JOSEPH SAELEE WINS 9TH ANNUAL CLASSIC TETRIS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

The ultimate showdown for top Tetris® champion is done and dusted with Joseph Saelee of Clovis, CA, topping the leaderboard at the 9th annual Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC). Held this weekend at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo at the Oregon Convention Center, more than 100 players from around the world gathered for two days of heated Tetris battles and face-offs against long-standing rivals.

Created by avid fans of the 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System™ (NES) version of the game, CTWC is recognized as one of the top competitions by top ranked Tetris players from across the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. This year’s competitors included returning champions Jonas Neubauer (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017) and Harry Hong (2014), European champion Svavar Gunnar Gunnarsson, Finnish champion Jani Herlevi, Japanese Tetris Grand Master Koryan, and many other players featured in the award-winning documentary Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters.

The event took place over two days with qualifying rounds and an intense, final 32-bracket seeded tournament, which took place today. Overall, more than 41,000 avid spectators onsite and online watched as participants tried to outdo the competition.

As the winner, Joseph Saelee was awarded $1,000 in prize money and the coveted CTWC trophy. Second place winner, Jonas Neubauer, of Highland Park, CA, was awarded $500.

Finals tournament live stream capture, available at: https://www.twitch.tv/classictetris