18th Domino World Championship 2012
Chris Währen is Domino World Champion 2012!
At the 18th Domino World Championship, Chris Währen brought the title back to Switzerland. It is the first major title win for the Basel native after the European Champion title in 1995. With five other places in the top 20, the domino stronghold of north-western Switzerland celebrated a great success.
The competitions, which were held decentrally at nine venues in Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Estonia from 27 to 31 December 2012 and in which 65 players took part, ended with a surprise. Chris Währen is no stranger to the world of dominoes, having been European champion in 1995 in Allschwil and a member of the world's elite in the 1990s; but for some time now, the man from Kleinbasel had largely withdrawn from competitive dominoes and was no longer even ranked in the world rankings before the championships. This makes his victory all the more remarkable, as most of the world champions of the last few years had returned, but they had no chance against Währen. The player from Kleinbasel was able to call on all his experience at the decisive moment at the World Championship venue in Ettingen, kept his nerve and played at a consistently high level.
The declared goal of Domino Northwestern Switzerland to bring the title back to the region this year – after the World Championship victories of Thomas Egeli (Oberwil) in 2009, Alex Joss (Hochwald) in 2007 and Marina Despotovic (Allschwil) in 2006 –, has thus been fulfilled. Five other players from north-western Switzerland were also able to finish in the top 20:
- Grandmaster Alex Klee (Basel, 7th),
- Grandmaster Angie Stich (Dornach, 13th),
- Annegret Rentsch (Allschwil, 15th),
- Jonas Hüllstrung (Allschwil, 16th). )
- and the 2005 World Championship bronze medallist, Samson Rentsch (Allschwil, 17th).
From an overall Swiss point of view, the result appears in an even better light, as a Swiss double victory could be celebrated with the 2nd place by Marc Massaro from Grenchen.
The world number one, the international champion Frank Lindemann from Germany, who was considered the top favourite in the run-up to the World Championships and has been ranked in the top twenty in the world without interruption for almost twenty years, was unable to repeat his title win of 1998, but finished a distant 58th.
Alex Klee
»Nevertheless, he did not miss the opportunity to personally hand over the World Cup trophy to Chris Währen – a sign of how amicably people treat each other in domino sports.«
Vogel Gryff
Game Results
65 participants in this world cup
| Rank | Name | World region | FLADUB | World ranking position | Match date | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Währen |   | 614 | 0 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 2 | Marc Massaro |  | 595 | 75 | 01.01.1970 | Grenchen |
| 3 | IM Dennis Nolting |   | 499 | 51 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 4 | Jürgen Polley | | 482 | 0 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 5 | Christine Enders |  | 477 | 86 | 01.01.1970 | Wallrabenstein |
| 6 | André Saffran | | 468 | 41 | 01.01.1970 | Lilienthal |
| 7 | GM Alex Klee | | 461 | 14 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 8 | IM Ricki Nolting | | 447 | 18 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 9 | Mathias Bölckow |  | 442 | 0 | 01.01.1970 | Rickling |
| 10 | Nicole Wolst |  | 439 | 47 | 01.01.1970 | Lilienthal |
| 11 | Michael Meier | | 415 | 102 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 12 | Kevin Bader | | 414 | 87 | 01.01.1970 | Grenchen |
| 13 | GM Angie Stich | | 410 | 22 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 14 | Kristiina Lepa |  | 409 | 33 | 01.01.1970 | Tartu |
| 15 | Annegret Rentsch |  | 407 | 31 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 16 | Jonas Hüllstrung | | 403 | 91 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 17 | Samson Rentsch | | 402 | 39 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 18 | Guðný ósk Scheving |   | 394 | 110 | 01.01.1970 | Arendal |
| 19 | GM Eliina Pavljuk | | 389 | 17 | 01.01.1970 | Tartu |
| 20 | IM Udo Sauermann |  | 384 | 0 | 01.01.1970 | Leverkusen |
| 21 | IM Teddy Bischof† | | 380 | 13 | 01.01.1970 | Leverkusen |
| 22 | IM Matthias Nolting | | 369 | 20 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 23 | Tore Langeland Tangen |  | 365 | 0 | 01.01.1970 | Arendal |
| 24 | Monika Ackermann |  | 335 | 81 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 25 | Christian Bölckow† | | 330 | 55 | 01.01.1970 | Rickling |
| 26 | IM Gustav Behrens | | 323 | 2 | 01.01.1970 | Leverkusen |
| 27 | Florian Klee | | 316 | 43 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 28 | Andreas Harder | | 312 | 159 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 29 | Udo Makus | | 311 | 124 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 30 | Alexander Ott | | 306 | 26 | 01.01.1970 | Wallrabenstein |
| 31 | IM Bino Nolting | | 306 | 16 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 32 | Bernd Fünfkirchler | | 302 | 99 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 33 | Oliver Helm | | 301 | 0 | 01.01.1970 | Tartu |
| 34 | Thomas Caflisch | | 283 | 139 | 01.01.1970 | Grenchen |
| 35 | Hans-Joachim Bölter | | 283 | 0 | 01.01.1970 | Wallrabenstein |
| 36 | Vidar Aas | | 280 | 113 | 01.01.1970 | Arendal |
| 37 | GM Björn Andreas Wolst | | 277 | 12 | 01.01.1970 | Lilienthal |
| 38 | Monika Helm | | 276 | 0 | 01.01.1970 | Tartu |
| 39 | Marion Eckermann | | 258 | 98 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 40 | Angela Wölbern | | 253 | 40 | 01.01.1970 | Lilienthal |
| 41 | Dario Staub | | 226 | 49 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 42 | Klaus-Peter Rüffer | | 223 | 79 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 43 | IM Danuta Kilian-Bischof | | 220 | 4 | 01.01.1970 | Leverkusen |
| 44 | Andrea Schaab | | 219 | 61 | 01.01.1970 | Wallrabenstein |
| 45 | Katharina Balmes | | 212 | 111 | 01.01.1970 | Rickling |
| 46 | GM Frank Amling | | 210 | 29 | 01.01.1970 | Lilienthal |
| 47 | GM Stina Klee | | 209 | 11 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 48 | GM David Bader |  | 195 | 7 | 01.01.1970 | Grenchen |
| 49 | Øivind Nordvik Westbø | | 190 | 90 | 01.01.1970 | Arendal |
| 50 | IM Renate Behrens | | 178 | 8 | 01.01.1970 | Leverkusen |
| 51 | Paul Klee | | 176 | 135 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 52 | Max Nolting | | 172 | 53 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 53 | Benn Johan Rislå | | 170 | 112 | 01.01.1970 | Arendal |
| 54 | IM Olaf Jobmann | | 163 | 44 | 01.01.1970 | Rickling |
| 55 | Andrea Solari | | 158 | 23 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 56 | Felix Rentsch | | 150 | 127 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 57 | Ilona Mehl | | 129 | 126 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 58 | IM Frank Lindemann |   | 113 | 6 | 01.01.1970 | Grenchen |
| 59 | GM Sabine Kemkes | | 94 | 32 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 60 | Martina Meier | | 83 | 160 | 01.01.1970 | Garbsen |
| 61 | Urs Ackermann | | 69 | 122 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 62 | Bruno Staub | | 51 | 28 | 01.01.1970 | Ettingen |
| 63 | Stefan Heintz |  | 48 | 0 | 01.01.1970 | Rickling |
| 64 | Mari Tarendi | | -6 | 42 | 01.01.1970 | Tartu |
| 65 | Christina Ott | | -36 | 38 | 01.01.1970 | Wallrabenstein |
These players were not on the world ranking list at the time of the championship:
Chris Währen (1), Jürgen Polley (4), Mathias Bölckow (9), Udo Sauermann (20), Tore Langeland Tangen (23), Oliver Helm (33), Hans-Joachim Bölter (35), Monika Helm (38), Stefan Heintz (63)