Othello news
Living on the edge: the Cambridge 2025 EGP
17 February 2025Written by Carlo Affatigato
When you play Othello at a certain level, like the one we faced in Cambridge for the first EGP of 2025, you are forced to live on the edge. Surviving an EGP like this requires a certain degree of philosophy. You can't play safe: you have to make risky decisions, and sometimes you find yourself in pretty desperate situations, where all moves seem horrible, and you're forced to bet on some crazy positions just to stay afloat. That’s exactly what happened to Imre Leader in the second final against Michele Borassi. Look at the position below, white to play.
Both players follow an opening they know, but it doesn’t change much because the midgame is already complex. Michele has a quiet move, and to take it away from him, Imre has to play a loud one, creating one of those areas we're taught to avoid on our very first day learning Othello. But then again, survival comes first. Imre plays A4 and will soon regret it, but finding alternatives was anything but easy.
Yes, Michele Borassi won the Cambridge EGP 2025, winning both finals against Imre Leader, who finished second. But even for him, it wasn’t an easy ride: on the morning of the second day, he started feeling unwell, rushed to the hotel to grab some medicine, then hurried back just in time to play against me and… well, I had to survive too. Halfway through the game, I find myself in a situation where I still feel alive - the positions are complicated but not overwhelmingly so. At some point, I even think I might be ahead. Michele offers me a risky sacrifice in the position below. White to play.
I start counting how many discs I lose along the edges after H1. After a while, I stop counting - they seem too many. I look around. Surviving is tough. And then I see it. The B1-G6 diagonal after the F8H8 exchange. I think that's it. Michele is forced to give me three edges and loses his only game of the tournament—he still hasn't managed to close the Swiss rounds of an EGP with 11 wins. Not that it matters, he’ll win the tournament anyway. But for me, it’s a big win: I make it to the 3rd/4th place final against David Hand. And of course, I lose again, 33-31, for the third time out of three in an EGP. But if you look at the players who didn’t make it to the finals, it feels like a world championship: at seven points were Kunihiko Tanida, Takuji Kashiwabara, Matthias Berg, Calvin Koh, Tom Schotte, Remko Zillig, Marc Tastet, and Daniel Rössler. Reaching the final in a tournament like this is a pretty good way to survive.
Guy Plowman explained it to me on day one. He repeated it like a mantra: you can't be dead. Even if it takes you twelve minutes to think through move 33, in a position where every alternative has an easy response and pretty much everything is poisoned, there has to be a way to stay alive. And there was. He found his own solution. You can find yours: black to play.
The first EGP of 2025 is over—39 players from 11 different countries, a lot of fun, and the feeling of having experienced another fantastic tournament at the University of Cambridge. Next stop is the walls of Lucca, and it’s going to be great again.
The Cambridge EGP 2025 on Flip The Disc
Official European Grand Prix page on WorldOthello: Standings and results
Standings after round 11:
| # | Name | Points | MBQ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Michele BORASSI (SUI) | 10 | 916 |
| 2. | Imre LEADER (GBR) | 9 | 868 |
| 3. | David HAND (GBR) | 7.5 | 803 |
| Carlo AFFATIGATO (ITA) | 7.5 | 803 | |
| 5. | Kunihiko TANIDA (JPN) | 7 | 862 |
| Takuji KASHIWABARA (FRA) | 7 | 857 | |
| Matthias BERG (SUI) | 7 | 856 | |
| Calvin KOH (SGP) | 7 | 845 | |
| Tom SCHOTTE (BEL) | 7 | 833 | |
| Remko ZILLIG (NLD) | 7 | 825 | |
| Marc TASTET (FRA) | 7 | 818 | |
| Daniel RÖSSLER (DEU) | 7 | 753 | |
| 13. | Guy PLOWMAN (GBR) | 6 | 787 |
| Bintsa ANDRIANI (FRA) | 6 | 751 | |
| Jan DE GRAAF (NLD) | 6 | 750 | |
| James WOOD (GBR) | 6 | 747 | |
| Günther BEYER (DEU) | 6 | 738 | |
| Jasmine DE GRAAF (NLD) | 6 | 726 | |
| Bruce KYTE (GBR) | 6 | 716 | |
| Grichawit TATINIJ (THA) | 6 | 657 | |
| 21. | Emmanuel LAZARD (FRA) | 5 | 755 |
| Ralph REIJNDERS (BEL) | 5 | 687 | |
| Sophie TASTET (FRA) | 5 | 684 | |
| Mark PLOWMAN (GBR) | 5 | 682 | |
| Isabel ZILLIG (NLD) | 5 | 671 | |
| Ben PRIDMORE (GBR) | 5 | 661 | |
| Nadja DE MOOR (BEL) | 5 | 639 | |
| Luke PLOWMAN (GBR) | 5 | 632 | |
| 30. | Graham CHAPPELL (GBR) | 4 | 651 |
| Dan JACOBS (GBR) | 4 | 640 | |
| Yoshiko YAMAGUCHI (JPN) | 4 | 582 | |
| Anya PLOWMAN (GBR) | 4 | 548 | |
| John KERR (GBR) | 4 | 514 | |
| 35. | Paul GREGG (GBR) | 3 | 459 |
| Enkhluun ULZIIBILEGT (MNG) | 3 | 395 | |
| 37. | Iris GIBSON (GBR) | 2 | 488 |
| Munkhzaya PUREVSUREN (MNG) | 2 | 328 | |
| 39. | Yondonjamts PUREVSUREN (MNG) | 1 | 293 |