PAUL WEAVER
WINS 2008 SA OPEN BACKGAMMON CHAMPIONSHIP
2008 SA OPEN BACKGAMMON CHAMPIONSHIP PHOTOS
MAIN FLIGHT
We had a great turnout. Some 30 entrants in all registered on the day with one international player, PAUL WEAVER [top 20 player world wide] and several from interstate. We were pleased to welcome to SA, TONY WALKER, STEPHEN DAVY, JUREK WAWRUSZAK, BEN PHILLIPS, JAY DEVA, DALE KERR and SIMON WOODHEAD. Some of these names may be familiar to those who are watchers / players on the Australian backgammon scene. And it was good to see ALAN PERRY, SHANE McNALLY and VAL LOGINS on the day. And we understand some chouette was played on Saturday with PAUL courtesy TERRY EFTHIMIOU and PETER GEELEN.
But on to the day, Sunday 10th February 2008, in the morning and our venue, the Hilton International Hotel in Victoria Square Adelaide. And again we acknowledge the great assistance we have received from the Hilton over the years and thank General Manager, Chris Ehmann, for his continued help and support.
PAUL WEAVER had graciously offered to have a ‘seminar’ of opening moves before our tournament and so we all gathered at 8:30 am to listen, probe and learn. Paul has a book out right now he is promoting [see and he sold a few copies while in Adelaide. 2006 SA OPEN CHAMPION, CHRIS BENHAM purchased a copy and has kindly offered to give a review so we will publish his views in due course. Paul knocked over a few sacred cows in his commentary which got a few players commenting and thinking. We are sure some players tried the various moves when in match play. And there was considerable audience interaction on some suggested play. And much was heard along the lines of “how would Paul play this”, during the day.
We then undertook the draw at 9:15 am and all the interstaters who flew in from Sydney that morning made it with a few minutes to spare. Much to SA Club President, NICK BEGAKIS, surprise, he drew PAUL WEAVER in the first round.
Those knocked out in the first round and who were able to get back in via the 2 available spots in the main flight were TERRY EFTHIMIOU and VAL LOGINS. TERRY was knocked out by JAY DEVA [9-2] and VAL by PETER GEELEN [9-1]. NICK BEGAKIS was knocked out by PAUL WEAVER [9-7]. Paul’s attendance and play generated considerable interest and it may be worthwhile tracking his path to victory through the score sheets of the games PAUL played. This is because the most asked question of the day was “how did you go against PAUL” to those players who met him along the way.
Before we do that though, one match that caused quite a stir was the semi final match between CHRIS BENHAM and JAY DEVA. JAY looked to have it in the bag at 12-5 up to 13 but as we all know, you can hit a brick wall and not recover. And so it was for Jay. He watched as the score went to 12-6, then 12-8, 12-10 and then 12-12. And in the last match, Chris won a backgammon to take the match out 13-12. Your Editor has a vision of Jay pulling his hair out [which of course is not possible if you know what Jay looks like]. Maybe he was just cradling his head saying “just what do I have to do to close this match out”! But it’s just the way the game goes. So near yet so far. Don’t we just love this game! And we could have had two non-SA players in the final!
So let’s look at “Paul’s Progress”.
Round 1: Paul drew SA Club President NICK BEGAKIS. Nick took an early 3-0 lead, Paul pegged the lead back at 3-3. Nick moved to 5-3. Paul made it 5-4, 5-5. Nick 6-5. Paul 6-6. Nick 7-6. Paul 7-7. Then something went wrong for Nick and right for Paul who moved ahead to 8-7. Paul won the Crawford game to win the match 9-7.
Round 2: Paul played JUREK WAWRUSZAK. Paul won a gammon with the cube on 2 in the first match to lead 4-0. Then 5-0. Jurek made it onto the board for 5-1. And again for 5-2. But that was as far as Juerek got as Paul streaked ahead 7-2 and then 9-2 for the match.
Round 3: Paul played BEN PHILLIPS. This was a similar tale as for Paul’s previous match with Jurek, except that Ben got first blood to lead 2-0. But that was about it for Ben. Paul moved full steam ahead 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 4-2, 5-2, 7-2 and finally 9-2. Ben then scored for 9-3 but Paul took the match 11-3.
Round 4: Paul then played SHANE McNALLY. Paul started well early on and streaked to an 8-3 lead. Shane clawed his way back to almost level the match at 8-7. Paul went to 10-7 to 13 points. Shane made it 10-8. Paul 11-8. Shane 11-9 and then 11-10. But Paul moved away to 12-10 and the 13-10 for the match.
Final: Paul played CHRIS BENHAM in a 15 point match. Chris did not start out very well and Paul raced to a 6-0 lead before Chris got on the score board. Then Paul to 8-1, Chris 8-2, Paul 9-2 and then to a massive 13-2 lead. Chris fought back to make it 13-4 but alas, not good enough on the day and Paul won the last game to win the Championship 15-4.
So PAUL WEAVER won the 2008 SA OPEN BACKGAMMON CHAMPIONSHIP, took home the prize money [there go the balance of payments] and a duplicate of the SA Open Trophy [an engraved sliver tray] to take back to the US with him.
CONGRATULATIONS PAUL WEAVER
CONSOLATION TOURNAMENT
As we have said before, playing 5 point matches are very games to play. Some play them recklessly and throw the cube about hoping lady luck smiles on them. Some become ultra cautious and 9 matches are played for a result. That being said, having 30 entrants in the main round and a good number of interstate players, we felt that as many players as we possibly could, should be given entry into the Consolation Tournament. So rather than limit entry or reserve places for those in the later rounds, we decided on the largest draw possible consistent with finishing on the day. So we chose a round of 64. And you guessed it, all spots were taken and if we had more for those desperate souls who were playing, [your Editor included] they would have been taken. Of course, playing in a Consolation Tournament is no consolation but at least players were able to seek solace when winning that maybe things are not all the bad.
So the Consolation Tournament had, finally, 64 entrants – and as usual, all those who lost in the main flight and who were hard done by [including your correspondent] complained about the string of double sixes their opponent threw with the cube on 4 and thus they lost a gammon and the match, etc. We have heard it all before and we will again. Some players were querying why they even play if the game is that cruel, but they come back for more for this game is addictive!
Multiple entrants in the Consolation were JUREK WAWRUSZAK [6], SIEGFRIED POHLENZ [5], NICK BEGAKIS [5], ROB PARKINSON [4], STEVE DAVEY [4], ANGELO ALI [4], JOHN McLEAN [4], DON SCHULZ [3], VASSILIS [BILL] TOUBAKARIS [3]. These 10 players were in 60% of the Consolation Tournament. And interestingly enough, none made it to the final 4. Now that’s something interesting to contemplate. Says something [unsure what] about entering multiple times! And we should add that to keep the tournament moving, at about 1:00 pm the points played were reduced to 3. So if you thought it was tough at 5 points, 3 was a nightmare.
The final 4 were, EMIL ANDRAWOS, NICK PAPADOPOULOS, DALE KERR and CLAUDIE TROMP. And they played in that order with the Final being between EMIL and CLAUDIE. In this match CLAUDIE had given up hope at 4-0 down to 5 points. But as it is with this game, never lose hope. And that CLAUDIE did not and in a comeback of biblical proportions and much to EMIL’s exasperation, CLAUDIE triumphed 5-4.
CONGRATULATIONS CLAUDIE TROMP
2008 MONTHLY KNOCK OUT TOURNAMENTS
JANUARY Won by JOHN O’GRADY from CLAUDIE TROMP [8-4].
FEBRUARY Won by THEO GEORGIOU from NICK BEGAKIS [7-6].
PHOTO GALLERY
We have not included any photos of the SA Open as they are all up on the following website, courtesy of SIMON WOODHEAD, so visit www.sydbg.uniq.com.au/adelaide-08.html .
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – 12/2/08
The AGM was held on Tuesday 12th February 2007 and the audited financial statements were presented, copies circulated and the statements indicated a slight surplus for the year. They were adopted unanimously by the members present. Elections were also held without any changes in the committee as the number of nominations equalled the number of positions vacant. Recapping PRESIDENT: NICK BEGAKIS AM, TREASURER: JOHN O’GRADY, MEMBERSHIP OFFICER: SIEGFRIED POHLENZ, COMMITTEE MEMBER: VASSILIS TOUBAKARIS. A vote of thanks to the committee was proposed by members present citing members’ appreciation of the way the club is managed. After the AGM, members enjoyed a delicious supper before going back to their games.
BACKGAMMON ON THE SILVER SCREEN
Your Editor was watching television [surfing actually] recently and the vision below assailed him. Yes, in this1935 movie titled “ No more ladies”, the lead characters were playing backgammon. Your editor was unable to termine the style of play nor who was leading but it was animated play. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026787/ for more information.
