5th - 7th September 2008
BACKGAMMON IN LONDON AT BIBA 2008
152 Entries, 9 Tournaments, 42 Players, £1935 Prize Fund,
Chris Ternel wins the Main.

Report by Michael Crane of Biba


Mike Main, the sponsor of the event is a man of many trophies. Last year he provided so many trophies that everyone who entered went home with one! OK, so I'm exaggerating, but it was pretty close. This year the turnout was double that of last year and entrants actually had to compete for a trophy!

In the Main (42) one of the keenest entrants was Peter Bennet; already on 10 consecutive wins in 11-point matches and the recipient of the prestigious 1000-to-1 Trophy, Peter was aiming a lot higher and going for 20 wins in a row, which would earn him a Million-to-One trophy! Unfortunately it was not to be, he was knocked out in his 3rd match when he went up against Andy Darby in the quarter-finals. He didn't get his Million-to-One but with 12 wins he did equal Michael Brereton's total which has stood since 2001.

Peter's peers in the last 8 were, Zoe Cunnngham vs Sean Williams (husband and wife pairing - been married two weeks!); Marcus Wrinch vs Chris Ternel; Mike Heard vs Lawrence Powell. In each pairing the latter won. The semi-finals saw Sean lose to Andy and Lawrence lose to Chris, resulting in a Chris vs Andy final.

I have yet to plonk the match into Snowie so I can't relate any positions (I have to get the Bibafax formatted and to the printers by tomorrow morning) but the match went Chris's way and he came out the winner.
 

Chris Ternel                                      Andy Darby
 

Nicky Check                            Richard Owsley
 

In the Consolation (38) there was a bit of controversy when it became clear that the draw (as devised by Mike and powered by his spreadsheet drawsheet) was biased against Main 1st Round losers and biased towards Main 2nd losers who had a bye in the Main. The upshot was there became a two-round gap between the two entries which meant that the 1st Round Consolation entrants had to play 7 rounds and the others, 5 rounds. Also, the draw pitched a few players against the opponents they were knocked out in the 1st Round of the Main. The drawsheet used by Biba is free from such 'problems' so players are less likely to get double-byes or meet the same player twice in the same event.

None of the Consolation non-prog 1st rounders made it to the last four in their draw, these places went to Myke Wignall vs Simonetta Herrera and Richard Owsley vs David Motley - encounters from which we had a 'final' between Myke and Richard from which new-member, Richard went into the Consolation final. Here he met Nicky Check from the prog side who had beaten Marcus Wrinch in the semi. Nicky proved a bit too much for Richard to handle as Nicky left Richard in 2nd place.
 

Phil Tutchings and Jeff Barber                    Daniel Tutchings and Lee Wood
 

Having faired badly in the Main and Consolation, Jeff Barber played into the Last Chance (16) final to face Phil Tutchings. Jeff had already beaten Phil's son, Daniel in Round 2 and Phil was hoping to regain the family honour - but Jeff was having nothing to do with him as he took home the winner's trophy. Not to be outdone, Daniel powered his way into the Mad Monkey (16) final where he hoped to prevail where his dad had floundered - but his opponent, Lee Wood wouldn't give in and it was Lee who brought about the second, Tutchings Runner-up place of the weekend.

In the Friday 500 (12) it was David Nathan who took home the Weekend Break when he beat Julian Fetterlein in the final. The battle between Myke Wignall and Nicky Check continues as each vies for the top spot and the £100 prize money! Myke went a couple of rounds ahead of Nicky and Nicky's 1st place was relegated to 2nd. Mind you, the £100 could still go to someone else, there are a few within striking distance. Also, there are quite a few who can still make the Final 16, all they need to do is enter and win a few rounds! There is the Sandy Osborne (Oct) and the Townharbour (Nov) left to enter. Book now! Click here for latest Friday 500 list
 
 
Gang - Nicky Check                               Poker - Myke Wignall
 

On Saturday evening a couple of events took place. One, The Gang (9) saw two teams battling it out, loudly and rowdily, for a shot at the 'winner-takes-all' fund. My team was robbed (yet again!) and the winning team split in two and then in two again until Nicky Check emerged the winner - for which he got one of Mike's many trophies. The second event of the Saturday evening was the Poker (9). Won by Myke Wignall, the changes to the listing were not major, but Rosey Bensley has been nudged out of the money and Myke Wignall gains on the top position. Paul and Tony are keeping him at bay, but with two more poker nights, October & November, there could still be some major changes. Certainly Lawrence will be in the money as soon as he gets in that 5th entry.

So, that's the end of the Biba elements, but Mike had a few more trophies to shift and he did so with three jackpots, Friday - Saturday and Sunday, the winners of which were David Motley, John Reddington and Jeff Barber. I'm not 100% certain but I suspect Mike handed out a few more trophies, but by this time I'd lost count!
 

David Motley                    John Reddington                     Jeff Barber
 
Finally
 

I'd like to thank Mike for sponsoring the event and for being the 'director' and allowing me to 'assist'. Also I'd like to thank him on behalf of the many, many, many trophy winners for the many, many, many trophies! No doubt if you log onto his web site, Backgammon in London Mike will be posting his own report and more pictures.
 
 
A "short" note by Mike Main:
An attendance of 42 is a vast improvement on last years 23. This Biba September event has traditionally always been one of the lowest turnouts - in part I think because it used to clash with the European Championships in Slovenia but this year that has been moved to mid November. Even so Biba attendance figures are generally up on 2007. Of course it must be noted that Gammonitis are no longer running this year so there is less choice available to players for weekend backgammon in these isles. But Biba is still there – a testament to the longevity of Michael Crane.

The standard of players at this turnout was without question. Mr Julian Fetterlein – often quoted as the best player in the country by those (at least they think) that know only - gains only the 1 mention in Michael Crane’s report, Mike Heard gains not a whisper, Lawrence Powell is mentioned only in passing and Peter Bennet left trophyless! Instead we witnessed the rising on new players – times move on and mentionable names change. However it was a man who has been in the game for many a year – even if he spent a lot of those in Denmark – who took the largest trophy and staggeringly his first ever Biba weekend tournament win – Chris Ternel. A decent man he is - he bought drinks all round for those still there after the final.

My initial interest (5 years ago now) in sponsoring a Biba event was in part to test out mine and Sean William’s tournament spreadsheets. I’m happy to say for Sean that he no longer is required to do all the programming for the huge number of spreadsheets Bg in London nowadays uses (he gave me a lesson about a year or so ago) so to my detriment I rather glanced at this years 64 [player spreadsheet before copying it onto my laptop a few hours before I left for Hinckley. My blunder. The Consolation spreadsheet wasn’t quite right and was only noticed to be so after it was too late. Lesson to self – test all spreadsheets thoroughly before use.

It’s with some pride that I notice that Biba have adopted the Gang Tournament. However my pride is misplaced because it was not I who invented the format. That honour goes to Zoe Cunningham who invented the format at a Bg Live in London some years ago. Further the ethos of the Gang Tournament as played at Biba events seems to have altered slightly. It’s that slightly that makes a lot of difference to the event. The original rules are that the Captain of a team can be overruled by his/her team if his/her team is in a majority. It’s only if the team is even in number that the Captain has the casting vote on a play / cube decision. Apart from that the Gang Tournament is supposed to be all just a bit of fun. Considering which is the absolute very best play is, or should be, secondary to having a bit of a laugh with ones opponents and team members. That said what do you do when a number of players are intent on playing only the very best play no matter what others might be thinking? Of course one wants to play as well as one can but in doing so it is very easy to lose sight of the ethos of the event – to have a (possibly slightly drunkard) fun filled Saturday evening.

I was also pleased to be able to introduce a Blitz Play Tournament at a Biba event. As Michael Crane has noted there are trophies a plenty at Bg in London at Biba events. This includes a Fri, Sat & Sun jackpot trophy as well as a Poker trophy. However no jackpots were played on the Friday or Saturday and I really didn’t want to take them back to London as un-played for trophies. So they were played for on the Sunday afternoon. We did shave down the Last Chance and Mad Monkey to 16 player events to make time for them but this had little effect on the over-all Prize Fund. It also gave us a chance to vary the formats played, including a Blitz Tournament. It’s a clock play gig – 5 pointers to be played with a time bank of only 2 minutes and just 10 seconds per move. That’s tight by anybody’s standards and makes pip counting nigh on impossible. So it’s pretty well a look, see, move match. Sure, it doesn’t make for blunderless backgammon but it does make for an adreline rush. I wouldn’t overly recommend a Blitz Tournament to somebody who is a clock play virgin unless of course they are the sort of person who likes to jump in the deep end but even somebody who has played with a clock just once or twice often walks away saying it was a lot of fun and wiping their brow. Further clock play is coming into vogue – it’s already the fashion in mainland Europe – and I’m pretty sure it’s here to stay as tournaments become bigger and bigger. As such there is more of a need to keep tournaments on schedule. Clock play aids doing this. It’s my opinion that there has been a lot of talk about the pros and cons of clock play but few people have actually tried it. Most clock play times are generous – 2 or 2.5 minutes per point and 12 or 15 seconds per move is generally ample. Here’s some evidence:

In Cannes this summer I ran the Side Action at the Partouche / WSOB event. Included in this were 175 7 point matches – all played on clocks with 2.5 minutes per point and 15 seconds per move. Only 5 of those 175 matches were lost on time. That’s a measly 2.9%. Ok, I understand that the great unknown can a fearful place to go – but once there, like Brits going to Spain instead of Bognor Regis, ones comfort zone is easily found. Balance that against the benefits of clock play (no one players is permitted to make the entire event a drag for all the other players) and it’s a no brainer. Clock play – get used to it!

But that’s all by the by and for the future. The turnout at this event was up, some excellent backgammon was played and the atmosphere was good. Bg in London will continue to push the boundaries of known backgammon and you’re welcome to join us if you wish. Next gig: Bg in St John’s Wood on Sunday 21st Sept 2008, then it’s a Bg in Camden on Tue 7th October, there’ll be a couple of other events after that and come November it’s our big one of the year – Bg Live in London 7 8 9 November 2008 – details of which will be published in a few days.

 
Photos of the event


 

Mike Main
Report of next event.