Sub50

From MinesweeperWiki

Sub50 is when a player completes Expert with a score of less than 50 seconds (decimal times being rounded up to the next integer second). This page will rank players on their total of sub50 games, provide a list of all sub50 players and discuss the history of this milestone.

Contents 1 History 2 List of Sub50 Players 2.1 Confirmed 2.2 Unnofficial but Real 2.3 Notes 2.4 More Info Needed 3 List of NF Sub50 Players 3.1 Notes 4 Sub50 Total Ranking

[edit] History

When the first minesweeper sites were created no one talked about Sub50. It was simply not possible. Instead, everyone talked about a mystical group of people who claimed they could break the Minute Barrier. The first ever ranking, by Wacharin Wichiramala, was cancelled because he believed such scores were fake. When the Authoritative Minesweeper rankings began in 2000, there were only 3 players with Sub60 scores. They were Lasse Nyholm (Denmark) with 55, David Barry (Australia) with 59 and Scott Kenics (USA) with 59. Close behind them was a wave of talented Sub75 players.

Sub50 became a possibility when Lasse set a world record of 50 on 9 June 2000. It was no surprise when Lasse became the 1st Sub50 player with a 47 on 15 Jan 2001.

The minesweeper community went crazy over the news! Authoritative Minesweeper announced:

"Yes, the world record has finally and utterly been broken. On Jan 15, 20 year-old Lasse Nyholm of Denmark played the perfect game."

Lasse posted in the Guestbook:

"Oh my ... So the 50s-barrier has been defeated. I just took a 5 kilometre bikeride in minus 3º celsius at 2 a.m. to find a computer with internet access to tell you and everybody else that I've got a 47 on expert. I could see it was a good board just a few clicks into the game, a lot of small areas opened as I went along from the left to the right side of the board. I took a short look on the clock and saw that I was somewhere in the 20s and then my heart started jumping wildly in my chest. I took as few chances as I could and the white window popped up with 47 on the clock. Amazing!!!! I'm sure I can't sleep after this."

The race to be the next Sub50 player began immediately. A poll was started in Minesweeper Addicts. Favourites were David Barry (51), Damien Moore (53), and Dan Cerveny (57). However, the community was stunned just two months later when an unknown player from India, Sriram Sridharan, announced a 49 on 13 Mar 2001. Six months later David (50), Dan (50) and Damien (52) were still struggling to be next. Dan joined the club with a 49 on 23 Dec 2001 and Damien made it with a 48 on 1 Mar 2002. David retired on 50.

Since those early days, Sub50 has become a standard goal for all serious players. In 2009 a new player joined the club every few weeks. The awe and respect once given to Sub50 players is now given to the modern superstars in the Sub40 club.

[edit] List of Sub50 Players

[edit] Confirmed

• Lasse Nyholm, 47 on 15 Jan 2001, Denmark #1
• Sriram Sridharan, 49 on 13 Mar 2001, India #1
• Dan Cerveny, 49 on 23 Dec 2001, USA #1
• Damien Moore, 48 on 1 Mar 2002, Canada #1
• Sorin Manea, 49 on 12 Jul 2002, Romania #1
• Lukasz Malinowski, 49 on 6 Aug 2002, Poland #1
• Marc Schouten, 47 on 25 Dec 2002, Netherlands #1
• Reid Sinclair, 49 between 28 Mar and 18 Jul 2003, USA #2 ¹
• Dion Tiu, Australia, 49 on 25 Nov 2003, Australia #1
• Oliver Scheer, 47 (46.79) on 9 Jun 2004, Germany #1
• Roman Gammel, 49 (48.20) on 7 Nov 2004, Russia #1
• Takemasa Aoki, 49 (48.06) on 15 Dec 2004, Japan #1
• Pap Gyula, 47 (46.28) on 31 Jan 2005, Hungary #1 ²
• Elmar Zimmermann, 48 (47.92) on 17 May 2005, Germany #2
• Gabriel de Tarragon, 48 (47.87) on 28 Nov 2005, France #1
• Brian Cornell, 49 (48.71) on 18 Feb 2006, USA #3
• Manuel Heider, 49 (48.40) on 4 Mar 2006, Germany #3
• Nicolas Senger, 49 (48.43) on 29 Apr 2006, France #2
• Alain Rousseau, 49 (48.81) on 30 May 2006, France #3
• Grégoire Duffez, 47 (46.99) on 22 Jun 2006, France #4
• David Greer, 49 (48.29) on 1 Jul 2006, England #1
• Thomas Kolar, 47 (46.12) on 14 Nov 2006, Austria #1
• Charles Jacquet, 49 (48.55) on 15 Nov 2006, France #5
• Shen-Jia Zhang, 49 (48.17) on 13 Dec 2006, China #1 ³
• Tam Minh Bui, 48 (47.66) on 5 Feb 2007, USA #4
• Martin Toft Madsen, 49 (48.42) on 7 Mar 2007, Denmark #2
• Jerry Hsieh, 49 (48.17) on 15 May 2007, USA #5
• Feng Li, 48 (47.18) on 26 May 2007, China #2
• Ian Fraser, 46 (45.33) on 12 Jun 2007, England #2
• Hong Zhang, 48 (47.99) on 23 Aug 2007, China #3
• Arsen Balishyan, 49 (48.43) on 6 Oct 2007, Russia #2
• Kyle Frederic, 49 (48.09) on 21 Oct 2007, USA #6
• Kamil Murański, 47 (46.65) on 19 Dec 2007, Poland #2
• Tao-Jin E, 49 (48.59) on 20 Apr 2008, China #4 (Female #1)
• Guang Shao, 47 (46.42) on 14 May 2008, China #5
• Fritz Löhr, 49 (48.13) on 5 Jun 2008, Germany #4
• Chong Li, 49 (48.97) on 29 Jul 2008, China #6
• Jon Simonsen, 49 (48.97) on 9 Aug 2008, Norway #1
• Xiao-Lei Su, 48 (47.07) on 2 Sep 2008, China #7 (Female #2)
• Bertie Seyffert, 46 (45.81) on 3 Sep 2008, South Africa #1
• Fan Deng, 49 (48.49) on 16 Oct 2008, China #8
• Pavel Mishin, 49 (48.52) on 24 Dec 2008, Russia #3
• Yeong-Ju Ko, 48 (47.99) on 28 Dec 2008, South Korea #1
• Xiao-Yang Yang, 49 (48.28) on 13 Jan 2009, China #9
• Stanislav Derechennik, 48 (47.24) on 18 Jan 2009, Belarus #1
• Xian-Bin You, 49 (48.24) on 2 Feb 2009, China #10
• Yi-Fang Tian, 49 (48.74) on 13 Feb 2009, China #11
• Zun-Ming Lin, 48 (47.53) on 13 Mar 2009, China #12
• Jian-Xun Zhou, 49 (48.42) on 5 Apr 2009, China #13
• Zhang-Wen Mao, 47 (46.62) on 8 May 2009, China #14
• Xiang Hu, 49 (48.70) on 11 May 2009, China #15
• Ting Huang, 49 (48.34) on 24 May 2009, China #16
• Jason Kriegel, 48 (47.34) on 29 May 2009, USA #7
• Ha-Neul Kim, 47 (46.19) on 3 Jun 2009, South Korea #2
• Yuuki Nakagiri, 46 (45.51) on 4 Jul 2009, Japan #2
• Aryeh Draeger, 46 (45.55) on 10 Jul 2009, USA #8
• Jing Ma, 49 (48.79) on 19 Jul 2009, China #17 (Female #3)
• Dan Shen, 45 (44.53) on 23 Sep 2009, China #18 (Female #4)
• Qian Huang, 48 (47.73) on 13 Jan 2010, China #19
• Jin-Fan Lin, 47 (46.70) on 15 Jan 2010, China #20
• Dayan Marchezi, 49 (48.11) on 14 Feb 2010, Brazil #1
• Ziv Zalzstein, 49 (48.49) on 15 Feb 2010, Israel #1
• Yun-Tian Wu, 49 (48.56) on 20 Feb 2010, China #21
• Gilles Regniers, 49 (48.58) on 27 Feb 2010, Belgium #1
• Aristeidis Kokkidis, 48 (47.93) on 10 May 2010, Greece #1
• Jun Hua, 47 (46.14) on 26 May 2010, China #22
• Jia-Hao Zhang, 49 (48.29) on 7 Jul 2010, China #23
• Konstantin Forofontov, 46 (45.50) on 21 Aug 2010, Russia #4
• Bao-Yue Zhang, 48 (47.53) on 20 Nov 2010, China #24
• Yun-Shui Qi, 43 (42.53) on 9 Dec 2010, China #25
• Sankar Nair, 47 (46.55) on 16 Dec 2010, India #2
• Luke Sullivan, 47 (46.57) on 6 Jan 2011, USA #9
• Michael Gottlieb, 49 (48.68) on 19 Jan 2011, USA #10
• Robert Royals, 49 (48.53) on 27 Feb 2011, England #3
• Zi-Jiang Yang, 49 (48.35) on 17 Mar 2011, China #26
• Hong-Chao Li, 49 (48.23) on 20 Mar 2011, China #27
• Mihály Koncz, 49 (48.90) on 6 May 2011, Hungary #2
• Michael Dunlop, 49 (48.68) on 1 Jun 2011, England #4
• Ke Zhou, 49 (48.71) on 13 Jun 2011, China #28
• Jun Tao, 48 (47.88) on 21 Jul 2011, China #29
• Mohamed Bardouh, 49 (48.94) on 23 Jul 2011, Australia #2⁴
• Dan Zhou, 49 (48.79) on 23 Aug 2011, China #30
• Harryck Repse, 47 (46.86) on 6 Nov 2011, Latvia #1

[edit] Unnofficial but Real

• Jonathan Contos, USA, 49 on Winmine 19 Mar 2006. 3BV was 108 and he has made 52 on Clone. (This would be USA #4).
• Joel Calahan, USA, 48 on Winmine 17 Nov 2007. 3BV was 105 and he has made 53 on Clone. (This would be USA #9).

[edit] Notes

1. Reid was on the 28 Mar 2003 Bestever ranking with a 50 and the 18 Jul 2003 ranking with a 49. The rankings between (issued once every two weeks) are lost and Reid lost the original picture and date. His first official Sub50 was a 45 (44.99) on 21 Apr 2004.
2. Gyula made his 47 clone video on 31 Jan 2005 but he has undated pics of 47 and 49x2 that were made earlier, sometime after 18 Mar 2003. Retired with 47x2, 49x4.
3. Shen-Jia Zhang submitted a 48 on 3 Nov 2004 and a 45 on 18 Dec 2004 (with Camtasia videos using Winmine) to a China ranking run by Yi Ruan. When asked about this in 2011 (when it was noticed by Damien) he said they were fake and apologized.
4. Mohamed Bardouh made 48 on XP on 17 May 2011, but officially made Sub50 with 49 on MSX on 23 Jul 2011.

[edit] More Info Needed

• Stevan Gvozdenovic, Montenegro, 48 sometime in 2003
• Ariel Fixler, Israel, 48 on Winmine 13 Jul 2007. Made a 56 Clone video to prove it but has not replied to any emails since. His brother (also on the site) says Ariel considers 48 as his record.
• Måns Danneman posted in the Guestbook 21 May 2005 with 2-15-49 and was on the Planete ranking. I had the same name in my database with a 2 but no email or other scores. There is one on Facebook who says he has a 2 but that the other scores must have been a joke on him by someone else.
• Jake Warner, USA, 48.23 on 26 Apr 2006. He made it all the way to 38 but was taken off the official rankings because he refused to make additional evidence on different versions. Probably was legit but issue never resolved satisfactorily.

[edit] List of NF Sub50 Players

• Dan Cerveny, 48 (47.35) on 08 Feb 2005, USA #1
• Roman Gammel, 47 (46.13) on 13 Sep 2005, Russia #1
• Martin Toft Madsen, 49 (48.42) on 7 Mar 2007, Denmark #1
• Manuel Heider, 48 (47.33) on 27 Oct 2007, Germany #1
• Kamil Murański, 49 (48.32) on 16 Jan 2008, Poland #1
• Jon Simonsen, 49 (48.97) on 09 Aug 2008, Norway #1
• Huang Ting, 49 (48.34) on 24 May 2009, China #1
• Shen Dan, 49 (48.60) on 08 Dec 2009, China #2 (Female #1)
• Fritz Löhr, 49 (48.16) on 15 May 2010, Germany #2
• Konstantin Forofontov, 46 (45.50) on 21 Aug 2010, Russia #2
• Michael Gottlieb, 49 (48.68) on 19 Jan 2010, USA #2
• Robert Royals, 49 (48.53) on 27 Feb 2011, England #1
• Pavel Mishin, 49 (48.70) on 27 Apr 2011, Russia #3
• Mihály Koncz, 49(48.90) on 6 May 2011, Hungary #2
• Jun Tao, 48 (47.88) on 21 Jul 2011, China #3
• Thomas Kolar, 47 (46.67) on 5 Oct 2011, Austria #1

[edit] Notes

1. Elmar Zimmermann made 49 (48.62) on 29 Aug 2005 but this was not allowed as he used Elmar Technique.
2. Kamil and Konstantin are the only players with more than 10 NF Sub50 so there will be no totals ranking. (Konstantin retired in Summer 2011 with 28).

[edit] Sub50 Total Ranking

This ranking will list all Sweepers who got at least 10 sub50s in their career. Last update: 20sep2011

Player:	Country:	Scores:	1st sub50:	Last sub50:	Total sub50s:	Notes:
Fritz Löhr Lasse Nyholm Manuel Heider Kamil Muranski Dion Tiu Pavel Mishin Damien Moore Shen-Jia Zhang Ian Fraser Oliver Scheer Reid Sinclair Thomas Kolar Lukasz Malinowski Roman Gammel Elmar Zimmermann Li Feng Dan Shen Konstantin Forofontov Dan Cerveny Jian-Xun Zhou David Greer Bertie Seyffert	Germany Denmark Germany Poland Australia Russia Canada China England Germany USA Austria Poland Russia Germany China China Russia USA China England South Africa	1-10-38 1-12-41 1-10-37 1-8-32 1-10-37 1-10-41 1-11-39 1-11-38 1-10-33 1-11-39 1-13-43 2-12-41 1-13-44 1-10-42 1-12-42 1-12-43 2-14-39 1-12-43 2-11-44 2-13-46 2-14-46 1-13-46	2008-06-05 2001-01-14 2006-03-04 2007-12-19 2003-11-25 2008-12-24 2002-03-01 2006-12-13 2007-06-12 2004-06-09 2004-04-21 2006-11-14 2002-08-06 2004-11-07 2005-05-17 2007-05-26 2009-09-23 2010-08-21 2001-12-23 2009-04-05 2006-07-01 2008-09-03	nov 2011 dec 2003 may 2010 nov 2011 jan 2008 dec 2011 2011-10-31 jan 2008 may 2010 may 2007 feb 2010 mar 2010 unknown jan 2010 2007 sep 2008 apr 2011 apr 2011 2005 nov 2009 oct 2010 2012-01-08	3387 1284 1080 1042 1041 504 346 268 194 184 181 80 74 47 >40 33 34 28 22 15 14 11	retired active till 2005 active active still active? active semi-active retired active retired active semi-active retired active retired retired active retired 2011 retired active active active