4th round: Belgium-Hungary 2-2
5th round: Belgium-Croatia 2-2
In the 6th round, starting at 22:30, Belgium takes on tournament leader Denmark. Geert’s match is webstreamed at www.twitch.TV/etbc2015
Ranking after 5 rounds:
1. Denmark 15
2. Italy 14
3. Croatia 12
4. Belgium 12
5. Germany 11
6. Hungary 11
7. Norway 11
8. Greece 10
9. Austria 9
10. France 9
11. Russia 9
12. Czech Republic 8
13. United Kingdom 8
14. Iceland 8
15. Romania 8
UPDATE: Belgium-Denmark 1-3
Update, Friday 18/9 noon, Guy:
Round 1: the Belgium team is Bye. This is counted as a “3-1” victory.
Update, Friday 18/9 morning, Guy:
EU team championship starts today at 14:30.
Text message, Thursday 17/9 evening from Guy Van Middelem:
Breaking news : EU championship Budapest. Budapest Open :
On our way to Budapest for the European Backgammon Team Championship, Walter (Meuwis) and I spent a weekend in Prague to compete in our first Backgammon Master Series event.
In tournaments of this kind, all matches are recorded and afterwards transcribed in XG. That way, players can earn Master or even Grandmaster status if they perform consistently well. This initiative was taken by Rick Janowski and more information can be found on the website of the BMAB (www.bgmastersab.com)
The organizer of the Prague event is Honza Cerny. He is the motivating force behind backgammon in the Czech Republic. He made sure 8 players showed up, armed with recording equipment. As we all know, recording your matches, feeding them into XG and then analyzing them is one of the best ways to seriously study the game. In Belgium, only Walter, Luc Palmans and myself seem to have picked up this idea. Let us hope that more players will pick up this habit in the future.
On Friday night, Honza treated all players to a fine dinner in a local restaurant (see picture below) :
Then, on Saturday and Sunday, 7 rounds of 11-point matches were played. After losing my first match, I was able to win 3 in a row, so on Sunday I was very much in contention for the first prize. Walter on the other hand was not blessed with good dice and was soon out of the running.
On Sunday I had to play a 17-year-old Czech talent, Zdenek Zizka. I won the match and we both played at Grandmaster level (Michel : 2,93, Zdenek 2,61). Later I lost to his mother (Eva Zizkova) so I had to beat Honza to win the tournament. It was a tense fight, which I managed to win under extreme time pressure (7 seconds left at 3-away 3-away). PR’s in that match were : Michel : 3,29, Honza : 4,79.
So Zdenek and I both had 5 wins out of 7, but I was declared the winner based on our mutual result.
On Tuesday morning, all matches had been transcribed (these Czech players know their business) and my average PR over the 7 matches was 4,28… If it had not been for one “bad match” (PR of 7,22 …) I would have scored a Grandmaster result. It was not to be. My next attempt will be the BMS event in Nottingham in October.
M
The tournament took place on Saturday, September 12 (see announcement). Organizers were Paul Baeyens and tournament director Paulus van Rooijen.
In the final, Misja Alma (NL) defeated Ronny Conaert (B).
Hereby a report (in Dutch) from Geert Van der Stricht about the 40th World Championship in Monte Carlo, August 4–9, 2015: “Nieuwe avonturen in Monte Carlo”.
In Monte Carlo, Geert played Michihito “Michy” Kageyama, a match which was streamed on YouTube (see earlier post here). The match record is now available too: *.xg.
In the main flight of the World Championship 2015 in Monaco, Belgian champion 2013 Geert Van der Stricht met Michihito “Michy” Kageyama. (In an earlier version of this post, I wrote that Michy was a former world champion. This is wrong however, as kindly pointed out to me by Zsolt. See also the List of World Backgammon Champions.)
The match was streamed live, and the video is available on YouTube:
A record of the match is available too: *.xg.
Johan Segers hammered his way to a convincing triumph at BBD1 yesterday. He nailed a 5-win streak to clinch a resounding victory.
Paul van Dijke was runner-up (4/5) with Geert Dooms, Zsolt Tasnadi and Bert Van Kerckhove sharing 2nd place (4/5).
The hometeam was able to hold on to the Brugse Zotten, but only with the narrowest of margins. Leuven BC came close to achieving a sensational steal, but 5th round victories by Brugge’s Eddy Cabooter and Nigel Vergaerde made sure the hoard of local beer stayed in Brugge.
More later this week.
M
In café De Bengel on the Grote Markt in Antwerp, 12 players gathered to compete for the 2015 Antwerp Master title. In Swiss format, 9 rounds had to be played (matches to 9 points). (more…)
After many 5’s and 6’s this is the correct invitation for the event in Brugge.
Dear Backgammon Friends!
You are invited to participate in the 11th Backgammon Masters Tournament in Antwerp, which will take place in the second weekend of January 2015.
Saturday-Sunday, January 10-11, 2015
Café “Den Bengel”, Grote Markt 5, B-2000 Antwerp
9 rounds Swiss system. 9 point matches, digital clocks (18 minutes + 12 seconds).
There is also an Amateur group on Sunday (January 11).
System of play (Swiss system or round robin) will depend on the number of participants.
They will play 5 point matches, without clocks.
Please make your reservation in advance, because the number of participants has a certain maximum.
We hope to meet you in Antwerp !
Kind regards,
LJL Nardy Pillards
nardy.pillards@gmail.com
31 players showed up for this tournament. After playing 6 matches each (except for the persons who had a bye) Toon Van Herreweghen won the cup, runner up was Leonidas Sotiriadis and Michel Lamote ended on 3th place. Thanks to all others players who participated!! (also Bert and Ernie). Read full report. Michel gave a professional lecture, also to be seen on previous link.
Sunday, 30 November 2014, 9:00–19:00
Sociaal Restaurant “De Drukkerij”
Valkerijgang 26, 3000 Leuven
Contact: Johan Segers (bgleuven@gmail.com)
Detailed information on http://backgammon-leuven.be/LeuvenOpen-2014.html
Below please find a letter from the Danish and Croation Backgammon Federations sent to all European national backgammon federations on June 7, 2014. Information on the team tournament (Dubrovnik, September 26-28, 2014) is to be found in the flyer.
Do you wish to play for Belgium in the team tournament or represent Belgium at the founding general assembly of the European Backgammon Federation? Please contact Johan Segers at BGLeuven@gmail.com.
Hello to all backgammon federations and players,
As you might have already heard, Croatian Backgammon Federation and Danish Backgammon Federation have proposed the establishment of the common framework for international backgammon cooperation – European Backgammon Federation.
Backgammon, as the world’s oldest board game, up to this day, doesn’t have any international federation. It is our vision that backgammon must be more recognized as a mind sport game, and not just as gambling game. Therefore, it seems best to us that backgammon should follow the path of already recognized board and card games – chess and bridge.
Backgammon, as purely individual game, should, like its mentioned fellow mind games, organize teams tournaments, championship and leagues, in addition to individual tournaments. By doing that, it should be more easier and more efficient to attract sponsors and money, especially for the national teams.
In our talks to our partners – national backgammon federations in the continent of Europe, we learned that majority of federations like and accept this ideas. We understand that in the beginning there might be certain problems and tough start, but we hope that all can and should organize its national associations, send the national team to the European Team Championship (ideal for attracting the sponsors).
Representatives from Croatia, Denmark, Norway and Bosnia and Herzegovina participated at the initial live meeting in Zagreb, Croatia on 6th December 2013, together with written endorsement of Italy and Greece.
We agreed that the first European Team Championship (for national teams) should be organized in Dubrovnik, Croatia from 26th until 28th September 2014.
In addition, during the Team Championship, founding General Assembly of the European Backgammon Federation will take place, where representatives from each national federation will have one vote and this forum will be the highest authority to democratically decide our path for the future of organized backgammon in Europe.
Those nations that doesn’t have their national associations yet, will be provided opportunity to send their national teams, right to participate in the General Assembly, but without voting rights (associate members), which should in certain period of time actually establish its non-profit association.
Membership fee for the national associations will be decided by the founding General Assembly, but we reccomend to be very symbolic and low so we attract all, but that we have certain ammount to cover the initial costs of the organisation. EUBGF should also work to find its sponsors independently in the future.
Not to waste precious time, there will be e-mail discussion necessary in preparing the official document drafts (Statute of the European Backgammon Federation, EUBGF Rating List Rules etc.). We invite all federations to actively participate in these discussions with their own ideas, which we should present transparently.
Each country should be represented by its ONE national team, consisting of 4 players and 3 reserves (+captain if he’s non-playing). The entry fee is 1000 Euro, registration fee 100 Euro. European Team Championship will be played in 7 rounds swiss format, where top 4 teams qualify for the Playoff Knockout stage (Semifinals, 3rd Place match and Finals). Match lengths will be to 15 points, all clocked (30min per player + 12 sec Bronstein delay per move). As our organisation is new and in the start without any money, we ask national teams to bring with them 3 backgammon boards of standard dimensions and 2 digital clocks per each team.
Eligibility to play for the national team should belong to players who have citizenship of the represented country, which should be proven on spot with official ID or passport.
Thank you all to support the idea and hope to see you all in Dubrovnik at the Founding General Assembly.
STEEN GRONBECH
Danish Backgammon Federation President
GORDAN MARKOTIC
Croatian Backgammon Federation representative
LEONARDO JERKOVIC
EUBGF Working Committee Coordinator
The Nordic Open is played yearly in Copenhagen around the Easter weekend. It is currently the biggest backgammon tournament in the world, reflecting the popularity and the level of the game in Denmark. Besides the main tournament, there are many side tournaments: doubles, speed, ladies, jackpots, etc.
The main tournament is divided into several flights, according to the entry fee: Championship (700 €), Advanced (170 €), Intermediate (33 €) and Beginner (0 €). Tournament format is a double elimination: if you lose once, you get a second chance in the fighter’s bracket. Four players from the main bracket and four players from the fighter’s bracket together make up the final eight, who play quarter finals, semi-finals, and the final. The full results for all flights and brackets can be found on GammonManager.
Michel Lamote and Luc Palmans registered for the Championship flight, and Walter Meuwis and myself registered for the Advanced flight. It was Walter who put Belgium on the backgammon map by winning the Advanced flight. Congratulations, Walter! He first won two consecutive 15-point matches in the main bracket but lost the third one and ended up in the fighter’s bracket. There he survived four 11-point matches to find himself in the final eight. He prolonged his winning streak in the quarter final (15-point match), semi-final (17-point match), and the final (19-point match) against Aref Alipour. In the decisive game in the final, Walter was trailing 15-16. He offered an early cube, sensing a blitz was in the air. His intuition was right, and with a marvellous shifting manoeuvre he denied his opponent a chance to anchor. When his opponent finally managed to enter his two checkers from the bar, the gammon was a certainty and the match was over. Great job!
The other Belgians were less fortunate. Most unlucky was Michel, who lost among others a freak backgammon on a 4-cube. As for myself, I lost twice in fairly close matches in the Advanced. Our Dutch friends Paulus van Rooijen and Paul van Dijke, both in the Advanced level too, did not make it very far either. Still, Paulus van Rooijen reached the semi-finals of the speed gammon tournament (5-point matches, Bronstein, 2 minutes for the match plus 10 seconds per move), offering the spectators some exciting matches to watch.
The tournament was excellently organised, offering a total backgammon experience. There were many interesting matches between top players to watch. The Japanese professional Mochizuki Masayuki organised a backgammon proficiency test and gave a highly interesting seminar. All in all, it’s been a wonderful backgammon weekend in beautiful and sunny Copenhagen!
— Johan
Hi all,
The 9th Gent Open took place on Saturday, April 5, 2014.
Congratulations to the winners Luc (masters), Pierre (intermediate) and Sofie (beginners).
See you all at the 10th edition next year!
Kind regards,
Bert
Ranking after round 7 of Gent Open 2014
No. PNo. Name Score
───────────────────────────────────────────
1. 10 Luc Palmans 6.0
2. 3 Pierre Viau 5.0
12 Paulus van Rooijen 5.0
13 Guy Van Middelem 5.0
20 Rogier van Gemert 5.0
23 Johan Segers 5.0
7. 1 Dirk Laureyssens 4.0
4 Rinus Feldman 4.0
7 Bert Van Kerckhove 4.0
14 Marius Hentea 4.0
15 Toon Van Herreweghen 4.0
17 Johan Vervust 4.0
13. 8 Geert Van der Stricht 3.0
16 Pascal Vanneste 3.0
19 Marc Steyvers 3.0
21 Louis Jeannin 3.0
22 Kristoffer De Weert 3.0
24 Johan Brisaert 3.0
19. 2 Paul van Dijke 2.0
5 Fakri Salasi 2.0
6 Nardy Pillards 2.0
11 Akbar Soltani 2.0
18 Peter Allemeersch 2.0
24. 9 Sofie Brisaert 1.0
Tournament Results Table after round 7 of Gent Open 2014
nr Name R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1 Dirk Laureyssens +13 +17 +10 +3 -12 -4 -20
2 Paul van Dijke -14 -16 -11 +18 +9 -17 -22
3 Pierre Viau +15 +21 +14 -1 +13 -10 +4
4 Rinus Feldman +16 -14 -17 +9 +19 +1 -3
5 Fakri Salasi -17 -13 -15 +22 +18 -8 -16
6 Nardy Pillards +18 -20 -19 +16 -21 -24 -
7 Bert Van Kerckhove +19 +23 +20 -10 +14 -12 -13
8 Geert Van der Stricht -20 -18 +22 -24 +11 +5 -23
9 Sofie Brisaert -21 +15 -23 -4 -2 -19 -11
10 Luc Palmans +22 +24 -1 +7 +23 +3 +12
11 Akbar Soltani -23 -19 +2 -15 -8 -22 +9
12 Paulus van Rooijen -24 +22 +18 +19 +1 +7 -10
13 Guy Van Middelem -1 +5 +24 +20 -3 +21 +7
14 Marius Hentea +2 +4 -3 +21 -7 -20 +19
15 Toon Van Herreweghen -3 -9 +5 +11 +24 -23 +21
16 Pascal Vanneste -4 +2 -21 -6 -22 +18 +5
17 Johan Vervust +5 -1 +4 -23 -20 +2 +24
18 Peter Allemeersch -6 +8 -12 -2 -5 -16 +
19 Marc Steyvers -7 +11 +6 -12 -4 +9 -14
20 Rogier van Gemert +8 +6 -7 -13 +17 +14 +1
21 Louis Jeannin +9 -3 +16 -14 +6 -13 -15
22 Kristoffer De Weert -10 -12 -8 -5 +16 +11 +2
23 Johan Segers +11 -7 +9 +17 -10 +15 +8
24 Johan Brisaert +12 -10 -13 +8 -15 +6 -17
Michel Lamote : “We had to win 4 matches to win this title. First we beat two Turkish players, then a team from the Czech Republic. This brought us to the semi-finals where we beat Peter Blachian (2014 European Champion) and his partner. In the final on March 31, 2014, we faced two players from Austria: Henno Löbler and Friedrich Rattinger.
The final was played to 11 points. Readers can replay the match if they want (match record), but especially the last game was incredibly exciting. We were 3-away 2-away and were at a disadvantage in the game from the start. The game developed from a priming battle to a 1-3 backgame and culminated in a coup classique (see position 1). They rolled a 4-1 and Walter rolled a 2, so we were still alive.
A couple of rolls later our opponents were considering this position (Position 2) : after discussing for 6 minutes, they doubled us. Now, what to do?
To be honest, I had no clue. We need 25% to take this cube, the equity we have if we were to drop and play from being down 8-10 Crawford. But how much winning chances do we have in this position? Do you know?
Well, I did not, but … Walter did.”
Walter Meuwis : “I knew this was a take. I was hoping that they were going to give it to us, so we could give it back to 4 and play for the match”.
Michel : “I was in no position to argue for a Pass, since I could not pinpoint our winning chances. So I agreed to take. This brought an excited murmur from the 20 or so bystanders (it was the last match played), who apparently could not believe their eyes. But the unlikely happened : we left a blot on the ace, got hit, managed to pick up the second checker and close them out. We then had to leave a shot in the bearoff, got hit and had to hit three times in the outfield to bring the position home.
After the match had ended, there was immediate heated discussion as to what the correct cube decision was. At last somebody checked the position on an iPhone and declared it was a correct double and a clear pass. Still, Walter kept daring everyone to place a 50€ bet on the correctness of his decision, finding some eager customers. Eventually ExtremeGammon was set to work (extensive rollouts were done) and the decision to Take proved to be correct.
Walter and I were happy with the trophy, but also with our performance : in the final we had a Performance Rate of 2,42 and even handled the cube better than the bot. Our average PR in the 4 matches played was 3,14, which is honourable, we think.
Hopefully, more players from Belgium will make the step to international backgammon. It is a great way to compete and some of our best players definitely have the skills to compete on the highest levels.
See you all later.”
Dear all,
Last weekend (Jan 11-12, 2014) we played the Masters in Antwerp, Belgium. (See announcement.) I am very happy to send you the results.
We had 21 players in the Masters Group, they played 9 rounds of 9 point matches in a straight Swiss system.
Result:
1/2 Paul Gilbertson, Paulus van Rooijen (7 out of 9)
3/7 Rogier van Gemert, Michel Lamote, Walter Meuwis, Bert Van Kerckhove, Johan Segers (6 out of 9)
We also had 9 players in the Amateur Group, they played a round robin of 5 point matches and a final.
Result:
1. Cem Fidan 6 out of 8
2. Nabil Antoun 6 out of 8
3. George Voinea 5 out of 8
4. Louise Vellekoop 5 out of 8
You can see a professionally made photo series on http://www.frankviergever.nl/
Paulus van Rooijen
Line krijgt de Special Player Award in Cyprus. Die prijs wordt elk jaar, in Cyprus, gegeven door de toernooidirecteur, Chiva. Bij de uitreiking zei hij ”because she is here for the first time and came specially from Belgium…”. Het was ook de 3de keer dat ze op een toernooi, ingericht door Chiva, erbij was. Ze heeft ook goed gespeeld, in een bracket van 64 spelers heeft ze de 1/8 finale gehaald in een DMP toernooi. Michel en ik hebben de double consultation gespeeld en zijn gestrand in de 1/4 finale, grrrrrrrrrrr. Het single toernooi was het systeem van 3 levens. Michel speelde 4 ronden, Line ook en ik had geluk dat 1 van mijn tegenspelers niet opdaagde zo heb ik 5 ronden gespeeld. Het was een fijne vakantie en een leerrijk toernooi.
Gtrs Peter
The 5th German Championship was held in Sulzbach (Frankfurt-a-Main) and attracted more than 100 players, who competed in 3 divisions : Beginner, Intermediate and Champions. (more…)
Beste Backgammon liefhebbers,
Bedankt om het elfde Antwerp Open Backgammon Tornooi weer tot een succes te maken.
Met 18 deelnemers in het hoofdtornooi en 8 super jackpot deelnemers mogen wij echt niet klagen in deze tijden van crisis.
In de finale van de main won Misja Alma van Guy Van Middelem.
In de consolation ging de strijd tussen de onverbiddelijke Susan van der Heijden en Maurits Pino, respectievelijk 1 en 2.
Ook in de finale van de superjackpot was het Susan die tegen Paulus Van Roooen aan het langste eind trok, met een spectaculaire 16-cube in een 15-punten match.
Bedankt, beste vrienden, voor een backgammon weekend vol spanning en hopelijk tot volgend jaar op de twaalfde editie van de Antwerp Open!
Vriendelijke groeten,
Paul Baeyens
Main: 18 deelnemers
Winner: Misja Alma
Runner-up: Guy van Middelem
Consolation winner: Susan van der Heijden
Consolation runner-up: Maurits Pino
Superjackpot: 8 deelnemers
Winner: Susan van der Heijden
Runner-up: Paulus van Rooien
Below is the list of players representing Belgium in the 3rd International Backgammon Championship: (more…)
Beste backgammon liefhebbers,
Het zal weer snel september zijn en dan is het weer tijd voor de Antwerp Open!
Zaterdag 14 september:
Café “Den Engel”, Grote Markt 3, 2000 Antwerpen.
Zondag 15 september:
Café “Den Bengel”, Grote Markt 5, 2000 Antwerpen.
De formule blijft dezelfde. Registratie op zaterdag 14 september tussen 11 en 12 uur en dan hopen we rond 13 uur van start te kunnen gaan met de 11e editie van de Antwerp Open.
Op zondag 15 september spelen we de super jackpot. Registratie tussen 12 en 13 uur.
Eddy en ik zullen weer van de partij zijn ik hoop jullie ook.
See you soon, for some fun and games!
Paul Baeyens
+32 (0)475 256734
Congratulations to Geert for this magnificent feat! Must have been a cheap holiday for him…
Full results on the website of the 38th Backgammon World Championship via GammonManager.
The US Backgammon Federation, Japanese Backgammon League, & French Backgammon Federation Bring You The Most Exciting OnLine Backgammon Event of the Year! 16 players from Belgium can participate. Players from Belgium wanting to participate are kindly requested to contact Johan at pascal.vanneste.brugge@gmail.com by Saturday, August 24. If there should be more than 16 players, the Bigelo rating list, with matches played up to and including Friday, August 23th, will decide. Below please find the official invitation. (more…)
A big thanks to Patrick De Wilde (Leuven) for the realization of the videos and to Michel Lamote (Brugge) for the annotations. See also the tournament report. (more…)
Results of the 10th Antwerp Open
September 9-10, 2012
Café Den Bengel, Grote Markt 5, Antwerp
Antwerp Backgammon Club VZW (more…)
Report (in Dutch) by Walter Meuwis. Results and pictures on the website of the Czechoslovak Backgammon Federation. (more…)
Among the 20 participants at the Printencup Aachen (Saturday, Augsut 18, 2012), the closest backgammon tournament abroad, no less than 7 were Belgian. And they achieved a fine result too, Steven Steeno reaching the final of the main and Luc Palmans winning the final of the consolation. Tournament winner was Matthias Laske (report). (more…)
