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Difference between revisions of "Championship of Champions XI"

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{{coc|previous=Championship of Champions X|next=Championship of Champions XII}}{{featured article}}
 
{{coc|previous=Championship of Champions X|next=Championship of Champions XII}}{{featured article}}
'''Championship of Champions XI''' ran from 6 to 24 January 2003, and was won by [[Graham Nash]]. It marked the debut of [[Countdown]]'s current set.
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'''Championship of Champions XI''' ran from 6 to 24 January 2003, and was won by [[Graham Nash]]. It marked the debut of [[Countdown]]'s 2003-8 pink-and-purple striped set.
  
[[Image:2003set.JPG|right|thumb|200px|This series marked the debut of the current set, seen above.]]
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[[Image:2003set.JPG|right|thumb|200px|This series marked the debut of the stripey set, seen above.]]
 
The tournament started poorly with [[Series|series champion]] [[Michael Calder]] being knocked out by quarter-finalist [[Loz Sands]]. The following game was one of the greatest in the history of Countdown, with [[Chris Wills]] scoring a come from behind win against [[David Williams (Series 43)|David Williams]], spotting the conundrum {{word|ETERNALLY}} in barely a second to win by two points. The next three first round matches all produced close scores, but [[Tom Hargreaves]] produced a very noteworthy performance against [[John Rainsden]], beating the former runner-up by 52 points. [[Julian Fell]] produced a similar display against [[Octochamp]] [[Terence O'Farrell]] and won by 54 points. [[Graham Nash]] completed the first round matches with a 33 point win over [[David Ballheimer]] including the impressive {{word|MICROBES}} in the final letter rounds.
 
The tournament started poorly with [[Series|series champion]] [[Michael Calder]] being knocked out by quarter-finalist [[Loz Sands]]. The following game was one of the greatest in the history of Countdown, with [[Chris Wills]] scoring a come from behind win against [[David Williams (Series 43)|David Williams]], spotting the conundrum {{word|ETERNALLY}} in barely a second to win by two points. The next three first round matches all produced close scores, but [[Tom Hargreaves]] produced a very noteworthy performance against [[John Rainsden]], beating the former runner-up by 52 points. [[Julian Fell]] produced a similar display against [[Octochamp]] [[Terence O'Farrell]] and won by 54 points. [[Graham Nash]] completed the first round matches with a 33 point win over [[David Ballheimer]] including the impressive {{word|MICROBES}} in the final letter rounds.
  

Revision as of 14:08, 7 January 2009

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Championship of Champions XI ran from 6 to 24 January 2003, and was won by Graham Nash. It marked the debut of Countdown's 2003-8 pink-and-purple striped set.

This series marked the debut of the stripey set, seen above.

The tournament started poorly with series champion Michael Calder being knocked out by quarter-finalist Loz Sands. The following game was one of the greatest in the history of Countdown, with Chris Wills scoring a come from behind win against David Williams, spotting the conundrum ETERNALLY in barely a second to win by two points. The next three first round matches all produced close scores, but Tom Hargreaves produced a very noteworthy performance against John Rainsden, beating the former runner-up by 52 points. Julian Fell produced a similar display against Octochamp Terence O'Farrell and won by 54 points. Graham Nash completed the first round matches with a 33 point win over David Ballheimer including the impressive MICROBES in the final letter rounds.

The quarter-finals also started slowly, with Chris Wills scoring a win over Loz Sands despite an invalid word COAGULENT x in the first letters game. John Rawnsley beat semi-finalist Rupert Stokoe without ever looking like losing, despite faltering on the conundrum.

The following game was a classic which beat Wills and Williams highest joint total score. Both Ben Wilson and Tom Hargreaves spotted the niner FACETIOUS in the third round, and from then on Tom scored in every round to rack up 131 points. The second series champion was dispatched from the competition, as Ben Wilson lost his unbeaten record.

The game after that was even more dramatic. Julian Fell and Graham Nash faced off, both players having won 12 games out of 12. The game started with a poor letters selection, but in round 4 Nash tried FORMICA x which but Fell six points in the lead with CORIUM. Both players spotted a nine in round 8 - ORGANISED for Nash and GRANDIOSE for Fell. Fell declared eight in the next round to Nash's seven, but Fell's offering of GAMBIERS x was duly disallowed and Nash had a one point lead. Equal scoring continued for the rest of the game, and the players had a perfect score between them going into rounds 12 and 13 where both players, and Dictionary Corner missed ROUILLE and SPERMATID. The game was poised for a crucial conundrum 110-109 in Nash's favour, and Nash buzzed in in just more than a second with MENDMEDOC to beat Fell, the first and only time that Julian has lost a game of Countdown. Chris Wills on his website later described it as the "best ever game of Countdown".

In the semi-finals, Chris Wills disposed of Series 45 champion John Rawnsley, scoring 120 points. Wills scored in every round including the nine-letter DECAGONAL but it was Rawnsley that got the conundrum to deny Wills a personal best of 130.

The second semi-final was most notable for its disallowed words, as Graham Nash had two words disallowed and Tom Hargreaves had three. The decisive factor was the 7th round where Hargreaves risked RESCALING x to Nash's CLEARINGS which gave Nash a lead that would never be challenged in the game. Nash dispatched with the conundrum AVIANLOUT which set up a final between two players with 14 wins from 14 games.

The final turned out not to be a classic, thanks in large part to two impossible numbers games. Chris Wills initially took the lead with GAMBADE but was beaten in two letters rounds with PENSIVE and METALS as Wills risked an invalid six. The players scored in every round from there on, but neither player scored on the last numbers game where zero points was the maximum. The conundrum OVERSPADE was turned over, with Nash having a six point lead thanks to METALS. Dramatically the time ran out with neither player buzzing in, and Nash was triumphant 79-73. Thanks to his success, Nash was selected for the game show Grand Slam due to his unbeaten record at Countdown.


Episodes

# Date Type Contestant 1 Score Contestant 2 Presenters Guest Lex Max
3390 6/01/2003 CP Michael Calder 60 – 77 Loz Sands Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Martin Jarvis Susie Dent
3391 7/01/2003 CP Chris Wills 113 – 111 David Williams Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Martin Jarvis Susie Dent
3392 8/01/2003 CP Rupert Stokoe 90 – 80 Grace Page Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Martin Jarvis Susie Dent
3393 9/01/2003 CP John Rawnsley 99 – 97 Kevin McMahon Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Martin Jarvis Susie Dent
3394 10/01/2003 CP Ben Wilson 94 – 91 Geraldine Hylands Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Martin Jarvis Susie Dent
3395 13/01/2003 CP John Rainsden 65 – 117 Tom Hargreaves Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Susie Dent
3396 14/01/2003 CP Julian Fell 118 – 64 Terence O'Farrell Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Susie Dent
3397 15/01/2003 CP David Ballheimer 70 – 103 Graham Nash Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Susie Dent
3398 16/01/2003 CQF Chris Wills 98 – 69 Loz Sands Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Susie Dent
3399 17/01/2003 CQF Rupert Stokoe 70 – 89 John Rawnsley Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Tim Rice Susie Dent
3400 20/01/2003 CQF Tom Hargreaves 131 – 98 Ben Wilson Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eric Knowles Susie Dent
3401 21/01/2003 CQF Graham Nash 120 – 109 Julian Fell Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eric Knowles Susie Dent
3402 22/01/2003 CSF Chris Wills 120 – 88 John Rawnsley Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eric Knowles Susie Dent
3403 23/01/2003 CSF Tom Hargreaves 83 – 104 Graham Nash Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eric Knowles Susie Dent
3404 24/01/2003 CGF Chris Wills 73 – 79 Graham Nash Richard Whiteley Carol Vorderman Eric Knowles Susie Dent