King of the Mountain: Timothy Sweeney
Timothy Sweeney (Tim/Timbo) was top at the ranking 2003 with 12 finished games. He had 5 solos and 5 draws in his last 10 games. Totally, he had 6 solos and 6 draws. That is almost unbeatable. Even though Tim has been the King of the Mountain twice before, he managed to do his best ever year in 2003. He received around 20 points in 2001 and 2002. This year he took a new record: 27.88 Eagle Points. Tim had 64.29 Eagle Points from his last 10 games, which was more than twice the amount of points that Kester Bearne on 2nd place in 2003. Tim is the "untouchable" and several journalists think that noone is able to take him down from the 1st spot for "decades" to come.
At 2nd place we find Kester Bearne with 32.13 EPs. He had 2 solos and 6 draws in 10 games. Kester climbed from 8th to 2nd place this year. Steve Turner stayed at 3rd place in 2003. He had 2 solos and 5 draws in his last 10 games. He was not far behind Kester Bearne. John Engstrom climbed from 17th to 4th place. Ken Marten stayed at 5th place. Guy Fraser-Sampson fell down from 2nd to 6th place this year. Lee Simpson was at 7th place, and he had only finished 5 games. He has a potential to climb even higher on the rating in the years to come. After all, he is a former email world-champion. Patrick D`Hyon is at 8th place. Jeff Grzybowski had a fantastic year in 2003 and he is at 9th place. Jeff got almost 26 EPs this year, something that even Tim has only managed once (this year). At 10th place we find Karl Georg Øhrn, who had, like Lee Simpson, only finished 5 games (3 solos).
Runner of the Year: Timothy Sweeney
As mentioned above, only Jeff Grzybowski was close to get as many points as Timothy Sweeney in 2003. The award is given to the player that gets most points in a year. Tim has got all 3 possible Runner of the Year-awards - absolutely stunning. The way Tim Sweeney got this one is even more impressive. He finished only 3 games this year, and he got 2 solos. His solo in the game Shogun is the most valuable solo ever at the site, and his solo in The Nek is the 7th most valuable solo so far, so he has beaten many, many excellent players. Jeff Grzybowski got 2nd place and John Nham got 3rd place as Runners of the Year.
Most Valuable Victory: Timothy Sweeney
Yes, Tim got this award too, because of his win in Shogun. The game was worth 13.25 EPs, which means that most of his opponents were among the very best players at the site. John Engstrom got the second most valuable victory, in the tournament-game Scelerophobia. Tim`s victory in The Nek is this year`s 3rd most valuable Solo. So Tim got the 1st and 3rd most valuable solo this year. Like all his other awards, this award was well deserved!
Dip2000 Open Tournament: Alec Sharman
In 2003 the first ever tournament was arranged. It was a great success, and we all look forward to see who will win the tournament in 2004. Let`s hope that even more players will play the tournament in 2004. Alec Sharman won, somewhat surprisingly. The favourite among the journalists before the tournament started, John Engstrom, got 2nd place, while Rye Braune got 3rd place. Here is the top 10 players:
1) Alec Sharman
2) John Engstrom
3) Rye Braune
4) Kester Bearne
5) Steve Demant
6) David Queenan
7) Patrick d`Hyon
8) Lasse Kaihlavirta
9) Jeff Grzybowski
10) Andy Scott
Rookie of the Year: Eduard van Dijk
This is the only award Timothy Sweeney can`t get... Eduard van Dijk soloed in his first game at the site, and the game was called The Boxer. He received 7.25 EPs and that was the best solo for a rookie this year. Congratulations! Brian Koon got 7.50 EPs for Live Wembley, his first started game at the site. But his second started game at the site, Persephone, ended before Live Wembley, and therefore Brian Koon didn`t get the title. Bad luck, since the award is given to the best result for a player`s first finished game at the site.
Players of the Month
January: Ally Bain (Solo in Urusai)
February: Mark Weinert (Solo in Darla)
March: Lloyd Mitchell (2-way-draw in Dixie)
April: Andrew Goodman (Solo in Hair)
May: Timothy Sweeney (Solo in Shogun)
June: Mark Underwood (Solo in Flathead)
July: Mark Porter (Solo in Oberon)
August: Patrick D`Hyon (Solo in 2-way-draw in Brewer and Honor Among Thieves)
September: John Engstrom (Solo in Scelerophobia)
October: Brian Koon (Solo in Live Wembley and 6-way-draw in Hotspur)
November: Chris Goddard (Solo in The Works)
December: Timothy Sweeney (Solo in The Nek)
Hall of Fame
This year Timothy Sweeney increased his lead over 2nd place from 117 points to 230 points. He had the following awards: 3 King of the Mountain of 3 possible, 3 Runner of the Year of 3 possible, 1 Most Valuable Victory and 5 Player of the Month-awards. Steve Turner was at second place with 1 2nd place and 2 3rd places. Guy Fraser-Sampson climbed from 6th to 3rd place, and Ken Marten climbed from 9th to 4th place. Kester Bearne climbed from 10th to 5th place the last year with 2nd, 8th and 14th place in the Premier League the last 3 years, and a 4th place in the first Dip2000-tournament. Paul Simpkins fell from 4th to 6th place. Alec Sharman, who won the first Dip2000-tournament, was at 54th place.
Below is Premier League at the end of 2003.
| Premier Diplomats |
| Ranking | Name | Points | Date of last finished game | Games | Points to "defend" |
| 1 | Timothy Sweeney | 64.29 | 10.12.03 | 10+ | 6.00 |
| 2 | Kester Bearne | 32.13 | 02.11.03 | 10 | 7.00 |
| 3 | Steve Turner | 28.25 | 28.09.03 | 10+ | 1.88 |
| 4 | John Engstrom | 27.83 | 28.09.03 | 10+ | 3.91 |
| 5 | Ken Marten | 27.61 | 18.06.03 | 10 | 1.26 |
| 6 | Guy Fraser-Sampson | 27.07 | 03.09.03 | 8 | - |
| 7 | Lee Simpson | 23.36 | 15.07.03 | 5 | - |
| 8 | Patrick D`Hyon | 23.29 | 20.09.03 | 10 | 0.21 |
| 9 | Jeff Grzybowski | 21.91 | 28.09.03 | 10+ | 0.01 |
| 10 | Karl Georg Øhrn | 20.90 | 01.08.03 | 5 | - |
| 11 | Donald Forrester | 19.51 | 08.02.02 | 4 | - |
| 12 | Jan Willem Omlo | 19.38 | 19.11.03 | 10+ | 3.43 |
| 13 | John O`Donnell | 19.23 | 02.11.03 | 10 | 2.33 |
| 14 | Paul Simpkins | 18.68 | 23.12.03 | 10+ | 5.50 |
| 15 | Martin Sanders | 17.76 | 21.09.03 | 6 | - |
| 16 | Alec Sharman | 17.41 | 13.10.03 | 5 | - |
| 17 | John Nham | 17.40 | 10.11.03 | 9 | - |
| 18 | Lasse Kaihlavirta | 17.29 | 20.09.03 | 10 | 2.96 |
| 19 | Marc Priest | 17.01 | 28.10.03 | 6 | - |
| 20 | Andy Taylor | 16.71 | 15.11.02 | 4 | - |
| 21 | Michael Halpin | 16.07 | 28.09.03 | 8 | - |
| 22 | Simon Berry | 16.00 | 24.11.03 | 7 | - |
| 23 | Lloyd Mitchell | 15.72 | 26.10.03 | 7 | - |
| 24 | Matthew Myatt | 15.72 | 11.05.03 | 7 | - |
| 25 | Sandor Marton | 15.67 | 20.04.02 | 5 | - |
Some statistics for games finished in 2003
111 games finished in 2003. 98 games finished in 2002, so it seems that the growth of the site has slowed down, something that we all know that Tom Tweedy will be pleased to know.
Country-ranking
Below is the ranking for the 7 nations. 100 points is average, that is, a country with 100 points has 1/7-part of all Eagle Points given. 140 means 40 pct. more than average, and 75 means 25 pct. below average.
1) 118.11 France
2) 113.16 Italy
3) 102.35 Russia
4) 97.29 England
5) 91.80 Germany
6) 90.20 Turkey
7) 87.08 Austria
For the first time, Russia didn`t win. France got 4th place in 2001, 2nd place in 2002 and now 1st place. So currently, France is the best country to play at the site. Italy got 2nd place this year, which is Italy`s best result so far (3rd and 5th place in previous years). Russia and England were average countries to play in 2003. England had a very weak year in 2002, but is now back at almost average score. Turkey was a weak country to play for the 3rd consecutive year. Austria did well in 2002, but were 13 pct. below average in 2003.
Anarchies
There have been 1.42 dropouts pr. game. In 2001 it was 1.86 anarchies per game, while it was 1.46 in 2002. In 2003 it has been only 0.94 anarchies per game so the amount of anarchies are decreasing very rapidly. It is a good sign, since it shows that the level of play at the site is increasing all the time.
Solos and draws
43 games have ended with a solo (38.7 pct.) while 68 games have ended with a draw (61.3 pct) in 2003. That`s almost the same score as in 2002. The draws in 2003 are distributed like this:
2-way: 24 pct.
3-way: 24 pct.
4-way: 34 pct.
5-way: 16 pct.
6-way: 03 pct.
7-way: No games
Solo-table
The distribution of solo and Eagle Points awarded from solo as average in 2002, is this:
1) 8 Russia
2) 7 France
2) 7 Italy
2) 7 Turkey
5) 6 Austria
6) 5 Germany
7) 3 England
Russia got most solos - as usual.
Eliminations
Here is the elimination-table (not counting elimination after anarchy). The formula is, for each country: Elimination/(eliminations+survivals+draws+solos):
1) 20 pct. England
2) 21 pct. France
3) 23 pct. Italy
4) 27 pct. Russia
5) 33 pct. Turkey
6) 33 pct. Germany
7) 40 pct. Austria
This year, England was the best country to play if your goal is to only avoid elimination. As usual, Austria was eliminated most often.
Players` results overall
13.4 pct. Anarchy
24.5 pct. Elimination
25.6 pct. Survival
31.0 pct. Part of a draw
05.5 pct. Solo
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