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Here we go then
with the final showdown of a tournament which has attracted so
many of the best players in the world. HCM is seen to be the
‘purer’ player, and TR the ‘amateur’ who relies on his wits, and a
fine, natural read on the game. It’s too close to call this one,
although obviously a majority of the support is with the Dane, who
feels as though he’s in his living room at home, and has invited
400 friends and family. The prize at stake is 32,000euros for the
win, 10,000euros for the Cannes WSOB seat in July, and 7,000euros
for the beautiful ‘GOLD CUBE’ on display at the table. This, you
might say, is a match worth winning.
TR draws first blood for 1-0, but then cubes too early in the next
(a quarter point blunder), and we’re quickly into a 100-all race.
Contact is broken and we come down to a bear-off position which is
an almost pure 4-roll position. HCM (on roll) has two on his
4-point, and five on the ace. TR has one on the ace, three on the
deuce, and then one, one, one. HCM also has that super anti-joker
of 32. He correctly fires in the cube, and TR disgustingly passes.
Honestly, the 4 roll bear-off position is something we all learnt
in ‘Backgammon 101’. 2-1 HCM.
Blows are traded in the next two games to give us 3-3. In Game 5
another early cube from TR is eagerly accepted. HCM swings the
game and then erroneously cashes it when too good. 5-3 HCM.
TR fires in a fine cube in Game 6 at 65-35%, and it’s double
whopper time (with a liberal sprinkling of bacon and gherkins),
when HCM passes. 5-4.
Here’s an amazing game, check it out: TR cubes a bit light and HCM
takes. TR builds a 5-prime in front of HCM’s anchor on the
3-point. It becomes a 6-prime, and then a 7-prime, to equal the
world record. Bouquets all round. TR happily reels his fish in;
only 63 will leave a shot now. Out it comes! And HCM finds the
hitting 3. However, his board is badly crunched but he has big
racing equity now. He misses TR when he comes into the outfield,
and now anything but a 21 31 11 for TR and he’ll have a gin race.
Out pops 21! And there’s the hitting deuce for HCM! That’s the old
17x3x7x3 parlay folks, a real truckload of manure dumped on poor
TR’s head, and instead of being 6-5 up, he’s 7-4 down. Nasty.
TR’s 1,5 defence in the next yields some real equity but not
enough to take the cube when it comes. 4-8 now, and TR asks for
his second, and last comfort break of the match. If his bladder
fills again during the next couple of hours he’ll be relying on
the kindness of strangers to be allowed to empty it. (And he’s
still drinking like a parched ultra-marathoner by the way…a
mixture of beer and ‘Ocean Spray’.)
TR verbally explains to HCM in the next that the reason he’s not
cubing is because “I’m too afraid!” All information gratefully
received. Falafel in the commentary box notes: “Rzymann has been
snake-bitten one too many times with his early cubes, and now he’s
gun shy.” Finally it comes, HCM takes, squirms like an eel and it
boils down to a race not for the faint of heart. TR’s dice just
have the greater firepower, and HCM on his last roll, needs 55 or
66 to nick it. He implores his fans to whistle. Out pops 21.
Insufficient. 8-6 HCM.
Game 10 is ebb and flow before it swings big time to Austria. But
where is that cube? TR is now being positively timid. And then he
cashes when MILES too good. He’s not going to win it like this –
no way man. 8-7 HCM.
In Game 11 TR takes a big pass! Whoever said BG was easy? But then
HCM fans with 66 on a 1-point board and it’s all up for grabs
again. Eventually the game materializes into an absorbing 1-2
back-game for TR which he almost times, and is very, very unlucky
to get just a single shot, which he misses (not that I’m a
back-game lover or anything…) Gammon. 12-7 HCM.
Game 12. A simple cash for HCM. Hmmm, I’ve got a bad feeling about
this. Could we be getting a damp squib final?
Game 13. It gets gammonish for TR, he simply MUST get radical with
that cube when so far behind. Instead he cashes, and one can’t
help feeling that he could have had an extra three points there
with a little more bravery. TR ain’t half-way yet, and they’ve
been out there 2 hours 15 mins. 13-8 HCM.
Game 14, and yet another late cube and pass for TR. Limpy limpy.
13-9 HCM.
Game 15. OOOOOOHHHH, HCM takes when nailed back on TR’s deuce
point behind TR’s gorgeous 4 prime. Absolutely no need to take
that. A real lemon. But then the computer flashes up 69.9%, with
26.6 gammons, take. Well done HCM, looked like he had a touch of
the “Jan Jacobowitz’s” about him; instead all credit due.
Still, it doesn’t stop HCM later owning TR’s 5 point but with one
on the roof of a 5 point board, and a near certain gammon for TR
who starts his bear-off. But an oh so timely 55 gives HCM a chance
to wriggle off the gammon. He has one final checker left to
bear-in on the 11 point. Any 5 or 6 will do PROVIDED it doesn’t
come with an ace. He finds 52 for the ab fab gammon save. 13-11
HCM.
Game 16. TR, bladder screaming in protest, gently asks HCM if he’d
care to take one of his comfort breaks. “No, but thank you for
your interest,” HCM politely replies. TR gets stuck on HCM’s 3
point behind a growing prime. But then a super duper 44 joker
snakes a way through, and it’s followed up with 55 to nail the
game down! It’s 13-12 now, and HCM’s campaign has stalled BIG
time. Perhaps he really should take a break for his own good, and
not worry about the sharky tactic of waiting for TR to wet
himself.
Game 17. TR cubes late YET again before finally risking it when 16
pips up. 13-13, and we have a 4 point match.
Game 18. Can you believe it. 18 whole games, and we could have a
ways to go yet. A near instant pass by TR, and HCM has finally
stopped the rot. 14-13 HCM.
Game 19. Gus Hansen in the commentary booth, suggests about TR’s
growing pains due to nature’s call: “What ‘Kedde’ should do is
summon a waiter, order two beers, and offer them both to Rzymann.”
In the game HCM ‘comes under the gun’ like a pure novice and is
marmalized with a 22. He still may just be able to squeeze out a
take but instead TR MISSES the cube action. Terrible! He could
have been playing for the match right there. Instead he cashes
next roll for 14-14.
Game 20. HCM eyes the cube after a great 11 for the 4-prime with
TR’s one man back on the ace. A huge cheer from the crowd as the
cube sails over, even though it’s a touch early. TR MUST hit on
his own ace point to take away HCM’s tempo and stop him growing
his prime. He declines and dodges the 50% 5-prime bullet. The next
go, TR has the same conundrum. It is HUGELY right to hit on the
ace and this time he investigates it all thoroughly but AGAIN
declines. And HCM makes the all but killer 5-prime. But the game
has some life in it after TR scrambles furiously to counter-prime
the HCM checker on the ace. HCM finds a 6 to leap TR’s 5-prime,
and in reply TR finds an incredible 16 in reply. This EITHER
creeps the primed checker from the back, and leaps into the
outfield, but leaves 15 shots, two blots and a stack of gammons.
OR he can hit HCM’s escaped checker with the ace and worry about
the primed checker later. He has a 5-point board after all, so
should have a few rolls at the ace then the six. But he chooses to
escape the checker, blundering hugely. HCM needs an ace or a 7. He
finds 16! Whaaaaaah, that looks like the match folks. Gammons 33%
and rising. TR playing a phantom ace-point game now, with two on
the roof. Can HCM close him out with any of several numbers? He
has three men on his 5-point and two on his 6 point, and an empty
ace point. AND HE ROLLS 65!!! The ghoulish only shot leaving
number! He bears off two men. Can TR find a 6? YES!! What a swing.
Over comes the cube at 26%. Thus a slime take, since, if HCM
passes he goes to 25% in the match, but he passes, preferring to
try his luck from 14-16. And it’s more good news for TR as a break
is finally called, and he scuttles off to the Gents like a Mexican
who’s been stung by a scorpion.
Game 21, Crawford. HCM off to a tangy start. But then it’s punch
and counter-punch and a real blot-hitting fest. TR gets into minor
time trouble at 2:27. Finally it comes down to this: a rather
sorry deuce point game for TR. “We’ve all won lots of deuce point
games in our time,” warns Falafel ominously. In the bear off HCM
has 3 on his ace, TR has a lone desperate sentry on the deuce, HCM
has three on the 3-point and two on the four point. AND HE ROLLS
62 to peel and hit!! It’s a deuce shot from the bar for TR who is
even looking at some backgammons for match against him now. HE
FINDS THE DEUCE, and covers his own two-point with the 3, to make
a 5-point board. Can HCM enter on the 5? No! Can TR cover? YES!!
It’s a 50-50 game now.
TR start ripping his men, with HCM shut out on the roof. TR
forgets to stop his clock in between shakes, and it shimmies down
from 1:51 to 1:18. FINALLY he remembers. “That could just be his
best play of the entire match,” cracks Gus Hansen. When daylight
appears HCM finds a great 65, and then swings his baby round the
corners with a fine 64. He’s going to be ok I think. It comes down
to this. HCM has two on his ace-point, one on his 3. TR five on
his ace, on roll. 44 for TR!! Ohhhh nooooo. Only five numbers will
save HCM now. He was in this exact position in his last 16 match,
and found 33. He gets up, and takes a stroll around the stage.
Takes a run up and hurls his dice. One lands on the board, and
another about 25 feet away under the wheels of a TV camera. Was it
a double? We’ll never know. HCM takes another run-up. An even
longer one. The dice fly out of the cup, and bounce wildly. But
this time they land ON the board, IN the correct half, without
cocking or anything. It’s a legal throw! Wow. Hans Christian
Mathiesen has turned into an all-singing, all-dancing
dice-throwing acrobat before our very eyes.
The dice read 52.
It is a
heart-warming win for the gutsy and colourful Rzymann who I
‘talent-spotted’ in the second-round and immediately found WSOB
producer Andy Bell and said, “I’ve just seen someone who’d be
great to have in the final.” He has a chiselled, weather-beaten
face, similar to that of the late Roy Scheider, vanquisher of
Jaws. Well, Rzymann has slayed a few monsters of his own these
past four days.
I have made many friends here in Helsingor and will have endless
memories of four wonderful days. London’s UK Masters was
fantastic, but this has equalled it in many ways. Provided I get
permission from my rather scary wife, I can’t wait to do it all
over again in Cannes in July. She says she’ll leave me if I keep
gallivanting off to these madcap Backgammon tournaments. Shame –
I’ll miss her.
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