I really like that song Ex's & Oh's, though I'm not sure about the apostrophes, so it's an entirely appropriate title for a blog post about Othello in Oadby. Breaking the habit of a lifetime, I went there by car instead of train and bike - clearly, I'm getting old (another O) and lazy.
I've vaguely resolved to go to more othello tournaments this year, possibly even all four regionals and attempt to win the British Grand Prix! Hindered only by a lack of practice and general othello-playing ability, I'm sure I can't fail!
We had five competitors today and played a round-robin. I lost to Roy in my first game by an irritating 33-31, but then beat Iain 34-30 and Steve 44-20, had the bye in the fourth round and so went into the final game against Helen (who had beaten everyone else) knowing a win would put me and her both on four wins out of five, and that I'd have a higher disc count tie-break and therefore the moral victory in the tournament! (Tie-breaks don't count for BGP points, they're shared between people who have the same number of wins, but it's still nice to consider yourself the winner). If I'd spent less time on this kind of pre-game calculations, I might have done better, but Helen won our game 37-27.
So I finished joint-second with Iain (or third, if you count the tie-break, but I've decided not to do that now), and Helen was the all-conquering champion! Next regional in Witney, I think, in two weeks!
