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Monday evenings I can be found in
The Fox Reformed
in London playing in the Knockout (Main and Consolation) Tournament. This year my birthday happened to fall on a Monday so I thought I'd provide a couple of trophies as extra prizes for the evening. The week before it I had asked
Le Patron Robbie if that would be ok. He said he'd be delighted. So on Mon 24th February I rolled up with two trophies. But Robbie was away on his boat. In all honesty I think he'd probably forgotten all about it! Surprisingly there was a low turnout of only 11 players there that evening. Phone calls were made to Robbie and it was decided to play for the trophies at a later date - probably the Monday after the year-long Ladder finished. But they weren't and they sat and sat upon the Fox bar just getting in the way and gathering dust. Later on I was in the Fox and collared Robbie about them. A few other players were in on the talk about it - we all of us having had a few drinks - brains were in gear and ideas flowed. Somebody said "How about a Doubles Tournament?" Somebody else said "Spread over a few weeks so players can get together easily." We opted for 7 pointers because we don't play 7 pointers at all (5 pointers in Monday Tournaments & 11 pointers in Ladder Matches). We also sorted out what the entry fees should be (£20 per team) and how the prize fund should be split. Somehow I managed to scribble down the ideas we all had, shoved the scrap of paper in my pocket and the next day sat down in front of my computer to make sense of them. I ran up some flyers which were handed out the following Monday, Robbie sent out emails to his mailing list, I send out emails to my mailing list, the word went round town and 2 weeks later we had a full 16 teams. On the basis that it was, because players were to be given a fortnight to play each round, going to take 2 months to play I also wrote a Webpage for the Tournament on which players could report their matches, see the Schedule, see the Standings, get the latest news etc. This was easily done because I already run my Tric Trac Tournos and Monthly Knockouts online on Playmaker-world and I simply nicked all my component parts from those sub-websites. I also created a new mailing list of all the Doubles Knockout players so I could let them know of important developments during the Tournament. A couple of days before the draw somebody asked if we would be having an auction. Ah sure, why not? Dod Davies was asked and agreed to do it. Then somebody mentioned Team names. Jo Curl was elected to sweet talk Robbie into donating a bottle of wine as a prize for this (no problem) and it was decided that Carol (Robbie's wife and partner) and The Rev. Robert Easton (Guest Quiz Master at the Rose and Crown) would be the Judges. Neither of them really play backgammon so they might not have understood the backgammon references within the team names but they are both highly intelligent people and would quickly understand the references once explained. An email was sent out letting players know that an auction and team names competition had been added. On Monday 5th May, before our Monday evening Knockout Tournament, Dod did the auction. For those who had never attended an auction before Dod gave a quick explanation on how it would work, what the split would be - 70% to the owner of the Winning Team and 30% to the owner of the Running-up Team - gave us a witty view on each and every team and got us all bidding away. It's more than sufficient to say that he raised more money than was in the Prize Fund. Self-confidence was running high as most players bought themselves. Shortly after Shaun (who was not playing in the Doubles Tournament) did the draw. We were up and running. The next day I sent out the contact details of those drawn against each other. It was up to players to arrange their matches sometime within the following fortnight. They could play wherever they liked - in homes, in another bar or in The Fox. The idea was that this would create a social evening with some purpose. It worked a treat. Doubles is a great way for players to learn. The not so good players have a chance to hear the thoughts of the more experienced players and the more experienced players have to justify their preferences. There had been a couple of change of team personnel just before we started which left us 1 player short so it was suggested that I step in to partner Will. I was more than happy to play with Will but did consider that I might have a conflict of interest should a T.D's decision be required, but, such was the bon humour of the event, everybody told me not to worry about this. It would also give me a chance to see things from a players' point of view, which I thought was no bad thing. We were drawn against the mighty Dod who was playing with his partner Jo. We played the match in Jo's flat on a Friday evening. We lead 4 - 0 until Dod's experience took hold and they won the match 7- 4. But boy, did I learn some moves and some theory by listening to Dod talk openly to Jo. A valuable lesson? Invaluable! Over the next few days other 1st Round matches were played. Trouble and Strife triumphed over Blood, Chouette and Tears. In the Whine and Dine versus Diabolics match Steve's attempt to emulate the playing style of Mick Vacarey were admirable, but to no avail and the more cautious cube strategy of Whine and Dine paid off, culminating in a matchwinning cubleless gammon with the score on 5 - 4. Vianney and Sue took a bottle round to S&M's home in an attempt to booze them into submission, a good evening was had by all and a couple of crucial doubles sorted it out for S and M. Pat, Ron and Lawrence (Lawrence Powell and Robbie) who had gone for a high figure in the auction crashed to Pick and Pass (David Naylor and Chrissie) who I had bought for a modest sum in the auction. Holy Rollers (Paul Lamford and Stefanie Rohan) lost in 45 minutes flat to Hammer and Thongs (Dan Boxall and experienced scrabble player but new backgammon player Philippa Moreton). Alexis of Evil (and pussy cat) purred past All Jon's fault (I'm not sure if it was) with a 7-1 victory. But the 1st Round match that generated the most interest was played in The Fox on a Monday evening between The Blot Reformed (Alef and Justin) and Hope and Anchor (Simon Gasquoine and Sonia Spencer). None of them are the fastest players and it took a staggering 4 hours 15 minutes for Hope and Anchor to win it 7 - 5. All the 1st Round matches were played well within the allotted fortnight. Already players were talking about the next Doubles Tournament. What format should it take? Should we have a Consolation round? Should matches be 3 x 5 point matches? Not with Simon and Sonia in it! How should the prize fund be arranged if we added a Consolation Tournament? I added a Bulletin Board to the Doubles Knockout webpage so players could write, read and discuss their ideas. Meanwhile Round 2 kicked in. Again those drawn against each other were emailed each others contact details and they sorted out their time, date and venue. As the Organiser I had very little to do - always a good sign - so I sat back and enjoyed seeing the tournament progress so well. Hammer and Thongs did for Alexis of Evil (and pussy cat) with a 7 - 1 hammering. Pick and Pass (Chrissi & David) stormed the first two games and were winning a gammon in the third until Jo's dice suddenly kicked into overdrive with three consecutive high doubles to leave the score 3 - 0 to Pick and Pass. This signalled a change of fortunes and despite good play by Pick & Pass, Curl Up and Dai swept to a 7 - 3 victory which was much closer than the score suggests. Whine wined and Dine dined, but not before they whipped S&M. But once again it was the match played in The Fox that drew the most attention - Hope and Anchor played Trouble and Strife in the garden with a good crowd looking on. Simon and Sonia bettered their match time record by taking 4 hours and 20 minutes (5 minutes more) to beat Andy and Sue in a thrilling finale. Simon Gasquoine, Paul Lamford's co-author on the recently published Improve Your Backgammon, had written down various positions to run though Snowie. I later invited him to share his analysis with us by offering to publish his findings. He was more than happy to do so and four key positions are now published on the web for your inspection.
And so to the Semis. For this round I invited players to let me know the time, date and venue of their matches so spectators could come along and watch. In the spirit of openness both matches were public affairs. The
Curl up & Dia versus
Hammer and Thongs was played in The Fox on a Saturday afternoon but in the first half of the match
Jo couldn't roll for toffee and danced like Michael Flaherty leaving Hammer and Thongs a 7 - 5 victory and a place in the Final.
Dod and Jo would however take £20 each (double their entry fee) for reaching a Semi. The other Semi was played in the garden of
Ryan's
Bar. As the evening light dimmed, hope didn't spring eternal and the anchor failed to drop as
Whine & Dine cruised into the final. The match was however finished in a rapid time (for
Simon and
Sonia) of just under two hours. This time
Stefanie wrote down the key positions for Simon who has since
published his findings for your viewing. Interestingly
Brian (the Whine of Whine and Dine) has also
published his findings on a position so we have two takes on one match.
If there is some way of guaranteeing that a final is the best match of a tournament would somebody please let me know it. This is not to say it was a bad match - it wasn't - but it wasn't a classic. In the Snowie analysis it is
Hammer and Thongs that come
in at "World Class" but it was
Whine and Dine who won
by a 7 - 1 margin. The full Snowie
analysis is now published on the web.
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