15th December 2009

12 Entries, 2 Tournaments, 16 Players, £135 Prize Fund,
Mourad Whaba wins Jackpot.
 

December is Christmas Party Season and the Lockside Lounge were quite rightly booked for somebody's boozy party. So it could have been a case of "Backgammoners, go take a hike." As it happened I, Mike Main, did - I was booked to run a new Backgammon Tournament in Meribel, France. But as Bg in London grows so does the staff. So Richard Biddle was stepped forward to run this Bg in Camden evening while Mike swannied it off to the French Alps. Division on labour I called it!

Meanwhile the Lockside Lounge didn't tell us to take a hike and offered us the use of their downstairs - Caffe Crema. This is a venue we've used already this year - for Mochy's London Seminar. It's by no means vast, our big boards would be in Meribel and this Bg in Camden was due to be primarily a workshop evening so we didn't expect a huge turnout and we have a range of smaller boards that would be less imposing to novice players. Biddle, ex-catering, would not have any Crema staff with him so he would also handle the drinks.

In my guilt (fresh off the ski slope I seem to remember) I did text Richard just before the Caffe Crema gig. All was well he said, I asked about the supply of beer and he asked something about where large furry animals go to the loo.

There was a 4 player Jackpot and an 8 player Swiss. Mourad and Simon Morecroft were the winners. The Broomfields arrived as well so there were some casual games too.
 

Not many workshopees this evening - maybe the were all busy getting ready for Christmas. But this will not stop us from offering, amongst other things, workshops in 2010.
 

Mike Main