Windy City Weasels

I once attended a dinner where keynote speaker and former Bulls guard Kyle Macy talked about the time he and Michael Jordan lit up the Celtics for 69 points. I'm proud to report that Peter Yeargin and I returned from Dixie with second place, Best England, Best France and the Golden Blade for best stab. However, unlike Kyle Macy, who chipped in six points in that 1986 playoff game, I contributed nothing.

Peter was on fire all weekend. The Best England and Best France both were for 13-center three-way draws. His throwaway game was a 16-center Austria in the first round where Peter went for the solo and was forced to eat a five-way. In DixieCon's draw-based system, that score put him roughly in 10th place after the first round, behind everyone who finished in a three-way.

I was actually in first place after the first round, tied with Tom Kobrin. He was Austria to my Russia, and we finished in a 12-12-10 three-way. The third party was Tyler Mollenkopf, a recent graduate of UNC who started playing Diplomacy at DixieCon in 2002 when he was 12. I stunk up the rest of the tournament and probably finished 14th or so. We haven't seen the final standings.

Our old friend Graham Woodring of Long Island won the tournament with a 14-center two-way (also Best Russia) and a three-way draw with nine or 10 centers, I think. Joining him and Peter on the top board were:

Tyler Mollenkopf won the Players' Choice award. And he just got a job in Oak Park, so we're gaining a Weasel.

It was a great tournament, with 10 boards over the three rounds. Peter is on a roll right now. As he'll gladly tell you, he hasn't been eliminated since January. Weasels?