Three friendly ranking tournaments in Oudenaarde
24 August 2025
Melden, a sub-municipality of Oudenaarde, was for the second time the setting of a cozy summer garden tournament. Whereas last year’s event took place at the end of June in the garden of the Schotte–De Moor family, this year it was scheduled for the end of August. That date overlapped with a few birthdays of families who actively play, meaning some regular participants couldn’t make it. Something to keep in mind for 2026! Othello wasn’t the main reason for the gathering — the promise of a BBQ and a crackling fire pit convinced plenty of players to make the trip to East Flanders.
The participants were divided into three separate tournaments: promising, beginners, and advanced.
PromisingTournament
The promising tournament turned into an open contest with seven participants. Since the two highest-ranked players in this group could move up to the beginners tournament, both Romain Volvert and Sander Schotte saw an opportunity for success. But they hadn’t expected Myrthe Demoor to interfere! She surprised friends and rivals alike with her first-ever win against a player rated over 500, defeating Romain Volvert (41–23). She played strongly and won all her remaining games except against Sander Schotte (15–49). When Romain Volvert beat Sander Schotte (18–46), the winner had to be decided by tie-break. Logic — barely — prevailed: Romain Volvert won with a tie-break score of 422 versus 414 for Sander Schotte, with Myrthe Demoor finishing an impressive third. Every other player managed to win at least one game.
Beginners Tournament
According to the official rankings, only two beginners were present: Daphne Demoor and Pierre Poliakoff. They were joined by Wout Schotte and Dimitri Burnay, who were just below the promotion threshold. Their task was to give the beginners a challenge. Dimitri Burnay did his best but unfortunately didn’t win a single game. Wout Schotte surprised himself by defeating Pierre Poliakoff (8–56). Pierre Poliakoff in turn beat the top-ranked Daphne Demoor (34–30). Daphne then defeated both Wout and Pierre on her way to the final round. Going into that round, Daphne Demoor and Wout Schotte were tied for the lead, facing each other directly. Daphne lived up to her favorite status and claimed the tournament victory with a convincing 12–52 win in that decisive match.
Advanced Tournament
In the short 15-minute format, time pressure is always lurking — often leading to unexpected results. The only advanced player to finish the tournament without any surprises was Tom Schotte, who won all his games, dropping only 47 discs over four matches. Looking at the results positively, Brecht Van Damme, Nancy Darck, and Nadja De Moor all managed to beat the higher-ranked Ralph Reijnders — for Nadja and Nancy, it was even their first time doing so. Other notable results included Nadja’s win over Nancy, and Nancy’s win over Brecht. In short: excluding Tom Schotte’s games, the only result that followed expectations was Brecht Van Damme’s win against Nancy Darck.
DAN ranking
There were no promotions among the advanced players this time. However, in the beginners tournament, Pierre Poliakoff was promoted to 4 DAN. The winner of the promising tournament, Romain Volvert, also earned a promotion to 4 DAN. Finally, Lars Roos advanced to 2 DAN.
