Start of my Stratego experience

The start of my Stratego carreer.

Back in the times, a rather long time ago, at the age of 6, my parents thought it would be a good idea to make me a member of scouting - something I despised from the very beginning - I simply did not care for it at all and mainly saw it as a waste of several hours of my time on a saturday afternoon. Don't get me wrong, there were some ups to it as well, some of the activities were enjoyable. During a rainy saturday afternoon, some kids brought boardgames with them and one challenged me (out of a group of +- 16) to a game of Stratego, a game I had never heard of or played before.

I am not 100% sure anymore whether one or two games were played, I think it was one. By a miracle, I managed to win the game. I remember my miner removing 3 or 4 bombs in a row only to hit the flag - one of the leaders that was observing was surprised because, apparently, I was down quite some material - little did I know.

The game got my interest and it just so coincided that it was near 5 december, an important child's thing in the Netherlands. It's like a second santa-claus. I made my request for a Stratego game and several weeks later, believe it or not, it was delivered.

From that day onward, each day, for quite a long period of time, at around 7 PM, I would play a game against my father and always come out ahead. Many years later, he actually managed to win one; his miner was quicker than my general.

Lack of competition was becoming a serious issue. Neighbourhood friends were no match eithher. In the gamerules book there was something written about Stratego clubs and even a Dutch association for Stratego. A letter was written to them - for a long time we did not hear back from them - until, at a certain date, we received a response letter and an invitation to play at a club in Rotterdama (where I lived at that moment). The letter was from Erik van den Berg - who would later become worldchampion - as I still quite young visiting this mentioned club regulary would become an issue, but either way, I did visit it - only to get destroyed in game.

Later it was revealed that the address we had originally sent the letter to had become outdated. The post service actually went out of their way to deliver it to the right organisation/person. Should this not have happened, without what is normal now, internet, I do not think things would have gone the way they did.

During my first tournament, 24th of april, 2000, 6 rounds were played. I lost 5 and in one my opponent did not show up at all resulting in a "win". I remember feeling "I had rather played the game". The first tournament to me was a "big happening", the first time I would be playing my favorite game in a tournament environment. I do not remember much of it. When I got back home I was still the "best of the neighbourhood" atleast :).

In 2000 I would play one more tournament, in my home town. In 2001 I played one more tournament, again, in my home town. In 2002 it so happened that the worldchampionships were going to be held in my hometown. Roughly 10 weeks prior to this happening, a local tournament was in my hometown too. 

During vacation I tried to play the game as often as possible, something that did succeed well, so I felt pretty confident going in into the WC. I think it is safe to say that if the main WC had not been in my hometown that year (perhaps the Netherlands would have been acceptable) I probably would have taken a different path. 

During my first WC, I managed to finish #7 out of 28 junior participants, winning a stratego game. I remember being up a general, colonel and major on game but the opponent had a scout, not being able to win that game disappointed me greatly. An incompetent referee cost me 3 points in an other game (should have been a draw) which also fuelled me with rage, but on the other hand, in retrospective, also triggered me to try harder. From that moment onward, I participated in as many tournaments as possible. I think it is a fair conclusion that without that specific WC, things would have gone very differently. It basically lit the Stratego fire in me. 

Looking back at all this, it is interesting to note how many accidental chances led to this result. I'm grateful that many random chances have led to this result. Not just the tournaments, titles and so on, but also meeting very interesting and kind people whom I consider to be friends.