I was invited to run this event about six weeks before it was due to be played. A quick look at the MSO C website reminded me that it had been a 14 player event in 2003 and 12 player in 2002. I gathered that in previous years the dates had clashed with other backgammon tournaments and that the tournaments had only been announced 2 or so weeks in advance. They had also played Swiss format.  Uldis Lapikens had won both years. 

I considered that given I had 6 weeks warning, no other tournaments of note were happening over the weekend this year and with a change of format to Knockout (with Main, Consolation, Last Chance and Suicide) we could attract 32 players. I also set up a morning workshop and, should we have more than 32 players, a Tric Trac Tourno.  I asked would be players to register via a sub-website I wrote for the event and let it be known that I would close registration in the Knockout at 32 players. 

In my emails with Paul Smith of MSO C I stated that I considered that if an event that has the word Olympiad as part of its title that medals should be awarded as a matter of course. He replied that it was up to Tournament Directors to award whatever they see fit but that this would come out of the T.D.s cut of registrations.  It is also traditional in backgammon to award trophies to winners of brackets. With 4 brackets within the Knockout I set about getting 12 medals and 3 trophies.

Last year there had been an Optional Pool so this year I'd have the same. However I decided to try out a slightly different system. There would be a Pool for each Tournament. £10 in the Main, £7 in the Consolation, £5 in the Last Chance and £3 in the Suicide. Entry into each Pool would only be allowed before players commenced play in that bracket. I was pretty sure it would work well but the acid test would be on the day. 

2 days before the event we had 32 players registered and I was forced to tell other players that they were welcome to come to Cambridge but that I could not guarantee them a seat in the Knockout though there would be space in the Tric Trac Tourno. It's hard telling players this, but I find that a full tournament runs so much better for those that do play in it than a tournament that has byes. I'd prefer to run an excellent tournament for slightly fewer players than a messy tournament for more players.  

I arrived at the venue at just before 9.30a.m. and was met by Richard Biddle then Geoff Conn at the door. They helped me set up things in the Drama Studio and shortly after we were joined by players who had come along for the workshop.  

Soon there were 3 tables of backgammon going in the workshop. Essentially the matches were all chouettes each led by an experienced player - Uldis, Richard and Geoff. Moves and strategies were openly discussed, questions answered and hints on play given. The novice players all said they had learnt a lot and were well prepared for the tournament. Many thanx to the "Tutors" for giving back to the game - it also set the tone for the day of friendly competition.  

As players arrived so they registered for the Tournament and were explained how the optional pools would work. I was due to close registration at 11.45 but we were still two registered players missing so I held off (even though I shouldn't have) until 12 o'clock. At 12 o'clock they were still missing so I gave their seats away to the two other players that had come along on spec (though 1 said he had registered). We had a full 32 players present. Stephen Turner (who ran this event in 2002, is a local player and was The British Open Winner 1996) did the draw. Play commenced at 12.15.

Also a 6 player Tric Trac Tourno also got under way. I later added another 1 player just to make it up to 21 matches to play. TTTs are Round Robin 1 game matches affairs. 3 points for a backgammon, 2 for a gammon, 1 for a straight win and, here's the twist, 1/2 point for a loss. This means that to win the TTT players must play for gammons. They might only be 1 games matches but they are highly interesting matches as players try to blitz or backgame their opponent. 

Notable losses in the 1st Round of the Main (7 pointers) were Al Hogg, Richard Biddle, Alan Beckerson, Geoff Conn, John Broomfield and Miranda Moore. Of 21 players that entered the Main Pool 9 were eliminated. There was only 1 item for this T.D. to rule upon. A player (who usually plays live backgammon) wrote down her pip-count before she started counting her opponents pip-count. Quite rightly the opponent called me over. I was staggered that a normally (now experienced) live player had done this but apparently she was unaware that written aids are illegal. Having never encountered this problem before I consulted with Paul Lamford as to what is the normal procedure in such cases. No cube action had taken place so it was decided that a warning should be given and a point would be deducted should the player do it again. 

10 players signed up for the Consolation Pool as they entered the 1st Round. They would be joined by a further 9 as players entered in later Rounds. 

Back in the Main notable matches included Rob (An Oxford Mathematics Graduate who now lives in Cambridge) taking out Stephen Turner, Dan Boxall winning over twice British Champion Paul Lamford and Tim ruining Uldis Lapiken's changes of winning this event for the third time. 

The Consolation (5 pointers) 1st Round didn't go exactly the way I privately though it would do either; Alan Beckerson, Geoff Conn and John Broomfield were all having bad days. Results were begging the question if mainly Internet players are stronger than mainly Live players.

Having started a little late I was worried that we would not meet our deadline to finish by. But players were enjoying themselves and I'm loath to pressurise players to play faster than they do naturally. I'm not a fan of the concept of clock rules - while I agree that a tournament must be kept moving along I dislike the idea of imposing strict rules regarding time. In future I'll allow more time which unfortunately probably means an earlier start time.

By now the Tric Trac Tourno was all played. Young Sam had played well in every match but had come away the loser in each (such is backgammon) but was awarded (as is traditional in TTTs) with a bag of marbles for a 100% loss rate. In the last TTT match I played Chris - To win the TTT I needed a backgammon and Chris needed a gammon. I got the start of a blitz on Chris, it got better and better and I had 7 of his checkers stacked on my 1 point. But then it all went wrong as he hit a trailing checker and he hit back again and again and again. Surely I couldn't loss by a backgammon having only a few rolls before looked good to win by a backgammon ?  Sometimes I really hate this game. Chris won another Live TTT. 

The Last Chance kicked in and matches (3 pointers) took little time to play once the players had been decided from previous brackets. 

Back in the Main Rob won over Alexis Hogg, Dan Boxall won over Monica Beckerson, Ben Tarlow over Tim and Charlie over Stef Rohan. Of the remaining players only Dan and Charlie had entered the Pool.   

Position 1 

Cube action?

In the Consolation those less experienced Knockout with Consolations Tournament players were realising that this was no easy ride as players knocked out in the later rounds of the Main were fed into the Consolation. Having started in the 1st Round of the Consolation Richard Biddle and Sean Williams and having been entered in the 2nd Round Rick and Uldis became the 4 Semi-Finalists.

The Last Chance was the Tournament that was stalling for lack of players coming though in good time. Paul Lamford had omitted to enter the Last Chance Pool before he started play in it. Having got to the Semi-Final but effectively only playing for a medal and trophy and realising that the bracket was stalling badly he elected to withdraw from the Last Chance and enter the Suicide (1 pointers) and accompanying Pool. This did wonders for speeding up the proceedings and many thanks to Paul for doing so.

By now our Main Finalists had been decided - it was Rob versus Charlie. The latter had by now won the Pool and was leading in the Final Match for a long while. But it was Rob who came away the winner of the match and thus the trophy and gold medal. Charlie seems pretty happy with the silver medal and envelope. Dan took the bronze medal.  

The Suicide was the first bracket to finish. Diane was the gold medallist (and Pool Winner), Suzy the silver and Miranda the bronze. I first met Diane at The Fox Reformed in London about 8 months ago. She didn't play in the Tournament at The Fox that first evening because she was so in awe of those present so sat as a nervous spectator on the side. Her transformation has been astounding - her confidence level is well up. Keep going Diane - better pastures await.   

The Last Chance drew to a conclusion as well. Geoff Conn took the trophy, gold medal and Pool, Kambiz the silver and Sue Keeble the bronze.




The hour was late now and we were well past our 6.00 p.m. finish time. All the other Tournaments in the MSO C had finished and our Final in the Consolation was still going on. At 7.15 the Caretaker had finished all his other duties and was ready to lock up. Richard and Sean were at Double Match Point. They pleaded that the match would only take 5 minutes to play out but upon inspection I saw that this was potentially a very long backgame. The position was written down, board closed and we followed other players to the Pub.   

As it happened the position didn't take long to play out. Sean never got the first hit he needed to kick-start the backgame and it was Richard who was awarded the trophy, the gold medal and the Pool envelope.  

Position 2  (Position taken to the Pub)

What are Red’s winning chances ?

Richard put the position though Snowie 3 ply. (the above was put though GNU by Sean). Here is what Richard had to say about it:

We spent the rest of the evening in the Pub. The remaining players had played enough backgammon for that day of their lives and we turned our attention, ably encouraged by a few drinks, to setting the world to rights. I had intended to catch the 9.30 p.m. train back to London but it wasn't until 10.30 that I asked somebody what the time was. We caught the last train back to town and played a chouette in the train corridor. 


Many thanx to Paul Smith and his team from MSO C and to all the players that attended. Apologies to the players we did not have room for - I'll continue my policy of closing 32 + player tournaments that I run to 32 or 64 player tournaments - the trick is to register up front. The Pools worked well and I'll use that system again.

KNOCKOUT CHARTS

TRIC TRAC TOURNO CHART