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The 34th Nordic Championship 2018
8 March 2018Written by Benkt Steentoft
Niklas Wettergren won the 34th Nordic Othello Championship 2018! He is the 17th champion since the start 1985. The Nordic Championship is one of the oldest tournaments in the world.
It was an exiting tournament, there it was five players who was fighting about the final and third games places in the last round. Also the final was interesting when Niklas won the title loosing the last game.
The Nordic Othello countries arrange a championship every year. It is rotating between the countries Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. This year the Nordics was held in Gothenburg.
It was a cold weekend in Gothenburg. Saturday morning it was around -10 celsius. Eleven players defied the cold and traveled to Gothenburg. It was decided to be played an round robin plus a final, best of three games.
After the first day's game, eight rounds, there were three players in the top of seven points each. Martin Ödegård, Norway, Niklas Wettergren and Caroline Odsell, Sweden. Oskar Eklund, Sweden, had 5.5 points, Daniel Turunen, Sweden and Vidar Albrightsen, Norway had 5 points. It was these six players who would be fighting about the final place and the third prize match in the remaining three rounds on Sunday morning.
After a nice Saturday eve with good food and good friends, it was Sunday morning, and time to be opponents again.
After round 10 it was very existing. Also Niklas could not be 100% sure to be in the final. He needed to win the last game to be sure to play the final.
1: 9. pts [419] WETTERGREN Niklas {SWE}
2: 8. pts [448] ODEGARD Martin {NOR}
3: 8. pts [409] ODSELL Caroline {SWE}
4: 7.5 pts [387] EKLUND Oskar {SWE}
5: 6.5 pts [391] HAUS Knut Bjaret {Nor}
Knut Bjarte Haus had a chance to play the game about third place if he won against Martin Ödegård. Oskar had a chance to play the final if he won big and Martin and Caroline played draws or lost.
Round 11, Nordic championship
1 WETTERGREN Niklas - BOE Alexander 54/10
2 ODEGARD Martin - HAUS Knut Bjaret 40/24
3 TURUNEN Daniel - ODSELL Caroline 28/36
4 EKLUND Oskar - AAGAARD-HANSEN Jens 50/14
5 HELLGREN Bo - ALBRIGTSEN Vidar 09/55
The final game between Niklas Wettergren and Martin Ödegård was very exciting. Niklas won the first game. In the second game Martin had a huge lead, but dropped the +24 to a draw, learning the lesson that it can be good to count last four moves. In the last game Niklas played to not give Martin enough of discs. He didnt need to win, so he tried to play safe insted of trying to win the game. Martin needed to win with 40-24, 39-25 gave Niklas the win because he was higher in the swiss tourney. However, Niklas gave the audience an hickup when he played a -14 move in the endgame. It was a very happy looser when he counted the discs. Niklas Wettergren is the reign Nordic Champions.
The history of the Nordic Championship.. .
*** Nordic Othello Championship 2018 ***
Final:
Niklas Wettergren - Martin Ödegård 1½-1½ (100-92)
39-25, 32-32, 29-35
Third place game:
Caroline Odsell - Oskar Eklund 1-0 (33-31)
Standings after round 11:
1: 10. pts [473] WETTERGREN Niklas {SWE}
2: 9. pts [488] ODEGARD Martin {NOR}
3: 9 pts [445] ODSELL Caroline {SWE}
4: 8.5 pts [437] EKLUND Oskar {SWE}
5: 7. pts [389] ALBRIGTSEN Vidar {NOR}
6: 6.5 pts [415] HAUS Knut Bjaret {Nor}
7: 6. pts [392] TURUNEN Daniel {SWE}
8: 4. pts [317] BOE Alexander {NOR}
9: 3. pts [244] AAGAARD-HANSEN Jens {DNK}
10: 2. pts [179] HELLGREN Bo {SWE}
11: 1. pt [181] RONN Tommy {SWE}
Nordic Team Championship
1. Sverige - 27½ (Niklas, Oskar, Caroline)
2. Norge - 20,5 (Martin, Vidar, Knut)
3. Sverige 2, - 9 (Daniel, Bo, Tommy)