EQC 2008 Individual Championships
Final results
The final official list of results runs as follows:
| No. | Name | Country | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | Final | Total |
| 1 | Kevin Ashman | ENG | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 89 |
| 2 | Pat Gibson | ENG | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 80 |
| 3 | Olav Bjortomt | ENG | 6 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 76 |
| 4 | Ronny Swiggers | BEL | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 75 |
| 5 | Tero Kalliolevo | FIN | 7 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 73 |
| 6 | Jussi Suvanto | FIN | 6 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 73 |
| 7 | Mark Bytheway | ENG | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 73 |
| 8 | Thomas Kolåsæter | NOR | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 72 |
| 9 | Ian Bayley | ENG | 9 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 71 |
| 10 | David Stainer | ENG | 9 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 70 |
| 11 | William De Ath | ENG | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 63 | |
| 12 | Nico Pattyn | BEL | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 63 | |
| 13 | Mark Ryder | USA | 9 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 61 | |
| 14 | Barry Simmons | ENG | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 60 | |
| 15 | Trine Aalborg | NOR | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 59 | |
| 16 | Derk de Graaf | NED | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 59 | |
| 17 | Mark Grant | WAL | 7 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 59 | |
| 18 | Erik Derycke | BEL | 6 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 57 | |
| 19 | Paul Arts | BEL | 6 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 55 | |
| 20 | Stig Sanner | NOR | 4 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 55 | |
| 21 | Ole Martin Halck | NOR | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 54 | |
| 22 | Sean O’Neill | WAL | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 54 | |
| 23 | Marnix Baes | BEL | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 54 | |
| 24 | Staf Dujardin | BEL | 6 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 53 | |
| 25 | Bernard Kreps | BEL | 5 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 53 | |
| 26 | Dag Fjeldstad | NOR | 8 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 53 | |
| 27 | Jamie Dodding | ENG | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 53 | |
| 28 | Knut Heggland | NOR | 7 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 52 | |
| 29 | Ove Põder | EST | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 51 | |
| 30 | David Edwards | WAL | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 50 | |
| 31 | Lars Van Moer | BEL | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 50 | |
| 32 | Harald Aastorp | NOR | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 49 | |
| 33 | Tore Dahl | NOR | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 49 | |
| 34 | Tom Trogh | BEL | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 49 | |
| 35 | Indrek Salis | EST | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 48 | |
| 36 | Jon Strøm | NOR | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 47 | |
| 37 | Jenny Ryan | ENG | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 47 | |
| 38 | Bart Permentier | BEL | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 46 | |
| 39 | Ed Toutant | USA | 7 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 46 | |
| 40 | Koen Vervremd | BEL | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 46 | |
| 41 | Lars Heggland | NOR | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 45 | |
| 42 | Luc Venstermans | BEL | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 45 | |
| 43 | Rob Hannah | ENG | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 44 | |
| 44 | Stephen Dodding | ENG | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 44 | |
| 45 | Trond Brastad | NOR | 5 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 44 | |
| 46 | Peter Korrel | NED | 4 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 43 | |
| 47 | Albert November | BEL | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 43 | |
| 48 | Truls Flatberg | NOR | 3 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 4 | 43 | |
| 49 | Dave Taylor | ENG | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 41 | |
| 50 | Tim Westcott | ENG | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 39 | |
| 51 | Mats Bergstrøm | NOR | 3 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 38 | |
| 52 | Roger Eldegard | NOR | 3 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 38 | |
| 53 | Neil Harrison | ENG | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 38 | |
| 54 | Dave Legler | USA | 5 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 38 | |
| 55 | Karen Skjånes | NOR | 5 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 37 | |
| 56 | Michael Mcgreavy | ENG | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 36 | |
| 57 | Tuomas Tumi | FIN | 6 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 36 | |
| 58 | Tauno Vahter | EST | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 35 | |
| 59 | Andrew Teale | WAL | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 35 | |
| 60 | Tiit Naarits | EST | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 35 | |
| 61 | Gareth Kingston | WAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 35 | |
| 62 | Gábor Hacsek | HUN | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 35 | |
| 63 | Keith Andrew | ENG | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 34 | |
| 64 | Bjørn Revil | NOR | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 34 | |
| 65 | Gabor Gaspar | HUN | 4 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 34 | |
| 66 | Jan Gunnar Fredriksen | NOR | 4 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 33 | |
| 67 | Johan Vander Elst | BEL | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 32 | |
| 68 | Øystein Aadnevik | NOR | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 32 | |
| 69 | Phil Smith | ENG | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 32 | |
| 70 | Tõnis Poom | EST | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 31 | |
| 71 | Chris Braxel | BEL | 3 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 31 | |
| 72 | Joke Cools | BEL | 0 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 31 | |
| 73 | György Kémeri | HUN | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 29 | |
| 74 | Toril Opsahl | NOR | 2 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 29 | |
| 75 | Margus Maiste | EST | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 29 | |
| 76 | Vallo Kask | EST | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 28 | |
| 77 | Marte Stang Midttun | NOR | 4 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 28 | |
| 78 | Aare Olander | EST | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 27 | |
| 79 | Kristel Blommaert | BEL | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 27 | |
| 80 | Lars André Gundersen | NOR | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 26 | |
| 81 | Heino Raivet | EST | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 26 | |
| 82 | Stijn Vanacker | BEL | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 26 | |
| 83 | Nováky Béla | HUN | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 25 | |
| 84 | Andres Kund | EST | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 25 | |
| 85 | Anurakshat Gupta | IND | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 24 | |
| 86 | Dilip Chandran | USA | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 24 | |
| 87 | Tony Gold | ENG | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 23 | |
| 88 | Ivar Areklett | NOR | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 22 | |
| 89 | Attila Verók | HUN | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 14 | |
| 90 | Raul Raudsepp | EST | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 12 |
The all-English podium. L-R: Pat Gibson (2), Kevin Ashman (1), Olav Bjortomt (3)
Analysis of the regular rounds
1. Difficulty
A total of 3898 points were taken in the quiz out of 8990 possible (one player missed the first round), a percentage of 43.4. In detail, the difficulty profile, ie the number of questions at each observed difficulty (measured by the number of players answering correctly) looks as follows:
Making the distribution look a bit less fragmented, here is the same data pooled into nine difficulty segments:
No question was even close to being answered correctly by all players; the easiest eight questions, taken by over 75% of the field, were:
36 (title character of Carlo Collodi story): 80 of 90;
29 (Moscow ballet company): 76 of 90;
42 (mammal also kalled turtlerabbits and Panzerschwein): 73 of 90;
62 (smallest city with teams in MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL): 71 of 90;
47 (medical name for ringing in the ears): 70 of 90;
91 (characteristically shaped confectionary in duty-free shops): 69 of 90;
6 (an official language of the Philippines): 68 of 90;
58 (language used in Linguae Vascorum Primitiae by Bernard Etxepare): 68 of 90.
Also, no question was left unanswered, and there were no solos. Three questions were however each answered correctly by two people only – six people representing five different countries:
37 (popularizer of Beaujolais nouveau): point for Koen Vervremd and Trond Brastad.
45 (work of fiction where protagonist is poisoned by a snake): point for Tero Kalliolevo and Jussi Suvanto.
100 (river on 20 yuan banknote): point for Ove Põder and Peter Korrel.
One question gave a point to three players: number 23 (EU country with 1987 referendum ban on nuclear energy), taken by Kevin Ashman, Paul Arts and Tim Westcott.
Two questions were answered correctly by four…
33 (Mozambique guerrilla force): Kevin Ashman, Tero Kalliolevo, William De Ath and Derk de Graaf;
44 (conspirator who defeated the Partians): Staf Dujardin, Jon Strøm, Gábor Hacsek and Gábor Gaspar;
…one question by five…
50 (work by Chekhov with dead woman in the forest): Pat Gibson, Bernard Kreps, Lars Van Moer, Johan Vander Elst and Joke Cools;
…and one question by six:
86 (non-Olympic type of fishing): Pat Gibson, Indrek Salis, William De Ath, Truls Flatberg, Mark Ryder and Andres Kund.
It speaks for the overall level of the field that these 28 difficult points were spread over 24 of the 90 quizzers! Also, only four of the ten finalists were represented at all, suggesting that their main strength lies in their breadth of knowledge at least as much as in obscure niches.
Talking of the finalists, the easiest question each of them missed was…
Thomas Kolåsæter and David Stainer: 89 (secret agent played by Richard Dean Anderson), 67 correct answers;
Olav Bjortomt: 24 (father of Esau and Jacob), 66 correct answers;
Kevin Ashman: 48 (doubles partner of Pam Shriver), 63 correct answers;
Pat Gibson, Mark Bytheway and Ian Bayley: 54 (Hebrew place name meaning Altneuland), 62 correct answers;
Tero Kalliolevo and Jussi Suvanto: 5 (island group with La Gomera), 61 correct answers;
Ronny Swiggers: 80 (Scandinavian introducing male and female symbols), 60 correct answers.
Splitting the field into the top 45 and the bottom 45, we can find the questions which favoured the elite the most:
Question 8 (complete the film title starting with The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad etc): point for 33 of the top half vs 5 of the bottom half;
Question 41 (Talking Heads concert movie): 32 vs 7;
Question 49 (jazz composer and bandleader from Saturn): 32 vs 9;
Question 1 (US singer with «I Think We’re Alone Now» in 1987): 30 vs 8.
Maybe a bit surprising, in that all of these are from popular culture of sorts. This may be due to a certain bias in how this is more present in the quizzing culture of countries like Belgium and England, and/or indicate that the questions in these categories are pushed a bit more in the direction of the difficult than other categories are.
There were also four questions where the bottom half scored better than the top half:
Question 43 (what Polska Partia Przyjaciól Piwa were friends of): 23 vs 25;
Question 46 (half-uncle (?) of the wife of Kofi Annan): 5 vs 7;
Question 80 (Scandinavian introducing male and female symbols): 29 vs 31;
Question 4 (century when Emperor Songtsan Gampo lived): 4 vs 5.
2. Combinations
Over the 100 questions, Kevin Ashman had the highest score with 78 points. If the quiz was for pairs (and no-one ever argued their team-mate out of a correct answer, yeah right), the top pairs would be:
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto 91
Kevin Ashman+Thomas Kolåsæter 90
Kevin Ashman+Pat Gibson 89
Kevin Ashman+Bernard Kreps 89
Kevin Ashman+Olav Bjortomt 88
Kevin Ashman+Harald Aastorp 88
Kevin Ashman+Gábor Hacsek 88
Kevin Ashman+Mark Ryder 88
Kevin Ashman+Trine Aalborg 87
Kevin Ashman+Tero Kalliolevo 87
Kevin Ashman+Ole Martin Halck 87
Kevin Ashman+Lars Heggland 87
Kevin Ashman+Lars Van Moer 87
Kevin Ashman+Tuomas Tumi 87
Pat Gibson+Ronny Swiggers 87
Pat Gibson+Jussi Suvanto 87
Kevin Ashman+Paul Arts 86
Kevin Ashman+Mark Bytheway 86
Kevin Ashman+Marnix Baes 86
Kevin Ashman+Nico Pattyn 86
Kevin Ashman+Ronny Swiggers 86
Kevin Ashman+Ove Põder 86
Kevin Ashman+David Stainer 86
Kevin Ashman+William De Ath 86
Kevin Ashman+Dag Fjeldstad 86
Kevin Ashman+Tore Dahl 86
Kevin Ashman+Staf Dujardin 86
Kevin Ashman+Bart Permentier 86
Kevin Ashman+Stig Sanner 86
Kevin Ashman+Knut Heggland 86
Kevin Ashman+Jon Strøm 86
Nearly everyone had Kevin as their best partner. The exceptions were Kevin himself, obviously (Jussi Suvanto was his best partner), Barry Simmons (Kevin or Jussi), Ronny Swiggers (Pat Gibson), Ian Bayley (Jussi), Mark Grant (Kevin or Ronny Swiggers or Mark Ryder), Derk de Graaf (Kevin or Pat), and David Edwards (Olav Bjortomt).
The best triples would be:
Kevin Ashman+Pat Gibson+Jussi Suvanto 95
Kevin Ashman+Pat Gibson+Gábor Hacsek 95
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Bernard Kreps 95
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Mark Ryder 95
Kevin Ashman+Trine Aalborg+Gábor Hacsek 94
Kevin Ashman+Ove Põder+Thomas Kolåsæter 94
Kevin Ashman+Ove Põder+Mark Ryder 94
Kevin Ashman+Tero Kalliolevo+Jussi Suvanto 94
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+David Stainer 94
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Ole Martin Halck 94
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Indrek Salis 94
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Thomas Kolåsæter 94
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Tom Trogh 94
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Staf Dujardin 94
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Truls Flatberg 94
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Stig Sanner 94
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Jon Strøm 94
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Gábor Hacsek 94
Kevin Ashman+William De Ath+Bernard Kreps 94
Kevin Ashman+Bernard Kreps+Trond Brastad 94
Kevin Ashman+Harald Aastorp+Mark Ryder 94
Kevin Ashman+Gábor Hacsek+Mark Ryder 94
To belabour a point possibly: 17 of 22 triples comprise players from different countries.
Five points left for full score; adding one more player only yields two of them. These combinations have 97 points:
Kevin Ashman+Pat Gibson+Jussi Suvanto+Dag Fjeldstad 97
Kevin Ashman+Pat Gibson+Jussi Suvanto+Staf Dujardin 97
Kevin Ashman+Pat Gibson+Jussi Suvanto+Jon Strøm 97
Kevin Ashman+Pat Gibson+Jussi Suvanto+Aare Olander 97
Kevin Ashman+Pat Gibson+Jussi Suvanto+Gábor Hacsek 97
Kevin Ashman+Pat Gibson+Dag Fjeldstad+Gábor Hacsek 97
Kevin Ashman+Pat Gibson+Gábor Hacsek+Tõnis Poom 97
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Bernard Kreps+Mark Ryder 97
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Bernard Kreps+Andres Kund 97
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Staf Dujardin+Mark Ryder 97
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Jon Strøm+Mark Ryder 97
Kevin Ashman+Jussi Suvanto+Gábor Hacsek+Mark Ryder 97