2006 World Championship

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ParticipantCountryRatingFinish
FritzleinUSA22734th
99of9Australia21424th
Ryan CableUSA21056th
PMertensGermany20453rd
AdanacCanada20392nd
RobinsonGermany20261st
BelboGermany20099th
OmarUSA18609th
PaulBelgium182713th
Black KnightGermany18186th
NaveedUSA167813th
MegamauItaly16516th
Grey 0x2ACanada160913th
JDBCanada15849th
AcheronUSA138613th
Mr BrainUSA13699th


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a8 b8 c8 d8 e8 f8 g8 h8
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Adanac vs. robinson before 18g


Till Wiechers, playing under the screen name Robinson, has won the 2006 Arimaa World Championship. On January 13, Robinson defeated Adanac in the eighth and final round, their third meeting within the tournament. As one would expect between two stars of attacking play, the championship game exploded into tactical fireworks after only half a dozen moves, with Adanac launching a horse into Robinson's territory. By the fifteenth move all four traps were in play in a seesaw opening which seemed to favor first one player then the other. Just when Adanac was apparently about to win a horse for only a rabbit, he slipped under time pressure on move 18, and ended up instead winning a horse for a rabbit, a horse, and a camel hostage. A few moves later the dust settled with Robinson up a camel and a rabbit for only a horse, with no compensating weaknesses in Robinson's camp. Adanac tried valiantly to create counterplay, and did manage to conjure up some dangerous-looking goal threats, but Robinson created a goal threat of his own which proved unstoppable by move 44.

All in all the tournament was a huge success. Sixteen participants was a record high for the World Championship. The six different countries represented reflect the truly global nature of Arimaa. And the games themselves were testament to the richness and excitement of Arimaa play. More than 23000 games have been played on arimaa.com, yet no single strategy or style of play has emerged as dominant. Defensive and offensive strategies seem equally viable. Finally, the kibitzing in the chat room showed that even experts couldn't agree much of the time on who was winning the game in progress, or what would constitute a good move. The unexplored territory of Arimaa strategy seems bigger than it was a year ago, as new knowledge merely raises new questions.

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