The 17th Friedrich World Championships were held in Berlin on 9-11 September 2022. 22 players from 8 countries played in competition.
York duo Andrew Brown and John McCullough had a much tougher time this year. Andrew achieved 1 win and came 16th. John had 0 wins and came 20th but, as he was playing Prussia in round 4 with no chance of winning the tournament, experimented with the Prussian Offensive Option (great fun but a sure way to lose the game).
Peter Hannapel (GER) topped qualification with 45pts, Klaus Blum (GER) came 2nd with 41pts (on a tie break), Bjorn von Knorring (SWE) came 3rd with 41pts and Jose Bonilla Rau came 4th with 40.7pts. Jose may be the only player to have qualified for a final with just 1 win.
In his 6th final, Peter chose Prussia; Klaus (3rd final) chose Austria, Bjorn (2nd final) chose Russia and that left Jose (2nd final) with France.
From the start Peter was put under great pressure by his aggressive opponents. The key moment of a tight game came around turn 16 or 17 when Klaus used a general near Berlin to attack Peter's general defending Magdeburg from the French. Klaus perhaps pressed his attack too far for Peter's general was eliminated and Jose, who had played a strong game with France, took advantage to conquer Magdeburg and win. It was excitement to the end, as Bjorn had a chance to gain a shared win and was 2 points of spades short of doing so! Had he done so, he would have become world champion on the tie break rules.
York duo Andrew Brown and John McCullough had a much tougher time this year. Andrew achieved 1 win and came 16th. John had 0 wins and came 20th but, as he was playing Prussia in round 4 with no chance of winning the tournament, experimented with the Prussian Offensive Option (great fun but a sure way to lose the game).
Peter Hannapel (GER) topped qualification with 45pts, Klaus Blum (GER) came 2nd with 41pts (on a tie break), Bjorn von Knorring (SWE) came 3rd with 41pts and Jose Bonilla Rau came 4th with 40.7pts. Jose may be the only player to have qualified for a final with just 1 win.
In his 6th final, Peter chose Prussia; Klaus (3rd final) chose Austria, Bjorn (2nd final) chose Russia and that left Jose (2nd final) with France.
From the start Peter was put under great pressure by his aggressive opponents. The key moment of a tight game came around turn 16 or 17 when Klaus used a general near Berlin to attack Peter's general defending Magdeburg from the French. Klaus perhaps pressed his attack too far for Peter's general was eliminated and Jose, who had played a strong game with France, took advantage to conquer Magdeburg and win. It was excitement to the end, as Bjorn had a chance to gain a shared win and was 2 points of spades short of doing so! Had he done so, he would have become world champion on the tie break rules.