|
I think I first
“met” the then aka GVlondon when she played in TTT110 that I ran
on Playmaker in probably June 2003. She quickly became a regular
in them and about 2 months later won TTT119. No mean achievement
this – most of the other Tric Trac Tournos players had been
playing them for a while by the time GVlondon joined us and their
knowledge of playing for gammons was well advanced. GVlondon also
accomplished wins in TTT122 and TTT149.
Meanwhile we had a new player come along to The Fox Reformed in
Stoke Newington, London for the weekly 16 player tournament where
that standard of play was generally excellent. Newbie Ann informed
us that she was in fact GVlondon. Ah ha. Good stuff. An online
player coming out to play – this is much to be encouraged. Well,
it was for a while – about 30 minutes actually in my case because
I was drawn to play her in Round 1. No problem I cockily thought,
an online player coming over to live play, hah, she won’t even
know how to roll dice! I freely admit there have been times in my
life when I’ve been a damned fool and yup, this was one of them.
It went something like I’m ahead in the pip count, got a good
looking prime in front of my opponent, chuck the cube over, woopie
she takes, I roll something or other then Ann rolls boxcars to
escape my prime, boxcars again to skedaddle home and, just for
good measure you know, boxcars yet again to put her way ahead and
soon she’s off. No exaggeration (would I ever?) but the entire
match (what there was of it) went like this. My tongue had bite
marks all over it as I tried to control myself. Man, this lass can
roll!
But that might suggest she’s just lucky. Not so at all. She was
there at The Fox Reformed week in week out, honing her skills,
speaking to Paul Lamford and others learning bits here and there,
doing ever better in the tournaments, playing in a chouette and
learning more via that. Meanwhile there was online play, lots of
it and noticeably on different servers and hence meeting different
players. Her name was going up on winners pages all over the
place. Bg Live in London 2003 was I think the next on her agenda.
Then she ventured to Biba and 11 pointers were added to her
arsenal. Gammonitis was also treated to Ann’s presence and I’m
sure there were reports that included her photo which means she
would have won there too. In 2004 Ann won a Biba Tournament.
Roundabout this time Ann had left London for the West Countrie so
she became a Bristol Backgammoner. Did Ann choose this part of the
country to move to because it has the best Bg Club for encouraging
players ever onwards and upwards in the country? Very probably it
was at least part of her reasoning. Certainly Ian Tarr is proud to
have her as a member. In Jan 2007 she was at the Cotswold Fireside
Tournament which was at that time probably the best assembly of
knowledgeable bg players from the UK. Ann could have chosen to
enter the Intermediate Division but chose to go into the
Championship Division instead. How did she do? Quarter-Finalist in
the Main and Finalist of the Consolation Tournament. Pretty damned
good.
So is it a surprise that Ann is now the British Open Champion
2008? Not at all. Rather it is well deserved though hard graft and
toil.
Ann now becomes the second Lady to have won the British Open
(Rachel Rhodes being the other with wins in 2002 & 2005) and joins
other names to have won the event such as Neil Kazaross, John
Broomfield, Nigel Merrrigan (also twice) and Brian Lever. While I
loath the highlighting of the sex of a player to have won I do
also realise that it does make for a good story particularly when
the game is considered by the public as a man’s game. Hence I hope
Ann’s win can encourage others to play more and help us breakdown
the stereotype that hinders our game.
From a personal point of view I also take great pleasure in Ann’s
win. For about 7 years now I’ve been organising backgammon with a
view of making the game more popular, helping players along their
way and seeing them do better. Every now and then somebody comes
along that has a real talent for the game. While I cannot claim to
have had a huge hand in helping Ann along her bg road I like to
think I can claim some. Thanx Ann, you made my day as well today.
P.S. I hope you’ve phoned your Mum and told her your news – please
send her my regards. |
