Zatre
The 1999 Austrian Championships were held from 4-5 December. The winner was Franz Polak-Rottmann from Vienna, who currently tops the international rating list. This championship was an open event, and among the foreign competitors was Jonathan Power from the UK. Most Zatre players are from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and there is no tournament scene in Britain. However, Power, who has competed twice at the MSO, performed well in this first tournament abroad and finished 5th.
A couple of months earlier was the German Championship, held in Ambruck on 10 October. The winner was Stefano Cheri of Berlin, and second was Manfred Schueling. Third was Peter Basedow, the gold medallist in the Zatre tournament at MSO3.
