The team TCD Hist (Caoimhin Hamill, Jack Synnott) has emerged victorious in the Grand Final of the KCL Online Open 2020, speaking from OG on the motion “THP to be alone in the universe.” Against them were левый коронный (Milla Huuskonen, Muhktar Tashkenbayev) in Opening Opposition, LSE A (Ciara Mitchell, Hamza Tariq Chaudhry) in Closing Government, and Persistent Pufferfish (Naomi Panovka, Xiao-Ke Lu) in Closing Opposition. The adjudication panel consisted of Neo Way Shen (chair), Dani Georgiev, Ife Grillo, Jacklin Kwan and Marta Vasić.

The ESL Final was won by Amsterdam A (Marike Breed, Nikola Michaylov) in Opening Opposition on the motion “THO the ‘Toxic Positivity’ culture.” Speaking against them were University of Bucharest (Ana Coman, Victor Bajan) in Opening Government, Who Framed Peter Rabbit? (Mijahlo Pavlovic, Petar Zec) in Closing Government, and Bristol A + Zagreb A (Chloe Yeung, Olja Bosnjak) in Closing Opposition. The debate was adjudicated by Jacklin Kwan (chair), Anqi, Brian Wong, Klaudia Maciejewska and Mark Wilson.

Both finals were livestreamed and can be found in the facebook event page.

Open Break
1. правый похоронный (Alisher Juzgenbayev, Joona Suhonen) – 13 points
2. TCD Hist A (Caoimhin Hamill, Jack Synott) – 12 points
3. левый коронный (Milla Huuskonen, Muhktar Tashkenbayev) – 12 points
4. Chipotle with Aristotle (Emily Frizell, Maurice Coutiel) – 12 points
5. Imperial IR (Rhys Steele, Ivan Kapelyukh) – 12 points
6. Can’t stop thinking about your Ex? Bet this team name didn’t help (Gabrielle Fullam, Aisling Rooney) – 11 points
7. Durham A (Hannah Cook, George Filippopoulos) – 11 points
8. Edinburgh A (Sara Brdnik, Jamie Beverstock) – 11 points
9. Persistent Pufferfish (Naomi Panovka, Xiao-Ke Lu) – 10 points
10. Warwick A (Lucie Slamova, Rafael Shimabukuro) – 10 points
11. Hist B (Aodh O Laoide, Jack Williams) – 10 points
12. LSE A (Ciara Mitchell, Hamza Tariq Chaudhry) – 10 points
13. GPT-3 in a Trenchcoat (Samuel Scheuer, Marius Hobbhahn) – 10 points
14. Edinburgh C (Jason Woods, Cerys Walsh) – 10 points
15. Oxford B (Louisa Broeg, Sukhmani Kaur) – 10 points
16. Tilbury House DH (Helena Hecke, Ruben Dillmann), 9 points

ESL Break
1. (Alisher Juzgenbayev, Joona Suhonen) – 13 points (Different Break)
2. (Milla Huuskonen, Muhktar Tashkenbayev) – 12 points (Different Break)
3. Warwick A (Lucie Slamova, Rafael Shimabukuro) – 10 points (Different Break)
4. GPT-3 in a Trenchcoat (Samuel Scheuer, Marius Hobbhahn) – 10 points (Different Break)
5. Tilbury House DH (Helena Hecke, Ruben Dillmann), 9 points) – 9 points (Different Break)
6. UDS Camgirls (Daan Spackler, Harmen de Jong) – 9 points
7. University of Bucharest (Ana Coman, Victor Bajan) – 9 points
8. Vienna A (Miri Muntean, Ingo Bandhauer) – 9 points
9. Who Framed Peter Rabbit? (Mijahlo Pavlovic, Petar Zec) – 9 points
10. Amsterdam A (Marike Breed, Nikola Michaylov) – 8 points
11. UCL HI (Isaac Marchant, Hanwei Low) – 8 points
12. Bristol A + Zagreb A (Chloe Yeung, Olja Bosnjak) – 8 points
13. Asterix and Obelix (Nikolay Angelov, Zahari Nikolayev) – 8 points
14. Passive Agressive (Elina Amurlayeva, Nursulu Sagimbayeva) – 8 points
15. Astana A (Shyngys Aidynov, Alikhan Kazenov) – 7 points
16. UCL AI (Ali Erkmen, Ioana Maxineanu) – 7 points
17. Reignition X (Ritabrata Mitra, Surabhi Chavan) – 7 points
18. Dhoni Shakib partnership (Parth Raval, Hasif Ahmed) – 7 points
19. Vienna X (Marina Kojic, Alexandra Mayerweg) – 6 points
20. Belgrade C (Filip Branovic, Srdjan Milicevic) – 6 points

Adjudication Break (in alphabetical order):
Anh, Anqi, Ayal Hayut-man, Brian Wong, Dani Georgiev, Enting Lee, Hadar Goldberg, Ife Grillo, Jacklin Kwan, Josh Freeman, Klaudia Maciejewska, Lena Kolle, Lucy McManus, Mark Wilson, Marta Vasić, Milos Marjanovic, Neo Way Shen, Nir Kligsberg, Omkar Masurkar and Uphie Adurrahman

Open Speaker Awards:
1 . Jack Synnott – 83.6 avg speaks; 418 total speaks
2. Caoimhin Hamill – 83 avg speaks; 415 total speaks
3. Joona Suhonen – 82 avg speaks; 410 total speaks
4. Naomi Panovka – 81.8 avg speaks; 409 total speaks
4. Milla Huuskonen – 81.8 avg speaks; 409 total speaks
6. Lucia Slamova – 81.6 avg speaks; 408 total speaks
6. Alisher Juzgenbayev – 81.6 avg speaks; 408 total speaks
8. Mukhtar Tashkenbayev – 81.2 avg speaks; 406 total speaks
9. Maurice Coutiel – 80.8 avg speaks; 404 total speaks
10. Rafael Shimabukuro – 80.6 avg speaks; 403 total speaks
10. Aodh O Laoide –  80.6 avg speaks; 403 total speaks
10. Emily Frizell – 80.6 avg speaks; 403 total speaks

ESL Speaker Awards:
1 . Joona Suhonen – 82 avg speaks; 410 total speaks
2. Milla Huuskonen – 81.8 avg speaks; 409 total speaks
3. Alisher Juzgenbayev – 81.6 avg speaks; 408 total speaks
3. Lucia Slamova – 81.6 avg speaks; 408 total speaks
5. Mukhtar Tashkenbayev – 81.2 avg speaks; 406 total speaks

EFL Speaker Awards:
1. Petar Zec – 79.6 avg speaks; 398 total speaks
2. Hanwei Low – 77.6 avg speaks; 388 total speaks
3. Isaac Marchant – 77.4 avg speaks; 387 total speaks
4. Shyngys Aidynov – 77.2 avg speaks; 386 total speaks
5. Alikhan Kazenov – 76.6 avg speaks; 383 total speaks

The KCL Online Open 2020 was convened over the course of the 25th and 26th of July. 68 teams spoke with a break to EPL quarterfinals and ESL semifinals. The tournament was hosted by Prashasti Saxena, Marius Buga, and Wajeeh Maaz of the KCL Debating Society. Sophie Maitland ran the tab, which is available here. The Chief Adjudication Panel included Hadar Goldberg, Brian Wong, Milos Marjanovic, and Enting Lee.

Motions:

R1: Infoslide: A constituency link means Members of Parliament (MPs) represent local areas and are directly accountable to voters in those areas for their continued careers. Under this system, MPs still belong to a political party, but voters vote for a particular MP, as opposed to a political party.

THP a parliamentary electoral system which includes a constituency link

R2: TH opposes the derogatory usage of the inherent identity characteristics of dominant groups – e.g. “You’re so white.”, “Man Tears”, “ugh such a Karen”

R3: THBT Central Asian states should significantly disassociate from Russian cultural influence (e.g. language, the arts, media, history etc.).

R4: Assuming there is a safe procedure, THW allow adults to permanently “lock in” their chosen personality traits (e.g. stubbornness, openness, honesty) as unchangeable.

R5: In times of economic crises, THBT the government should withhold information that is likely to damage market confidence.

EPL QF/ ESL SF: Given the opportunity, TH, as a talented young individual living in a Western Balkan country, would emigrate to pursue a career in the EU

EPL SF/ESL Final: Infoslide: “Toxic positivity” refers to the concept that keeping a positive mindset and being optimistic is the right and best way to live your life

THO the “Toxic Positivity” culture

Grand Final: Infoslide: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. In both scenarios, humanity has knowledge of whether or not they are alone in the universe.

THP to be alone in the universe.