Current Top Pente Players
Posted:
Jun 16, 2011, 11:13 AM
Jayhawklov has been MIA for a while now; thought I'd pick up the slack.
Top 10 in No Particular Order:
nosovs (Russia): runner up in Super Pente 2011, won 2011 SPP KotH, won Super Pente 2010. happyjuggler0/likewowman2cool (US): won Super Pente 2011, won Zoey's tournament. karlw/Ne Plus Ultra (US): co-champion of Brf 2010, placed 3rd in Super Pente 2010. richardiii (US): Runner up in Super Pente 2010, Placed 4th in Super Pente 2011. dein/kacper (Poland): Runner up in 2011 SPP KotH, 3rd in Super Pente 2011. novatis/sirius (Hungary): co-champion of Brf 2010. s3v3n (Poland): 2009 & 2010 Polish champion. Brf (US) zoeyk (US) spavacz (Poland)
(5 US, 3 Poland, 1 Russia, 1 Hungary)
Top 20 in NPO:
gaylen Aleph_1 Karol G watsu/waterdancer Victoria MilehighDT/squirrl Undertaker Chaosu Globule Codypup
Honorable Mentions:
Jozso Resher Tarcellius Chessik Be_water Shredermann pente_man Pedro Martinez
Re: Current Top Pente Players
Posted:
Jun 16, 2011, 5:22 PM
That was very cool Karl, Ive been been so busy at this new job over the last year or so that I havent had the time to do the research. Been some really cool games and some great new players over the last 2 years. Thanks again for doing the research Karl.
Posts:
2,220
Registered:
Mar 4, 2007
From:
San Francisco
Age:
45 Home page
Re: Current Top Pente Players
Posted:
Jun 16, 2011, 11:33 PM
as for my name and the question of inactive... i didn't know active top players was defined by being a turn based player. im not sure what you were implying there, but i would like to think that live play counts too. im not fully active, but im also not inactive. i am semi active. i did play in brf's tourney under a alt name, and if it wasn't for gaylen sweeping spavacz i would had advanced. granted i don't take turn based too serious, but i still take live play serious during the occasional rated set. and my unrated games have been decent imo.
P.s. my alt name was I~L~L~U~S~I~O~N in the brf tourney. not that it matters.
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
Posts:
2,220
Registered:
Mar 4, 2007
From:
San Francisco
Age:
45 Home page
Re: Current Top Pente Players
Posted:
Jun 16, 2011, 11:52 PM
jayhawk always did a top 60 list. is yours a top 10 list? i was thinking that gaylen earned a mention. and for live play i would like to nominate pente_man for his advancements in advanced pente understanding over the last year. he has been one of the main players ive been studying with the last year during my semi active state. if he ever decides to buckle down and get serious in targeting players and hits some tourneys i have no doubt he will be a heavy hitter in the sections. also another player to keep an eye on is be_water. while he is still wet behind the ears, and assuming he really is new here, hes doing pretty good for such a short time. ill rate him at around the 1800 mark for now. not from his shown ranking, but from observing is successes and failures so far. but i predict, that if he buckles down and studies not only DB lines ext, but also plays regularly with other top players, he will earn a upper level red's awareness, and a spot in the top players hall of fame. time will tell. he seems to have that passion and awe for the game much like i did once. this is one of the main ingredients needed.
what about Victoria? and that brian008? i'll leave it to you to judge those 2. and aleph?
Message was edited by: zoeyk at Jun 17, 2011 3:04 AM
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
Message was edited by: happyj0 at Jun 16, 2011 7:05 PM
P.S. I think chessik didn't sweep nosovs, but he did beat him as P2, which is a pretty rare occurrence.
Message was edited by: happyj0 at Jun 16, 2011 7:50 PM
P.P.S. Hmmmm, I didn't realize until just now that zoey did a series of posts, not just his last one that I responded to. So I guess I was seconding victoria's nomination, and perhaps zoey meant aleph instead of alpha?
P.P.P.S. So long as I am seconding names, I was to add that novatis has a "serious" shot at deserving top player status, and that he also beat nosovs in a set in his most recent "super pente 2011" tourney. His P2 win over nosovs in that tourney (he swept the set btw) I believe was posted by zoey elsewhere, but for anyone who missed it, here it is. Warning, it may make you dizzy trying to figure out who is winning from move to move:
Posts:
172
Registered:
Jan 23, 2002
From:
Forest Grove, Oregon
Age:
47 Home page
Re: Current Top Pente Players
Posted:
Jun 17, 2011, 2:04 AM
Yeah I always liked reading Jay's lists too, so way to take a stab at it Karl.
and yeah, Dein, s3v3n, & spavacz all play very well...I think all three of them have advanced in skill over the last year or so a lot.
I was actually impressed by Undertaker also sweeping brain008 in round 1 of the st pats tourney. MighhighDT plays consistently well also and gaylen did a fine job sweeping spavacz too...not an easy thing. all three arguably could be in the old jay top 40 list too. Victoria also is a badass, she just doesn't play much pente though unless you can talk her into it. Lanser (when we can get him to play) always shows a solid high level of skill too.
on the whole it seems like I've seen many inspiring and innovative variations being played this year from old\new players alike...this game never gets old to me...just harder.
I like the fact everyone keeps pushing the envelope too, without all these folks busting out with all the strong play I've been seeing, my ability to learn & improve my own game greatly lessens.
I like finding the line that one 'no one has ever seen before' either, discovering new stuff always keeps the addiction going. That's the important stuff, whether or not anyone's name is on or off one of these lists isn't as cool as trying to be innovative and just playing some respectably hard pente.
Re: Current Top Pente Players
Posted:
Jun 17, 2011, 3:08 AM
Well, since we are considering top players overall over the past year or so, and not just at BK, I'd have to say that up2ng deserves a nomination. A quick look at his profile and it is clear he hasn't played as much here in the past half year as in the past, but he also posts in the forum and his analysis skills there are at least as good as his skills over the board.
Similar thoughts regarding niobium. Not sure how much one has to be active to be considered for this list.
Re: Current Top Pente Players
Posted:
Jun 17, 2011, 4:44 AM
You mention that your top ten are in no particular order (ego blow). I feel compelled to mention for the uninitiated that amongst top players, that nosovs is simply the player that everyone aspires to beat as either P1 or P2, but especially as P2. I'd also have to say that in general he strikes the most fear in top players hearts, although for player to player the mileage may vary, with one player or so having "your number" that you fear to play (in terms of results anyway) more than any other.
With that metric in mind, I'd have to say that nosovs pretty much has to be considered number one right now....
Posts:
2,220
Registered:
Mar 4, 2007
From:
San Francisco
Age:
45 Home page
Re: Current Top Pente Players
Posted:
Jun 17, 2011, 6:32 AM
lanser's alt is viktor. (karl asked for more alt names) who here at pente.org seems to be more interested in variants now days. I.e, boat-pente. (maybe he still plays regular pente, haven't checked recently). one particular Boat line he pulled was a wedge line where while white won it in regular pente, black is now the winner in boat pente. his involvement in stone games is active, and his known "stone game genius" is still active as well.
i think it would be good to post these players certain games that made big difference in their placement. important games to show merit and achievment...
lanser's wedge line;
Message was edited by: zoeyk at Jun 17, 2011 12:34 AM
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
Re: Current Top Pente Players
Posted:
Jun 17, 2011, 6:34 AM
I followed jayhawk's lead and divided the rankings into groups of ten with no particular order among the ten, mainly because it's relatively easy to separate players into tiers, but separating the #1, #2 etc. in each tier is difficult if not impossible. If I had to draw distinctions, I would divide the top 10 like so based on major tournament outcomes in the last 18 months:
Posts:
2,220
Registered:
Mar 4, 2007
From:
San Francisco
Age:
45 Home page
Re: Current Top Pente Players
Posted:
Jun 17, 2011, 9:22 AM
niobium is ramb0 at BK? i think so.
dein is aka blaxxx
arczi has been active in D-pente, he is a very strong player.
mike321 has done rated. karencita has done a rated, and she beat nosovs's P1 in a live game.
who were myooth and also bibigon and where have they gone? any one know? also bohart was good. how about kolia and benjon and crosslet and henry_77 and sca11 and boubou? and there was this other very young polish player whom had potential, vilumisiek, what happened to him i wonder.. and who was iraa_ ?
as far as alts go,.. don't forget that most all pollish players have an abbreviated name with the team tags attached saying ILP,.. thought it meant i love pente, but actually i seem to recall it was not an english acronym, errr or something..
now, as far as the list's time frame of how far back it goes,.. shall we be retroactive? jay didn't do one in what? 2-3 years? so that means we can do a list of active players from any of those years i think,.. they don't need to be a 2011 player... 2009 2010 players can be included? how ever, your title clearly states "Current". so maybe 2009 2010 players are just outa luck. unless we can do a retroactive honorable mention, or something. its your list, just my 2 cents.
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
Posts:
2,220
Registered:
Mar 4, 2007
From:
San Francisco
Age:
45 Home page
Re: Current Top Pente Players
Posted:
Jun 17, 2011, 10:17 AM
after this list is completed, i would really like to see a best players of all time list. im talking from now all the way back to 1978. coincidentally the year i was born. although i can take a stab at it,.. im really not qualified to recall all the greats that were long gone before i arrived on the scene. ive probably heard of most of them tho. but i wouldn't know how to place them. it will take some old timers like nosovs and richard and those types of players that have been here since 1999 or near too. rollie tesh for the 1980s players might be a good resource.
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
