Rating list: update delayed due to technical problem

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Johan

As you may have noticed, the rating list is showing the situation of a few weeks ago. The website has moved recently to a new server, but there’s been a technical issue. We’re working on the problem. In the meantime, sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you for your patience.

(Update March 2.) We’ve found and solved the problem now. The rating list is up-to-date again, with match results included up to February 26. Feel free to check. Should anything be missing, please let me know. Thanks once more for you understanding, — Johan S.

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Gibraltar Open 2020: Mochy v Sebastian Wilkinson

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Johan

Robin ‘Rain’ Bilderbeek and Michel Lamote have edited the video of the commentated match between Mochy and Sebastian Wilkinson, with among others additional XG analysis of interesting situations. Great stuff!

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Gent Open Backgammon XV

Posted on February 23, 2020 by Johan

Gent Open Backgammon

Zaterdag 21 maart 2020

Toernooi formaat

Zwitsers, 7 ronden, matches tot 7 punten met klok.
Klok: 14 minuten + 12 seconden per zet, Bronstein.

Masters, intermediate en beginners samen in 1 tabel, Zwitsers syteem.

Programma

10u00 – 10u45 registratie en loting
11u00 – 17u00 eerste 4 matches
na 4 ronden 1 uur pauze
18u00 – 23u00 laatste 3 matches
23u00 prijsuitreiking

Lokatie

K.A. Club Union Sandeman
Kantienberg 5
9000 Gent
België

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Last roll double clinches Brussels 4 Cubes 2020 derby

Posted on February 22, 2020 by Johan

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

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Results Brussels Friendly 97

Posted on February 16, 2020 by Johan

Dear backgammon friends and/or Backgammon Club Brussels members,

Brussels Friendly 97 was played on Friday the 7th of February, with 16 participants and the win for Lorenzo Pacini with 4 victories. Congratulations !

We welcomed 2 new members : Chantal Lensen & Vincent Hubert and wish them all the successes they deserve.

Martinos Stamboltsyan, Vincent, Theo Sarmanidis & Antoine Demey follow with 3 victories.

Brussels Friendly Championship 2020: February standings

Please, take a look at the above pdf document with the February standings, after 2 rounds of the Brussels Friendly 2020 Championship ; note the performances from Liliane Baptista (2x), Theo, Ithzak Solsky, Martinos, Cyrus Parastar, Almira Bucan and Vincent.

Next round : Brussels Friendly 98, on the 6th of March.

Leuven organises his BG Leuven Monthly on Sunday the 23rd of February at 13.45 hours in ‘de Vaart’.

Save the date : BF 100 on Friday the 1st of May at 09.30 hours (breakfast & lunch included in the 25,- € registration fee).

Keep on rolling, kind regards, Guy

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Gibraltar Backgammon Championship 2020: Live Commentary by Michel Lamote assisted by International Grandmasters

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Johan

Last week, Michel Lamote was invited by the Danish Backgammon Federation to give commentary at their live stream at the Gibraltar Backgammon Championship 2020. Below is the link to the quarter final between Zdenek Zizka en Christian Munk-Christensen, played on February 8, 2020. For the commentary, Michel is assisted by the German top player Dirk Schiemann. Live XG analysis is provided as well. Watch, enjoy and learn!

More videos at the Gibraltar Backgammon Championship YouTube channel. Look in particular at the video of the semi-final and the final, where Michel’s guests are grandmasters Jürgen Orlowski, Mick Larsen, and Elias Kritikos, and with Neil Kazaross giving input via the chat.

Quarter final between Zdenek Ziska and Christian Munk-Christensen at the Gibraltar Backgammon Championship 2020. Live XG analysis and live commentary by Dirk Schiemann and Michel Lamote.
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Red Beavers reach quarter finals at WBGF Team Championship 2020

Posted on January 11, 2020 by Johan

Headed by team captain Johan Huyck, the Red Beavers Alain Chif, Michel Lamote, Johan Segers and Geert Van der Stricht drove to the Grand Casino of Forges-les-Eaux (France) to participate at the 2020 edition of the WBGF Team Championship, January 7-9. Their ambition: to do better than in Budva (Montenegro, April 2019), where Belgium was eliminated by Denmark in the quarter finals.

The Red Beavers 2020 in the playing room in the Grand Casino in Forges-les-Eaux (France), at the WBGF Team Championship, January 7-9.

There were 17 countries divided in three groups. Belgium was in group B, together with Czechia, Cyprus, Turkey, Russia, and Germany. Victories against Cyprus and Russia and draws against Turkey and Germany were sufficient to reach the 2nd place in group B and a spot in the quarter final, in which Belgium met…

Belgium vs Denmark at the start of the quarter finals of the WBGF Team Championship in the Grand Casino of Forges-les-Eaux, France, January 8, 2020.

… Denmark again. Michel and Johan S. lost their matches relatively quickly, but Geert and Johan H. were close to winning theirs, raising hopes for a team consultation tie-breaker. But the Danish players, which are among the world’s strongest, proved hard to beat, and at the end, the Danes prevailed on every board. They went on to win the championship, before Greece (2nd) and France (3rd).

Belgium continued to defeat Austria but lose from the UK, ending 6th, one place better than in 2019.

The 2021 edition will take place in Trier, Germany. Can we do better still?

Pictures and results:


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Vlissingen Masters Rapid and Speed

Posted on January 11, 2020 by Johan

At the occasion of 60th birthday, Paul van Rooijen organised a great backgammon weekend in the Arion hotel at the waterfront of his home town, Vlissingen, on 4 and 5 January 2020.

There were two tournaments, in Swiss format, with finals between the top-2 to determine the winner:

  • A Rapidgammon tournament on Saturday: 7-point matches, Bronstein timing with 5 minutes for the match plus 11 seconds per move;
  • A Speedgammon tournament on Sunday: 5-point matches, Bronstein timing with 2 minutes for the match plus 10 seconds per move.

The tournaments also counted as the Belgian and Dutch rapid and speed championships, with BGFed.be offering the belgian trophies. Congratulations to the winners, Geert Van der Stricht (rapid) and Toon Van Herrweghen (speed). Toon also won the Open Championship of the speedgammon tournament.

Organiser Paul van Rooijen addressing his guests at his 60th-birthday-party-and-backgammon-weekend in the Arion hotel in Vlissingen, January 4-5, 2020. Picture by Frank Viergever.

Paul’s friend Frank Viergever took some beautiful pictures: http://www.frankviergever.nl/VBM20/index.html

On Saturday evening, Paul invited all his guests to a fantastic dinner. Thank you, Paul!

Results Rapidgammon (40 players)

  • Open Champion: Paul van Koningshoven, Runner-up: Marcus Reinhard
  • Champion of The Netherlands: Paul van Koningshoven, Runner-up: Misja Alma
  • Champion of Belgium: Geert Van der Stricht, Runner-up: Johan Segers
  • Ladies Prize: Tansu Alper, Runner-up: Eileen Mulvany
  • Best Irish Player: Tom Schnittger, Runner-up: Eileen Mulvany

Results Speedgammon (28 players)

  • Results Speedgammon (28 players):
  • Open Champion: Toon Van Herreweghen
  • Champion of The Netherlands: Ed Baars
  • Champion of Belgium: Toon Van Herreweghen
  • Ladies Prize: Claudia Göhnert
  • Best Irish Player: Eileen Mulvany
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Happy 2020

Posted on December 30, 2019 by Johan

Dear backgammon friends,

First of all, from myself, and on behalf of BGFed.be, our federation, my
best wishes for

a splendid year 2020

Our desires, of course, include your best of luck with all sorts of doubles in the beginning of the game and mainly doubles 5 & 6 in the bear-off.

I hope (and I’m pretty sure) you can handle these throws valuably !

Please, take a (regular) look at our website, where you’ll find some nice recent films with both games from the BIC final 2019, analysis & commentary included (many thanks to Robin Bilderbeek).

Besides BIC & 4 Cubes, BGFed.be tournaments include :

Leuven Monthly (http://backgammon-leuven.be/), organized in de Squash Club de Vaart (Wilsele) on Sunday afternoons and Friday evenings

Brussels Friendly, organized in Tennis Club le Roseau (Uccle) on every 1st Friday evening of the month (starting with 03/01/20)   

Bigger day tournaments in Ghent (around March/April), in Brussels (the 1st of May) & in Leuven (around November)

The 5th international BMAB – BMS tournament in Ghent (presumably the last weekend of December)

We’ll meet on all these occasions and you can improve your rating (which changes every week).

Keep on rolling, — Guy Van Middelem

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BIC 2019 final Michel Lamote vs Paul van Dijke: match #2 on YouTube

Posted on December 24, 2019 by Johan
Match #2 (Ghent, Dec 20, 2019) of the final of the Belgian Individual Championship 2019 between Michel Lamote and Paul van Dijke. With XG analysis and with live commentary by Geert Van der Stricht. Realisation: Rain
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