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Clash of playing styles in Agipi arena

10/25/2011

Published by frits bakker

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© © Kozoom
The Agipi arena is ready for the start of the qualifying matches.

SCHILTIGHEIM - The Asians with their typical facial expressions, the Belgians who are a bit more exuberant at the table, a Greek who likes to show his speed and often is unpredictable, two Turks, of whom one is a coming-man with the ambition to attack the top, a Dutchman who has climbed up with the professional training he got in his land and who longs for a breakthrough and the French with their own specific training and their routine in combination with talent and who eager to shine in their own prestigious tournament.

The start of the first qualifying round in the Agipi Masters (Thursday, October 27) will be a clash of cultures. Sixteen players are now in action during four days, the two best players of four groups are moving on to the next round. There they meet twelve seeded players in the last qualifying stage, which will be played with four groups of five players. They will fight for the eight places in the final stage.

The big question for this week is: how strong are the Koreans, who come to Schiltigheim with four players. Jae Ho Cho was extremely strong in the World Cup in Suwon, where he only lost the final against Blomdahl and with 1.908 had the highest average of all players. Thereafter, in the World Cup in Vienna, he was eliminated by the same Blomdahl 3-2.

Dong Gung Kang was the best of the Koreans in Vienna: he defeated Eddy Merckx in the sixteenth finals 3-0, but was stopped by the later winner Frédéric Caudron in the eighth finals (3-2).

Haeng Jik is the junior world champion, for the third time already. He showed his form this weekend, playing two pretty good matches in the bundesliga.

Jung Han Heo played an outstanding Agipi Masters last year. He survived in the preliminaries, defeated in the next round Dick Jaspers (run of 14) and Pierre Soumagne (run of 16), but unfortunately was eliminated by one loss against Jérémy Bury. Jung Han Heo was the third in the rank with the same matchpoints but the worst average: Bury 2.394, Jaspers 2.312, Heo 1.977). That held the Korean from the main tournament.

He plays in the group with Haeng Jik Kim, Roland Forthomme and Eddy Leppens this week. Forthomme had a great weekend with victories on Dick Jaspers (in Belgium) and Eddy Merckx (the Netherlands). Eddy Leppens had a less day in the Belgian league, after he had a match over two average last week in the team with Frédéric Caudron as captain. Jef Philipoom showed a better form in Belgium after some minor matches in the Dutch league. Glenn Hoffman played in the Netherlands a double weekend with two losses.

Jae Ho Cho and Dong Gung Kang play in the group with Tayfun Tasdemir and Jean-Christophe Roux. Ryuuji Umeda meets Glenn Hoffman, Jef Philipoom and Jérôme Barbeillon. Lütfi Cenet, the glorious semi-finalist in the World Cup in Vienna, will face Nikos Polychronopoulos and the young Frenchmen Pierre Soumagne and Cédric Melnytschenko.

The matches for this week:
Thursday:
14.00: Umeda-Hofman, Philipoom-Barbeillon
17.30: Heo, HJ Kim, Leppens-Forthomme.
21.00: Philipoom-Hofman, Umeda-Barbeillon

Friday:
14.00: Leppens, HJ Kim, Heo-Forthomme
17.30: Philipoom-Umeda, Hofman-Barbeillon
21.00:-Leppens Heo, HJ Kim, Forthomme.

Saturday:
14.00: Cho-Kang, Tasdemir-Roux.
17.30: Melnytschenko-Soumagne, Cenet-Polychronopoulos
21.00: Tasdemir-Kang, Cho-Roux

Sunday:
10.00: Cenet-Soumagne, Polychronopoulos-Melnytschenko
14.00: Tasdemir-Cho, Kang-Roux
17.30: Cenet-Melnytschenko, Polychronopoulos-Soumagne

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