Chris Benham (r) accepts the trophy from SA club president Nick Begakis.

A field of 24 players turned up at the crack of dawn on Sunday (well, 8:30AM) to contest the 2006 South Australian Open held at the Adelaide Hilton. Three intrepid Sydneysiders, Jim Bean, Steve Clarry and yours truly Simon Woodhead had high hopes of showing the locals a trick or two. Unfortunately it wasn't to be - we all made early exits, even with the benefit of buy-backs allowing a full field of 32. Still, there was always the Consolation, which ran all day finishing with a massive 64 entries.

Local favourites Chris Benham and Angelo Ali showed their class to reach the 15 point final. Angelo started well but Chris fought back to ease ahead in the final games, eventually taking the trophy presented by club president and tournament director Nick Begakis, assisted on the day by John O'Grady, who also found time to win through to the Consolation final, narrowly losing to Emil Andrawos.

For the official full report from Nick Begakis, see the March 2006 Newsletter.

Thanks to Nick and everyone at the Adelaide club for organising a great day of backgammon!

Here is the main flight, followed by some photos of the day...

Photos - click on photo for full size image. Photos courtesy Simon Woodhead .

2006 South Australian Open

Nick explains the proceedings	Steve Clarry and Jim Bean in the consolation	Angelo Ali (r) on his way to the final	Emil Andrawos (r) also on his way to the (consolation) final
John O'Grady (r) was the other consolation finalist			Main flight Final Chris Benham vs Angelo Ali
Consolation semi-final Gordon Neilson vs John O'Grady	Consolation Final Emil Andrawos vs John O'Grady	John takes the loss in good spirits	Nick Begakis (l) presents Chris Benham with the trophy