The 2006 East Coast 'Movers & Shakers' Backgammon Tournament

The 2006 East Coast 'Movers & Shakers' Backgammon Tournament

by Hamish Whetstone

Trophies stay in NSW

Winner Chris Newcombe (left) with organiser Hamish Whetstone

Many thanks to all the players who participated in the second East Coast ‘Movers & Shakers’ Backgammon Tournament, held last week on the 30 September & 1 October at the Byron Bay Beach Resort.

We ended up with a 34 player field from Qld, Nsw, VIc and the U.s.a for the Swiss Qualifier, which Steve Roberts(qld) topped followed closely by Peter Brown(syd), Jay Deva(syd), Simon Woodhead(syd) and Craig Duxbury(nsw).
After two days of good competition it got down to Chris Newcombe from Newcastle against Ian Dunstan from Sydney in the final. Ian had been unbeatable all day and progressed straight into the final, which meant Chris would have to beat Ian twice to win the tournament, which is what he did, 7-3 in the first match and a very close 7-6 in the re-match. Well done guys it was an entertaining match to watch and a close battle to the end. Third place went to Craig Duxbury from Molindar.
Other winners included Roger Micallef (vic) in the 8-player single elimination consolation round, Cate Gibson(nsw) in the 16-player single elimination consolation round and Tim Hochgrebe (Byron Bay) representing Germany took out the Origin Trophy over Andrew Kavasilas(Nimbin) who was playing for Greece.

A big cheers goes out to Perri and Georgia for their great organizational skills behind the desk and for their effiency in getting players paired off quickly, thanks ladies.

A couple of things didn’t eventuate as planned, Thirst of all the wine sponsor didn’t send the promised wine in time, which was unfortunate for the registered players and friends and embarassing for us...sorry about that (i guess there aren’t any good backgammon players working for Scarlett Wines, because timing is everything)... you would think that next year should be a good plentiful vintage.
The BBQ originally was going to be on the verandah but due to logistical reasons it was decided to cook the meals in the kitchen. We appreciate it is not the same but it became too difficult to organize the bbq outside, we hope it wasn’t too much of a let down.

Results:

Winner: Chris Newcombe
Runner-up: Ian Dunstan
Third Place: Craig Duxbury
Top Swiss Qualifier: Steve Roberts
Consolation 8-player: Roger Micallef
Consolation 16-player: Cate Gibson
Origin Winner: Tim Hochgrebe
Calcutta Auction: Chris Newcombe
Bonus Pool: Ian Dunstan
Door Prize: Sue Murray