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19th February 2008
56 Entries, 8 Tournaments, 37 Players, £1716 Prize Fund,
Michael Flesch wins Jackpot. |
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11 days after the much publicised Camden Market fire saw us back
in Camden. 37 players came out on a cold and frosty night to play
not under the stars but in our warm and still very much in tack
Lockside Lounge. Not as many as I had hoped for but maybe some players
are saving themselves for Sunday 24th Feb when we’ll be holding,
with the sponsorship of Partouche Gammon and The WSOB, a Satellite
for the Nordic Open. More of that further down.
I kicked off the Auction at £25 this evening and had a better than
of late 20 players interested. It was not until the entry fee went
up to £110 that this was reduced to 8 players. Those that had
dropped out we offered entry to another auctionable tournament
which resulted in a £50 8 player tournament. This left 4 players
interested at £25, they were joined by one 1 player so T3 became
an 8 player £25 entry will the last three slots still available.
Some of the £10 players had kicked off at 6.45, they were joined
by another 4 at 7.15 making 12 £10ers. This left me with two first
time in Bg in London players (who had had bg lessons from Sean and Gerhard
earlier) who played each other in no money entry T6. 7.20 pm and
it was 34 active players, one waiting for an opponent.
Had a lesser man been drawn to play Peter Bennet then Nicky Check
then Michael Michael you could excuse him for curling up his toes,
rolling over playing possum and taking an early shower. Not so
Michael Flesch. He often enters the 1st Tournament of the evening,
rarely makes the final, often will enter another tournament, is
able to be defeated in that too, if so will enter a 3rd tournament
and might do well in that but might not either. There have been T6
or 7ish wins here and there but not sufficient to blaze a light.
Rather Michael loves playing the game and knows he’ll only get
better if he plays the best and others. He’s had his wins
elsewhere too – which charity tournament did he win a year or so
back? He’s in Camden and The City most events and is a charming
man open to all comers. And tonight was his night. So Ladies and
Gentlemen, a very special ring of the bell for a very happy and
deserving Michael Flesch. The first thing he did after his win was
to buy a round of drinks – see, I told you he is a good man!
Five new players this evening; One needs to introduction for he’s
a regular on the British Backgammon scene even if not a Londoner
but even so I will introduce the gentleman here:
Julian Minwalla. I know Julian best by repute rather than over the
board though I have watched him play the likes of John Clark in
Bristol a couple of years ago and I witnessed some canny play. He
moves in such lofty heights as Julian Fetterlein, Peter Bennet and
others so he just must be damned good at the game. The other time
I met Julian was at the Cotswolds Fireside 2007 where he donated a
bottle of champagne (and it was an excellent one too) for the best
position submitted to him during the weekend. Here is a man to
whom study of the game is obviously second nature. I remember him
diligently sitting with snowie deciding on the merits of the
positions submitted to him. So could he do well here in Camden
Town? Nope – not this evening. 2 losses, one win and a Final loss
where his results. So this begs the question of was he just having
an off night or is the standard of play in Camden very high?
Reader please decide. We hope to see you again Julian – membership
number Bg in London 333.
Simon Barget did another 4 position quiz this evening. They were
laid out on tables before players arrived but nobody submitted
their answers by their deadline so we're going to now use the quiz
slightly differently: The Quiz is now posted
here and you are invited to make comment on the
DailyGammon Discussion Board. A number of Bg in London players are
already members of
DailyGammon but if you're not it only takes two
mins to sigh up and it's free too. Answers will be published when
a few comments have been made.
I think there is
scope to have an evening of purely casual play sometime soon for
those that just wish to play backgammon and chatter. Least we
forget not everybody likes to play tournament backgammon – to some
winning or losing just isn’t that important. “Sacrilege” I hear
some cry. “Rubbish” I reply. I played this game for 20 years
before I entered a tournament and was happy as Larry just moving
checkers around a board. That doubling cube thing – it just got in
the way, I never learnt to use it, but never threw it out and
occasionally made up my own rules for it. I met loads of people
playing backgammon and that was what I mostly played it for. Much
as I like to think I’m a unique individual I realise I’m not – to
most people this is what backgammon is about. So lads and lasses,
soon we’ll hold a “No Money Play, No Tournament Play, No Doubling
Cube, No Dice Cups Bg Evening.” I don’t want to deprive the
Tournament players a regular evening of backgammon so it’ll be a
separate evening. Watch the Newsletter for details.
We’ve a big event this weekend –
The Bg in London Satellite Day
for The Partouche and WSOB Nordic Open 2008. Sunday 24th Feb at
The King’s Stores in The City. The Nordic Open is considered to be
the best tournament in Europe. The strongest field and the largest
number of players. Yes, considered better in Bg circles than The
World Championships in Monte Carlo. But to enter the Nordic Open
ain’t cheap. Roundabout £1200 for a Londoner to attend. We held
two evening Satellites for the WSOB UK Masters last November from
which two Bg in London players gained cheap entry to the most
prestigious event held on these shores for over 20 years. They
didn’t win the event but Nicky Check, who won Satellite 2, won the
Doubles with Lawrence Powell. The entry fee this weekend will be
£1200 divided by however many players are there at 11.30 am. So if
there are 56 players it’ll be £21 per head + a fiver registration
fee. Damned good value if you ask me. For those knocked out there
will be other tournaments as well. No Auctionable charges will be
made at all. We have the entire pub to ourselves and the food is
good too. There will be 32 tournament boards in-situ though if you
require precision dice please bring those along.
The following weekend we’re running the
Annual Cancerbacup Charity
Tournament that will be held in The Reform Club, Pall Mall. Our
very own Sue Keeble won the Consolation last year – will a Bg in
London player win this year? There are some tickets still on sale
– contact Sue Dorrington if you would like to play.
Then it’s another Bg in Camden on Tue 4th March.
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The Camden Market
Fire didn't stop us, a field of big names played this evening,
there is a need to a casual evening of bg sometime soon, we've a
Satellite for the Nordic open this weekend and a charity
tournament the following weekend.
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