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MM: Hi George.
Congratulations on winning the Intermediate Division at the Nordic
Open 2008. Before we talk about that can you tell our readers how
long you have been playing backgammon, how you have learnt the
game and where you usually play?
GM: It’s a very popular Mediterranean game so I learnt to play
from a very early age but the most basic version without the
doubling cube. In the Mediterranean they also play placato so I
play a bit of that too, but it’s hard to find others that play. I
didn’t take up the game seriously until 2005 when I started doing
a bit more study and going to tournaments – Gammonitis, Biba,
Backgammon Live in London, Backgammon in Camden, a bit of Croydon
and the odd foray into the high stakes chouette in Battersea – so
only about 2 ˝ years – I had moderate success at Gammonitis – but
decided to stay at Intermediate level while I’m honing my skills.
MM: I know you went to The Nordic Open last year with Adam Tansley
and Nicky Check – what are your views on the Nordic Open?
GM: It’s a fabulous tournament and good experience for any
player. You realise it’s a much popular game in that small country
and that they are stronger in breadth and depth than we are in the
UK – you must not under estimate any Danish player – they are very
good.
MM: Can you tell us of some of the things that went on at the
tournament and your thoughts as you got further and further?
GM: There’s lot of other things going on – a couple of seminars
– one by Falafel which I attended. He presented 16 problems as a
quiz. We had about 20 minutes to fill in our moves then we went
though each one and he showed us what went through his mind to
find the best play.
Basically you discover the weakness and flaws in your game
because you’re in a hotel with most of the top backgammon players
in the world for a long weekend. What I’ll do now is obviously try
to get to the next level with more study and more play.
In the Quarter final I beat the winner of the Beginners Flight
(total entry 79) - Frederik Blinkenberg - which was quite a battle
in itself. He was a very good intermediate player.
The Semi was even tougher – a very strong opponent – the strongest
of the lot and he was very disappointed by losing as he thought he
should have probably won with his superior technical skills.
Luckily I was playing a human not a robot and the pressure just
may have got to him. I was quite relieved to get past him.
Then I played the Final against a German guy – Jurgen Stahlkopf –
who is a very accomplished player but has been out for a year or
two. The thing about that match was that I was under a bit of time
pressure – we had to leave the hotel for 6.00 pm – we had to start
the match at 3.00 pm. We had made an arrangement to start earlier
but in fact we couldn’t so I was a little bit worried that we
would be pushed to complete the match – some of the matches had
gone to 3 & ˝ hours – 13 pointers all the way though. My Semi had
been 20 games. But fortunately this guy was a very fast player and
we finished the match in less than 2 hours.
At one point I thought I was done for because he got to 11-7. But
that was when he started making mistakes – he started dropping
very early while waiting for an easy game and I got 3 single
points with little more than 2 or 3 moves played in each game. So
we got to 11-10. Then my backgammon studies came in – I knew I was
about 40% to win - the next game started – as soon as I got a 2nd
home board point I doubled him, at last he took, I saw my chance
and went for a blitz. I didn’t execute it perfectly but it worked
out all the same, I closed him out with 3 checkers on the bar and
the gammon was in the bag, he shook my hand and that was it. I
felt as if I had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
MM: How does it feel to be the Intermediate Division Champion at
the Nordic Open 2008?
GM: I feel quite elated because it is actually the strongest
Intermediate Tournament in the world, harder than Monte Carlo but
I now want to start playing at Advanced level in order to improve
my game.
MM: I understand that you didn’t even have time to collect your
trophy – how is this getting to you?
GM: The presentation was due to be at 7.00 pm so there was no
chance of that so Peter Bennet offered to bring back my prize and
trophy – there’s a lovely backgammon board as well and I may pick
it up from Peter in the next day or so. I’ll come along to Camden
on 1st April with the board and trophy.
MM: Do you think you’ll be going back next year to the Nordic
Open?
GM: Yes, it’s a nice occasion – you learn more about what you
don’t know than what you do know – so I yes I think I’ll be going.
MM: Thanks for this interview, congratulations and good luck in
the future.
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