Thursday, April 14, 2011: One novelty in the 2011 Euro-Tour is the implementation of the "break box", using the "inside-outside" rule. What does that mean? According to the rules and regulations, an organizer is free to adopt break regulations for a tournament. The Euro-Tour consists of six to seven tournaments a year which are either played in the discipline 9-ball or 10-ball. In order to make the break shot a bit more unpredictable and adjust it to the player's high standard, a box is drawn into the kitchen area. The longitudinal lines are 42 cm away from the side rails. In 9-ball competition, the player executing the break shot must position the cue ball "inside" the box which means he must place it in between the two lines. In 10-ball competition, the cue ball must be placed "outside" the box lines while executing the break shot. This has to do with the geometrical shape of the racks (diamond shape in 9-ball; triangle in 10-ball) and makes it harder for the players to predict the break shot.
In the first rounds of the Dynamic Italian Open 2011, which is a 9-ball tournament, some interesting matches were played. One of the most exciting matches happened on the feature table #24 between Ruslan Chinahov (RUS) and Bartosz Rozwadowski (POL). Chinahov was clearly favoured to win the match but the past weeks have not seen him to be in a good shape. No surprise, the match was dominated by Rozwadowski. The young Polish had a small lead during the entire match and with the score being 8:7 in favour of him it looked like another first round loss would be on the agenda for Chinahov. He miscued on the 5-ball, leaving 4 balls for his opponent on the table with ball in hand. But totally amazing, Rozwadowski could not make them, leaving the rack for Chinahov to tie the match at 8:8 with the Russian to break. Chinahov broke the balls and pocketed one ball, finding himself without a shot at the 1-ball. He played a push out which Rozwadowski passed back to him. Chinahov tried to jump the 1-ball in but he did not make it, leaving a tough shot for his opponent. After a few safety attempts were played, Chinahov missed the 1-ball and scratched. Open table with ball in hand for the young player from Poland. Rozwadowski again missed an easy combination shot. Chinahov played safe and put the cue ball behind the 5-ball. Rozwadowski executed a perfect jump shot and pocketed the 2-ball, having position on the 3-ball. At least now everybody thought that Rozwadowski could finish the match in his favour. But he found himself in a tough angle on the 4-ball and he scratched during the attempt of pocketing the same. Chinahov had ball in hand and four balls on the table and he took the rack to win the match 9:8. The entire match was determined by many mistakes by both players and Rozwadowski looked like the winner at all times. However, he gave away the victory to Chinahov and now walks to the loser's bracket.
Other notable results this morning included Damianos Giallourakis (GRE) defeating Russian Konstantin Stepanov with 9:4. Nicolas Ottermann from Germany fell to the sharp blade of Elvis Ambord from Switzerland also with 9:4. Local hope Daniele Corrieri (ITA) almost had the victory in his hands but his nerves played a bad joke on him when he missed the 9-ball at the score of 8:8, giving his opponent Sandor Tor (SRB) the rack and the match.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the event website www.eurotouronline.eu or contact our press office.
