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7th April 2009
54 Entries, 10 Tournaments, 37 Players, £1682 Prize Fund,
Mourad Wahba wins Jackpot.
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Our first bit of good news concerns a player that was not with us
this evening but is a regular at Bg in Camden though does consider
himself first and foremost a St Albans Backgammon Club member.
He's quiet, unassuming and as such easy to miss. That's unless you
have been sitting across a backgammon board from him, in which
case you're likely to remember him because he has a habit of
leaving players trailing in his wake but always has time to
politely talk to his opponent about where they might have played
better during their match. He usually plays in the Jackpot, is
always in good time for the evening and it's not uncommon for him
to sit down with a first time player to give them a warm up session or
lesson on the doubling cube after which he'll advise them which
tournament to play in. He's had a good number of Bg in Camden
Jackpot wins and is a regular Biba player as well. He comes to
events to win, views a loss as less than he expects of himself so
rarely plays in a second or (at Biba) Consolation Tournament
preferring instead to take an early shower. His record a Biba
events has not been as good as one might have expected it to be -
indeed until very recently he'd never actually won a Biba event.
Early April is always the Biba British Open. Of all the Biba
events of the year it's the British Open that carries the most
coveted title and as such the turnout is one of the best of their
year. The man I'm talking so glowingly about put his lack of a Biba
win behind him this weekend - Jon Barnes is the Biba British Open
2009 Champion. Congratulations Jon.
Back to the report of this evening... Our first tournament to get
underway was an 8 player Swiss Tournament. This format is proving
more and more popular simply because it is excellent value for
money and guarantees players 3 matches - often enough play for the
entire evening with the tag of win 2 out of 3 and you get your
entry fee back. Those 8 kicked off at 6.50pm and we had another 2
players wanting a Swiss before 7.00pm.
At 7.00pm we had 12 players wishing to play a Knockout Tournament
for at least £25. So as usual we moved to our Camden Auction -
Knockout Tournament 1 would be for maximum 8 players with the
entry fee bidded up until only 8 were willing to pay whatever the
entry fee became. The first player dropped out at £30 - no worries
- we'll run another tournament for those that drop out of this
one. I was expecting others to drop out at about the £40 - £50
mark but they didn't. It wasn't until we got to £80 that the next
dropped out. At £100 I checked that all on the list were indeed
all still in. They were. This was going to be a good looking Prize
Fund. At £130 the Prize Fund tipped over the £1000 mark with 9
players still in. At £135 we were reduced to 8 players and a Prize
Fund of £1064. Monies in, draw done, off they went to play.
Tournament 2 was set at a £30 entry fee, 4 players were in situ
which a moment or two later became 6 so I set up an 8 player £30
entry, 5 point matches tournament with 2 seats to be filled by
others that would arrive.
Then I turned my attention to the Swiss 2 Tournament - another 5
players were up for it making 7 so far. I didn't wish to delay
them so did the draw with 1 seat to be filled by the next Swiss
player to arrive. A few minutes later that was Vic Rad who walked
in a moment before Sue Keeble leaving Sue cursing her luck.
Knockout 3 was a £10 entry 5 pointer affair with 4 players in
attendance. I took a look at my clock - 7.20pm and 34 players were
backgammon active. Another 3 would join us as the evening
progressed.
So not a bad turnout, given the glorious weather it might have
been better but this was also an evening of European Cup
semi-finals first leg matches one of which involved Arsenal so a
number of their backgammon playing fans (Michael and Daniel Flesch
included) were busy watching that and some other team called
Leyton Orient (who?!) were playing a match so Nicky Check was
another football fan casualty.
Alan Beckerson had promoted himself to the big tournament - could
he do the business at his first attempt in this high profile
event? He was drawn to play Michael Michael in Round 1 and took a
6-1 lead (7 point match.) Meanwhile Mourad had won his 1st round
match. This was against Edward Leighton who I'd not expected to
see with us this evening but was thrilled to do so. Edward has
recently had an operation, as such has missed a number of event
and was I gathered going to be out of action for a while yet. But
he's back on his feet, has lost a bit of weight but is looking and
feeling well. Welcome back Edward - good to see you. John
Broomfield found his way past our occasional (when he can) visitor
Walter Busato and Raj Jansari fought back from 1-5 against Catalin
to progress to Round 2 against either Michael or Alan. Michael won
the Crawford game and started his long fight back.
Swiss 1 was progressing well, Swiss 2 was following in likewise
fashion, Knockout 2 had filled up but our Knockout 3 (the £10er)
had not increased to more than our 4 players so I altered that to
a Mini-Knockout (4 player affair) so that things didn't drag.
Michael Michael was slowly hauling in Alan 2 points by 2 points at
a time.
A disheartened Sue Keeble lost her first match but was willing to
play again for a fiver. No problem - I set up a 4 player £5 entry,
5 pointer tournament which filled up in good time. Farzin had lost
in the £30er, Martin Barkwill arrived and they kicked of a £30er 4
player Knockout. Mahmoud won our first tournament to complete of
the evening. Michael Michael and Alan were at last at double match
point.
Over in Swiss 1 were we in the 3rd round matches and shortly after
Hayley come bouncing over to me having won her 3rd round match
asking me to ring the bell to announce her as a winner. I checked
the Swiss 1 chart - this didn't sound right to me. She had indeed
won her £10 entry fee back because she had won 2 out of 3 but she
had lost her first match so was not the overall winner of Swiss 1
so, sorry Hayley, no bell ring for you - that's only for those
that come home in first place. A little while later that honour
went to Simon Morecroft. 1st time Bg in Camden players Yuri
Chesses and Omeed Starmer were the other two to win 2 out of 3 - I
told you this format is good for new players! Michael Michael was
standing up. I knew it couldn't be for a cigarette break because
I'd told him he was banned from anymore of those until his match
with Alan was completed. He came over to the T.D. desk which,
knowing Michael as I do, meant that he had won. I allowed his a
cigarette break before he sat down to play Raj.
Farzin and Martin Barkwill had kicked off a 4 player £25
Mini-Jackpot but there were to be no other takers for this
tournament so Farzin was declared the winner. Meanwhile Swiss 2
was progressing well with Tim Siu, Graham R, Mike Ireland and Vic
Rad the winners of Round 1. Tournament 2 Peter Hartley sent out
Geoff Conn in Round 1, Geoff re-entered and they re-met in the
final. In Mini-Jackpot 2 Sue Keeble improved her evening by
winning it and £20. Mini-Jackpots 4 & 5 kicked off. Swiss 2 Round
2 results came in; Graham R and Mike Ireland would do battle for
1st place and £50 while Jon K & Nicholas G and Tim Sui and Vic Rad
would do battle for their £100 entry fees back. In Mini-Jackpot 4
the final was between Yuri and Shovan which Shovan won. Mini-Jackpot 5 saw Simon M win over Mahmoud.
Mini-Jackpot 6 got up and running. Back in Jackpot 1 Michael
Michael beat Raj to set up a Michael Michael versus Mourad final.
In Jackpot 2 Peter Hartley re-beat Geoff Conn. In Swiss 2 Graham
beat Mike. Mini-Jackpot 6 didn't take long with Walter Busato
taking the winners slot. And las, but by no means least, Mourad
won over Michael Michael to take the very handsome prize fund.
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