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The Double 5 Backgammon Club was first created in January 1987 and
as such is London’s oldest backgammon club. George Sulimirski was
the man who ran it and a huge credit must go to him for the many
years that it provided backgammon. It moved around a fair bit;
Olympia was an early venue, I think I’m correct saying it was
in Fulham for some time and was last known to inhabit The St John's
Wood Bridge Club. It was best known as a chouette house where the
stakes were large and play was excellent however they held
tournaments as well. In short it was legendary; stories of Paul Magriel losing large sums of money only increased its reputation
and many a fine player dropped into The Double 5 to find that
London backgammon could more than hold its own in the world. Some
members have always been there – Chris Bray for one is proud of
the fact that he was at the first and last Double 5 event. However
in October 2003 it petered out maybe never to be seen again.
But you can’t keep a good name down. Raj Jansari and Simon Barget
decided the time was ripe for the Double 5 to start again so
George Sulimirski was contacted, the old boards were dug out, new
stationery created, Backgammon in London were pulled in as an
associate, The St Johns Wood Bridge Club opened its doors again,
players contacted and on 20th April 2008 the Double 5 was back in
backgammon business.
It was decided that a Sunday of Tournaments would be the best way
to put it back on the map. A 16 player £200 entry was the big
attraction but there would also be 8 player £100ers, £50ers,
£25ers and £10ers. Would the players come? As the date drew nearer
more and more stated their intent of coming until about 50 said
they would be there.
A very encouraging 46 players came along. The 16 player £200er
attracted a perfect 16 players and an impressive list of names
they were: Andy Bell, Chris Bray, Chris Ternel, Edward Leighton,
James Vogl, John Hurst, Julian Fetterlein, Malcolm Roberton,
Michael Michael, Mike Heard, Peter Bennet, Raj Jansari, Rod
Hanreck, Kazuhiro Shino, Simon Barget and Tom Townsend.
As soon as their draw was done a perfect 8 paid and played a
£100er tournament. Then 6 commenced play in a £25er and were
joined a few minutes later by another 2 to make this tournament a
prefect 8. Next up we had another 8 players in a £10er. Hence we
had 40 players at it within 40 minutes of start. As players were
knocked out and more players arrived we would run a further 6
tournaments during the evening with a prize fund totalling
£5130.I’m really trying to think of a recent one day backgammon
event held in the UK that has had a prize fund of this magnitude but I’m
defeated.
The St John's Wood Bridge Club is an excellent venue – tucked away
in pretty St John's Wood but easy to get to from central London and
just off the Marylebone Road. There is a main playing area split
into two sections providing a choice of playing environment and
another quieter room tucked away along the corridor. The
atmosphere is wonderful for a serious backgammon tournament and
quite different from a pub or businessman’s hotel as is the norm
for a lot of other backgammon events in the UK. Also provided as
part of the day was a buffet supper with wine which was both ample
and very tasty too.
The technical side of things was provided by Backgammon in London.
We were there with computer spreadsheets and tournament size
boards which meant players didn’t need to lug boards to the venue
and tournaments were many and varied.
There was great interest by all in the 16 player £200er. With such
a strong field and the way the draw fell it was certain that some
big names would fail in Round 1 and these included John Hurst to
Raj Jansari, Michael Michael to Julian Fetterlein, Mike Heard to
Simon Barget and Kazuhiro Shino to Peter Bennet. Most of those
knocked out came back in other Tournaments of the £50 mark. T2
(the £100) was ticking along too, for some it ticked well, for
others it was a disappointment and they too re-entered other
tournaments. T3, despite being shorter 7 pointers, progressed
slightly slower but time was not an issue so all was well. T5 was
a 5 pointer affair, our first tournament of the day to complete
and it was for Emily Scott that the winners’ bell was first
struck.
T6 was by now well in progress with Deborah Swanwick a finalist
for her first ever time. Could she become a winner for the first
ever time? She would have to wait while the lower half of the draw
caught up. T7 was also an 8 player affair and populated by late
arrivals and second time tryers. Shortly after T8, T9 and T10
kicked off and were all 4 player events.
Back in T1 we were down to the semi-finalists. Julian Fetterlein
overcame Malcolm Robertson, Chris Bray overcame Raj Jansari, Chris
Ternel over Peter Bennet and in a marathon of a match Tom Townsend
won at DMP over Simon Barget. Semis: Julian versus Tom and Chris
versus Chris.
Meanwhile in T2 we had our finalists: Phil Churton played and beat
Mourad Wahba. T3 had caught up and in the final Jon Barnes showed
no mercy to Adam Tansley by winning it 7-0. T5 was won by Ray Fard
over the ever patient Deborah Swanwick.
Eyes back on T1 and international bridge player Tom Townsend won
by a handsome margin over one of backgammons finest Julian Fetterlein. In the Chris versus Chris match it was Mr Bray that
won.
Over in T6 Dave Moon won over Neil Davidson. T8 saw our second
lady winner of the day – Linda Taylor. Mardi Ohannessian won T9
and Nicky Check won T10.
Could Chris Bray, one of the most prolific writers on backgammon
in this country but a rare tournament player, halt the march of
Tom Townsend the British bridge player bursting onto the backgammon
scene in the final of T1? The answer is that yes he could and did.
So a fitting end to the tournament day was achieved – an original
member of the Double 5 won. Congratulations Mr Chris Bray. Hard
luck Tom Townsend.
But there was still play to be had – the chouettes had kicked in
some time before and carried on, for all I know, until the small
hours.
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An excellent day.
The venue, the catering, the atmosphere, the players and, dare I
say it myself, the running of tournaments all worked very
smoothly.
So what of the future? What is certain is that The Double 5 is
back. On Sundays and Wednesdays there will be chouettes for sure.
With regards to tournament play the intention is fortnightly but
the dates of these are yet to be confirmed. As soon as these
details have been confirmed they will be announced via the Bg in
London
newsletter and website.
A 5% charge was levied on all tournaments and there will be table
charges levied on chouette play. I for one was pleased to see a
charge being made on tournaments simply because it means that a
professional service can be provided. For many years backgammon
has been provided to players for a rock bottom price. At this
event there were two tournament staff and two catering staff all
of whom need to be paid. There is also the management of the
Double 5 Club and the rental of the Bridge Club to consider and
those must be paid for too. If players are happy to invest large
sums of money on their skills over the board then they should
expect a professional environment in which to do so. A 5% charge does
not make the club a profit but goes some way towards making it a
viable proposition. In other countries such as Denmark it is quite
normal to charge 10% and look at the standard and popularity of
backgammon over there. If we want British backgammon to be a
force, it’s simple; players must be willing to contribute to the
health of backgammon clubs.
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