NEWS
Manchester one day tournament April 2005
by Mike Main
After three years of thinking about it (read being told by Irving to come along) I went this year to the Annual Manchester 1 Day Tournament. I never fully realised just how far up north Manchester is so I had to leave London at 06.30 a.m. I arrived in good time, know I play badly on an empty stomach, so I found a local café for breakfast before I went to the Club.
A warm welcome was given to me by Irving and Rodney, registration was easy and free coffee was available on the bar. Time to chat to other players and things looked calm and collected. At 11.00 the draw was called and we set to play.
Interesting format - 54 players attended - 5 rounds of Swiss format (5 pointers) decided who went into the Main Tournament (16 players), the Consolation (32 players) and Last Chance (6 players + anybody else who lost in the Main, Consolation and Last Chance building up to 32 players). There was a choice of £20, £10 or £5 pools in the Main and a £3 pool in the Last Chance.
There was a broad range of players – some well know faces on the UK circuit and some obviously novice players. In my first match I played a chap who was counting the points on most of him moves. I used to have a tendency not to concentrate too hard in matches against these sort of players but I’ve come undone by cockiness before now and have learnt to alter my play accordingly. They don’t leave blots so there is not much chance of playing a complex game so my tactics alter to also playing a blotless game and waiting for a well timed cube opportunity when it all looks rosy but isn’t for my less experienced opponent. It worked. In the third game a gammon on a 2 cube was enough to reach 5 points.
Match 2 was harder. My opponent said very little so I had no real opportunity to gauge his skill level before we played. But he played a good game though he failed to cube me out when he could have. Timid or naïve with the cube I decided. Ok – so extra use of the cube when appropriate I decided. Again it worked. Bring on Round 3.
As is to be expected in Swiss (you are paired against others who have the same results so far as yourself) Mark obviously knew what he was doing. We battled away employing tactics as required to counter the others well played moves. At 3-3 with the cube having been turned I had him pretty well closed out and on the bar while bearing my last checker in from my out board. It was that last checker that could prove my problem so I decided bite the bullet sooner rather than later and to leave him a voluntary shot of a double 5. Fatally I commented that it was a double 5 he wanted. He knew it too. And blow me down, he rolled it. Apparently he had done the very same to his previous opponent too. So I was on 2 out of 3 and chasing at least 3 out of 5, preferably 4 out of 5.
Round 4 saw me drawn against a player I’ve met before at Biba Tournaments. Ok – this is work I decided. Sure we shook hands but we both wanted one thing and that was the same thing. Fortunately for me the Dice Gods intervened and I rolled perfectos giving my opponent no chance whatsoever. I didn’t even play well, in fact I noticed at least 3 blunders after I’d picked up my dice, but when the Gods are with you it’s easy to win matches.
Round 5 and I’m to play Simonetta. Ah ha, me thinks, this is where I really could come undone. Biba, Gammonitis and various Mainland European Tournaments all know Simonetta and her published results speak for themselves. In the first game I got a couple of high rolls that gave me a reasonable racing edge, a better position and minimal possibility of contact. I cubed. She dropped. It was not interesting at all but I was more interested in points won by any means fair. The second game was far more interesting and after a while it required me to cube. This was correctly taken and in a cruel twist of fate the game swung my way and a gammon was won.
A good looking buffet had been laid on as part of the day and when my eyes now tuned into it my stomach screamed. There wasn’t a whole lot left, others had been there before me, so I managed enough to keep me going. I liked the idea of laying on a free buffet as part of the registration fee – players could eat as and when they could and didn’t have to dip into their pockets during the day.
So with 4 out of 5 in the Swiss I automatically went into the Main. 13 of us qualified automatically and 3 of 10 on 3 out of 5 were drawn from the hat. I was draw against on of those hatters – John Slattery – well known for his hats and waistcoats. We’ve played before and I fully expected him, as is his wont, to offer a little wager on the match. Last time he won one of my Backpacker Backgammon sets off me. However maybe he remembered my dislike of wagers on matches or possibly decided he didn’t need a second BB set and didn’t do so this time.
Still on a 5 pointer match he got a good blitz on me and won a cubeless gammon. Game 2 quickly went my way, I cubed, he dropped. In game 3 it was looking like it was all mine but I declined to double as my position changed in one roll to too good to double. I double hit him leaving him only a double 5 to come back in and hit me. When oh when will I ever learn? If any given roll is proving your undoing on a day one should avoid it like the plague. Ok, I know Snowie and therefore a host of top players will consider that utter trosh but I’m not a Snowie clone and neither is Slatts. Bang, in one roll it’s not him but me who is two on the bar. I proceeded to be severely beated up again but when he had 8 checkers off he was forced to leave a blot during his bear off which I thankfully hit – light at the end of the tunnel even though I had 6 checkers on his home board and now only my 6 and 4 points covered. So began the slow and painful process of bringing my checkers around whilst trying for a second of his checkers back to give myself a realistic chance. I find that guarding against jokers is the key to these positions and I steadfastly refused to desert his 5 point least he throw a dreaded double 5. I got another of his checkers back. That made things easier but there was still a lot of work to do. My hood off to Slatts as he patiently waited while I did my calculations and bought my checkers round the board. At long last I covered my 5 point but not before he slipped one of his two trailing checkers past my strategically scattered infantry. However I persevered and at long last I had a six prime in my home quarter with his trailing checker sitting on the bar. Gammon saved at least. New target: win the game. My first bear off roll included a 6 – not my best but Slatts kindly danced a couple or so of times before he entered. When he did he progressed to his 14 point. On his next turn he shook his dice, stopped himself for a millisecond and shipped over the cube. I felt like a battle worn trooper that had lived though the wars only to trip on a pin upon his return home. However upon closer inspection I wasn’t so sure this was, as he intended it to be, a cube out. Score Slatts 2 Mike 1. Should I take and re-double it if the next one maybe two rolls went my way? Put the match on the line now. Ok – let’s examine skill levels. Slatts is the better player so there is good reason (be quite Snowie) to leave it in the lap of the Gods. I pondered long and hard during which I also examined Slatts face. Not much being given away there but then that’s his forte. Had he really though about the full implications of his cube. I decided not. But was it a take? I wasn’t sure. I checked it and checked it again. Still not sure. Damn it – I still don’t know enough about this game I’ve been playing for 25 years. But did I want to win via the Dice Gods? Na, I’d sooner go down on my sword against this opponent. So I dropped. Here’s the position.
Somebody do me a favour and let me know what Snowie in its infinite wisdom says. * Not much to say about the rest of the match except that Slatts went on to win it and then the Tournament. Bravo.
There was cheese, pate, bread and grapes aplenty on the side and I tucked into it not once, but twice and thrice. Nice one Manchester.
So I was entered to Last Chance (3 pointers), lost, bought back in, lost, bought back in again, damn it lost again so bought back in again and this time made it to the final but was over tired and lost. But the pools were very nice and I walked away with pockets a full.
The drive home seemed a lot further than the drive up there and having visited nearly every M6 and M1 service station for coffee or kips I finally got home at 4.00 a.m. But I’d had an excellent day out and many thanks to Rodney Lighton and his crew, to Peter Chan for the formatting, Irving and all at the Manchester Backgammon Club. Next year I’ll stay at least one night.
*
According to GNU red is 91% to win here, so double/drop was correct.
Published April 2005