If we were to compare Russian board-tops to Russian state-sponsored hacking groups, then Bryan Pravel’s game Wednesday night at the Red Lion was more Cozy Bear than Fancy Bear. Yes, he led wire to wire, and yes, he was nattily dressed in a sharp blue blazer, but he never seemed like he was in control of the game.
When Fancy Bear hacks you, he wants you to know it. For Cozy Bear, hacking you is good enough. Despite losing Rumania and Sevastopol and being under siege in the south for most of the game, Pravel quietly topped Game No. 341, which ended by time limit after the Fall 1906 turn in the following center counts:
Austria (Sean Clarke): 1; 0.427 points.
England (Jim O’Kelley): 6; 15.385 points.
France (Paul Marcinkowski): 4; 6.838 points.
Germany (Jake Langenfeld): 0; 0.000 points.
Italy (Ali Adib): 8; 27.350 points.
Russia (Bryan Pravel): 9; 34.615 points.
Turkey (Alex Amann): 6; 15.385 points.
Alex Amann is a traveler who’s currently living in the Bay Area. He grew up in the New England hobby and used to serve as the Tournament Director for Carnage and the Boston Massacre. He last played with the Weasels at the Red Lion in January 2014. He has played at Moot four times, most recently at WDC in 2012. Paul Marcinkowski was playing his first game ever. He’s an acquaintance of Jake Langenfeld’s. Meanwhile, this was the club’s second straight Russian board-top.
The supply center chart is here. Players, how about some endgame statements?
