BACKPACKER BACKGAMMON AT BIBA
8th, 9th, 10th, September 2006

Report by Michael Crane



Live, head-to-head backgammon is streets ahead of its online cousin in the enjoyment stakes. In the solitude of your own bedroom you can play anyone, anywhere at anytime online - but what you don't get is fun with a capital F. There's no atmosphere online. It's just you, the PC and the modem. When it's head-to-head you've got banter, laughter, and an atmosphere that online servers just can't emulate, no matter how many sound files they add to their interface.

One prime example (pardon the pun) of head-to-head playing took place on Saturday night, the Gang event. The Gang is simply a bunch of players split into two teams, each with a captain and they all consult and confer on the moves. It is great fun, especially if you've had a bottle or two over dinner first. My team's captain was Tim Mooring - and we played against Peter Chan's team. Straight away it is obvious that the captains are picked at random! Peter is the opposite of a shrinking violet when it comes to backgammon. He is LOUD with capital L O U D! Strictly teetotal, Peter doesn't need drink to get him going.

At one stage of the match his team couldn't decide upon a move. Peter was adamant on moving what we (and a few of his team-mates) thought to be a big error. They couldn't all agree and so one of them pulls a coin out of his pocket and tells Peter, "we'll toss for it. If it's tails we play our move if it's heads we play your move." Peter accepted, tossed the coin and it fell on tails. Peter concurred and played the alternative move; upon picking up the dice it was pointed out to him that it was in fact a double-tailed coin! Everyone burst into fits of laughter, tears running down our cheeks! You won't get that playing online! Eventually the Gang finished and Peter's team prevailed (lucky buggers!). However, Peter himself did not, and the final two to face each other were Mike Main and Jackie Griffiths - an encounter from which Mike emerged the victor.


Double Winner - Mike Main

This wasn't Mike's first victory of the weekend, he was also the winner of the Friday KO. Peter Chan also had a success on the Friday night when he won the Warm-up . . . which he used as a 'warm-up' for the Main. Here he got into the final to face last year's Runner-up, David Nathan.

It was a scrappy match at times but one in which Peter took a good lead. Having scrabbled his way back into the match to 9-9 after being 9-4 down, David then proceeds to throw the match away! He (white) has a 43 to play in this position:


David to play 43

After thinking about the play for over two minutes he plays 13/6 leaving Peter exactly what he's looking for - a hit. Better plays were 6/2 4/1 or 6/3 6/2 and wait and see. David's 'logic' was he'd probably have to leave a blot sooner or later and he'd rather do it now before Peter's board got better! Peter rolled 51 and hit and from thereon it's downhill for David all the way as Peter rolls out to win the match on a (late) 2-cube.

Snowie rated them thus: Peter - Beginner, David - Intermediate. Just to illustrate Peter's Beginner rating, here's a move he made that lost him 1/2 a point in equity.



Black 9 White 5
Peter (black) to play 22

How many of you also fell into the Beginner's trap and played 11/7 6/4(2)? The better play by a load was 6/4(2) 3/1*(2). Hopefully this match will appear on www.gammonvillage.com or www.gammonlife.com very soon.




The Consolation was a little different to the Biba format, but nonetheless, it went well and in the final we saw Ray Tannen and Peter Bennet battling it out. Peter came out on top. Peter was knocked out of the Main 1st Round by Jackie Griffiths; and although she failed to get much further, her partner, Howard Furr-Barton faired very well in the Last Chance. He beat Dave Motely in the final to win his first ever Biba element.

Ray & Peter                                      Dave & Howard

In the 3-pointer, Mad Monkey, Michelle Fisher had to beat Jeff Barber in the semi, and Chris Ternel in the final; she did both and was thrilled to bits to win a Backpacker trophy. Not to be out-done, Chris Gibbins, Michelle's partner won himself a trophy by winning the Sunday jackpot. Now the mantlepice will be evenly balanced.


Chris & Michelle                                     Chris

I really should give up drinking! I was glowing nicely in the Gang thanks to bottle or two of wine with dinner and then I had to beat Peter Bennet in the Jackpot. I didn't have any trouble doing so - that time . . . . . it was after he re-entered that I met him again in the final; by which time the wine had truly kicked in and I was not at my best, whereas Peter was! He won, I lost.

The poker was down a bit on entries - Rosey and Slats were in Thailand and Paul G and Myke (with Paul Barwick) were in Antwerp - which was good for Tony Lee for he came out on top leaving Alison Lee in 2nd place. He is sitting nicely at the top of the Poker Grand Prix, but he isn't yet safe, so watch this space for future developments.


Tony

Finally I'd like to thank Mike Main for sponsoring the event and to say that despite the low turnout it was great fun - and that's exactly what backgammon should be. The event was ran using Mike's Excel spreadsheet that he and Sean Williams have developed - and apart from one small hiccup it worked very well indeed.


 

Note by Mike Main:

Ok - so we had a low turnout of just 21 players - that's 2 less than last year. But those that attended had a good weekend.

With only 21 players I didn't use the wall projector to display the computerised tournament charts; instead we had two flat screens facing players - one for the Main, Consolation and Auctions, the other for the Last Chance and Mad Monkey. All Pools are on relevant pages. This worked well and meant players were easily able to see the page they wanted to see. There was a slight problem with the Main Draw due to a bit of mis-programming on my behalf but this was quickly solved by doing the draw on Michael's computer which used the same method of doing a draw.

CHARTS OF ALL TOURNAMENTS

I added a handed out 36 page programme of events this year. It included match score cards for every event, position cards and well as the schedule, a page on every tournament and flyers for Backgammon in Camden and Backgammon Live in London. The idea is that players can keep a record of all their matches played throughout the weekend in one place instead of on little bits of paper that are left lying around the tournament room. They seemed to be used a fair bit but, having used them at other events, I find that players need one weekend with a programme to get used to the idea of using them. Thus I think players will not appreciate them until T.D.s have started handing them out on a regular basis.

I'm pleased The Gang Tournament happened. As Michael says in his report it makes live backgammon a lot of fun - just the way it should be. Because the event is fully consulting and is played after dinner when a little bit of booze has been consumed by players get pretty vocal in their opinions.

The next Gang Tournament I'll be running will be at
BACKGAMMON LIVE IN LONDON 2006

Many thanx to Michael Crane for the weekend.