YORKTON - Othello is one of those games which frankly astounds.
It is not as deep as the familiar version of chess, but offers more than checkers, so it is a game that sort of fits into the progression of things for those bitten hard by the abstract strategy bug.
And those black and white pieces constant in a state of flux against a green background is visually appealing.
But in a world where the general attention span is less than a hummingbird at a single bloom Othello has lasted.
And the game is still going strong, one among a rather short list with face-to-face world championships.
The championships are an annual affair, this year being held in Rome.
The welcome reception is on the evening of Thursday, Nov. 2, and the first round will be the following morning, explained World Othello president Guy Plowman who was good enough to answer some questions via email for this article.
There will be a thirteen round swiss tournament over two days and then the finals will be Nov.5, followed by the victory dinner.
“There are always a lot of peripheral events, for example, there is a rapid XOT tournament (a variant which uses computer generated balanced opening positions) Nov.1,” he said.
The event attracts the best from across the globe.
“There are normally close to a 100 players from about 30 countries,” said Plowman. “Each country can send a team of three players plus a female plus a youth but not all countries take their full allocation.
“In the first World Championship that I played in (1996), there were twenty two players so it has grown substantially as an event and there are many more countries represented now than then.”
One winner emerges from the open tournament but there is also a female and a youth champion.
So obviously Plowman is a devoted Othello player.
“I had a set in my games cupboard and occasionally played with my mum from about the age of 12,” he said. “In the set there was a postcard with information on joining the British Othello Federation. I liked joining clubs and I liked Othello so I decided to join.
“I then started receiving newsletters in the post once every six months and started to play through some expert game transcripts and reading articles on tactics.”
Plowman’s love affair with the game was taking hold.
“I love two player strategy games in general,” he said.
“What I particularly love about Othello is that the board can change quite radically on every move which makes it relatively difficult to look ahead. If you forget that one specific disc will have been flipped then every move that you imagine after that will be wrong.
“For this reason, even the world's best players after playing for decades are still sometimes surprised by the way that things turn out differently from expected.”
And the game is popular in Britain, but perhaps under-appreciated too.
“Othello is a popular game in Britain but it is often considered a game for the toy cupboard as opposed to a challenging two-player strategy game to challenge the mind,” said Plowman. “The tournament scene ebbs and flows in terms of popularity but there are always new people who get hooked on its simplicity of concept and the depth of complexity of outworking.”
Plowman said the tournaments are great for players too.
“One other important thing is the family atmosphere of tournaments. Players of all abilities can play and enjoy themselves and in most tournaments, those who are more expert are happy to help beginners understand something from the game that they have played against each other,” he said.
In Plowman’s case his interest in the game grew into major involvement with it.
“In 2015, I helped to arrange the World Championships in Cambridge,” he explained. “This tournament went really well and I think was greatly appreciated by the organizers and the players.
“Then, in 2017, I was asked to host the Live YouTube stream from the World Championships in Ghent. I really enjoyed this and became actively involved in many of the decisions that we were making about how to do things.
“Then I was asked to stand for the President of the World Othello Federation and I decided to do so. I had previously been Chair of the British Othello Federation so had some experience.”
The role is one Plowman said is certainly interesting.
“It is wide and varied but, in essence, it is maintaining communication with MegaHouse who are our main sponsors and ensuring that national associations are operating as well as possible. The remit of the World Othello Federation is to grow the popularity of Othello at all levels.
“Soon after assuming the role, COVID hit which brought its own very demanding challenges.”
For those intrigued by the World Championship you can tune in to watch some games.
“We intend to have live streams of the four top tables and a live studio with commentators (via YouTube),” said Plowman.
“We also intend to have an edited news program summarizing each day.
“Finally, there will be some other YouTube channels making their own coverage that we will be working with -- most prominently one Italian channel and a couple of Japanese channels.”
