1. PRE-TOURNAMENT:

(24 Aug) The draw took place with 64 entrants from 13 countries.

(31 Aug) As well as the trophy, the winner of the World Championship will also win a return flight to Nelson, the home of Tantrix, from anywhere in New Zealand and a rare(-ish!) copy of the mythical Mind Game, forerunner of Tantrix.


2. ROUND 1 SUMMARY:

(13 Sep) Round 1 is nearly over and Round 2 is underway. In inter-continental matches, Europeans won 6 lost 0, Americans W 1 L 2 and Aus/NZ W 0 L 5!


3. START OF ROUND 2 - seeds 17-32 join in:

(17 Sep) Doug Lawrence (USA) became the first unseeded player through to Round 3, beating no. 21 seed Alex Kowalczyk (AUS) 95-92 on total tiles tie-break in the closest match so far which was tied at 40 TPs each. In another close match, José Luis Cortina (MEX) beat Yan Moulin (FRA) 41-39, three of the four games being decided by one-tile margins!

(18 Sep) Another close one - Xavier Picard (FRA) came back from 13-27 down after two games to beat Raymond Hemmecke (GER) 41-39.

(20 Sep) A second shock result - no. 28 seed Jim Tarsi (USA) goes out, Zoltan Nedeczky (HUN) winning very convincingly 53-27. Those lessons from Pepe must be paying off at last!

(21 Sep) The 'upsets' continue, Alexei Drummond (NZL) coming back from a 17-3 deficit after game 1 to beat no. 20 seed Leanne Silver (NZL) 52-28.

(23 Sep) Two more seeds go out in Round 2, Ben Polman (NED) beating no. 29 seed Heli Niemi (FIN) 48-32 and Titi (FRA) needing only 3 games to beat no. 27 seed Steven Wiley (USA) 43-17.


4. END OF ROUND 2 / START OF ROUND 3 - seeds 1-16 join in:

(24 Sep) Round 3 gets underway and no. 2 seed and Pan-American champion Ben Trumbore (USA) becomes the first player through to the last 16, winning he first two games then losing the next two before winning the crucial fifth game to beat no. 17 seed Dave Dyer (USA) 58-42.

(27 Sep) The no. 3 seed is in a little trouble - Sandrine Papillon (FRA) leads Britta Steude (NZL) 42-38 with one game to go after a controversial restart in one of the games. The last game promises to be a nail-biter!

(28 Sep) In the first minor shock of R3, no. 23 seed Matt Kearse (NZL), 34-26 down after three games, came back two days later to beat no. 16 seed Shaun Cooper (NZL) 57-43. Next up for Matt is no. 2 seed Ben Trumbore.

(29 Sep) - Defending Champion and no. 4 seed Zenon Kowalczyk (AUS) completed a convincing 63-37 victory against no. 32 seed Xavier Picard (FRA) but there were more top seeds in trouble.
- In the biggest shock of the week, no. 3 seed Britta Steude (NZL) went out, beaten 58-42 in a very tight match by no. 18 seed Sandrine Papillon (FRA), who will play the winner of the match between her husband Jérôme, the no. 10 seed, and no. 19 seed Julia Schwarz (GBR) - a match which Julia leads 34-26 after three games.
- The Plate (for losers in rounds 1 to 3 of the main draw) started too - the most interesting developments in that tournament will be covered here too.

(30 Sep) A big day for matches today and the top 16 seeds continued to fall.
- No. 19 seed Julia Schwarz (GBR) thrashed no. 10 seed and 1998 World Championship runner-up Jérôme Papillon (FRA) 64-36 by winning four of the five games - a single match Elo rating performance of 2108, the best so far this year. No break for Julia - by coincidence, next up for her is Jérôme's wife, Sandrine (who funnily enough has the second best single match Elo rating performance, 2076) in a match which starts on Sunday 1 October.
- No. 31 seed Irene Dyer (USA) beat no. 15 seed and European Championship runner-up Laszlo Harsanyi (HUN) in a close match 56-44.
- European Champion and no. 11 seed Jean-Louis Potier (FRA) got through his first match safely, winning his first three games against no. 26 seed Silvio Leonardi (SUI) and eventually winning 51-29. It could be the no. 1 seed next for Jean-Louis.
- Last year's World runner-up and no. 7 seed Jamie Sneddon (NZL) had a tougher match against unseeded Ben Polman (NED), made even more tricky by a blunder in an early game, but in a final game which went to and fro, he eventually snatched a draw to win the match 55-45.


5. END OF ROUND 3 / START OF ROUND 4:

(01 Oct) - In the first Round 4 match to start, no. 19 seed Julia Schwarz (GBR) finished off a very successful weekend by winning the first two games against no. 18 seed Sandrine Papillon (FRA) to take a 29-11 lead.
- In R3, Tantrix inventor and no. 5 seed Mike McManaway (NZL) completed a hard-fought 56-44 win against no. 25 seed José Luis Cortina (MEX), the longest match of the tournament so far at 2 hours and 8 minutes, and will play no. 31 seed Irene Dyer (USA) in the last 16 starting on 5 October.

(03 Oct) - Round 4 is underway but there are still six R3 matches to complete, all either scheduled for the next couple of days or soon to be declared defaults. In a match which has been on, off, on with a reserve player, off then finally on again with the original protagonists (we're getting as bad as chess here!), no. 13 seed Jason (AUS) has taken a 30-10 lead over no. 22 seed Wolfgang Schwarz (GER) after two games.

(04 Oct) - No. 1 seed Matthew Peek (NZL) just scraped through his first match against unseeded Titi (FRA), losing the first game, drawing the second and winning the third to make the score 30-30, then losing the fourth by one tile before winning the fifth by two to go through 51-49. He will be the second player to face the partner of his R3 opponent in R4, being drawn against Jean-Louis Potier (FRA), the no. 11 seed and European Champion.
- No. 9 seed Péter Petrecz (HUN) was just 41-39 up against Pacific Champion and no. 24 seed Murray Pharaoh (NZL) with one to go, but with just a little luck won a tight final game to go through 55-45 - he had knocked Murray out in the last 32 in 1999 as well.
- 1998 World Champion and no. 8 seed Steven Trezise (GBR) had a nightmare start against unseeded Zoltan Nedeczky (HUN), losing the first game 25-18, but clawed his way back to lead 35-25 after three games - that match concludes on Thursday. Strangely enough, Steven and Zoltan are fighting it out at the top of the Fantasy table too, though Philippe Durand is likely to overtake both of them when Irene Dyer plays tonight.

(05 Oct) - No. 8 seed Steven Trezise (GBR) made sure of a last 16 place in the penultimate game against unseeded Zoltan Nedeczky (HUN) - fortunate for him since he then proceeded to play like an absolute beginner in game 5 and won the match by just 55-45 in the end.
- Next up for Steven is another Hungarian, old adversary and no. 9 seed Péter Petrecz.
- All of the top eight seeds are now through to the last 16 except Britta Steude (NZL) and, unless Alexei Drummond beats Phil Sneddon, all of the unseeded players are now out, though a couple of them put up a very good fight in Round 3.

(06 Oct) - In the longest match of the tournament so far at 2 hours and 19 minutes, no. 13 seed Jason (AUS) went through 53-47 against no. 22 seed Wolfgang Schwarz (GER) - a lucky break in the fourth game being the main deciding factor.
- In easily the best comeback of the tournament so far, no. 14 seed Chris Peek (NZL), having gone two games and 30-10 down against Hilary Boyd (NZL), won the last three games (all by just two or three tiles) to triumph in the end 52-48 in a match spread over two sessions nine days apart. Chris will play the defending champion in the last 16 so, luckily for the rest of us, at least one of the pesky teenagers will get knocked out. ;-))

(07 Oct) - Tantrix inventor and no. 5 seed Mike McManaway (NZL) became the first player to reach the quarter-finals with an 80-40 demolition of Irene Dyer (USA), who nevertheless had a great tournament as the lowest seeded (31) player to reach the last 16. In this match, Mike won the first three games, Irene hinted at a comeback with a win in game 4 but Mike snuffed that out by winning the last two games.
- The no. 2 seed Ben Trumbore (USA) is in a bit of trouble however, 23-37 down after three games in an enthralling match against rising star Matt Kearse (NZL) who has now become the lowest seeded (23) player left in the tournament. That match concludes on Saturday 14 October.

(08 Oct)- Alexei Drummond (NZL) is in Europe and finding it difficult to get online a week past the R3 deadline, so in the end was defaulted, so the last unseeded player is out and no. 12 seed Phil Sneddon (NZL) is the final player through to the last 16, where he will play his twin brother Jamie in the only R4 match to involve two players from the same country and a repeat of the 2000 NZ Championship final. Phil won that encounter, but that may not be a good predictor because *ahem* Jamie is the undisputed world no. 1 as far as losing in finals goes, but is very good at getting through the earlier rounds. ;-)

(09 Oct)- The tournament records for the highest winning score (52, previously shared by four players) and highest winning margin were both shattered in the Preliminary Round of the Plate today by Pamela Wiley (USA) who beat Franky Heyer (FRA) 62-18 in one of their games!

(10 Oct) - The first game in the match between no. 6 seed Laurent Berguin (FRA) and no. 13 seed Jason (AUS) got underway today, Laurent taking a 16-4 TPs lead.
- The main action today was in the Plate, where the final matches in the Preliminary Round were played. The draw for Plate Round 1, incorporating main draw R3 losers as well, takes place tomorrow.

The last 16: 6 from NZL, 3 FRA, 2 USA, 2 GBR, 2 AUS, 1 HUN. Tantrix may have a large element of chance, but the seeding system nevertheless proved remarkably accurate up to this stage - the only top 16 seeds to go out in R3 were numbers 3, 10, 15 and 16 and no unseeded players made the last 16.


6. END OF ROUND 4:

(12 Oct) - The match between no. 6 seed Laurent Berguin (FRA) and no. 13 seed Jason (AUS) concluded today. Laurent went two games up, then lost the next three to set up an exciting decider, which he won to go through to the QFs 63-57.
- Not content with limiting Jérôme Papillon to 36 TPs in R3, no. 19 seed Julia Schwarz (GBR) today thrashed his wife, no. 18 seed Sandrine Papillon (FRA), by 84-36, winning no less than five of the six games.
- The winners of today's two matches will meet each other in the QFs - playing another French player should hardly scare Julia now! Julia and Laurent have only played one tournament match before, a very tight three-game match way back in March 1999, which Julia won on total tiles tiebreak.

(13 Oct) - A big shock - in the longest match of the tournament so far at 2 h 25 m, the lowest seed left in the tournament, no. 23 Matt Kearse, beat no. 2 seed Ben Trumbore (USA) 63-57. Ben won three of today's four games but Matt had won the first two and Matt's margins were 7, 8 and 9 against Ben's 4, 5 and 6.

(14 Oct) - The no. 1 seed, Matthew Peek (NZL), who became no. 1 with some great performances in last year's Worlds but has never actually won a tournament, follows the no. 2 seed out of the World Championship. No. 11 seed and reigning European Champion Jean-Louis Potier (FRA) beat him 70-50 - probably one of the top four Elo rating performances in a single match in this Championship, along with Sandrine Papillon's R3 win and Julia Schwarz's R3 and R4 wins.
- Similar to what happened in 1999, after the seedings looked uncannily accurate up to the last 16, we have now lost the top three seeds. The top remaining seed is no. 4, 1999 World Champion Zenon Kowalczyk, in probably the easiest quarter of the draw for the second year running. Can Zenon win again?
- This also means that (by some strange coincidence of the draw, results and geography!), all of the quarter-finalists in the top half of the draw will be European and all those in the bottom half will be from the southern hemisphere, and hence the final is sure to be a north v south battle.

(15 Oct) - 1998 World Champion (in the days when it was just a little bit easier!) and no. 8 seed Steven Trezise (GBR) beat old friend and adversary, no. 9 seed Péter Petrecz (HUN) 71-49. All of the games were played in a single marathon session which, with breaks, lasted all afternoon. It was not a good time to play for Péter, but nevertheless the match was the usual steven2 v pepe mixture of flashes of brilliance plus lots of nervy mistakes, with two nail-biting drawn games thrown in for good measure.
- Steven will play European Champion and no. 11 seed Jean-Louis Potier (FRA) next. This ensures that there will be two 'rosbif' v 'froggie' (GBR v FRA for those of you in the southern hemisphere!) quarter-finals in the top half of the draw. What could be more exciting? :-)

(16 Oct) - The 1999 World Champion and no. 4 seed Zenon Kowalczyk (AUS) is out, beaten in the battle of the remaining teenagers by no. 14 seed Chris Peek (NZL) by just 61-59. In an amazing match played over a single session, Chris was 52-28 up after four games but a big win for Zenon in game 5 meant that it all hinged on the final game. Zenon had to win by four tiles but could only win by two. Chris will now play no. 5 seed Mike McManaway (NZL) - the only other time these two met was in the 1999 Pacific Championship when they tied for 1st place on TPs but Mike won, having won the game between the two of them.
- After a weekend of shocks, the top four seeds are all now out and all four quarter-finalists in the bottom half of the draw are sure to be from New Zealand. Seeds 5 to 8 survive, though no. 7 seed and 1999 runner-up Jamie Sneddon is in a bit of trouble in the final last 16 match, 26-34 down after three games against brother Phil, the no. 12 seed and NZ Champion, in a rematch of the final of that event.

(17 Oct) - The 1999 World runner-up, no. 7 seed Jamie Sneddon (NZL) followed the 1999 champion out of the competition, beaten 67-53 by twin brother Phil Sneddon (NZL) in a virtual repeat of the NZ Championship final.
- After losing game 1 heavily, Phil had won the next three to take a commanding lead, but a big win by Jamie in game 5 had left him needing a win by just one tile in game 6 to go through, but it was not to be.
- Phil will play fellow Aucklander Matt Kearse (the best of the players who is new to online play this year) in the last 8 - amazingly enough, if he and Chris Peek win their quarter-finals, Phil could reach the final without having played anyone outside his own city!


7. QUARTER-FINALS:

Note: The last 8: 4 from NZL, 2 FRA, 2 GBR. Only Laurent Berguin (FRA) and Steven Trezise (GBR) have managed to reach the last eight of the World Championship in all three years, or even in the last two years, though NZers the Peek brothers, the Sneddon brothers and Tantrix HQ in Nelson have each produced a different quarter-finalist in 1999 and 2000 as well. The Tantrix pros are having a resurgence this year, with three (four if you count a student's summer job!) in the last eight.

(18 Oct)- The quarter-finals got underway today, no. 8 seed Steven Trezise (GBR) winning the first two games against no. 11 seed Jean-Louis Potier (FRA) to take a 29-11 lead. A great escape from a seemingly certain heavy defeat with a triple lookalike space won Steven the first game by one tile. Carelessness by Jean-Louis, repeatedly failing to create a lookalike for the pivotal forced space, made the second game rather one-sided. There is likely to be one marathon final session of this match at about 19.00 GMT on Friday.

Quote of the day, from the Plate:
venus: "You only beat me in competitions"
SusanDeath: "I only play you in competitions"

(20 Oct) - The QF between the oldest and youngest players left in the tournament got under way today, no. 5 seed Mike McManaway (NZL) taking a 30-10 lead against no. 14 seed Chris Peek (NZL) after two games.
- 1998 World Champion and no. 8 seed Steven Trezise (GBR) became the first semi-finalist, following up his win against the 1999 European Champion by winning all of the first five games against 2000 European Champion and no. 11 seed Jean-Louis Potier (FRA) to record the biggest ever World Championship win by 81-19, a single match Elo rating performance of 2395, easily the best this year. Steven has now gone 10 tournament games undefeated - a new tournament record.
- GBR-FRA is now 14 games to 2 in this tournament - can Laurent Berguin avenge all of the losses by taking out two British players and reaching the final, or will he go the same way as the others? Find out in the first week of November.
- in the other match which started today, no. 12 seed Phil Sneddon (NZL) leads no. 23 seed Matt Kearse (NZL) in the all-Auckland match by 34-26 - it looks like it is going to be a closely fought affair and it continues at 07.30 GMT on Thursday.

(21 Oct) - The Mike McManaway (NZL) v Chris Peek (NZL) QF continued today, Chris winning both games to get back on terms and nudge ahead 41-39 with three more games to play.

(23 Oct) - The main draw has gone quiet temporarily, but there is plenty of excitement in the Plate, which has reached the last 16 stage.
- The Wileys both reached the Plate QFs today, but by incredibly narrow margins. Pamela Wiley (USA) and Melinda Barry (UAE) each won two games and the match ended 40-40, with Pamela winning on total tiles tiebreak.
- Steve Wiley (USA) was tied at 20-20 with Jim Tarsi (USA) after two, at 30-30 after a draw in game 3, then narrowly won the last game from a lost position to scrape through.
- Plate controller Phil Sneddon just can't win as far as one of the remaining last 32 matches is concerned because it pits his flatmate against his girlfriend. We'll leave you to work out which is which!

(24 Oct) - Another game was played in the Mike McManaway (NZL) v Chris Peek (NZL) QF today, Chris extending his winning run to three games and taking a 57-43 lead with two to play. Mike probably needs to win both of these games to go through.

(25 Oct) - In the fourth session of their match, Tantrix inventor and no. 5 seed Mike McManaway (NZL) recovered from the shock of throwing away a won game yesterday to win the final two games against 12-year-old Chris Peek (NZL) and hence came from behind to win by just 74-66.
- This ensures that there will not be an all-Auckland semi-final this year and marks a very good recovery from Mike's exit at the hands of unseeded Bevan Chong (NZL) in Round 3 last year.
- Chris is nevertheless the most successful under-18 in the tournament this year.
- 5th to 10th place classification matches are now starting too - click here for the draw.

(28 Oct) - This year's best tournament newcomer, no. 22 seed Matt Kearse (NZL), was 34-26 down against NZ Champion and no. 12 seed Phil Sneddon (NZL) in the all-Auckland QF but started off today's second and final session with two wins to go 57-43 up.
- Phil won game 6, though going over time, to make the outcome depend on the final game, but Matt managed a draw in that game to win 74-66 and set up a semi-final against no. 5 seed and Tantrix inventor Mike McManaway.
- This was the longest match of the tournament so far at 2 h 32 m and both players won three games, with one drawn, but on average Matt's winning margins were bigger - he scraped through by the same method (equal numbers of games won but bigger margins) in the previous round too!
- As an indirect result of the second chances for Preliminary Round losers, the Plate quarter-final between Pamela Wiley (USA) and Franky Heyer (FRA) is a repeat of the match in that round which Pamela won 50-10, including the biggest ever game win in a tournament. Will it be another thrashing for Franky or can he come back from the dead and get his revenge?

(31 Oct) - The all-NZL semi-final is becoming a bit of a rout. Matt Kearse won game 3 before Mike McManaway halted his losing streak with a draw, but it is 55-25 to Matt and one win in the last four games may well be enough to see him through to the final.
- Jamie Sneddon (NZL) gained token revenge for his defeat in last year's final by beating last year's World Champion Zenon Kowalczyk (AUS) in a QF of the 9th-10th place play-offs by 42-38 - a strange match which was close overall but in which all four games were won by a margin of 10 tiles or more.
(30 Oct) - Not content with having beaten the nos. 2, 11 and 16 seeds in the last three rounds, no. 23 seed Matt Kearse confirmed his status as the hottest new player around by taking a big 31-9 lead in the all-NZL semi-final against no. 5 seed Mike McManaway. It's still early days though, with only two of the eight games played so far.

(2 Nov) - It's going to be a GBR v NZL final this year because in the last quarter-final to be played, no. 19 seed Julia Schwarz (GBR) beat the no. 6 seed, French and European No. 1 Laurent Berguin (FRA) by 73-47 in an enthralling single session match which tested the nerves of both players and spectators to the limit! Game 5 was one of the most exciting games ever seen, with both players having huge interlocking potential loops and it took Julia seven minutes to work out all the possibilities on the crucial move before she won 48-46, the highest aggregate score ever in a tournament game.
- Julia has now beaten three of the top four French players in the last three rounds, with Elo rating performances well above 2000 in all three cases, and her next opponent Steven Trezise (GBR) knocked out the other one, making it 18-4 in games between GBR and FRA in this year's WTC.

QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS - first to 71 TPS (seedings in brackets)

(11)	Jean-Louis Potier	(age 31, Paris, FRA)		19 - 81		Steven Trezise	(34, Croydon, GBR)	(8)
(2000 Euro Champ v 1998 World Champ, Elo 1898 v 1909, 1.5-4.5 in previous tournt games)
(6)	Laurent Berguin	(37, Fr. Antilles, FRA)		47 - 73		Julia Schwarz	(23, Preston, GBR)	(19)
(1999 World 4th v 1999 Euro 5th, Elo 1952 v 1877U, 1.5-1.5 in previous tournt games)
(14)	Chris Peek	(12, Auckland, NZL)		66 - 74		Mike McManaway	(39, Nelson, NZL)	(5)
(1999 Pacific 2nd v 1999 Pacific Champ, Elo 1922U v 1954, 0-1 in previous tournt games)
(12)	Phil Sneddon	(25, Auckland, NZL)		66 - 74		Matt Kearse	(24, Auckland, NZL)	(23)
(2000 NZ Champ v this year's best newcomer, Elo 1888 v 1934U, 0-0 in previous tournt games)

8. INTERLUDE - THE PLATE QFs & SFs:

(6 Nov) - The main draw is having a bit of a break this week while the other events (Plate and 5th-10th place matches) catch up, to ensure that the main draw final is the last match to be played in the whole tournament.
- Franky Heyer (FRA) made the most of his second chance in the Plate by beating Pamela Wiley (USA) 50-30 in their QF - having been thrashed 50-10 by none other than Pamela in an earlier round!

(9 Nov) - José Luis Cortina (MEX) beat Heli Niemi (FIN) 62-38 to become the first finalist in the Plate, the keenly contested competition for losers in the first three rounds of the main draw.

(15 Nov) - Alexei Drummond (NZL) joined José Luis Cortina (MEX) in the Plate final, beating Franky Heyer (FRA) 53-47.


9. SEMI-FINALS:

(17 Nov) - No. 23 seed Matt Kearse (NZL) completed another giant-killing win today to become the first finalist in the 2000 World Tantrix Championship. This time his victim was the no. 5 seed and Tantrix inventor Mike McManaway (NZL) and it was a big win - 90-50, Matt winning five games, drawing one and losing just one - one of the top 5 Elo rating performances in a single match of this tournament.

(24 Nov) - The semi-final between no. 8 seed Steven Trezise and no. 19 seed Julia Schwarz has now got underway and it is as close as it could be. Not only is it dead level at 20-20 after two games, but both of the games themselves have been drawn, 19-19 and 10-10, with 14 m 59 s the least taken by either player in either game.
- In the second game, Steven's line of 10 was blocked at both ends after just 17 moves but as a result the whole game was blocked until the last tile emerged. Both players could have won by a single tile, but failed to spot the wins in time trouble.

(25 Nov) - Unlucky 13 for Steven as the third game in the all-British semi-final ended the deadlock and his record-shattering run of 12 tournament games without defeat (8 wins and 4 draws), Julia taking advantage of a very early opportunity to block, then really turning the screw for the rest of the game to win 22-11.
- The match is still too close to call at the halfway point however, because Steven won the fourth game and Julia leads by just 41 TPs to 39.

(12 Dec) - The third session of the much-delayed semi-final between Steven Trezise (GBR) and Julia Schwarz (GBR) was played today.
- The outcome of the first game hinged mainly on a single forced space relatively early in the game. It went Steven's way, and despite an intelligent fightback by Julia towards the end, Steven won 29-23.
- Conversely, game 6 was a very blocked game where all of the forced spaces towards the end went Julia's way, giving her all the vital choices, and she won 22-15 to take a narrow but crucial 62-58 lead into what will be a nerve-wracking final two-game session which will be played on 13 December, with both players playing from the same house - it's lucky it has two telephone lines!

(13 Dec) - After a very tightly fought semi-final, the longest tournament match ever at nearly 3.5 hours, no. 19 seed Julia Schwarz won the all-British semi-final against no. 8 seed and 1998 World Champion Steven Trezise. She has had an incredible run to the final during which she has beaten most of the best players in Europe. Game 7 was the third drawn game of the match, with good calculation on both sides. Game 8 looked to be going Steven's way as he stretched out to a big lead by halfway, with Julia's only chance looking to be a very unlikely loop ... which, when three of the vital tiles came out of the bag in a single turn turned out to be not so impossible after all, giving Julia the match by 88-72. Julia, who has played exceptionally well in getting this far, with a run of 2000+ Elo rating performances which has never even been approached before, will play the other revelation of this tournament, no. 23 seed Matt Kearse (NZL) in the final.

(mid Dec) - Alexei Drummond (NZL) from Auckland won the Plate Final 66-34 against José Luis Cortina (MEX) - by coincidence, 26 players played in the Plate in each year (1999 and 2000) and the score in the final was 66-34 in both years. In fact, Alexei was defaulted in the main draw so he did not actually lose a match in open play throughout the whole event.

SEMI-FINAL RESULTS - first to 81 TPS (seedings in brackets)

(8)	Steven Trezise	(34, Croydon, GBR)		72 - 88		Julia Schwarz	(23, Preston, GBR)	(19)
(1998 World Champ v 1999 European 5th, Elo 1909 v 1877U, 1-1 in previous tournt games)
(5)	Mike McManaway	(39, Nelson, NZL)		50 - 90		Matt Kearse	(24, Auckland, NZL)	(23)
(Inventor & 1999 Pacific Champ v best newcomer, Elo 1954 v 1934U, 0-0 in previous tournt games)

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