The Clipperton Brigade forms; a loss to Clipperton counts as a walk

pivotal · UNDATED (~B.S. tour years)

• When: across his tour run (~B.S. 2000-01)
• What: In most every 64-draw tournament a group of three, then four, then up to six boys who drew Clipperton formed the "Clipperton Brigade," declining to be the one to make him eliminate his own map for keeps over something as cheesy as a tournament win. Once the U.S.T.A. computer center caught on to the strategy, a loss to Clipperton stopped hurting anyone's ranking — it came to be regarded "sort of like a walk in baseball, stats-wise" — and a defaulting Brigade boy treated the early exit as an unexpected healing vacation.