Bert becomes Dutch Champion in Den Bosch (NL)

Bert (r) receives the trophy from Jan Kollenbach (l) (foto : M)

With four consecutive wins in 11-point matches Bert Van Kerckhove won the Nederlands Kampioenschap.  This result is that more amazing since Bert also won the Rotterdam Super Sunday the previous weekend.  Two tournament wins on Dutch soil in less than 8 days surely is an achievement worth mentioning.  It may well be unprecedented, but as I have no access to the Dutch backgammon archives, I mention this with some caution.

Bert started with a bang by eliminating last year’s Dutch champion Nouri and then had to face the Dutch chess player and commentator Hans Böhm.  The match went to DMP and had a thrilling climax.  Bert was hit in the bear-off and needed some luck to get his checker around the board.  Hans most probably did not execute the containment tactics perfectly, but could nevertheless be considered unfortunate not to be able to close Bert’s straggler out.

Now Bert faced Arthur Braackx in the semi-final.  Arthur is an adventurous money-game player, but knows his way around match-play as well.  Bert, however, was in no mood to hand out presents.  With astonishing resolve (and good dice of course) he steamrolled Arthur off the board in no time.  Arthur was so dazed after this impressive display of power backgammon, that he looked in danger of quitting backgammon altogether and take up knitting.

In the final Bert showed no signs of slowing down.  His opponent was the experienced Dutch player Paul Van Koningshoven, a man of many battles.  Bert courageously took some scary-looking doubles early in the match and was rewarded for this bravery when a couple of well-timed jokers turned the tables.  Whenever Paul got a glimmer of a chance, Bert responded with crushing high-equity rolls which left his opponent numb.  Paul took it in good stride though and was visibly relieved when this ordeal was over.  That left Bert with another prestigious title under his belt, that of Dutch Champion 2015.  Congratulations!

Also worth mentioning is the Consolation win in Group B by Nick De Ruyck (Ghent BC) and the victory of Robin Bilderbeek (Ghent BC) over … me.  Also Archil Katamadze (Ghent BC) was able to string a couple of wins together in Group A.  With four players, the backgammon club of Gent was well represented and certainly left an impression in Den Bosch.

M