Ralph Reijnders wins 7th Marche-en-Famenne Othello Open
5 July 2025Sun, sun, and even more sun. That’s the short summary of the tournament in Marche-en-Famenne. Fortunately, our hosts, Dimitri Burnay and Nancy Darck, had also provided some shelter in the form of a party tent to offer the necessary shade. Just like in previous years, they made their garden available. On top of that, they arranged an excellent lunch. Together with the tournament, this was offered to the players for a bargain: €10 for advanced players, €5 for beginners, and completely free for the attending prospects.
Decided before the Final Round
In this tournament, there were a total of 42 games. Nine of those games were won by the lower-ranked player. Nancy Darck accounted for two of those upsets, defeating both Wouter Thijs (17–47) and Ralph Reijnders (34–30). Tom Schotte also featured in two such games, but on the losing side, suffering defeats to Dimitri Vaes (33–31) and Ralph Reijnders (26–38).The two most remarkable performances came from Romain Vovert, who beat Tuur Jena despite an 814-point rating gap, and from Pat Rine, who delivered a crushing 35–0 win against Brecht Van Damme after just 31 moves. The rating difference there was 728! Other notable upsets included Nadja De Moor (against Dimitri Vaes), Pat Rine (against Dimitri Burnay), and Brecht Van Damme (against Dimitri Vaes).
With all these results in mind, it wasn’t immediately clear who was on top at the end of the tournament. That was Ralph Reijnders, who started with six wins out of six and had already secured overall victory before the final round. That perhaps explains his loss to Nancy Darck, who thus claimed an impressive third place with five points. She lost out on a tiebreak to Tom Schotte. Brecht Van Damme also finished strong with five points, but that 64–0 loss in the first round to Pat Rine cost him a podium spot.
Pierre Poliakoff recorded no surprising results and was the best beginner with three points; another beginner, Tuur Jena, also finished with three points but fell short by eleven stones on tiebreak. Pat Rine also scored three points, making him the best promising player.
Belgian Grand Prix
Thanks to his victory, Ralph Reijnders jumps to second place. With her third place, Nancy Darck makes an excellent move in the battle for best woman. She now has a three-point lead over Nadja De Moor. Tom Schotte was already guaranteed the overall win.
For the first time in a long while, there were no juniors at a Belgian tournament. Wout Schotte had already secured the overall win.