On Friday the 21st of February, in a nearly crowded tennis club ‘le Roseau’ (admittedly most of the members more interested by the football game on TV), both Brussels teams started their 4 Cubes campaign 2020 playing against each other. Brussels 1 transferred Paul van Dijke and Guy Van Middelem from Brugge, Brussels 2 welcomed newcomer Itzhak Solsky ; both teams eager to win the 4 Cubes for the Backgammon Club Brussels for the 1st time in history.
Mahir Yalçin and Alain Chif (respectively captain of Brussels 2 & 1) organised the draw for the 1st round (as the previous years, each round with 3 matches to 7-points) and they meet, Mahir emerged. Brussels 2 led 2-1 (9 encounters, first to 5 victories wins the match) with Paul crushing Riza Yalçin (BRU 2) and Itzhak winning a 4-cube last game against Guy, who missed the victory-shot at the far end.
The 2nd round saw Brussels 1 level the score to 3-3 when Guy beat Riza, Kristoffer De Weert (BRU 1) outplayed Mahir but devilish Itzhak blew Paul away.
The 3rd round was as tight as one could possibly imagine, that makes these 4 Cubes encounters so special. First, Paul had his share of luck against Mahir, Brussels 1 leading 4-3 in the overall score. Then, Alain, in front by 5 – 3 (remember, to 7), lost a double gammon against Riza, the encounter score was 4-4. Everything depended on Kristoffer & Itzhak. 0 – 2 , then 4 – 2, then 4 – 4, then 6 – 4 in favour of BRU 1.
In the Crawford game, Itzhak fought back from a nearly lost position to make it 6 – 5, DMP to come, drama at each move ! In the bear-off, the very, very, very last dice throw was a needed double 4-4 for Itzhak. What a climax for Brussels 2 and a big disappointment for Brussels 1.
That’s mind sports, folks, the atmosphere was splendid.
Keep on rolling, Guy
Alain Chif – Mahir Yalçin 0 – 1
Guy Van Middelem – Itzhak Solsky 0 – 1
Paul van Dijke – Riza Yalçin 1 – 0
Guy Van Middelem – Riza Yalçin 1 – 0
Kristoffer De Weert – Mahir Yalçin 1 – 0
Paul van Dijke – Itzhak Solsky 0 – 1
Paul van Dijke – Mahir Yalçin 1 – 0
Alain Chif – Riza Yalçin 0 – 1
Kristoffer De Weert – Itzhak Solsky 0 – 1
