Takuji Kashiwabara (FRA)

General

The 24th edition of the European Grand Prix tournament on Belgian soil will take place on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th of March 2019. For the first time the Belgian leg of the European Grand Prix is the season opening event.

As usual we are expecting a significant amount of players (30+) of all levels. There will be former World and European champions present, but also absolute beginners.

This tournament counts for the Belgian Grand Prix 2019 and the Foreigners Grand Prix 2019. All results will also be transferred for the World Othello Rating List. This tournament is part of the qualification for the 2019 World Othello Championship in Hong Kong.

This tournament will be held in cooperation with numerous sponsors, which will have their moments of fame approaching and during the event. The venue changed and moved into the heart of the city centre.

Lunches and drinks will be included in the entry fee, which will be lower than the previous years. Also we will have reductions for students, youth, lower leveled players and families.

Traditionally we offer a fine organisation and some activities throughout the weekend.

In 2015 we hosted 41 and in 2017 39 players. Both tournaments were won by Nicky van den Biggelaar from the Netherlands. He will be present to defend his title.

History

Since 1991 this tournament was held during the summer months. For the first it is moved to early spring. Until 2007 this event was organised in Brussels, since then Ghent is the host city.

Graham Brightwell won this tournament four times, while Emmanuel Caspard, Stéphane Nicolet and Nicky van den Biggelaar have won it three times. The latter can become the first player to win it three consecutive times. There has been one Belgian winner: Tom Schotte won the 2009 edition of this tournament.

More information on the history of this event can found here.

Location and mobility

Venue

Casa Rosa
Kammerstraat 22
9000 Gent

2nd floor

http://www.casarosa.be/

Routing (car)

The nearest underground parking is "Vrijdagmarkt". You can follow the parking route of the inner ring to reach this underground parking. It is about 100 m from the venue.

Routing (public transport)

Trip to Ghent:

The most conveniant way of travelling from Brussels Airport (Zaventem) is by train. Find all appropriate information about tickets and schedules on the website below. Ghent Sint Pieters is the train station to travel to. http://www.belgianrail.be/en/Default.aspx
The fastest, cheapest and best way to travel from the low budget airport Brussels South (Charleroi) is taking a Flybus. It is required to book you ride upfront, but when doing so in time a ride to Ghent would only cost you 9€ (fees start as of 5€). You will also arrive at Ghent Sint-Pieters train station. http://www.flibco.com/en

Inside Ghent:

The nearest bus stop will be 'Bij Sint-Jacobs'. Manu bus lines are passing by there (3, 5, 8, 17, 18, 38, 39, 52 ,53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 65, 68, 69, 239, N3 and N17). It's about 150 m from the venue.
The nearest tram stop is "Korenmarkt" (lines 1 and 4). This is about 250 m from the venue.

Accomodations

Hotels

More than 60 different hotels are available in Gent

Prize reference: From 45€ per night for 1 person

From 55€ per night for 2 persons

Contact and booking:

http://www.booking.com/city/be/gent.en.html

Bed & Breakfast

More than 160 beds in several in bed & breakfasts are available in Ghent

Prize reference: From 55€ per night

Contact and booking:

http://www.bedandbreakfast-gent.be/

Hostels

10 different hostels are available in Ghent

Prize reference:

From 10€ per night

Contact and booking:

http://www.hostelworld.com/findabed.php/ChosenCity.Gent/ChosenCountry.Belgium

Schedule and activities

Schedule

Saturday

08:30 - 09:50 Subscriptions tournament
09:55 First round pairings and announcements
10:00 Start tournament
12:15 Lunch
13:45 Fourth round
17:45 End of day 1
18:30 Organised evening dinner

Sunday

08:30 Venue open
09:00 Start tournament (Eight round)
12:45 Lunch
14:00 Prize ceremony (part 1)
14:00 Start finals European Grand Prix
17:00 End of tournament and prize ceremony (part 2)

Finals

European Grand Prix final

Best of 3 final between the best two players of the preliminary rounds
Best ranked player after the preliminary rounds can choose colour
In case of a third game, the player with most discs can choose color in the last game
In case of a perfect tie after three games, the highest ranked player after the preliminary rounds is declared winner

European Grand Prix play-off

Players ranked 3th and 4th after the prelimanary rounds
Highest ranked player after the preliminary rounds can choose colour (and needs 33 discs to win) or a draw win (opponent chooses colour and needs 33 discs to win)

Activities

There are meeting possibilities on Friday.
We'll look out for a restaurant on Saturday
Plenty of things to do in the city centre

Prizes

At the end of the tournament there are numurous prizes in all possibile categories.

The winner will be receive a cash prize of 200€.

Several trophies can be won:

Trophy for top four
Trophy for best advanced
Trophy for best beginner
Trophy for best lady
Trophy for best promising player
Trophy for best tournament performance (final position against rating)
Trophy for best junior player (°2005 or later)

The organisation will foresee in several other prizes:

Two beer packages offered by De Hopduvel
...

Subscribe and subscriptions

Subscriptions

Currently 25 players have subscribed from 6 different countries

Name	Country	Status	Rating
Nicky van den Biggelaar	NLD	E	2240
Takuji Kashiwabara	FRA	E	2113
Niklas Wettergren	SWE	E	2111
Marc Tastet	FRA	E	2096
Tom Schotte	BEL	E	2037
Roel Hobo	NLD	E	1951
Erwin van den Berg	NLD	E	1941
Jan de Graaf	NLD	E	1925
Sido Helmes	NLD	E	1876
Benkt Steentoft	SWE	A	1768
Nick Reunes	BEL	A	1749
Arvid Kjellberg	SWE	A	1651
Luigi Puzzo	ITA	E	1590
Mireille Blijleven	NLD	A/F	1442
Rémi Tastet	FRA	B/J	1387
Wendy de Graaf	NLD	B/F/J	1322
Jasmijn de Graaf	NLD	B/F/J	1080
Sophie Tastet	FRA	P/F/J	942
Vitek Sladek	CZE	P	832
Laurent Grandjean	BEL	P	700
Bart Verstuyft	BEL	P	668
Jana Verstuyft	BEL	P/F/J	545
Eline Verstuyft	BEL	P/F/J	538
Sander Schotte	BEL	P/J	310
Wout Schotte	BEL	P/J	159

Status*:
E = Elite (Top 4 European Grand Prix tournament)
A = Advanced
B = Beginner (Rated above 1000)
P = Promising player (Rated below 1000)
F = Woman
N = New (without rating)
J = Junior (Born 2005 or later)

The subscription fee is 30€. This fee is valid for:

subscription of the tournament
2 lunches at the venue
continously coffee, thee and water

The subscription fee for promising players (rating below 1000) will be 15€. This fee is valid for:

subscription of the tournament
2 lunches at the venue
continously coffee, thee and water

The subscription fee for junior players (born 2005 or later) will be 10€. This fee is valid for:

subscription of the tournament
2 lunches at the venue
continously coffee, thee and water

Family reduction: only the two most expensive family members have to pay.

For players who want to participate the tournament for only one day: please contact the organisation in advance. Also for partners, family and fans it is recommended to contact the organisation so that a proper estimation can be made.

How to subscribe

We appreciate a subscription well in advance for the following reasons:

The organisation has to foresee in sufficient boards and clocks.
We need to be able to estimate the number of lunches well upfront as we have to fetch them.
The organisation wants to foresee prizes for every single participant.
It is still allowed to subscribe on Saturday morning showing up unexpectedly. If you would decide to show up, try to inform us as soon as possible by texting or calling. This is appreciated.

Subscribing can be done in several ways:

Bij mailing the organisation
Bij calling or texting the organisation
Via the European Grand Prix Gent Facebook event. The web pages on www.othellobelgium.be contains the official subscription list. It's recommended to also subscribe on Facebook if you have a Facebook account.