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5th July 2010
54 Entries, 9 Tournaments, 40 Players, £2273 Prize Fund,
James Grenier wins Jackpot.
James Grenier |
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This was our
third
Play65 sponsored evening so we were expecting a good turnout
due to the Added Prize Fund of £200. It's an established fact that
backgammon cannot compete when England are playing football so we
had also moved our backgammon evening forward 24 hours due to a Fifa World Cup Semi-Final in which England might have been playing
had they bothered to actually play any decent football in South
Africa but that's another story...
40 backgammon players came though the doors of The Lockside Lounge
this evening. 8 elected to play for £160, another 8 for £30 with 6
of them in an Optional Pool of a further £20, 16 players in two
Swisses, 6 in a Round Robin and two more came along later.
It could have been 41 players but, Ladies and Gentlemen, your
Tournament Director, yours truly, is, as many of you know,
something of a stickler when it comes to running on time and has
repeatedly stated that he will not budge from this policy for any
man or woman.
Next week I'll be in
Monte Carlo helping run the World Backgammon
Championships. I'll make no bones about it; it's a highly
prestigious event for me to be an Assistant T.D. at, a feather in
the cap of Bg in London on the world stage, and yes, it pays
pretty well too which in itself means that Bg in London can
survive even if I personally might not thrive via my chosen career.
As such one would suppose that if the husband of the Head
Organiser of the Monte Carlo event were to phone me at 6.45pm. let
me know that he was over form the U.S.A. and to ask me if it was
possible for me to delay the start of this evening slightly, that
I might do so. Many would agree to do so. I didn't.
I did explain to Ronald Rubin that I have a strict policy of
starting on time and that I stick to it and, to his credit, he
replied that he was pleased to see that I do so. I also informed
him that he could still arrive upwards of 9.00pm and that we would
find opponents for him but I understand he elected to spend his
evening in London at one of our fine art galleries. So folks, if
I'm not gonna bend the rules for (near enough) a man who puts
bread on my table please, really, understand that it is not going
to happen for anybody at all.
Flipping heck,,, he doesn't half go on that Mike bloke... Ok,
where was I? Oh yes...
There's loads else going on in the world at the moment. On
Saturday, when I'll be in MC The Iranian Cultural Network of
London will be holding a picnic in Hyde Park and some of out
backgammon boards will be there. So if you're Iranian or
interested in Iranian culture, there's a nice day out for you.
We sent out an email about the next
James May project last week
and at least one Bg in London player has applied to be in his
orchestra.. more news as we have it.
But what about the backgammon?
James Grenier hasn't been for a while, but came this evening. He's
now renamed Ceasar Grenier because he left uttering the words "Veni,
vidi, vici."
Danny Cohen proved his skills by winning Jackpot 2. Any chance you
can sign some decent footballers for Club England please?
Greece might have had an inglorious exit (highly fashionable
though) from the World Cup but Costos Brunos & Sotiris Kountos shared the winners' pot of Swiss 2.
Mike George polished off another Mike (Ireland) to win Swiss 1.
Kenroy Brown did proud for Croydon Bg Club in Jackpot 2.
Engin Ongle had lost to Tobias Heelwag in Round 1 of Jackpot 1 but
they met again in the Final of Mini-Jackpot 2 and this time it was
Engin that won. Both will be in Monte Carlo - will they meet there
again and if so who will win?
Eric Maillebiau proved that the French can do what they set out to
do.
Raymond Broome made a clean sweep (5 out of 5 wins) in the Round Robin.
Simon Morecroft won the not so speedy SpeedGammon Tournament.
So all in all a better night for the English backgammon players
than the English Football team in South Africa. But can the
English do better anywhere else?
Yes. 1 did. In Portugal. At The Portuguese Open 2010. Last weekend
when England were being booted out of the World Cup, Mr Clive
Kaye, of Meribel Backgammon Association in the French Alps won the
Portuguese Open. Well done he. Why do I really mention this?
Because in December it's the Meribel Tournament 2010. Backgammon,
skiing and the best little international tournament I was involved
in running last year. We're about to launch details of the 2010
event and I seriously suggest that you come having read the
Livre
d'Or that players wrote about it last year.
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