Author: Johan

On Tuesday 20 December 2022, Robin Bilderbeek and I (Michel Lamote) met at the Sandeman to play the opening three matches of our Level 2 duel (TR: Geert Van der Stricht). I started off well by narrowly winning M1 (7-6), but Robin took the PR point by a tiny margin (PR 4,44 v PR 4,59): 1-1. Robin went on to win M2 with a PR of 2,8 (!) which would have been enough for a 3-1 lead, had it not been for my better PR of 2,14: 2-2. Finally, Match 3 also went to Robin, albeit with an outlier PR of 8,57: 3-3.

Then, five weeks later, on Tuesday 31 January 2023, this Level 2 duel was played to a finish. In the monastic quiet of the Sandeman I won Match 4, but some inexplicable checker play blunders (“oversights”, “lapses of concentration” – think up your own euphemism) resulted in a disturbing PR of 8,00. This not only gave Robin the PR point, but also narrowed the gap in overall PR to 0,5: 4-4. All to play for…

For Robin, a major upset is in the making. He started the RBL season in Level 5, but excellent performances against Maurits Pino, Bert Van Kerckhove and Johan Segers catapulted him to Level 2. If he can somehow win M5 with a better PR, he would move up to Level 1 and achieve the unthinkable.

Fast forward to the climax of this match. It is DMP and we are in the bear-off. Robin is a huge favourite with 95% winning chances. Moreover, albeit unbeknownst to either Robin or myself, Robin is also leading on PR (!). In other words, in 19 out of 20 cases, Robin will win M5 and take the PR point for an astounding 6-4 victory and a Level 1 encounter with Belgium’s best player, Marc Vandamme.

However, after a blood-curdling sequence of dice rolls, M5 slipped away from Robin’s grasp. This brought the final score to 5-5. Now, the overall PR was going to break the tie. Here again Robin was tantalizingly close, but to the open-mouthed bewilderment of all present, a fractional difference of 0,18 meant that Robin’s ascent had come to an end.

Still, Robin’s RBL odyssey continues. He now has a barrage duel to play against Paul van Dijke (five matches). Dipping below the 5PR mark would certainly give his amazing run even more polish. For Paul, this duel presents an ultimate opportunity to make his RBL season a success: a win would secure a spot in Level 2 for next year and send RBL’s potential Player of the Year back to Level 3.

— Michel

In the Red Beaver League, players play three, five, or seven matches against each other whereby one point is awarded for the winner of the game and one point for the player with the best PR. This Ultimate Backgammon Championship (UBC) format has provided some intense backgammon drama in the course of this playing season.

On Tuesday 27 December 2022 six players and three TR’s (= Transcriber Referees) met at the Sandeman in Gent to play their duels to a finish. Here is what happened.

In the first encounter of Level 2 (TR: Robin Bilderbeek), Johan Huyck proved a bit too strong for Paul van Dijke. The points were shared in Match 1 (1-1), but Matches 2 and 3 swept the carpet from under Paul’s feet. Johan won both of them convincingly (7-0 and 7-1), thanks not only to excellent form, but also to better Luck rates (+2 and +3). This brought the score to 5-1. The only way for Paul to still win the duel was by winning the two remaining matches with better PR’s. This did not happen, although Paul went down fighting. He won Match 4 on PR (3,73 v 3,83), but stood no chance against Johan’s +3,8 Luck rate. As Paul was now 6-2 down with one match to play, there was no need to play Match 5.

This result allows Johan to progress to Level 1 where he will meet Geert Van der Stricht in a duel consisting of seven matches. If Paul can win his barrage duel (five matches) against either Robin Bilderbeek or me (Michel Lamote) he will secure a spot in Level 2 for the upcoming season.

The second encounter on that midwinter Tuesday was the Level 3 barrage duel between Johan Segers and Paulus van Rooijen (TR: Michel Lamote). The winner would be sure to start the next RBL playing season in Level 3, whereas the loser would relegate to Level 4. Paulus took a blistering start by winning M1 and M2 with better PR’s, giving him a 4-0 advantage. Insurmountable? Not so fast. Johan promptly won M3 with a better PR so that everything was still possible: 4-2. However, Paulus took two vital points in M4, which sealed Johan’s fate. Final score: 6-2.

At table 3, Bert Van Kerckhove and Guy Van Middelem were set to play their barrage duel to a finish (TR: Nick De Ruyck). A week before Bert had won M1, but Guy had snatched an unexpected point with a 4,48 PR: 1-1. Guy then proceeded to win M2 and M3, albeit with lesser PR’s, resulting in a 3-3 score.

Today, in the first match of the afternoon (M4), Bert cruised to a 6-0 lead, but Guy was close to staging a comeback. Eventually Bert won 7-2 and, with the better PR, was now 5-3 up. The only thing Bert had to avoid in M5 was to lose the match with a significantly worse PR, because in case of a 5-5 draw, the average PR would come into play. Guy was able to produce another world class performance (PR 4,45), but to no avail. Bert stood his ground by winning M5 with an equally good PR (4,80). This 6-4 victory means that Bert will hold on to his Level 4 spot whereas Guy will start the next playing season in Level 5.

You can peruse the updated RBL Results and Leaderboard by clicking on the RBL tab in the menu.

— Michel Lamote

Three BGFed.be members (Sonja Custers, Nick De Ruyck and Itzhak Solsky) are competing for one or two spots in the 2023-2024 Red Beaver League playing roster. In the first round, they played two duels each, whereby each duel consisted of three matches to 7 points.

Itzhak Solsky is proving to be the man of the hour by winning both his duels with eye-catching PR’s. In his last duel, he beat Sonja Custers 5-1 with an average PR of … 3,52 (!!). For somebody who has only recently appeared on the Belgian backgammon scene, this is phenomenal. His overall PR after six matches is 4,78, an achievement which even our best players – except maybe the top-3 – would be happy with.

The continuation of the RBL Qualifiers (or: RBL Q) consists of a final round whereby Sonja, Nick and Itzhak will once again play two duels against each other. All eyes will certainly be on Itzhak to see how much improvement this highly motivated and dedicated player can make in the coming months.

In the Red Beaver League 2022 spreadsheet, please check the RBL Q Results and RBL Q Leaderboard tabs for detailed results.

— Michel Lamote

After winning his duel in Level 5 against Maurits Pino (4-0) and surprisingly beating Bert Van Kerckhove in Level 4 (4-2), Robin faced seasoned Red Beaver Johan Segers in Level 3. Based on the pre-covid BMS Grading Table, Johan was the favourite with a PR of 5,65 behind his name. Robin’s PR of 7,25 indicated a small, but meaningful skill difference. Note that both these PRs were based on the players’ last 600 EP (= Experience Points), i.e. the equivalent of eighty-five 7-point matches. In short, a reliable indication of their playing strength … two years ago.

Johan was conscious of Robin’s recent eye-catching performances and did not take this duel lightly. He won the first match with a respectable PR (5,04), but saw Robin take a point with a better PR (4,57). That meant 1-1 after the first match.

As the tension rose, the second match went Robin’s way. He won 7-2. Moreover, his PR was again better than Johan’s: 3,51 (!) versus 5,22. So although Johan was playing better than his advertised PR (an accomplishment in itself), he had to undergo Robin’s consistently accurate play. Suddenly the score was 3-1 for Robin. Add to this, Robin’s overall PR was a full point better than Johan’s, so the only way for Johan to pull this duel out of the fire was to win the third match and score a significantly better PR.

Everything now hinged on the third 7-pointer. Robin’s efforts in the first two matches had clearly taken their toll. He fumbled some cube and checker play decisions. Could Johan take advantage of this? It looked like he would, but at 3-away 2-away, as Robin insta-cubed from the bar after having been Too Good for several rolls, Johan dropped this bluff-cube (0,056 No Double) which turned out to be a big, big Take (0,504). This gave his PR a brutal knock and from 3-away 1-away Crawford, it’s hard to make up a PR deficit as cube decisions almost become no-brainers. But… Johan did not know this of course.

So, Johan kept up the fight and invested all the mental energy he had in every decision. He clawed his way back in the match from 3-away 1-away Cr. and even won this gruelling 7-pointer after eleven games: 6-7. A better PR would have secured a 3-3 draw and then, who knows, maybe the overall PR would clinch the duel. In the end, however, the PR’s turned out to be close, with Robin – for the third consecutive time – having slightly the better of it: 6,33 v 6,58.

This 4-2 victory catapults Robin from a modest Level 5 starting position to Level 2 where he will meet one of Belgium’s four backgammon heavyweights. His noteworthy improvement is also reflected in the RBL Leaderboard, where he is far ahead of the pack with twelve points and an overall PR of 5,56 (after eight 7-pointers). Surely the man of the hour in Belgian backgammon!

Commiserations to Johan, who battled hard, but ended up playing slightly below his pre-covid standard. He will surely be looking to elevate his game in his Level 3 barrage duel against Paulus van Rooijen.

(Check Results in the menu on the side, including the leaderboard).

— Michel Lamote

The players who showed up at the Sandeman (Ghent) last Tuesday witnessed an exciting UBC-duel. Although Bert played at World Class level in the first two matches (PR 3,71 and PR 3,36!), his excellent performance was not enough to secure an advantage as Robin managed to score a point in match 2 with an outlier PR of… 1,91. This amazing feat resulted in a 2-2 score after two of the three matches. As Bert was leading on average PR, the only scenario he had to avoid in match 3 was a loss with a worse PR. Sure enough, this unlikely turn of events happened as Bert, down 0-1, took a gammonnish cube which was a 0,300 Pass and ended up losing four points. This misjudgement proved to be a seismic moment in the duel. Robin was now leading 5-0 in the score and had a significantly better PR. In the third game, however, Robin also took a 0,300 Pass, which brought the PR’s closer again. Fortunately for Robin he managed to win this crucial game from an underdog position and was able to finish the match while his PR was still better than Bert’s.

This 4-2 victory means that Robin is now certain of promotion to Level 4 next year. In the meantime, he progresses to Level 3 where he will meet Johan Segers. Robin also cashes a PR bounty of 30€ as his average PR over the three 7-pointers was 5,96, just 0,04 below the 6 PR bounty threshold. Bert, on the contrary, now faces Belgian Champion Guy Van Middelem in a barrage duel of five 7-pointers which will decide who stays in Level 4 and who will start the 2023-2024 RBL season in Level 5.

Congrats to both players for a memorable UBC-duel!

PS: Check out the Red Beaver League links in the menu on the side for detailed results, the playing schedule, and the rules of the competition.

— Michel Lamote

On Sunday 25 September in Vlissingen, NL, Paul van Dijke beat Paulus van Rooijen 4-2 in their Level 3 duel. Paul was lucky to win all three 7-pointers and so one PR-win was enough to secure victory.

Paul now moves up to Level 2 where he will meet Johan Huyck, whereas Paulus will play a barrage duel against Bert Van Kerckhove, Robin Bilderbeek or Johan Segers to ensure his spot in Level 3.

You can check the updated Results, Leaderboard and Playing Roster in the menu on the side.

At Orée on Monday afternoon, a hard-fought UBC-duel between Paulus van Rooijen and Belgian Champion Guy Van Middelem ended in a 3-3 draw. Paulus took a 2-0 lead after winning the first 7-point match, lost the 2^nd (but took a point for a better PR) and so went into match 3 with a 3-1 lead. Guy, however, did what he had to do, namely: win the match, both in score and (narrowly) on PR. So the final score was 3-3, which meant that the overall PR had to decide the winner. As could be expected from both players’ known skill levels, Paulus had the edge in that department (PR 5,58 v PR 7,77) making him the winner of this UBC-duel.

Paulus now moves up to Level 3 where he will meet Paul van Dijke. Guy will need to win against the loser of the match between Bert Van Kerckhove and Robin Bilderbeek to secure his spot in Level 4 of the 2023-2024 RBL playing roster.

For complete results, rules, and the schedule, please see the links in the menu.

Interested in joining the RBL 2023? Check out the call for candidates.

Last week, the two Level 5 duels were played.

At Orée on Wednesday afternoon, Guy Van Middelem beat Alain Chif 5-1 in a hard-fought duel. Guy now progresses to Level 4 where he will meet Paulus Van Rooijen. Alain, who saw his fine performance marred by two resignation errors, will play Maurits Pino to secure spot (10) in the 2023-2024 RBL playing roster.

On Sunday, Maurits was 0-4 down against Robin Bilderbeek after two matches, which made the 3rd match unimportant. Robin promotes to Level 4 where he will meet Bert Van Kerckhove in Autumn.

The first edition of the Red Beaver League, created by Michel Lamote, is about to kick off. More information here. For results, check out the RBL 2022 link in the menu on the right.