NEWS - 13th November The Champ 'o' Champs 2007 I had great designs to update the standings in the Champ 'o' Champs regularly thought-out the weekend. Indeed some weeks before it I had written a highly complex Champ ‘o’ Champs set of spreadsheet that imports all the results from all of the tournaments played though-out the weekend. All I had to do was to sit down and do updates. I estimated these would take only 5 minutes. But what with the change of venues and the increase in numbers of players on the Sunday (1 estimated we would have maximum 40 but we had 60) I failed to do the updates. The change in venues meant a lot of extra logistical work. So I was up before 7.00 ams having gone to bed at 3 or 4 ams. Then we had to set up in different venues so my T.D. office desk wasn’t quite as organised as I would have liked it to be. Also by the time Sunday 4.00 pm approached, because of the extra tournaments run before 4.00 pm Sun I needed to sit down and tinker with the Champ ‘o’ Champs sheets to make them 100% correct. I knew I couldn’t have done that with players asking me questions they needed answers to there and then; it was too likely that I would make a mistake. So the announcement of the Champ ‘o’ Champs Tournament was delayed by the Committee of Players until such time that I could sit down and collate the data correctly. The Tournaments that started after 4.00 pm Sunday had to be discounted from the Champ ‘o’ Champs table because rules, as per written on the website and in the program, were: <N.B. The Hustler's Haven, The Gang Tournament and any Jackpots or TTTs played after 4.00 pm on Sunday do not count towards Champ 'o' Champs Tournament.> However any tournament running behind schedule should not be docked C’o’C points particularly when the Players Committee (made up of dis-interested parties) had already decreed that this should not happen. I’d only expected 1 Team Tournament to happen; the second Team Tournament Champ ‘o’ Champ points had to be imported into the C’o’C spreadsheet manually. Quiz Results imported and C’o’C points allocated for those. The Players Presents Champ ‘o’ Champ points were also imported. A Jackpot or two were also missing. These were traced and results imported. At last on Tuesday afternoon I’m ready to announce the winner of the Champ ‘o’ Champs 2007. It was a close run thing. Dorothy Lee won two tournaments but these commenced after 4 pm Sunday. Had they been earlier I would be announcing her as the winner of the C’o’Cs 2007. Had Tom Duignan won one more Jackpot or got his quizzes correct or bought a present I would probably be announcing him as our winner 2007. Had Stan used his considerable TTT experience to better effect he would have probably been the 2007 C’o’C. Had Nicky Check, who won the Singles Knockout, entered the quizzes and won a tie-breaker he would probably be the Champ ‘o’ Champs. George Miltiadou, Dave Treacy, Matte Black, Monica Beckerson and Tony O'Halloran were also there in the running. But none of them did as well as another player. He didn’t play any TTTs. He didn’t pick up a Jackpot. He did rubbish in the Singles Knockout. Doubles was just a dream for him. He dropped out of the League for the better chances, as openly hinted at on the website, of picking up Champ ‘o’ Champ points in the Team Tournament. He didn’t enter the Quiz because he had already come across the positions and got them wrong and hence they became the Quiz Questions. So now Ladies and Gentlemen you know the winner is male and you know the winner was also the Quiz Master. He did win the Weekend Knockout, he did win 3 out of 4 in the Team Tournament, he did bring a present and he won an On Board Tournament. Ladies and Gentlemen the Winner of Champ ‘o’ Champs 2007 is Mr Sean Williams. Congratulations Sean. You win the largest trophy of the weekend, your name goes down in the BG Live in London hall of fame and I expect you’ll take great joy waving the trophy in front of your dear girlfriend’s face who now becomes, I’m sure you’ll claim, a “used to do better than thee.” The tide turneth and study is rewarded. Bravo Sean. Champ 'o' Champs 2007 Standings. Your trophy will be presented to you at the next BG in Camden on Tuesday 4th December unless another one is run before then (possible) in which case we'll do it then. Meanwhile the report and pictures from BG Live in London 2007 will be published here first shortly. Mike

NEWS - 9th November Mike is now offline. 07985-941729

NEWS - 8th November The first 40 people to arrive for the Chris Bray Seminar "The 10 Commandments of Backgammon" on Sunday 11th November will receive a free copy of his latest book Free tea, coffee and biscuits from 08.00 am Seminar 09.30 - 10.30 am. Many thanks to New Holland Publishers for this wonderful donation to the weekend.

CLICK HERE FOR A QUICK LOOK AT THE WEEKEND

NEXT