Three-peat: Sissy wins GP Holiday Series again

2025 GP Holiday Series Winner: Sissy

“Queen” Sissy is the winner of the GP Holiday Series for the third time in as many editions as she held on to a slim overall lead (87-82-55) in Game 8.

Having won seven straight ranking tournaments played under GP rules, Sissy must be considered favourite to defend her title in the upcoming second “Major” of the year, the 2025 GP World Series.

Sissy went into the final scheduled game of the tournament with a seemingly comfortable 14-GPP lead ahead of Harry. The only way to stop Sissy from winning the title would have included Harry scoring maximum points and then Nici holding her Mom under 5 GPP.

In fact, trailing her Mom by 30 GPP after Game 7, Nici’s only mathematical hope to pull out a miracle was forcing her parents into a tie and then win in three extra games. For this, she needed her Dad to finish in both first and second place, then finish one of her own colours in third place for herself but then leave fourth place to Sissy before finishing her own second colour in fifth place.

Being a fighter on the board, Nici tried everything to make above unrealistic scenario come true. Unsurprisingly, a long and grinding tactical game came about. Nici went very hard on her Mom’s pawns while going as easy as possible on her Dad’s. Sissy, on the other hand, went hard on her husband’s pawns while going a tad easier on her daughter’s as forcing her into a finish above third place would have also clinched the title for her.

Despite the hardship forced on her, Sissy managed to move her red pawns around the track effectively while using her yellow pawns almost exclusively as blockers. After 2:17 hours of play, with first place still up for grabs, Sissy went on her first PCW lap but was stopped halfway around the track by a Power-3 play from Nici’s violet team.

A few minutes later, Harry took his first step to a potential comeback win by finishing his first PWL to finish his black team in first place after 2:27 hours of play.

Sissy had a further six PCW laps cut short while Harry saved three green pawns. Sissy missed six championship points on two of her PCW, both cut short by Harry’s GRN4 on PWL for second place. However, GRN4 never got to play a match point as Sissy managed to take immediate revenge.

After 3:19 hours of play, while GRN4 about to pressure again on its third PWL for second place, Sissy eventually converted her seventh championship point on a “1” at the end of her eighth PCW.

Only two minutes later, Harry’s green team finished in third place, thus showing how close the affair could have become. Had GRN4 eliminated RED4 again on its way home, Nici would have had a realistic shot at finishing her blue team in third before Sissy’s Reds to ignite a fierce battle between Sissy’s yellow and Nici’s violet teams.

On this win, Sissy surpassed Nici for the lead in the Medal Race and also made sure she will keep the top spot in the World Rankings at least until after the Summer Championship in mid-August.

While Sissy celebrates her 15th ranking title, Harry’s long wait for his third continues as he has finished 13 ranking tournaments below first place. Still, due to the fact that he has not finished any of the last nine below second place, his deficit to second place in the World Rankings is only eight points.

The GP World Series, climaxing the Grand-Prix sub-season, is scheduled to begin with the first two of twelve scheduled games on the coming weekend.

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