Youth Is Served

Hipster John Gramila is on a roll. In three league games this season, he’s topped one board outright and shared another. At the North American Diplomacy Championship at WACCon in January, he finished seventh. And last weekend at our eighth annual CODCon Open at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, he posted two convincing board tops en route to his first tournament championship.

It was a great bounce-back year for CODCon. Last year, we managed just 15 players, five of whom traveled to the event. This year, 22 players participated on a total of seven boards. That number includes 20 local players, our best local turnout since the WDC in 2012.

 

The top seven players were:

 

  1. John Gramila, 97.059 points.
  2. Matt Sundstrom, 94.493 points.
  3. Grant Smith, 72.990 points.
  4. Tony Prokes, 58.989 points.
  5. Peter Lokken, 52.487 points.
  6. Jack Sundstrom, 47.472 points.
  7. Don Glass, 42.290 points.

The Best Country awards went to:

Austria: Jim O’Kelley
England: Matt Sundstrom
France: John Gramila
Germany: Jack Sundstrom
Italy: Grant Smith
Russia: John Gramila
Turkey: Don Glass
 

The final standings and supply center charts for each game are here.

Special thanks to Tournament Director Dan Burgess for running a good tournament and for playing in the second round to help us reach three boards. Thanks also to Christian Kline and Tony Prokes, who each played on two boards for the same reason. 

Ben DiPaola and Chris Cantine also deserve our thanks. Ben sat out the first and third rounds so others could play, and Chris joined him on the sidelines for the third round.

And how about a shout-out for Jack Sundstrom? Playing in his first tournament, Matt’s 13-year-old son placed sixth and took home the Best Germany plaque. And he only played one round!

Finally, we were pleased to welcome Grant Smith and Mike French back to CODCon. Both attended the first CODCon Open and have supported us ever since. Grant has attended six Opens and Mike, five, but both had missed the past two.

Next year’s CODCon will be April 10 to 12. We plan to be back for a ninth year, so mark your calendars. Hopefully Mike, Grant and many of you will join us.

Join the discussion!

Find out more about an upcoming event or article, talk smack before a game, brag about your board top, or most likely, ask what on earth your fellow Weasels were thinking!

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Jim O'Kelley

    Alternate headline: The World is his Tofu.

  2. Kevin O'Kelly

    Further tournament headline… miracles do exist. Jim O’Kelley offered me support into a supply center during a fall turn and delivered, following it up with further support the next spring into another center that I held for the rest if the game.

    Damn you that sully the man’s reputation! I’ve always said he is a trustworthy ally. It just took him a while to prove it. šŸ˜‰

  3. Jim O'Kelley

    Don’t short-change me. I gave you three supports into Munich on that fall turn.

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