Next Champion of Champions series

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

So far so good, but what happens next?!

[Gevin Chapwell]

Your seeding is your own subjective seeding, mind, but otherwise good. Luke Johnson-Davies would almost definitely be the number 1 seed if there was seeding.

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

Your seeding is your own subjective seeding, mind, but otherwise good. Luke Johnson-Davies would almost definitely be the number 1 seed if there was seeding.

Be that as it may, the listed #1 seed should progress to the semis as expected.
The most likely remaining upset might come from #11.
Final could be #11 vs #1 or #3.

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

It seems rather unusual for a CoC, and particularly one containing players of this calibre, that the closest any player has gotten to a max game is -11 (Luke). I'd have expected at least one of the 8 games to be within 5pts.

[Steve Hyde]

It seems rather unusual for a CoC, and particularly one containing players of this calibre, that the closest any player has gotten to a max game is -11 (Luke). I'd have expected at least one of the 8 games to be within 5pts.

The -11 was 13 max rounds and an unsolved conundrum, I'd say that's pretty close

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

The -11 was 13 max rounds and an unsolved conundrum, I'd say that's pretty close

Yeah, of course you're right. The performances have been mighty.
But I would like to see a side by side comparison of how close to max games players came in previous Rd1s of CoCs.
If -11 is indeed the furthest from a Rd1 max... then I reckon that would be strong argument that this particular batch are facing the toughest CoC conundrums ever set.

[Gevin Chapwell]

So far so good, but what happens next?!

Anyway I think most of those games will go according to your seedings. Ahmed v Luke is the one I'm most excited by. James v Adam actually is likely to be close too because Adam's improved so much. But I predict Sam and Elliott to go through anyway.

[Dan Byrom]

Before filming, I estimated roughly:
Florence 30/70 Sam
Adam 50/50 James
Luke 20/80 Ahmed
Elliott 90/10 Me

[Gevin Chapwell]

Not sure how Sam ever got seeded as high as 2 in your list, Eoin, ahead of Elliott who should easily be the top non-champion, and Luke who beat him in the final as the number 1 seed there. But for the record, this is what I consider the most realistic seedings to be if they did use seedings:

Champions (series points in brackets) (Eoin's seedings in second brackets)

1. Luke Johnson-Davies (1384) (6)
2. Tom Stevenson (1366) (4)
3. James Haughton (1328) (11)
4. Ahmed Mohamed (1302) (1)
5. Dan Byrom (1251) (8)
6. Dinos Sfyris (1242) (9)
7. Adam Latchford (1014) (16)

Beaten finalists

8. Elliott Mellor (1373) (3)
9. Sam Cappleman-Lynes (1279) (2)
10. Ed Byrne (1272) (5)
11. Matt O'Connor (1250) (10)
12. Florence Cappleman-Lynes (1172) (7)
13. Martin May (1127) (14)

Beaten semi-finalists

14. Stu Harkness (1097) (12)
15. Leo Smith (1043) (13)
16. Steve Hyde (989) (15)

If any sort of "manual override" were to happen, it would likely be only in the case of Elliott Mellor who looks a bit out of position at number 8. But even then it would seem a bit of a fudge to do it. The only other person who one might consider to be out of position is Adam Latchford who improved over his time so whose scores don't really reflect how good he is. And it would look worse to bump a series champion down than to a bump a non-champion up. None of the other players have a big enough difference between scores and how far they reached to even consider.

[Gevin Chapwell]

By the way I see Elliott as favourite for the tournament. Ahmed and Luke have to play each other so this reduces the chances for each of them. Dan is a great player obviously but Elliott is definite favourite in that.

[Rhys Benjamin]

By the way I see Elliott as favourite for the tournament. Ahmed and Luke have to play each other so this reduces the chances for each of them. Dan is a great player obviously but Elliott is definite favourite in that.

It's the luck of the draw, yes, but my three tips to win are all in the same half, so it's not entirely unlikely someone like Adam could win it.

[Gevin Chapwell]

By the way, in terms of the supposed mismatch between the halves of the draw, had Tom made it through it would have looked less unbalanced, as he would be the number 2 seed (even in Eoin's made-up system he'd be number 4). Both 2 and 3 are in that side of the draw, even if skill level doesn't exactly match this seeding system.

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

Gevin... the seeding is robust.
Though, I certainly should have gone with my instinct to seed Tom and Elliott lower.

Rationale:-
1. Tom hasn't been properly tested yet. And the pressure of being hero-worshipped (by the presenters, the fans and the press) as the greatest thing since sliced tabbouleh, is bound to mess with anyone's psychology going into a pressure game against a plucky underdog who has shown they have a steely resolve.
2. Elliott has a proven track record of someone who, while talented, is not good under pressure. He bottles it. Rd3 today was a classic example of that trait.

Even though the red flag was there since the S80 finals performances, I still consider today's the biggest tourney upset since Tom v Adam. Fair play to Dan. That was a most excellent time to defy these odds: https://www.apterous.org/headtohead.php ... on=summary

[Tom S]

Just for the record, I felt as though I almost played as well as I could have on the day, though I have probably spotted Titanic, Yawniest and Benzoate in the past. However, I didn't feel the pressure or nerves going into it. There were people who had high expectations for me to do well in the CoC, but I wasn't fussed about those expectations, because my primary focus was to have fun and see what happened from there.

The only iota of pressure I felt was during the final numbers round when I couldn't bet my life that 617 was 8 away from 625!

Overall, Adam had the upper hand both in terms of play, and strategy.

[JackHurst]

But I predict Sam and Elliott to go through anyway.

This aged well.

[Marc Meakin]

I think Sam would have been a match for anyone, but playing your spouse put him in a difficult position

[Gevin Chapwell]

I think Sam would have been a match for anyone, but playing your spouse put him in a difficult position

Maybe but I don't think we really ever saw his Apterous form on TV. From the limited sample, I wouldn't know he'd got much better.

[L'oisleatch McGraw]

Sam is a feminist and would like to see more female representation on CD.
It is not a massive surprise he lost that match.

[Philip A]

Series 93 is about to begin recording so hopefully the next Champion of Champions will be recorded in the latter half of 2026 to air in 2027. Previous tournaments from 2003 were held 3 years apart, with the 30th Birthday Series airing 4 years after the 2009 CoC and 3 years before the 2016 CoC, but the 2023 CoC was held 4 years after the one before (pushed by Covid I think?).

2027 would also be its 45th anniversary year.

[Gevin Chapwell]

Yeah, would be good to see another one soon.

[Philip A]

Filming schedules 2026:
12th Oct: S94 Finals spanning QF3/4, SF1/2 and GF
13th Oct: CoC XVII 1st Rs 1-5
14th Oct: CoC XVII 1st Rs 6-8, QF1/2

then…

2nd Nov: CoC XVII QF3/4, SF 1/2 and GF

In other words, the CoC Final will be filmed on Countdown’s birthday.

[samir pilica]

Is there a list of participants somewhere?

[Philip A]

We'll get to know who they all are soon. At this point, the players don't yet know who they're playing against in Round 1 until they're actually in the studio - so it's not like 2018 when we were all told 2 months before it filmed.

[samir pilica]

We'll get to know who they all are soon. At this point, the players don't yet know who they're playing against in Round 1 until they're actually in the studio - so it's not like 2018 when we were all told 2 months before it filmed.

Thanks,Philip.

[Tracey Anne Mills]

Damian will post the list of participants which will be ready when I recap the said games on to the forum.

[Philip A]

The clock will have a banner which reads, ‘CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS’ at the top; nice bit of 1990s nostalgia there.

And, congratulations to Damian Eadie on 30 years as producer.

[Tracey Anne Mills]

The clock will have a banner which reads, ‘CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS’ at the top; nice bit of 1990s nostalgia there.

And, congratulations to Damian Eadie on 30 years as producer.

30 years this year was the Supreme Championships and that was the last time you saw Damian Eadie play a full game of Countdown apart from the special he did in 2000.

[Philip A]

The clock will have a banner which reads, ‘CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS’ at the top; nice bit of 1990s nostalgia there.

And, congratulations to Damian Eadie on 30 years as producer.

30 years this year is the Supreme Championships and that was the last time you saw Damian Eadie play a full game of Countdown apart from the special he did in 2000.

Nice trivia.

[Gevin Chapwell]

Filming schedules 2026:
12th Oct: S94 Finals spanning QF3/4, SF1/2 and GF
13th Oct: CoC XVII 1st Rs 1-5
14th Oct: CoC XVII 1st Rs 6-8, QF1/2

then…

2nd Nov: CoC XVII QF3/4, SF 1/2 and GF

In other words, the CoC Final will be filmed on Countdown’s birthday.

So we're saying 16 players? Did we get to the bottom of whether this series's players would be eligible? Actually the wiki suggests it's just series 87 to 93 (with this series being 94). Not sure why that would be though. Anyway, I suppose we should be guessing which players are going to be included. It would be rude not to.

[Philip A]

Filming schedules 2026:
12th Oct: S94 Finals spanning QF3/4, SF1/2 and GF
13th Oct: CoC XVII 1st Rs 1-5
14th Oct: CoC XVII 1st Rs 6-8, QF1/2

then…

2nd Nov: CoC XVII QF3/4, SF 1/2 and GF

In other words, the CoC Final will be filmed on Countdown’s birthday.

So we're saying 16 players? Did we get to the bottom of whether this series's players would be eligible? Actually the wiki suggests it's just series 87 to 93 (with this series being 94). Not sure why that would be though. Anyway, I suppose we should be guessing which players are going to be included. It would be rude not to.

16 works best TBF because it’s 15 weekdays over 3 weeks. I never understood why some CoCs have latest players and some don’t but I guess it’s down to logistics and production - so S94 winner and finalists potentially will play the CoC after in about 4 years’ time.

Ronan, Harry, Arthur, Fiona, Rhys, Jase and Patrick - the last 7 winners, hopefully all 7 played. Ronan, Jase, Arthur and Patrick definitely did, as did Charlie, Viraj, Jessica and Mark. (I don’t know about the reserve player though).

Just a bit unfortunate they’re doing this over 2 filming blocks this time.

Externally, quick word on surname expurgation. Interesting our French parent did it for the last 35 years.

[Gevin Chapwell]

16 works best TBF because it’s 15 weekdays over 3 weeks. I never understood why some CoCs have latest players and some don’t but I guess it’s down to logistics and production - so S94 winner and finalists potentially will play the CoC after in about 4 years’ time.

Ronan, Harry, Arthur, Fiona, Rhys, Jase and Patrick - the last 7 winners, hopefully all 7 played. Ronan, Jase, Arthur and Patrick definitely did, as did Charlie, Viraj, Jessica and Mark. (I don’t know about the reserve player though).

Just a bit unfortunate they’re doing this over 2 filming blocks this time.

Externally, quick word on surname expurgation. Interesting our French parent did it for the last 35 years.

That's a bit too much of a first name dump for me. I know we'll have to get used to that, but while we still have surnames, we might as well use them. And we still have series numbers. But anyway, if there are 7 series and 16 players, it would probably make sense to have all the grand finalists and then 2 others. So let's have a look:

Series 87: Ronan Higginson (1) beat Cillian McMulkin (2)
Series 88: Harry Savage (1) beat Viraj Seelam (2)
Series 89: Arthur Page (1) beat Michael Calder (6)
Series 90: Fiona Wood (2) beat Chris Kirby (1)
Series 91: Rhys Jones (1) beat Tim James (3)
Series 92: Jase Cullen (1) beat Brett Davids (2)
Series 93: Patrick Thompson (1) beat Charlie Harrison (2)

So you would expect all of those to be invited back. Most are 1 and 2 seeds anyway, but you could argue Michael Calder and Tim James are most in danger if it wasn't done like this.

The most obvious non-grand-finalist would be Luke Selway from series 93, whose octo score was 913 and he reached the semi-finals.

Philip mentioned Jessica and Mark. Well Mark Finnerty would I think be next on the list based on octo scores with 876 and he was number 2 seed in series 89, making the semi-finals. Mark Goodliffe made the quarters of the same series and would seem a less likely choice of Mark. Jessica Pratesi made the semis of this series as well and probably wouldn't be included purely on merit, but may be there to balance the sexes.

But if we have Jessica Pratesi and one of the Marks along with champion Arthur Page, that's already 3 from series 89, so maybe Michael Calder won't make it?

So this would leave all the champions and runner ups apart from Michael Calder. And then the 3 extra ones would be Luke Selway, Mark Finnerty and Jessica Pratesi.

But then also spare a thought for Ben Hocking from series 92. He would probably be the 2nd non-grand-finalist on merit (behind Luke Selway). He scored 862 in his octo run - less than Mark Finnerty - but scored more points overall across the series, scoring 108 in both his QF and SF, the latter of which he lost 116-108 to Brett Davids.

Also, I mentioned Tim James (series 91) could possibly be in danger. The most obvious threat to him would be Amy Berry, who lost her SF to eventual champion Rhys Jones.

[Gevin Chapwell]

Ronan, Harry, Arthur, Fiona, Rhys, Jase and Patrick - the last 7 winners, hopefully all 7 played. Ronan, Jase, Arthur and Patrick definitely did, as did Charlie, Viraj, Jessica and Mark. (I don’t know about the reserve player though).

I've seen a couple of pictures on the Discord. Rhys Jones and Mark Finnerty were in them. So Rhys Jones can be added to the list of definites and Mark Finnerty has been clarified to be the Mark.