Tournaments for the Diplomacy board game have been conducted around the world for decades.
WorldDipCon edit
During the 1970s, there were very few Diplomacy tournaments outside North America. At that time, the winner of the tournament held at American DipCon was considered by the North American players as a world champion of Diplomacy.
The WorldDipCon (World Diplomacy Convention) was created in 1988 and the winner of the tournament held at this convention becomes the world champion of Diplomacy.
The players taking the top three places in each WorldDipCon tournament are listed below:
| Year | Host City | Host Country | World Champion | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Birmingham |  Great Britain |
Phil Day |
Matt MacVeigh |
Jim Mills
|
| 1990 | Chapel Hill |  United States |
Jason Bergmann |
Jeff Bohner |
Steve Cooley
|
| 1992 | Canberra |  Australia |
Steve Gould |
Eric Roche |
 Bruno-André Giraudon
|
| 1994 | Birmingham | Great Britain |
Pascal Montagna |
Stéphane Gentric |
Bruno-André Giraudon
|
| 1995 | Paris | France |
Bruno-André Giraudon |
 Antonio Ribeiro da Silva |
Thomas Sebeyran
|
| 1996 | Columbus | United States |
Pitt Crandlemire |
 Leif Bergman |
Björn von Knorring
|
| 1997 | Gothenburg | Sweden |
Cyrille Sevin |
Roger Edblom |
 Borger Borgersen
|
| 1998 | Chapel Hill | United States |
Chris Martin |
John Quarto-von-Tivadar |
Mark Fassio
|
| 1999 | Namur |  Belgium |
Christian Dreyer |
Leif Bergman |
Ivan Woodward
|
| 2000 | Hunt Valley | United States |
Simon Bouton |
 Brian Dennehy |
Matthew Shields
|
| 2001 | Paris | France |
Cyrille Sevin |
Brian Dennehy |
Chetan Radia
|
| 2002 | Canberra | Australia |
Rob Stephenson |
 Grant Steel |
Yann Clouet
|
| 2003 | Denver | United States |
Vincent Carry |
Edward Hawthorne |
Frank Johansen
|
| 2004 | Birmingham | Great Britain |
Yann Clouet |
 André Kooy |
Cyrille Sevin
|
| 2005 | Washington[1] | United States |
Frank Johansen |
Tom Kobrin |
Edi Birsan
|
| 2006 | Berlin |  Germany |
Nicolas Sahuguet |
Cyrille Sevin |
Yann Clouet
|
| 2007 | Vancouver |  Canada |
Doug Moore |
Jake Mannix |
Mark Zoffel
|
| 2008 | Lockenhaus |  Austria |
Julian Ziesing |
Cyrille Sevin |
Daniel Leinich
|
| 2009 | Columbus | United States |
Andrew Goff |
Daniel Lester |
Jim O'Kelley
|
| 2010 | The Hague | Netherlands |
Gwen Maggi |
Igor Kurt |
Xavier Blanchot
|
| 2011 | Sydney | Australia |
Andrew Goff |
Grant Steel |
Liam Cosgrave
|
| 2012 | Chicago | United States |
Michael A. Binder |
Don Scheifler |
Matt Shields
|
| 2013 | Paris | France |
Cyrille Sevin |
Toby Harris |
Gwen Maggi
|
| 2014 | Chapel Hill | United States |
Thomas Haver |
Daniel Lester |
Phil Weissert
|
| 2015 | Milan |  Italy |
Toby Harris |
 Rubén Sanchez García Luengo de Madrid |
Thomas Haver
|
| 2016 | Chicago | United States |
Chris Brand |
Doug Moore |
Andrew Goff
|
| 2017 | Oxford | Great Britain |
Doug Moore |
Marvin Fried |
Tanya Gill
|
| 2018 | Washington | United States |
Andrew Goff |
Doug Moore |
Adam Sigal
|
| 2019 | Marseille | France |
Gwen Maggi |
Andrew Goff |
 Christophe Borgeat
|
| 2020 and 2021 | Event not held | ||||
| 2022 | Dover | United States |
Daniel Lester |
Peter McNamara |
Peter Yeargin
|
| 2023 | Bangkok |  Thailand |
Jamal Blakkarly |
Brandon Fogel |
Chris Brand
|
| 2024 | Milan | Italy |
|||
| 2025 | San Francisco | United States |
The 2020 event was originally scheduled for Dover, USA, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both the already-selected 2020 (Dover) and 2021 (Bangkok) events were pushed back two years.
Virtual Face-to-Face edit
Online play with real-time voice negotiations, known as virtual face-to-face, became widespread in 2020, leading to three major annual competitions with global participation.
Virtual Diplomacy Championship (VDC) edit
The VDC is an open tournament held over a single weekend in December. Rounds are scheduled to be convenient to players around the world.
| Year | Champion | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Morgante Pell
|
Nicolas Sahuguet
|
Bill Hackenbracht
|
| 2021 | Nicolas Sahuguet
|
Farren Jane
|
Liam Stokes
|
| 2022 | Riaz Virani
|
Jason Mastbaum
|
Johnny Gillam
|
| 2023 | Jamal Blakkarly
|
Peter McNamara
|
Mikalis Kamaritis
|
Virtual Diplomacy League (VDL) edit
The VDL is an open league with monthly gamedays and rounds convenient to players around the world. The season culminates in a championship game held in January.
| Year | Champion | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Tanya Gill
|
John Anderson
|
Morgante Pell
|
| 2021 | Nicolas Taillet
|
Brandon Fogel
|
Mikalis Kamaritis
|
| 2022 | Brandon Fogel
|
Nicolas Taillet
|
Timothy Crosby
|
| 2023 | Mikalis Kamaritis
|
Nicolas Taillet
|
Matthew Totonchy
|
Diplomacy Broadcast Network Invitational (DBNI) edit
The DBNI is an invitational tournament held annually in February. Players earn invitations based on their performance at a wide variety of Diplomacy competitions over the previous year, including in-person face-to-face, virtual face-to-face, and extended deadline online play. The champion receives the title "DBN Diplomat of the Year".
| Year | Diplomat of the Year | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Peter McNamara
|
Matthew Crill
|
| 2022 | Jason Mastbaum
|
Brandon Fogel
|
| 2023 | Brandon Fogel
|
Chris Brand
|
| 2024 | Peter McNamara
|
Johnny Gillam
|
Online Diplomacy Championship edit
Created in 2015, the Online Diplomacy Championship occurs once every two years, rotating between a number of Diplomacy websites. The winner is considered to be the World Champion of Online Diplomacy, a format in which phases are processed once every one or two days, and all correspondence is sent in written form via the host site. Players in online tournaments typically play under pseudonyms, and accept the title under these names.
The players taking the top three places in each ODC tournament are listed below.
| Year | Host Website | Online Champion | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | webDiplomacy | Octavious |
VillageIdiot |
Yonni
|
| 2017 | PlayDiplomacy | Steve Cooley & Bravo Papa Alpha [2] |
Machiara
| |
| 2019 | webDiplomacy | Brumark |
Teccles |
Napoleon of Oz
|
| 2022 | PlayDiplomacy | RedCandle |
 Pootleflump |
Yonni
|
North America edit
DipCon edit
The winner of the DipCon (Diplomacy Convention) tournament is the North American champion. The title of North American champion was not given at the beginning, but since 1972 has been awarded to each winner of the convention tournament. DipCon was created in 1966 and occurred each year (except in 1967 and 1968). There was no tournament in 1966,[3] 1969[4] and 1971.
The winner of each DipCon North American Championship tournament:
| Year | Host City | Host Country | North American Champion | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Oklahoma City | United States |
John Smythe |
|
| 1972 | Chicago | United States |
Richard Ackerlay |
|
| 1973 | Chicago | United States |
Conrad von Metzke and John Smythe tie |
|
| 1974 | Chicago | United States |
Mike Rocamora |
|
| 1975 | Chicago | United States |
Walter Blank and Bob Wartenberg tie |
|
| 1976 | Baltimore | United States |
Thomas Reape |
|
| 1977 | Lake Geneva | United States |
Mike Rocamora |
|
| 1978 | Los Angeles | United States |
David Lagerson |
|
| 1979 | Chester | United States |
Ben Zablocki |
|
| 1980 | Rochester | United States |
Carl Eichelberger |
|
| 1981 | Burlingame | United States |
Ron Brown |
[5] |
| 1982 | Baltimore | United States |
Konrad Baumeister |
|
| 1983 | Detroit | United States |
Joyce Singer |
[6] |
| 1984 | Dallas | United States |
Jeff Key |
|
| 1985 | Seattle | United States |
J.R. Baker |
|
| 1986 | Fredericksburg | United States |
Malcolm Smith |
[7] |
| 1987 | Madison | United States |
David Hood |
|
| 1988 | San Antonio | United States |
Dan Sellers |
|
| 1989 | San Diego | United States |
Edi Birsan |
[8] |
| 1990 | Chapel Hill | United States |
Jason Bergmann |
[9] |
| 1991 | Scarborough | Canada |
Gary Behnen |
|
| 1992 | Lenexa | United States |
Marc Peters |
|
| 1993 | San Mateo | United States |
Hohn Cho |
|
| 1994 | Chapel Hill | United States |
Bruce Reiff |
|
| 1995 | Baltimore | United States |
Sylvain Larose |
|
| 1996 | Columbus | United States |
Pitt Crandlemire |
[9] |
| 1997 | Seattle | United States |
Chris Mazza |
|
| 1998 | Chapel Hill | United States |
Chris Martin |
[9] |
| 1999 | Columbus | United States |
Chris Mazza |
|
| 2000 | Hunt Valley | United States |
Simon Bouton |
[9][10] |
| 2001 | Denver | United States |
David Hood |
|
| 2002 | Chapel Hill | United States |
Morgan Gurley |
|
| 2003 | Washington | United States |
Edward Hawthorne |
|
| 2004 | Portland | United States |
Ken Lemere |
|
| 2005 | At Sea | United States Mexico Belize |
Rick Desper |
[11] |
| 2006 | Charlottesville | United States |
Hohn Cho |
|
| 2007 | Vancouver | Canada |
Doug Moore |
[9] |
| 2008 | Tysons Corner[12] | United States |
Chris Martin |
[13] |
| 2009 | Columbus | United States |
Andrew Goff |
[9][14] |
| 2010 | San Francisco | United States |
Eric Mead |
|
| 2011 | Fairlee, Vermont | United States |
Chris Martin |
|
| 2012 | Chicago | United States |
Michael A. Binder |
[9] |
| 2013 | Silver Spring | United States |
Nate Cockerill |
|
| 2014 | Seattle | United States |
Dan Lester |
[15] |
| 2015 | Philadelphia | United States |
Chris Martin |
|
| 2016 | Chicago | United States |
Chris Brand |
|
| 2017 | Killington, Vermont | United States |
Doug Moore |
|
| 2018 | Washington | United States |
Andrew Goff |
[16] |
| 2019 | Seattle | United States |
Steve Cooley |
|
| 2021 | Dover, Vermont | United States |
Adam Silverman |
[17] |
| 2022 | San Jose | United States |
Tanya Gill |
|
| 2023 | Chapel Hill | United States |
Mikalis Kamaritis |
[18] |
| 2024 | Surrey | Canada |
Katie Gray |
|
| 2025 | Chicago | United States |
North American Grand Prix edit
The winner of each Grand Prix:
| Year | Steps | Players | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 7 | 58 | Chris Martin
|
| 2000 | 14 | 125 | Matt Shields
|
| 2001 | 34 | 166 | Jerry Fest
|
| 2002 | 17 | 171 | Andy Bartalone
|
| 2003 | 16 | 213 | Edward Hawthorne
|
| 2004 | 14 | 305 | Doug Moore
|
| 2005 | 13 | 234 | Andrew Neumann
|
| 2006 | 12 | 200 | Jim O'Kelley
|
| 2007 | 12 | 270 | Doug Moore
|
| 2008 | 15 | 275 | Thomas Haver
|
| 2009 | 10 | 182 | Adam Sigal
|
| 2010 | 10 | 220 | Peter Yeargin
|
| 2011 | 9 | 143 | Chris Martin
|
| 2012 | 11 | 202 | Michael A. Binder
|
| 2013 | 8 | 136 | Graham Woodring
|
| 2014 | 8 | 188 | Dan Lester
|
Europe edit
EuroDipCon edit
The winner of each EuroDipCon tournament:
| Year | Host City | Host Country | European Champion | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Paris | France |
Samy Malki |
|
| 1994 | Linköping | Sweden |
Xavier Blanchot |
|
| 1995 | Cirencester | Great Britain |
Inge Kjøl |
|
| 1996 | Oslo | Norway |
Inge Kjøl |
|
| 1997 | Namur | Belgium |
Cyrille Sevin |
|
| 1998 | Bedford | Great Britain |
Toby Harris |
|
| 1999 | Turku |  Finland |
Simon Bouton |
|
| 2000 | Paris | France |
Leif Bergman |
|
| 2001 | Dublin | Ireland |
Paraic Reddington |
|
| 2002 | Malmö | Sweden |
Frank Johansen |
|
| 2003 | Dogana |  San Marino |
Yann Clouet |
|
| 2004 | Darmstadt | Germany |
Edi Birsan |
[19] |
| 2005 | Utrecht | Netherlands |
Simon Bouton |
|
| 2006 | Cheshunt | Great Britain |
Benjamin Pouillès-Duplaix |
|
| 2007 | Marseille | France |
Fabien Grellier |
|
| 2008 | Brunate | Italy |
Luca Pazzaglia |
|
| 2009 | Bonn | Germany |
André Ilievics |
|
| 2010 | Paris | France |
Fabian Straub |
|
| 2011 | Derby | Great Britain |
Gwen Maggi |
|
| 2012 | Serravalle | San Marino |
Nicolas Sahuguet |
|
| 2013 | Namur | Belgium |
Gwen Maggi |
|
| 2014 | Rome | Italy |
Peter McNamara |
[20] |
| 2015 | Leicester | Great Britain |
Cyrille Sevin |
|
| 2016 | Paris | France |
Gwen Maggi |
|
| 2017 | Milan | Italy |
Gwen Maggi |
|
| 2018 | Paris | France |
Lei Saarlainen |
|
| 2019 | Marseille | France |
Gwen Maggi |
|
| 2020 | Sion | Switzerland |
 Alex Lebedev |
|
| 2021 | Serravalle | San Marino |
Alex Lebedev |
|
| 2022 | Sierre | Switzerland |
Christophe Borgeat |
European Grand Prix edit
The winner of each Grand Prix:
| Year | Nb of steps | Nb of players | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 10 | 283 | William Attia
|
| 2003 | 11 | 349 | Yann Clouet
|
| 2004 | 15 | 472 | Yann Clouet
|
| 2005 | 13 | 364 | Gwen Maggi
|
| 2006 | 14 | 340 | Gwen Maggi
|
| 2007 | 14 | 272 | Gwen Maggi
|
| 2008 | 11 | 207 | Emmanuel du Pontavice
|
| 2009 | 11 | 175 | Gwen Maggi
|
| 2010 | 8 | 172 | Gwen Maggi
|
| 2011 | 6 | 108 | Gwen Maggi
|
| 2012 | 5 | 76 | Dave Simpson
|
| 2013 | 7 | 112 | Gwen Maggi
|
| 2014 | 6 | 81 | Gwen Maggi
|
| 2015 | 8 | 116 | Matteo Anfossi
|
Australia and New Zealand edit
Bismark Cup edit
The National Tournaments Championship – comprising the perpetual trophy known as the Bismark Cup – is awarded for the best aggregate tournament results at Diplomacy tournaments held during the calendar year. It is an annual (short term) ranking. The exact number of points depends on the size of the tournament and the person's placing in that tournament.
The winner of each Bismark Cup:
| Year | Nbr of steps | Nbr of players | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Robert Wessels
| ||
| 1990 | Harry Kolotas
| ||
| 1991 | 3 | 75 | Robert Wessels
|
| 1992 | 5 | 123 | Steve Gould
|
| 1993 | 6 | 93 | Harry Kolotas
|
| 1994 | Craig Sedgwick
| ||
| 1995 | Rob Stephenson
| ||
| 1996 | 5 | 65 | Craig Sedgwick
|
| 1997 | 5 | 74 | Bill Brown
|
| 1998 | 7 | 92 | Rob Stephenson
|
| 1999 | 8 | 117 | Brandon Clarke
|
| 2000 | 9 | 111 | Rob Stephenson
|
| 2001 | 10 | 104 | Tristan Lee
|
| 2002 | 7 | 84 | Rob Schöne
|
| 2003 | 6 | 52 | Geoff Kerr
|
| 2004 | 8 | 56 | Grant Steel
|
| 2005 | 8 | 65 | Tony Collins
|
| 2006 | 10 | 76 | Sean Colman
|
| 2007 | – | – | Not organised |
| 2008 | 7 | 58 | Andrew Goff
|
| 2009 | 7 | 69 | Shane Cubis
|
| 2010 | 7 | 69 | Thorin Munro
|
| 2011 | 5 | 49 | Grant Steel
|
| 2012 | – | – | Not organised |
Origins of the Bismark Cup edit
In the early 1980s the Diplomacy scene in Australia was built around several PBM Diplomacy magazines, of which the most significant titles were Rumplestiltskin, The Go Between, Beowulf, Victoriana, The Journal of Australian Diplomacy, and The Envoy. Most of the tournament players were subscribers, players and editors of these magazines. The Envoy, which was published between 1986 and 1991, ran a series of articles which were both popular and influential. Purportedly written by Arthur von Bismark and styled as lecture transcripts, the character of Arthur von Bismark became celebrated among the contemporary Diplomacy subculture in Australia.
The articles were popular at a time when tournament play in Australia had become more organized, with well-attended tournaments in Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. Rating systems at the time were being hotly debated and many players desired a way to assess the best player in the tournament scene for a calendar year, as a way of overcoming the perceived inconsistencies of rating systems within one event. The annual trophy concept was accepted among the then-principle organizers of these tournaments and the title Arthur Bismark Cup was suggested by The Envoy's then-editor Mathew Gibson.
The real author of these Arthur von Bismark articles was never announced publicly, but was suspected as being either Harry Kolotas, Marion Ashworth, Neil Ashworth or Luke Clutterbuck.
Diplomacy World Cup edit
The Diplomacy World Cup is a team-based tournament in Online Diplomacy, a format in which phases are processed once every one or two days, and all correspondence is sent in written form via the host site. Players in online tournaments often play under pseudonyms, and accept the title under these names.
Two different tournaments, the Diplomacy National World Cup and the webDiplomacy World Cup, are grouped together in this category. The Diplomacy National World Cup only ran twice, once in 2007 and once in 2010. The webDiplomacy World Cup had its first iteration in 2010, and runs once every two years, with the exception of 2014 as the 2012 World Cup was still ongoing. WebDiplomacy World Cup teams are not country-specific, and can instead be from regions.
| Edition | Members of the World champion team | Members of second team | Members of third team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 [21] | France Emmanuel du Pontavice Fabrice Essner Jean-Luc Granier Fabien Grellier Michel Lacroix Gwen Maggi Jean-Pierre Maulion Nicolas Sahuguet Rubén Sanchez García Luengo de Madrid Cyrille Sevin
|
Italy Enrico Agamennone Alessio Cei Giovanni Cesarini Davide Cleopadre Marco Noseda Pedraglio Luca Pazzaglia Roberto Perego Leonardo Quirini Andrea Ziffer
|
Argentina Leonardo Colangelo Pablo Echevarría Mike Goldfeld Martin Kaplan Marcelo Larroque Ismael Puga Felipe Sanchez Ariel Max Sanchez Romero
|
| 2010 [21] | Ireland Mike Cosgrave Brian Dennehy Aidan Duggan Conor Kostick Cian O'Rathaille Nigel Phillips Rick Powell
|
United States Kevin Dietz Jim Green Melinda Holley Brian McCain Pete Marinaro Charles Mullin Kyra Olson Yashwant Parmar Eric Sorenson
|
France Frédéric Coste Fabrice Essner Gwen Maggi Jean-Pierre Maulion Jean-François Mougard Reynald Nicod Vincent Reulet Nicolas Sahuguet Rubén Sanchez García Luengo de Madrid Cyrille Sevin
|
| 2010 [22] | South America Rubetok (Captain) Xapi JesusPetry rdrivera2005
|
Southeast Europe hellalt (Captain) Kompole Dejan0707 Ouraguinus
|
Iberia JECE (Captain) Silver Wolf StevenC. Troodonte
|
| 2012 [22] | California A The Hanged Man (Captain) uclabb (Assistant Captain) Tasnica Mujus
|
Iberia JECE (Captain) Troodonte (Assistant Captain) gantz  MuadDib
|
The Balkans hellalt (Captain) Hellenic Riot (Assistant Captain) rokakoma Kompole
|
| 2016 [22] | Cascadia ghug (Captain) VillageIdiot (Assistant Captain) MadMarx Balki Bartokomous thatwasawkward
|
Dixie Gen. Lee (Captain) ckroberts (Assistant Captain) eturnage The Czech DrCJG
|
Sweden Vixol (Captain) Seichuto (Assistant Captain) AronAmbrosiani SunRa
|
| 2018 [22] | Cascadia Balki Bartokomous VillageIdiot ghug cspieker MadMarx
|
Greatest Lakes Tom Bombadil Durga Yigg Yoyoyozo peterwiggin jmo1121109
|
California ezio micha slypups Ogion The Hanged Man
|
| 2020 [22] | Yorkshire Puddings CaptainMeme (Captain) Brumark Scarabus desdemona22 teccles
|
Eastern Canada Hamilton Brian (Captain) cdngooner Yonni Peregrine Falcon Lando Calrissian
|
Prosecco gimix (Captain) Riccardo Falconi Babbo Natale Superwerty Randaz20
|
See also edit
Notes edit
- ^ Originally scheduled to be in Hunt Valley, but moved when the original host convention moved from Hunt Valley to Lancaster.
- ^ Tournament scoring in ODC 2017 allowed for a tie for first place.
- ^ DipCon I held in Youngstown, and hosted by John Koning in his home, 31 August 1666.
- ^ DipCon II held in Youngstown, because "...we had so much fun last time, let's do it again."
- ^ Held as part of Origins, which was in San Mateo, but held in a separate hotel because of space limitations
- ^ We can see in Diplomacy World 35 that the name of the winner is Joyce Singer.
- ^ The best North American player,
Marc Hurwitz, finished 2nd.
- ^ Hohn Cho won the 1989 DipCon Diplomacy tournament, but that year's "DipCon Champion" was decided by a number of events.
- ^ a b c d e f g This year, the DipCon was the WorldDipCon.
- ^ The best North American player, Matthew Shields, finished 3rd.
- ^ Played during a cruise from Galveston and with several stops: Progreso
, Cozumel and Belize City 
.
- ^ DipCon status was removed from the Bangor event by the NADF on 30 July 2008.
- ^ Results Disputed. Under normal hobby practice, the Tournament Director is ineligible for prizes due to real or perceived conflicts of interest. David Webster acted as TD, but still declared himself the winner.
- ^ The best North American player, Jim O'Kelley, finished 3rd.
- ^ The best North American player, Chris Martin, finished 2nd.
- ^ The best North American player, Doug Moore, finished 2nd.
- ^ DipCon 2020 reported in 2021 (COVID-19).
- ^ The best North American player, Michael A. Binder, finished 2nd.
- ^ First European:
Gihan Bandaranaike (second of the tournament).
- ^ First European:
Filippo Lonardo (second of the tournament).
- ^ a b This tournament was an iteration of the Diplomacy National World Cup.
- ^ a b c d e This tournament was an iteration of the webDiplomacy World Cup.