Marc Van Damme is the new RBL Champion and BGFed.be’s 23-24 UBC Champion! He beat last year’s winner Geert Van der Stricht by a tiny margin: 9-9. Marc wins on Overall PR (OPR)
Marc did not receive the RBL trophy on a silver platter. He survived a nailbiter against Bert Van Kerckhove, then beat Michel Lamote in convincing fashion and eventually defeated Geert in a thrilling final, which can be watched on Rain’s YouTube channel.
Geert took two crucial points in M7 with a super 2.90 PR and suddenly had good prospects of retaining his title: 8-6. However, in M8 Marc was able to regain the advantage with a narrow 7-5 win and an equally impressive 2.54 PR: 8-8.
Time pressure was a recurring theme in this contest and M9 was not different. With only a handful of seconds on the clock, Marc was able to stumble over the finish line with a 7-5 victory and a narrow PR loss: 9-9. In the end, it was his fine, but not impressive 4.09 OPR which won him the title as Geert came harrowingly close to a major upset. Geert’s OPR of 4,36 fell only 0.27 PR points short of a major surprise!
A glance at the Final Leaderboard tells us Marc is the deserved winner although it turned out to be a coin toss in the end.
Marc can now rest on his laurels till spring 2025 and Geert will occupy the top spot in RBL 24-25’s start grid.
Congratulations and many thanks to our two best players for an entertaining and instructive Final!
Michel Lamote (tournament director)
