“All decisions made involving 12-packs work out.”–Chris Glassburn
The 12th installment of our Weasel Moot, played September 1-2 in the meeting room at 400 East Randolph, Prime Weasel Brian Shelden’s condo building, was like a party pack from your favorite brewer. There was enough variety to please every taste, including one game that only ended after the players were serenaded into submission at a Karaoke bar.
When the fog machine cleared, Eric Grinnell, on the strength of monster board-tops in the first two rounds, including a near solo as Austria in Round 2, was holding the brass ring. Grinnell was playing in his seventh Chicago tournament, and the win was the first of his long and colorful career. All hail the Alpha Weasel mu!
The tournament, which was expertly run by Bryan Pravel, featured 28 players on nine boards over the three rounds. All nine boards were clean, meaning the TD did not have to play (except to replace a player late in the aforementioned Karaoke game) and no one had to double up. Three players sat out in Round 2 to make the numbers work. Another player, Ben DiPaola, showed up on Sunday to play in needed. He was not needed. The 28 players included 10 travelers and nine first-time Moot attendees.
The final standings are here. Find board detail, including supply center charts, here.
The top seven finishers were:
- Eric Grinnell
- Edward “Ted” Turner
- Chris Martin
- Jim O’Kelley
- Christian Kline
- David Spanos
- Zach Moore
The Best Country Awards went to:
- Austria: Eric Grinnell
- England: Chris Martin
- France: Edward “Ted” Turner
- Germany: David Spanos
- Italy: Christian Kline
- Russia: Zach Moore
- Turkey: Jorge Zhang
TD Pravel also presented the following special awards:
The Windy City is named for leaders full of hot air. The Windy City award went to R2-B1 for seven votes before a player was eliminated in 1910 and 11 draw votes before the game ended–a taste of our Sneak meetings.
Creative play: R3-B3. Perhaps inspired by the Yorkshire Pudding, Kevin O’Kelly created what shall hearby be known as the “Götterspeise” maneuver by bouncing all of his armies in Kiel. Götterspeise is a German pudding known as the “food of the Gods.” Side note, on the same board Jorge Zhang built three armies on the English islands and ordered the actual Yorkshire pudding, preventing Ted Tanner’s France from taking his centers and a potential tournament win.
Icarus: Hunter Katcher for reaching eight centers as Austria in 1906 on R2-B1 and ending with nothing.
Lazarus: Tony Prokes for taking Turkey on R2-B1 from two centers in 1905 to an eight-center board-top.
Best Stab: Lots of bypassed stab opportunities. Pravel considered nominating Jorge for making the TD play the Karaoke game. Chris Martin had a great three-center stab of Paul Pignotti, which we Weasels always support, but Thaddaeus’ stab of France in 1904 on R2-B2 gave him the centers to go from 7 to 12 in three years.
