Final & 3PPO Report: No. 5 seed Jerome won the first two games of the Final but no. 6 seed and 2001 Champion Ben recovered to win g3 and keep himself in the match. Jerome extended his lead at the start of the final session by winning g4 but Ben won g5 to give himself a chance of forcing a tie-break if he won g6 by more than 5 tiles. He would have needed a smaller win had the complex nature of the match not led him to lose time penalties in games 3 & 4, but in the end that did not matter because Jerome won the exciting final game by a single tile to win his first ever Tantrix tournament!

In the 3/4 playoff, no. 3 seed Heli came back from 3 games to 1 down v no. 12 seed Zoltan to force a tie-break game (in fact she led slightly going into it) which she won to take 3rd place. It looks like a first ITM norm will be Zoltan's consolation for what for him must have been a disappointing end to the tournament after he caused such a stir during the group phase that more than a few people had him down as the favourite to win the title.

For L16, QF & SF reports, please go to the bottom of this page.
5th EUROPEAN TANTRIX CHAMPIONSHIP 2003 - KNOCKOUT PHASE - RESULTS
For dates of individual games and their results, times, colours and review game details, please go further down this page
Get help with ARRANGING GAMES (time & colour preferences, etc) here Other player details and stats
If the leader after 6 games has < 62.5 TPs, play on until someone is 5 TPs ahead or until game 9, whichever occurs earlier - CLICK FOR FULL DETAILS
Standard no. of games per match 6 6 6 6 THE
Max. possible extra tie-break games 3 3 3 3 TOP
Start date 02-Apr-03 07-Apr-03 12-Apr-03 17-Apr-03 THREE
Deadline date 07-Apr-03 12-Apr-03 17-Apr-03 22-Apr-03 PLAYERS
ROUND -------> EIGHTH-FINALS/LAST 16 QUARTER-FINALS SEMI-FINALS THE FINAL TOP THREE
SPs Player/Email Nat. S Nickn. Nat. TPs S Nickn. Nat. TPs S Nickn. Nat. TPs S Nickn. Nat. TPs S Nickn. Nat.
1730 Rob Morton
GBR
u cheekymbk
62.7 5TH EUROPEAN
1890 Wolfgang Schwarz
GER
7 space
57.3 u cheekymbk
53.3 TANTRIX
v 6 benopi
76.8 CHAMPIONSHIP
1758 Marc Abramson
FRA
u redrackam
44.4 6 benopi
66.7 v 2003
1894 Ben Polman
NED
6 benopi
75.6  
6 benopi
50.2 ROLL OF
1884 Martin Harlow
GBR
8 RufusT
76.7 v HONOUR
1777 Raymond Hemmecke
GER
u ramon
63.3 8 RufusT
51.6
v 3 Helly
63.2
1570 Markku Saarikoski
FIN
u albicolon
56.5 3 Helly
68.4 CHAMPION
1912 Heli Niemi
FIN
3 Helly
63.5  
5 papillon
1910 Kevin Scott
GBR
4 Cuthbert
80.3  
1661 Lewis Palmer
GBR
u Luigi
39.7 4 Cuthbert
37.5
v 12 Zormac
66.3 RUNNER-UP
1881 Kevin Baird
GBR
9 Bhoys
56.5 12 Zormac
82.5 v  
1855 Zoltán Németh
HUN
12 Zormac
63.5 6 benopi
5 papillon
69.8  
1896 Jérôme Papillon
FRA
5 papillon
80.8
1636 Mária Erdey-Grúz
HUN
u egmaria
39.2 5 papillon
68.3 3RD PLACE
v 5 papillon
73.7 3RD & 4TH PLACE  
1815 Matthias Neumeister
GER
u voogel
76.4 u voogel
51.7 3 Helly
76.4 3 Helly
1716 László Szobonya
HUN
u SiRPi
63.6 12 Zormac
63.6  
SPs Player/Email Nat. S Nickn. Nat. TPs S Nickn. Nat. TPs S Nickn. Nat. TPs S Nickn. Nat. TPs S Nickn. Nat.
ROUND -------> EIGHTH-FINALS/LAST 16 QUARTER-FINALS SEMI-FINALS THE FINAL TOP THREE
Standard no. of games per match 6 6 6 6 THE
Max. possible extra tie-break games 3 3 3 3 TOP
Start date 2-Apr-03 7-Apr-03 12-Apr-03 17-Apr-03 THREE
Deadline date 7-Apr-03 12-Apr-03 17-Apr-03 22-Apr-03 PLAYERS
Group winners highlighted in gold Group runners-up in silver TPs in lilac = with tiebreak game TPs in green = less than standard no. of games
SPs = pre-tournmt seeding pts; Nat. = nationality; S = seeding no., Q for qualifier; all scores in TPs;  wd = default win;  ww = opponent w/drew; wb = bye
For dates of individual games and their results, times, colours and review game details, please go further down this page
Results from Qualifying Grps: Group A Group B Group C Group D <- Group Results
Group E Group F Group G Group H
Get help with ARRANGING GAMES (time & colour preferences, etc) here Other player details and stats
Return to the home page for this tournament
5th EUROPEAN TANTRIX CHAMPIONSHIP 2003 - KNOCKOUT PHASE - INDIVIDUAL GAME SCORES
Key: TP = Tournament points this game or for the match as a whole; C = colour, or game wins on last line ; n = game not played
Winner TPs T1/T2 = times taken in whole minutes rounded down - lose 1 TP per whole minute over 14
Please note the new 'decisive victory' rule, shown in red under the total scores line for each match not yet completed
5th EUROPEAN TANTRIX CHAMPIONSHIP 2003 - EIGHTH (1/8) FINALS
6 games per match : 62.5 TPs needed to win, but see below - Deadline Monday 7 April
Date: Player 1: C: TP: Game score: TP: C: Player 2: T1: T2: Review game:
05-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (13.3) 29 - 28 (06.7)   space 5 12 M!cheekymbk-space-2003-04-06-1002
05-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (15.5) 23 - 16 (04.5)   space 6 12 M!space-cheekymbk-2003-04-06-1025
05-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (05.0) 15 - 20 (15.0)   space 4 9 M!cheekymbk-space-2003-04-06-1055
06-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (04.2) 14 - 22 (15.8)   space 11 13 M!space-cheekymbk-2003-04-07-1001
06-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (10.0) 19 - 19 (10.0)   space 6 11 M!space-cheekymbk-2003-04-07-1029
06-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (14.7) 26 - 22 (05.3)   space 10 13 M!cheekymbk-space-2003-04-07-1050
Match EF1 cheekymbk 3 (62.7) 126 - 127 (57.3) 2 space 42 70 Total playing time = 1 hr 52 mins 
01-Apr-03 redrackam   (03.8) 15 - 25 (16.2)   benopi 7 11 benopi-redrackam-2003-04-02-1919
01-Apr-03 redrackam   (13.3) 26 - 25 (06.7)   benopi 7 14 benopi-redrackam-2003-04-02-1943
03-Apr-03 redrackam   (05.3) 18 - 22 (14.7)   benopi 5 14 redrackam-benopi-2003-04-04-1841
03-Apr-03 redrackam   (06.7) 20 - 21 (13.3)   benopi 6 14 redrackam-benopi-2003-04-04-1851
05-Apr-03 redrackam   (05.3) 28 - 32 (14.7)   benopi 4 12 benopi-redrackam-2003-04-06-1859
05-Apr-03 redrackam   (10.0) 17 - 17 (10.0)   benopi 10 14 redrackam-benopi-2003-04-06-1946
Match EF2 redrackam 1 (44.4) 124 - 142 (75.6) 4 benopi 39 79 Total playing time = 1 hrs 58 mins 
08-Apr-03 RufusT   (05.7) 16 - 19 (14.3)   ramon 9 12 M!ramon-RufusT-2003-04-10-0608
08-Apr-03 RufusT   (04.2) 10 - 18 (15.8)   ramon 7 13 M!ramon-RufusT-2003-04-09-1541
08-Apr-03 RufusT   (15.8) 26 - 18 (04.2)   ramon 9 6 M!ramon-RufusT-2003-04-09-1619
09-Apr-03 RufusT   (13.3) 26 - 25 (06.7)   ramon 12 8 M!RufusT-ramon-2003-04-10-1315
09-Apr-03 RufusT   (05.7) 14 - 17 (14.3)   ramon 10 13 M!ramon-RufusT-2003-04-10-1341
09-Apr-03 RufusT   (15.0) 22 - 17 (05.0)   ramon 7 7 M!ramon-RufusT-2003-04-10-1413
09-Apr-03 RufusT   (17.0) 22 T 13 (03.0)   ramon 9 15 M!ramon-RufusT-2003-04-10-1433
Match EF3 RufusT 4 (76.7) 136 - 127 (63.3) 3 ramon 63 74 Total playing time = 2 hrs 17 mins 
05-Apr-03 albicolon   (05.3) 16 - 20 (14.7)   Helly 13 8 albicolon-Helly-2003-04-06-0811
05-Apr-03 albicolon   (05.7) 15 - 18 (14.3)   Helly 14 7 albicolon-Helly-2003-04-06-0838
05-Apr-03 albicolon   (15.5) 21 - 14 (04.5)   Helly 13 10 albicolon-Helly-2003-04-06-0917
06-Apr-03 albicolon   (04.2) 20 - 28 (15.8)   Helly 12 5 albicolon-Helly-2003-04-07-0758
06-Apr-03 albicolon   (10.0) 28 - 28 (10.0)   Helly 12 9 Helly-albicolon-2003-04-07-0833
06-Apr-03 albicolon   (15.8) 26 - 18 (04.2)   Helly 13 9 albicolon-Helly-2003-04-07-0919
Match EF4 albicolon 2 (56.5) 126 - 126 (63.5) 3 Helly 77 48 Total playing time = 2 hrs 5 mins 
03-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (06.7) 20 - 21 (13.3)   Luigi 14 5 luigi-Cuthbert-2003-04-04-1940
03-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (13.9) 20 - 18 (06.1)   Luigi 13 13 Cuthbert-luigi-2003-04-04-2008
03-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (14.7) 15 - 11 (05.3)   Luigi 14 12 Cuthbert-luigi-2003-04-04-2032
06-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (13.9) 24 - 22 (06.1)   Luigi 13 9 luigi-Cuthbert-2003-04-07-1930
06-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (15.3) 19 - 13 (04.7)   Luigi 13 14 Cuthbert-luigi-2003-04-07-2005
06-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (15.8) 21 - 13 (04.2)   Luigi 12 8 Cuthbert-luigi-2003-04-07-2038
Match EF5 Cuthbert 5 (80.3) 119 - 98 (39.7) 1 Luigi 79 61 Total playing time = 2 hrs 20 mins 
06-Apr-03 Bhoys   (13.9) 21 - 19 (06.1)   Zormac 6 14 bhoys-Zormac-2003-04-07-1856
06-Apr-03 Bhoys   (04.5) 21 - 28 (15.5)   Zormac 5 11 bhoys-Zormac-2003-04-07-1920
06-Apr-03 Bhoys   (04.5) 14 - 21 (15.5)   Zormac 5 7 bhoys-Zormac-2003-04-07-1940
06-Apr-03 Bhoys   (14.7) 17 - 13 (05.3)   Zormac 6 5 Zormac-bhoys-2003-04-07-2008
06-Apr-03 Bhoys   (05.0) 16 - 21 (15.0)   Zormac 13 8 Zormac-bhoys-2003-04-07-2024
06-Apr-03 Bhoys   (13.9) 20 - 18 (06.1)   Zormac 9 14 Zormac-bhoys-2003-04-07-2053
Match EF6 Bhoys 3 (56.5) 109 - 120 (63.5) 3 Zormac 44 59 Total playing time = 1 hr 43 mins 
04-Apr-03 papillon   (17.5) 34 - 17 (02.5)   egmaria 7 11 papillon-egmaria-2003-04-05-0608
04-Apr-03 papillon   (15.5) 23 - 16 (04.5)   egmaria 11 14 egmaria-papillon-2003-04-05-0633
04-Apr-03 papillon   (10.0) 19 - 19 (10.0)   egmaria 10 11 egmaria-papillon-2003-04-05-0702
04-Apr-03 papillon   (17.2) 27 - 12 (02.8)   egmaria 8 12 egmaria-papillon-2003-04-05-0728
05-Apr-03 papillon   (13.9) 19 - 17 (06.1)   egmaria 10 14 papillon-egmaria-2003-04-06-1157
05-Apr-03 papillon   (06.7) 23 - 24 (13.3)   egmaria 7 14 egmaria-papillon-2003-04-06-1225
Match EF7 papillon 4 (80.8) 145 - 105 (39.2) 1 egmaria 53 76 Total playing time = 2 hrs 9 mins 
04-Apr-03 voogel   (15.4) 28 - 17 (04.6)   SiRPi 15 14 M!SiRPi-voogel-2003-04-05-1712
04-Apr-03 voogel   (10.0) 14 - 14 (10.0)   SiRPi 14 14 M!voogel-SiRPi-2003-04-05-1802
04-Apr-03 voogel   (12.9) 20 - 18 (07.1)   SiRPi 15 8 M!SiRPi-voogel-2003-04-05-1858
04-Apr-03 voogel   (15.0) 25 - 16 (05.0)   SiRPi 15 13 M!SiRPi-voogel-2003-04-06-0837
04-Apr-03 voogel   (02.1) 16 - 18 (17.9)   SiRPi 18 13 M!SiRPi-voogel-2003-04-06-0924
04-Apr-03 voogel   (06.7) 16 - 17 (13.3)   SiRPi 14 9 M!voogel-SiRPi-2003-04-06-1033
04-Apr-03 voogel   (14.3) 18 T 15 (05.7)   SiRPi 13 12 M!voogel-SiRPi-2003-04-06-1333
Match EF8 voogel 4 (76.4) 137 - 115 (63.6) 2 SiRPi 104 83 Total playing time = 3 hrs 7 mins 
5th EUROPEAN TANTRIX CHAMPIONSHIP 2003 - QUARTER (1/4) FINALS
6 games per match : 62.5 TPs needed to win, but see below - Deadline Saturday 12 April
Date: Player 1: C: TP: Game score: TP: C: Player 2: T1: T2: Review game:
08-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (15.5) 23 - 16 (04.5)   benopi 4 13 M!cheekymbk-benopi-2003-04-09-1827
08-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (02.5) 19 - 36 (17.5)   benopi 5 9 M!benopi-cheekymbk-2003-04-09-1853
08-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (05.3) 15 - 19 (14.7)   benopi 14 13 M!cheekymbk-benopi-2003-04-09-1912
08-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (13.9) 18 - 16 (06.1)   benopi 11 14 M!cheekymbk-benopi-2003-04-11-1752
08-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (06.1) 11 - 13 (13.9)   benopi 7 14 M!benopi-cheekymbk-2003-04-11-1821
08-Apr-03 cheekymbk   (10.0) 20 - 20 (10.0)   benopi 5 10 M!cheekymbk-benopi-2003-04-11-1854
Match QF1 cheekymbk 2 (53.3) 106 - 120 (66.7) 3 benopi 46 73 Total playing time = 1 hrs 59 mins 
10-Apr-03 RufusT   (16.8) 28 - 15 (03.2)   Helly 9 8 M!RufusT-Helly-2003-04-11-1313
10-Apr-03 RufusT   (04.2) 16 - 24 (15.8)   Helly 14 11 M!Helly-RufusT-2003-04-11-1335
10-Apr-03 RufusT   (04.7) 21 - 27 (15.3)   Helly 12 8 M!Helly-RufusT-2003-04-11-1406
10-Apr-03 RufusT   (15.0) 21 - 16 (05.0)   Helly 12 8 M!Helly-RufusT-2003-04-11-1432
11-Mar-03 RufusT   (04.2) 13 - 21 (15.8)   Helly 13 6 M!RufusT-Helly-2003-04-12-1207
11-Mar-03 RufusT   (06.7) 16 - 17 (13.3)   Helly 13 10 M!Helly-RufusT-2003-04-12-1241
Match QF2 RufusT 2 (51.6) 115 - 120 (68.4) 4 Helly 73 51 Total playing time = 2 hrs 4 mins 
11-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (01.6) 11 - 34 (18.4)   Zormac 11 9 M!Cuthbert-Zormac-2003-04-12-1922
11-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (04.7) 13 - 19 (15.3)   Zormac 11 9 M!Cuthbert-Zormac-2003-04-12-1947
11-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (04.5) 11 - 18 (15.5)   Zormac 14 13 M!Cuthbert-Zormac-2003-04-12-2006
11-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (16.6) 30 - 18 (03.4)   Zormac 7 11 M!Cuthbert-Zormac-2003-04-12-2037
11-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (06.7) 23 - 24 (13.3)   Zormac 14 8 M!Cuthbert-Zormac-2003-04-12-2109
11-Apr-03 Cuthbert   (03.4) 17 - 29 (16.6)   Zormac 8 7 M!Zormac-Cuthbert-2003-04-12-2135
Match QF3 Cuthbert 1 (37.5) 105 - 142 (82.5) 5 Zormac 65 57 Total playing time = 2 hr 2 mins 
08-Apr-03 papillon   (05.7) 12 - 15 (14.3)   voogel 7 13 voogel-papillon-2003-04-09-1714
08-Apr-03 papillon   (18.5) 31 - 14 (01.5)   voogel 11 15 voogel-papillon-2003-04-09-1745
09-Apr-03 papillon   (14.7) 20 - 16 (05.3)   voogel 13 14 M!papillon-voogel-2003-04-10-1827
09-Apr-03 papillon   (04.4) 12 - 24 (15.6)   voogel 12 15 M!papillon-voogel-2003-04-10-1935
09-Apr-03 papillon   (08.7) 19 - 20 (11.3)   voogel 14 16 M!voogel-papillon-2003-04-10-2019
09-Apr-03 papillon   (16.3) 16 - 13 (03.7)   voogel 10 16 M!voogel-papillon-2003-04-10-2110
Match QF4 papillon 3 (68.3) 110 - 102 (51.7) 3 voogel 67 89 Total playing time = 2 hrs 36 mins 
5th EUROPEAN TANTRIX CHAMPIONSHIP 2003 - SEMI (1/2) FINALS
6 games per match : 62.5 TPs needed to win, but see below - Deadline Thursday 17 April
Date: Player 1: C: TP: Game score: TP: C: Player 2: T1: T2: Review game:
16-Apr-03 benopi   (05.3) 8 - 12 (14.7)   Helly 14 8 M!benopi-Helly-2003-04-17-1807
16-Apr-03 benopi   (14.7) 21 - 17 (05.3)   Helly 13 7 M!benopi-Helly-2003-04-17-1843
16-Apr-03 benopi   (14.7) 16 - 12 (05.3)   Helly 14 12 M!benopi-Helly-2003-04-17-1907
16-Apr-03 benopi   (15.0) 20 - 15 (05.0)   Helly 14 12 M!Helly-benopi-2003-04-17-1948
17-Apr-03 benopi   (04.5) 13 - 20 (15.5)   Helly 12 5 M!benopi-Helly-2003-04-18-1827
17-Apr-03 benopi   (07.1) 13 - 15 (12.9)   Helly 14 15 M!Helly-benopi-2003-04-18-1850
17-Apr-03 benopi   (15.5) 23 T 16 (04.5)   Helly 12 6 M!benopi-Helly-2003-04-18-1925
Match SF1 benopi 4 (76.8) 114 - 107 (63.2) 3 Helly 93 65 Total playing time = 2 hrs 38 mins 
13-Apr-03 Zormac   (17.3) 30 - 14 (02.7)   papillon 10 8 M!papillon-Zormac-2003-04-14-1903
13-Apr-03 Zormac   (15.5) 19 - 12 (04.5)   papillon 9 10 M!papillon-Zormac-2003-04-14-1925
13-Apr-03 Zormac   (14.7) 28 - 24 (05.3)   papillon 9 11 M!papillon-Zormac-2003-04-14-1950
14-Apr-03 Zormac   (03.0) 16 - 30 (17.0)   papillon 10 11 M!papillon-Zormac-2003-04-15-1928
14-Apr-03 Zormac   (06.1) 11 - 13 (13.9)   papillon 10 9 M!Zormac-papillon-2003-04-15-1956
14-Apr-03 Zormac   (05.0) 16 - 21 (15.0)   papillon 14 13 papillon-Zormac-2003-04-15-2023
15-Apr-03 Zormac   (04.7) 18 T 24 (15.3)   papillon 11 11 M!papillon-Zormac-2003-04-16-1932
Match SF2 Zormac 3 (66.3) 138 - 138 (73.7) 4 papillon 73 73 Total playing time = 2 hr 4 mins 
5th EUROPEAN TANTRIX CHAMPIONSHIP 2003 - 3rd / 4th PLACE MATCH
6 games per match : 62.5 TPs needed to win, but see below - Deadline Tuesday 22 April
Date: Player 1: C: TP: Game score: TP: C: Player 2: T1: T2: Review game:
19-Apr-03 Helly   (16.0) 20 - 11 (04.0)   Zormac 3 8 M!Helly-Zormac-2003-04-20-1944
19-Apr-03 Helly   (05.0) 16 - 21 (15.0)   Zormac 3 6 M!Zormac-Helly-2003-04-20-2001
19-Apr-03 Helly   (06.7) 11 - 12 (13.3)   Zormac 4 4 M!Zormac-Helly-2003-04-20-2012
19-Apr-03 Helly   (05.7) 15 - 18 (14.3)   Zormac 3 6 M!Helly-Zormac-2003-04-20-2034
19-Apr-03 Helly   (13.3) 20 - 19 (06.7)   Zormac 5 8 M!Zormac-Helly-2003-04-20-2048
19-Apr-03 Helly   (13.9) 16 - 14 (06.1)   Zormac 3 7 M!Helly-Zormac-2003-04-20-2106
19-Apr-03 Helly   (15.8) 29 T 21 (04.2)   Zormac 6 4 M!Zormac-Helly-2003-04-20-2117
Match TF1 Helly 4 (76.4) 127 - 116 (63.6) 3 Zormac 27 43 Total playing time = 1 hrs 10 mins 
5th EUROPEAN TANTRIX CHAMPIONSHIP 2003 - THE FINAL
6 games per match : 62.5 TPs needed to win, but see below - Deadline Tuesday 22 April
Date: Player 1: C: TP: Game score: TP: C: Player 2: T1: T2: Review game:
19-Apr-03 benopi   (03.2) 11 - 24 (16.8)   papillon 8 13 M!papillon-benopi-2003-04-20-1935
19-Apr-03 benopi   (05.7) 18 - 21 (14.3)   papillon 14 13 M!benopi-papillon-2003-04-20-2004
19-Apr-03 benopi   (13.3) 22 - 19 (06.7)   papillon 15 9 M!benopi-papillon-2003-04-20-2044
27-Apr-03 benopi   (05.1) 17 - 19 (14.9)   papillon 15 13 M!benopi-papillon-2003-04-28-0807
27-Apr-03 benopi   (16.2) 23 - 13 (03.8)   papillon 14 8 M!benopi-papillon-2003-04-28-0844
27-Apr-03 benopi   (06.7) 17 - 18 (13.3)   papillon 13 7 M!papillon-benopi-2003-04-28-0916
Match FI1 benopi 2 (50.2) 108 - 114 (69.8) 4 papillon 79 63 Total playing time = 2 hrs 22 mins 
Other player details and stats
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L16 report: The first L16 match to finish was the one between unseeded pair Matthias and Laszlo. Matthias was 53.3-26.7 ahead after 4 games but was nearly made to pay for the 7 time penalties he gave away in the match when Laszlo recovered well to win g5 & g6 and force a tie-break. Matthias held his nerve though and won the first tie-break game to reach the QFs, while no. 5 seed Jerome mercilessly thrashed unseeded Maria to signal that he could be a real threat in this year's Euro.

2001 Champion Ben also despatched an unseeded opponent with a comprehensive win, never looking in any danger v Marc. His QF opponent, unseeded Rob, had a much tighter match - no. 7 seed Wolfgang was leading after 5 games, leaving Rob needing a draw or better in g6 to force a tie-break game or a 4-tile victory to win the match outright. Rob played extremely well under pressure to win by exactly 4 tiles!

No. 3 seed Heli went through in her all-Finnish match with unseeded Markku. The final scores look quite close, with Markku missing out on forcing a tie-break game by just 1.1 TPs, but in reality it was a relatively one-sided affair compared with some of the other matches with Heli far enough ahead after g5 that she only had to keep the margin below 13 in g6 to go through. She will face no. 8 seed Martin, who knocked out unseeded and this time unlucky Raymond who was leading by a fair margin going into g6 but was pegged back to just 0.6 TPs and hence a tie-break game, Martin winning g7 to become the first player to win on tie-break after being behind at the end of g6.

The only match involving two seeded players lived up to the expectations of the spectators who piled in to see it, with no. 9 seed Kevin & no. 12 seed Zoltan each winning three games but Zoltan getting the better of the margins and Kevin not managing to win g6 by enough to force a tie-break. No. 4 seed Kevin got a bit of a shock when he lost g1 to unseeded Lewis but did not look back after that. The five remaining games were tighter than the final score would suggest but Kevin's greater experience gave him the edge each time and he won them all to score more than 80 TPs. Congratulations to Kevin on reaching the QFs for the third year in a row - indeed it shows just how competitive European Tantrix is these days when you realise that Kevin is the only QF-ist from 2002 to have reached this stage again!

QF preview: It is good to see that players from no less than six countries have reached the QFs this year, including 5 of the top 8 seeds. 7 of the group winners won their L16 matches which (curiously, just as in the WJTC), is a complete change from last year where the 2nd placed players did much better in the KO phase. Only the UK has more than one representative but only one is the 'favourite' to win his match, so three players in the top four again may be a bit too much to ask this year! Indeed, even Kevin is up against it given the form that Zoltan has been in. Impressively though, the no. 4 seed is the only one of last year's QF-ists to make it to this stage again - in fact, he has reached the QFs for 3 years in a row.

QF report: Unseeded Matthias won 3 of his first 5 games v no. 5 seed Jerome but gave away so many time penalties in the process that Jerome was 52.0-48.0 ahead going into g6. The final game was very tight, Matthias being a bit luckier with the tiles and hence getting more options but having to use up lots more time than Jerome as a result, and in the end some good endgame play by the no. 5 seed was enough to win the game and take him to the SFs, easily the best he has ever done in the Euro.

Rob, the last unseeded player left in the tournament, went out to no. 6 seed Ben, the 2001 Champion winning g5 after both players won 2 of the first 4 games and then holding on for the draw he needed in g6. No. 3 seed Heli started the second session of her match with no. 8 seed Martin marginally behind but won the last two games to become the first Finnish player ever to reach the semi-finals of the Euro.

The match between no. 12 seed Zoltan and no. 4 seed Kevin, who finished 3rd last year, looked like being a walkover for the Hungarian player at the halfway point as he won the first 3 games by 23, 6 & 7 tiles, and despite Kevin putting up some late resistance by winning g4 and only just losing out in a very tight g5 Zoltan did indeed win the match by the biggest margin of the KO phase so far, 82.5-37.5, a one-match rating performance that approached Elo 2200! This was slightly lower than the margin by with Kevin lost his SF last year, confirming the intriguing paradox that when Kevin loses matches, he tends to lose spectacularly, yet overall he has been by far the most consistent European player at reaching the later stages of tournaments over the past couple of years.

SF preview: Last year, three of the four semi-finalists were group runners up and three UK players made it through to that stage but by contrast this year all of the last four are players who won their groups and all three UK players lost at the QF stage. A very positive result of all this is that the four semi-finalists all come from different countries, which has to be good for Tantrix in Europe as a whole.

The first SF involves two players who both had their best year so far in 2001 - no. 3 seed Heli reached the Final of the WTC that year and no. 6 seed Ben was the European Champion. Both players are probably playing better now than they were then, so an exciting match is in prospect. The other SF, which starts at 19.00 GMT on Sunday, is another intriguing pairing - no. 5 seed Jerome was 2nd in the first ever WTC in 1998 and 3rd in the first-ever proper tournament in early 1999, but despite always being someone you would want to avoid in the draw at all costs, this is the closest he has got to a major title since then. No. 12 seed Zoltan, on the other hand, is one of the most improved players over the last year and reached the Final of the WTC 'Plate' at the end of last year.

SF report: In the bottom half SF, no. 12 seed Zoltan initially seemed to be continuing his virtually unstoppable run in this tournament, racing to a huge 47.5-12.5 TPs lead v no. 5 seed Jerome with big wins in their first three games - he admitted that even luck was on his side, as if he needed it! There was high drama in the second session though as, in a complete reversal of fortune (including a 50:50 situation at the end of g5 that could have ended the match in Zoltan's favour going the Frenchman's way), Jerome won all three games to take the match to a tie-break, which he needed to win by at least 3 tiles.

The tie-break was yet another blocked game, which Jerome won by creating lots of lookalikes for a crucial RRG gap in Zoltan's line. This was good play, but Jerome was also very lucky in that all of the RRGs came out to him. If Zoltan had got hold of just one of them, he would have won or extended the match by another game. Instead, thanks to his apparently magnetic attraction for RRGs, Jerome won by 6 tiles, enough to take him to the Final! Could anyone have imagined after his 3-game drubbing in the first session that Jerome would win the next four and reach the Final with the comeback of all time? I doubt it! This much-spectated contest was certainly a match worthy of being a Final, between two great players, and I must also commend Zoltan's graciousness in defeat after what must have felt like living through his worst Tantrix nightmare.

No. 6 seed Ben lost g1 to no. 3 seed Heli but came back to win the next three was in a strong position at going into the final session, but he messed up g5 to let Heli back into the match. A complex g6 cost the no. 3 seed (usually one of the fastest of the top players) her first ever time penalty but it was time well used because she won the game to ensure that this SF would also go to a tie-break. Ben held his nerve though, helped by the fact that g7 was a fairly straighforward line-building contest in which Heli never seemed to have the green tiles she needed until Ben was too far ahead for it to matter.

Final preview: No country has won the European Championship twice, but that will change this year with no. 5 seed Jerome & no. 6 seed Ben having survived the group and KO phases of an incredibly competitive Euro to reach this year's Final. The previous Dutch winner was Ben himself in 2001 and the previous French winner was Jean-Louis Potier in 2000, the last year without a KO phase. In fact, there has been a French finalist in the last two European Championships but both of them have lost and Jean-Louis remains the only French player ever to have won any tournament. Ben and Jerome are both very experienced players who are now back to their best and a great match is in prospect. A measure of how closely matched they are is that their pre-Euro Elo ratings were 1894 and 1896 and their ratings for this tournament only so far are exactly the same, both 1965 if we ignore any potential adjustments. Dates and times are in the individual games list below but are subject to change at short notice because Jerome's wife is expecting a baby any day now!