2014 Oxford Open
| 2014 Oxford Open | |
|---|---|
| Competition season | 2013-14 |
| Series | Oxford Open |
| Head editor(s) | Oxford |
| Difficulty | College regular(?) |
| First mirror | January 25, 2014 |
| Announcement | [N/A link] |
| Packets | link |
2014 Oxford Open was the second-ever iteration of Oxford Open. It was edited by Kyle Haddad-Fonda, Joey Goldman, Christopher Savory, Ewan MacAulay and George Corfield.
This Oxford Open was the second of four consecutive iterations to be won by Chicago, and the first to feature two Chicago teams in the final. The winning Chicago A team consisted of John Lawrence, Charles Tian, Ben Gammage, and Michael Coates. The tournament is known for spawning a long and very heated Facebook thread, in which various British quizzers attacked or defended (mostly the former) the American quizbowl format and style of questions. Much controversy surrounded Chicago's victory and (in particular) the fact that the second-place team was led by then 18-year-old Morgan Venkus, who was also the tournament's high scorer. Prominently, David Stainer said that "any format where two teams of students from one US university can beat the best club teams and individuals in the world is a flawed format," although he later retracted that claim in response to criticism.
The tournament's bizarre schedule meant that a team could end up playing eight, nine, or ten total matches, depending on which prelim and playoff bracket they ended up in.