posted Sep 3rd, 2013 - The first four rounds of the German Nationals 2013 have been completed, and Solly Williams kindly provided the competition draw for the AAA Class competition.

The horse race between Paratec-Saar and EADS is as close as it was expected. The EADS challenger had the better start, but the defending champion has recovered and won back the first point in the slow Round 4 sequence.

It is an interesting competition draw and much different compared to the one at the World Cup 2013. The teams in Banja Luka had all six slot switchers within the first seven rounds, while the German 4way teams had only little brain work so far. Round 2 included Block 5 (Opal - Opal) which switches the piece partners in the front and the rear piece, unless the team applies mirror images of the sequence on the second page, which is not very popular any longer. Paratec-Saar suffered one point deduction in this Round 2. Round 7 (19-N-Q-12) brings the next memory sequence for the front piece.

German Nationals 2013		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Rd. 11	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	B,7,11	P,C,4,5	J,D,O,21	6,18,15	1,L,2	M,9,K,13	19,N,Q,12	G,22,14	E,H,A,8	F,20,3	17,16,10	Total	Avg
1	EADS (DE)	22	21	25	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	84	21.0
2	Paratec-Saar (DE)	21	20(-1)	25	17	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	83	20.8

Round 10 has the last slot switcher (F-20-3) and memory for all AAA Class teams to finish the meet. However, the two top teams may not be done after Round 10, as close as they are to each other. There are realistic chances for a jump-off round, especially since the 2013 season seems to feature extremely close races.

Three additional slot switching blocks (17-16-10) are waiting for the two top contenders in the sequence for Round 11, which is also a very unusual situation. Block 17 (Danish T - Murphy) is switching the piece partners in the front and the rear piece.

The following Block 16 (Compressed Accordeon - Box) switches the front piece partners back into their original exit slots, while the rear piece continues in switched positions. The third block of the sequence (Block 10: Diamond - Bunyip) switches the front piece partners again, while things don't change for the rear piece. Eventually, the sequence for the jump-off round turns out to be a slot switcher for all team members and a 12-point memory sequence.

The sequence for the jump-off round would most likely only challenge the two top teams. Gamma Ray seems to be quite secure in the bronze medal position and is unlikely to go into the same jump-off round for the 3rd place. EADS and Paratec-Saar have to be prepared for the very unusual sequence.

Both teams have been competing together in 8way and against each other in 4way for many years. It has always been relatively close, and both teams have usually won the first two places at the national championships, with a few exceptions and different teams in the top spots when either or both did not attend.

EADS had won the last time in 2005 and was the national team until 2006, even though Paratec-Saar had taken away the German top spot in the world meet year. Paratec-Saar has maintained the status ever since and until this week. It has never been so close again since 2005 and 2006...