1st April 2008

70 Entries, 10 Tournaments, 47 Players, £1501 Prize Fund,
Raj Jansari wins Jackpot.


We didn’t run an event last week due to the Easter weekend and this week player numbers were back up to 47.

3 weeks ago we started a Biba British Open 2008 Qualifier. The format was simple – 32 players, £5 entry, 1 point matches. We didn’t expect it to complete in one night so it was projected to take upwards of 3 events to complete. This evening saw the last few matches played. If “desire to win it” had won it Roxanna would have done so, if past experience in World Championships 1 Pointers had won it Shino would have done so, Graham R wins a half decent number of the 5 pointer tournaments these days so he might have done so. But none of those Semi-Finalists did. The player that won it is a man who has been playing bg since September 2007, went to the Nordic Open over Easter where he jumped straight into the Advanced Flight – Mr Andreas Vrhovsek. Good luck this weekend.

A special mention to a lucky and not so lucky lady who attended her first ever Bg in London event – Claire who commenced play in a £10 entry but lost in Round 1 not to her opponent but to the dice she claimed with a twinkle in her eye. After a break and drink or two Claire felt refreshed enough to try another tournament. This time it was a £5 Optional Pool in which she opted to put a fiver in – ok – brave yet sensible lass. However those impish dice did their peskiness again and cheated her out of what must have been her rightful win. After she had left there was no further uptake in this tournament and so it was reduced to just a 2 player (her and Derek Wright) Tournament. Should a two player event just be scrapped and not recorded? Not at all, for both players had entered in good faith and we are building a ratings chart so all matches played as tournament matches must duly be recorded. Even though Claire did not win the tournament she did win the pool because Derek hadn’t. So Claire can quite rightly claim that she won a fiver this evening. No need to mention who put that fiver in the pool; that would only detract from her success. May there be many more to follow and we hope to see you again.

Arriving slightly later than most and to great effect was Mr George Miltiadou – he of Nordic Open Winner fame in which he won the Intermediate Flight. No mean feat this going into the dragons den of Danish backgammon and a good round of applause was given to the man and, seeing as he had to leave the scene of his famous win as soon as it had been achieved in order to catch a flight home photos of George with his trophy were taken here in Camden Town.

Simon Barget also provided us with a Quiz in which only one player got the correct answer – Andreas V. Click here to have a go at the Quiz and see how you do.

Apart from that we had 10 Tournaments this evening and the old buzz was back in the house. There’s a big difference to the feel of The Lockside Lounge with 45+ in it rather than about 35 and I often had trouble getting past watching players. Nice.

Next week we’ll be in The City on Monday 7th April and the weekend after that will see the re-launch of The Double 5 Club. For those of you who have not been playing bg in London for many years the Double 5 is London’s oldest club started I gather in 1987. George Sulimirski used to run it but has now handed over the reins to Raj Jansari and Simon Barget with Bg in London helping by running of tournaments in St Johns Wood when they happen.

 

Gallery

 

Mike Main

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