Looking back to 2025, Part 1

Jörg Heger
7 hours ago
3 min read

"Only those who know the past can understand the present and shape the future." - August Bebel

JANUARY: My meeting with a legend

Even before I could play Skat, I was captivated by chess. For my 11th birthday, I received a chess computer as a present, a "Kasparov".

Garry is an absolute legend in this royal game. So imagine my excitement as I sat in the front row, hanging on his every word, when he gave a lecture on the origins and future prospects of artificial intelligence at a fund conference, when I was able to shake his hand and get an autograph as a gift for a friend who is a three-time chessboxing world champion!

Want to know who Garry Kasparov is and what his connection to artificial intelligence is? Here you can learn more about him and his "showdown" with the AI Deep Blue:

At the end of the month, my skat friend Robert and I achieved a pleasing result in the Euroskat Duel Marathon – thanks to our 1st and 2nd place in the individual ranking, we could not resist a tandem victory.

FEBRUARY: Berlin Individual Championships

So far, I haven't qualified for the German Individual Championships of the DSkV (German Skating Association). To participate, you first have to qualify within your state association. In Berlin, the qualifying score is based on the top 8% of participants. I tried in Thuringia in 2024, unfortunately without success. At least I brought home a Grand Ouvert (a top-eight finish).

So, this year I competed again in Berlin, two rounds of four series each. Saturday went so badly that I bought myself out and didn't compete on Sunday. A curious thing happened: the Strauchs, father and son (I became German Junior Team Champion with Stephan in 2006), repeated their double victory from the previous year! Belated congratulations to both of you on this unique achievement and on qualifying for the German Individual Championships!!!

MARCH: Mixed Cup in Bad Hersfeld

This was my fourth consecutive year participating in the German Women's and Mixed Cup in Bad Hersfeld. My Berlin teammate Ina and I didn't manage to place higher than 96th out of 106 teams. It certainly wasn't Ina's fault. ;-)

You can find the tournament results here.

APRIL: "Will I be on TV now?"

I listen to the finance podcast "Alles auf Aktien" (All About Stocks) from Welt publishing house almost every day. They have the famous Nutella Index . It's become a tradition among listeners to share the Nutella prices they're seeing in their holiday destinations. During our tour of the Balkans, I took a photo of the Nutella prices in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the podcast and sent it to the AAA editorial team. Have a listen yourself, starting at minute 18:15 .

MAY: Mission title defense in Magdeburg

It's not every day you go to a tournament as the defending champion . Over Ascension Day a year later, we finally got to feel like one. Once again, the four of us competed in the League Cup. Finishing 40th out of 49 teams, you can't exactly say our "mission" was a success. To use a poker analogy: in Skat, you always have to ride out these swings . For more details on the results, click here.

JUNE: Proud dad moment at the DSJM in Altenburg

The German School and Youth Championships took place for the 32nd time over the Pentecost weekend – at the historic Altenburg Castle, which also houses the playing card museum. The small Berlin delegation consisted of youth coordinator Elli, myself, and six other students (including three boys from my skat club). I couldn't help but shed a few tears of joy when two of "my" skat kids, Moritz and Kolja (his brother Jannis came 9th in the youth category), landed in second place with their all-Berlin team at their very first German Championship.

You can read Ellis's report in the Skatjournal here.