hildi.
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With three wins, John McCullough is the top ranked player of the qualification round, followed by Alex Calderon (3 wins as well!), Christian Blattner and Bjorn von Knorring. These 4 players enter the final which started with some delay at 18:10. John had the first choice of his role; Alex the 2nd choice, and so on. For Christian it is his 5th participation in a FWC-final, for John and Bjorn the 3rd participation, and for Alex the 2nd. The Freddy-Award for the most successful FWC-newbie goes to Karsten Droste. Daniel Zarazaga receives the Golden Hildi: A special reserve card with a value of 1000. And Marcus Straßmann is awarded with the Fair Ehrensvärd : He intervened as spectator to correct a massive rules mistake, and gave very helpful guidance through the tournament rules for several newbies.
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