Free game European championship

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Free game European championship
Tournament dates
Tournament type:	Ranking tournament
Tournament format:	Round robin / knock-out
Association / host:	UIFAB / CEB
Tournament details
Venue:	Udenhout Netherlands
Playing time:	1950-2000
Current title holder:	Patrick Niessen
Records
Most wins: 4
• Clement van Hassel (1951–53, 1956) • Jos Vervest (1954–55, 1957–58)
Best GD: 250.20
Piet Adrichem 1995, Vienna
Best ED: 500.00
Maximum series (HS): 2,500
Henk Scholte 1965, Antwerp
Position map
Vienna Berlin Bottrop Chemnitz Marseille Lorient Lyon Saint-Etienne Lisbon / Estoril Barcelona Mollerussa Reus Valencia Lugo Saarbrücken Venues (Cairo is not shown) Antwerp Luxembourg Nuenen Enschede Venlo Bad Mondorf Udenhout Benelux countries

Martin Horn, winner of the gold medal in 1994 and 1995

Frédéric Caudron, bronze medal winner in 1991 and 1993

The Free Game European Championship has been played since 1950 in the carom variant Free Game . It usually took place once a year. Since 2000, however, no more EM has been hosted, so it can be assumed that this was the last. It is organized by the European carom billiards association CEB ( Confédération Européenne de Billard ).

history

In contrast to the Free Game World Cup , the tournament in Europe was still held relatively often (29 times). But at least cadre is also played with the juniors , because the free game is seen as too easy to continue to host European championships in the discipline.

With the improvement of the pool tables over the years, it was no longer so difficult for the best pool players in the world to control the balls. Thus, the free game tournaments were only so-called America series . Here you play the balls in a certain position near a board and then score large series around the table. So a lot of actors ended the games in their first recording .

Modes

From 1950 to 1980, up to 500 points were played. In 1986 and from 1995 the game distance was reduced to 400 points. In between, the European Championships were held in the not very popular set system with distances of 100 or 150 points per set. The small corner swab was played with until 1939. Then only with the big smear.

Records

The first European to finish a game up to 500 points in one shot was the Spaniard Raymundo Vives at the 1929 World Cup in Cairo. A large number of actors followed, who also succeeded (later, of course, for shorter distances as well).

The Dutchman Piet Adrichem achieved the best general average (GD) at a free-game European championship in 1995 in Vienna with 250.20 over a distance of 400 points. During a pentathlon, the Dutchman Henk Scholte achieved a GD of 375.00 at a distance of 500 points in Antwerp in 1965. The German Dieter Müller finished all seven games in one shot at the 1978 European Pentathlon Championship in Moyeuvre-Grande with a distance of up to 250 points and thus played a GD of 250.00. The highest series in the outdoor match was scored by Henk Scholte with 2,500 points ( prolonged ) in 1965 in Antwerp.

Record development

Due to the relatively late start of the EM series, most of the players were already able to finish a match in 1 shot, even with the long distances. This also results in the large field of record holders. With the advent of the set tournaments and the short distances in the 1990s and the large field of participants (sometimes up to 50 players), the number of record holders became even greater, but at the same time the tournament management's interest in exact records dwindled. Some of the game slips were destroyed or not archived during the tournament, so that the actual number of record players can no longer be accurately reproduced.

Short game distances (100 or 150 points in the set system, 250 in the pentathlon) that were played at a later point in time (from the 1970s) are not listed here, as almost every participant was able to play them in one shot.

General average (GD) GD Surname year Distance 500 points (1950–1980) 088.21 Clement van Hassel 1950 102.42 Siegfried Spielmann 1955 207.18 Jos Vervest 1957/1 278.44 Hans Vultink 1971 (F) Distance 400 points (1986; since 1995) 218.18 Fonsy Grethen 1986 Martin Horn 1995 222.22 Fonsy Grethen 1999

Single Average (ED) BED Surname year Distance 500 points (1950–1980) 500.00 Clement van Hassel 1950 1951/1 1951/2 Jean Galmiche 1952 Jos Vervest Siegfried Spielmann Jacques Grivaud 1955 Clement van Hassel Siegfried Spielmann Rafael Garcia 1956 Jos Vervest Kees de Ruijter 1957/1 Jos Vervest Jorge Pinto 1958 Henk Scholte Jos Vervest Salvador Orti Vélez Tony Schrauwen 1961 Henk Scholte Salvador Orti Velez Ramon Aguilera 1965 Jean Marty Jos Vervest Heinrich Weingartner 1966 José Gálvez Manzano Jean Marty Ludo Dielis 1968 Henk Scholte Tony Schrauwen José Gálvez 1969 Siegfried Spielmann José Gálvez 1970 (F) Hans Vultink Dieter Müller Ludo Dielis Raymond Ceulemans 1971 (F) Klaus Hose Francis Connesson Piet Vet 1972 Dieter Müller Ludo Dielis Raymond Ceulemans Francis Connesson Heinrich Weingartner 1973 (F) Klaus pants 1975 Jan Arnouts 1980 Distance 400 points (1986; since 1995) 400.00 Fonsy Grethen Raimond Burgman Georges Bourezg Franz Stenzel Peter Bracke Harrie van de Ven George Sakkas 1986 Martin Horn Stephan Horvath Philippe Deraes Piet Adrichem Wolfgang Zenkner Louis Edelin Arnim Kahofer 1995 Arnim Kahofer Fonsy Grethen Henri Tilleman Patrick Niessen Michael Mikkelsen 1997 Fonsy Grethen Martin Horn Thomas Nockemann Patrick Niessen 1999 René Luysterburg Jordi Amell 2000

Maximum series (HS) HS Surname year Distance 500 points (1950–1980) 500 Clement van Hassel 1950 1951/1 1951/2 Jean Galmiche Klaus Nussberger 1952 Joaquín Domingo 1954 (F) Jos Vervest Siegfried Spielmann Jacques Grivaud 1955 Clement van Hassel Siegfried Spielmann Rafael Garcia 1956 Jos Vervest Kees de Ruijter 1957/1 Jos Vervest Jorge Pinto 1958 Henk Scholte Jos Vervest Salvador Orti Vélez Tony Schrauwen 1961 Henk Scholte Salvador Orti Velez Ramon Aguilera 1965 Jean Marty Henk Scholte Jos Vervest Heinrich Weingartner 1966 José Gálvez Manzano Tony Schrauwen Jean Marty Ludo Dielis 1968 Henk Scholte Tony Schrauwen José Gálvez 1969 Klaus Hose Siegfried Spielmann 1970 José Gálvez 1970 (F) Hans Vultink Dieter Müller Ludo Dielis Raymond Ceulemans 1971 (F) Klaus Hose Francis Connesson Piet Vet Dieter Wirtz 1972 Dieter Müller Ludo Dielis Raymond Ceulemans Francis Connesson Heinrich Weingartner 1973 (F) Klaus Ludo Dielis pants 1975 Jan Arnouts 1980 Distance 400 points (1986; since 1995) 400 Fonsy Grethen Raimond Burgman Georges Bourezg Franz Stenzel Peter Bracke Harrie van de Ven George Sakkas 1986 Martin Horn Stephan Horvath Philippe Deraes Piet Adrichem Wolfgang Zenkner Louis Edelin Arnim Kahofer Fonsy Grethen 1995 Arnim Kahofer Fonsy Grethen Henri Tilleman Patrick Niessen Michael Mikkelsen 1997 Fonsy Grethen Martin Horn Thomas Nockemann Patrick Niessen 1999 Patrick Niessen René Luysterburg Jordi Amell Udo Mielke 2000

annotation

• (F) = scored in pentathlon

Tournament statistics

The GD indicates the general average of the respective player during the tournament.

Legend

colour	meaning
	Distance to 500 points
	Distance from 400 points
	2 sentences to 100 points
	2 sets to 150 points in qualification (double knockout) 2 sets to 100 points in the main round

No.	year	place	winner	GD	place 2	GD	place 3	GD	mode
01	1950	Vienna	Kees de Ruijter	67.77	Clement van Hassel	88.22	Henk Metz	32.06	500
02	1951/1	Luxembourg City	Clement van Hassel	81.21	Kees de Ruijter	68.39	Raphael Garcia	52.02
03	1951/2	Saint-Etienne	Clement van Hassel	54.67	Kees de Ruijter	50.77	Joaquín Domingo	44.33
04th	1952	Marseille	Clement van Hassel	62.53	Jean Galmiche	43.84	Raphael Garcia	58.56
05	1954	Lisbon	Jos Vervest	66.14	Joaquín Domingo	78.88	Clement van Hassel	46.94
06th	1955	Saarbrücken	Jos Vervest	91.28	Siegfried Spielmann	105.25	Clement van Hassel	57.86
07th	1956	Barcelona	Clement van Hassel	107.82	Siegfried Spielmann	70.77	Joaquín Domingo	77.75
08th	1957/1 * 1	Antwerp	Jos Vervest	207.18	Cees van Oosterhout	116.41	Henk Scholte	74.17
09	1957/2 * 1	Mollerusa	Joaquín Domingo	60.71	Jorge Pinto	51.93	Eduardo Brufaud	25.18
10	1958	Berlin	Jos Vervest	106.06	Clement van Hassel	75.37	Siegfried Spielmann	49.56
11	1961	Estoril	Henk Scholte	89.91	Jos Vervest	125.04	Siegfried Spielmann	56.62
12	1965	Valencia	Henk Scholte	144.30	Salvador Orti Velez	83.55	Antoine Schrauwen	78.94
13	1966	Cairo	Jean Marty	194.44	Henk Scholte	105.31	Jos Vervest	85.92
14th	1968	Lorient	José Gálvez	148.14	Antoine Schrauwen	122.21	Jean Marty	180.89
15th	1969	Nuenen	Henk Scholte	112.90	Antoine Schrauwen	130.48	Jean Marty	110.07
16	1970	Saint Vincent	Klaus pants	159.35	Henk Scholte	101.19	Siegfried Spielmann	99.70
17th	1972	Reus	José Gálvez	103.35	Klaus pants	163.33	Francis Connesson	116.34
18th	1975	Enschede	Ludo Dielis	145.83	Klaus pants	125.37	José Gálvez	94.11
19th	1980	Lugo	Willy Wesenbeek	111.11	Georges Bourezg	75.79	Jan Arnouts	194.61
20th	1986	Lyon	Fonsy Grethen	218.18	Raimond Burgman	182.81	Georges Bourezg	132.50	400
21st	1990	Bottrop	Fonsy Grethen	53.46	Fabian Blondeel	42.41	Henri Tilleman	77.46	2 × 100
22nd	1991	Berlin	Jos Bongers	66.91	Stefan Galla	82.50	Frédéric Caudron	52.62
23	1992	Bottrop	Brahim Djoubri	56.87	Stefan Galla	39.04	Stephan Horvath	57.47
24	1993	Bottrop	Marc mass	102.88	Volker Baten	78.55	Frédéric Caudron	124.70	2 × 150 2 × 150
25th	1994	Bad Mondorf	Martin Horn	112.50	Fabrice Puigvert	88.35	Fonsy Grethen	75.16
26th	1995	Vienna	Martin Horn	218.18	Stephan Horvath	229.28	Philippe Deraes	153.75	400
No.	year	place	winner	GD	place 2	GD	Semi-finalists * 2	GD	mode
27	1997	Chemnitz	Arnim Kahofer	116.10	Fonsy Grethen	129.47	Martin Horn	133.44	400
							Henri Tilleman	86.33
28	1999	Venlo	Fonsy Grethen	222.22	Martin Horn	130.50	Thomas Nockemann	213.16
							Patrick Niessen	126.44
29	2000	Udenhout	Patrick Niessen	117.64	René Luisterburg	124.10	Dave Christiani	52.38
							Jordi Amell	127.80

Notes
^{* 1 In} 1957, two European championships were held by the competing and divided associations Union Internationale des Fédérations des Amateurs de Billard (UIFAB) and Fédération Internationale de Billard (FIB). Since the players could only belong to one association at a time, the field of participants at the respective European championships was very different.
^{* 2} Since 1997, 3rd place has not been played out. There were only semi-finalists left.

Individual evidence

Dieter Haase, Heinrich Weingartner : Encyclopedia of billiards . 1st edition. tape 1 . Verlag Heinrich Weingartner, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-200-01489-3 , p. 23-55 .