Richard Sivel, the designer of Friedrich, joined 15 other players from 6 nations to take part in CAFE17 (the Spanish Open) in Madrid on 16-18 June 2017. Guy Atkinson (Spain) topped the 4 round qualification table and took the role of Friedrich in the final. However 40C+ temperatures no doubt contributed to more mistakes than usual from experienced players, especially in afternoon games and an early mistake by Guy enabled Richard's Russian generals to encircle & destroy his main defence army v Russia. Despite a valiant effort by Guy, that eventually proved crucial. Bjorn von Knorring (Sweden) was unlucky, as had Richard taken just one more turn to win, Bjorn would have won a joint victory with Austria. Maurice de Wijs (Netherlands) played France in the Final.
Andrew Brown yet again was the top UK qualifier but John McCullough had the consolation of a fascinating final game as Austria defending against a (extremely rare in tournament play) Prussian offensive option by Jose Manuel Hernandez (?) (Spain). John eventually managed to eliminate 3 Prussian armies in the same turn for lack of supply but was just beaten to the win by France.
Well done Richard!
Andrew Brown yet again was the top UK qualifier but John McCullough had the consolation of a fascinating final game as Austria defending against a (extremely rare in tournament play) Prussian offensive option by Jose Manuel Hernandez (?) (Spain). John eventually managed to eliminate 3 Prussian armies in the same turn for lack of supply but was just beaten to the win by France.
Well done Richard!