Geert Van der Stricht wins BBD2 with clean sheet! (now with extra photos!)

The 2nd Brugge Backgammon Day opened innocently enough with an introduction of all players (click on photos to enlarge) :

Player presentation at BBD2.

In the first round, defending champion Johan Segers’ streak of 5 consecutive wins ended at the hands of Leonidas, ranked n° 4 on the BGFed Rating list :

Leonidas, staring down Johan (l) (photo : Paulus van Rooijen / frank viergever)

After 2 rounds, players took a break for lunch :

(l to r) Dan, Nigel, Eddy, Isabelle and Ronny (photo : Robin)

The 3rd round match between Alain Chif and Eddy Cabooter was a close affair.  The exciting climax was watched by 10 kibitzers (!) : (left to right : Johan, Sassan, Zsolt, Dan, Leonidas, Michel, Geert, Kristoffer, Maurits and Marc)

Watching Eddy and Alain battling it out (photo Paulus van Rooijen / frank viergever)

The 4th round saw some players shifting their focus to more rewarding matters :

We can recognize Luc behind a dark Leffe… (photo : Paulus vanRooijen / frank viergever)

After 4 rounds of play, two players were still unbeaten : Geert and Johan Huyck, both professional mathematicians :

Johan (l) en Geert (r) in the final (foto : Robin)

The thrilling final went all the way to DMP in which Geert was able to bust Johan’s well-timed 5-1 backgame after surviving a double shot while bearing in.  Congratulations to a deserving winner!

Geert left) proudly poses with BBD2 trophy.

The trophy : a handmade, wooden baffle-box (created by : Robin Bilderbeek).

Since the match was recorded, we know that Geert and Johan both put down a worthy performance :

(Geert plays 3,53. Johan plays 2,87)

Johan ended up sharing 2nd place with Maurits Pino, Luc Palmans and Marc Steyvers.

Here is the final ranking :

Sofie Brisaert received a BBD2 memento as youngest participant :

Sofie (l) playing Isabelle (r) on Maurits’s flashy new board.

Sofie’s prize (created by : Robin Bilderbeek)

Hope to see you all at the 11th Gent Open on Saturday March 19.

M