Invitation : 2nd Brugge Backgammon Day.

Boterkoeken at BBD

Boterkoeken at BBD

Brugge Backgammon Club would like to invite all BGFed.be-members to the 2nd Brugge Backgammon Day.  The event will take place on Saturday 27 February 2016, from 10am to 19pm.

Last year’s format is retained : after the Player Presentation (10:15am), 5 rounds of 7-point matches will be played.

Entry fee : 25€.  This includes : 2 drankbonnen, boterkoeken,  soup and sandwiches, cake and pie.

Due to limited space, only 26 players can be admitted.

How to enter? Send an e-mail to : kynos8000@gmail.com.

More detailed information will be made available soon.

Hope to see you on 27 February!

Line, Peter and Michel  (for : Brugge Backgammon Club).
Isabelle and Sebastiaan at BBD1

Isabelle and Sebastiaan at BBD1

 

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Tournament Book 4 Cubes 2016 online

It’s official now: the 2016 edition of the 4 Cubes, Belgium’s backgammon interclub competition, has been launched! For more information, check out the 4 Cubes 2016 page or the Tournament Book 4 Cubes 2016.

Teams

Theoretically, the Brugge team, winner of the competition in 2015, is the strongest of the five. But Brussels and Gent had to let go of the 2015 title to Brugge in the tie-break only. Both teams will be eager for revenge.

Leuven, finishing last in 2015, sends out a second team, the Cubers. Quantity rather than quality, or a clever move perhaps to increase the odds? They even hired two players from the former Hasselt team.

First round

The first round takes place in the third week of February. The Leuven derby will take place on Friday, February 19, while Gent will receive Brussels on Tuesday, February 16 (to be confirmed). Brugge can relax and enjoy the spectacle.

Captains — muster your players and send out those challenges. May the best team win!

— Luc Palmans (tournament director), Johan Segers, and Guy Van Middelem

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Rating update December 20

Welcome to new BGFed.be members Dan Pascu (Hasselt), Nader K. Rad (Leuven), and Gery Vermaut (Leuven). May the odds be ever in your favour.

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Guy van Middelem wins the Leuven Club Championship

The Leuven Backgammon Club organized its championship for the fifth time. The championship consisted of 12 monthly tournaments, each with 4 rounds of 5-point matches, played in the Swiss system. Overall, 39 players participated in at least one of the tournaments. The ranking has been very tight throughout the year but in the end Guy van Middelem collected the most championship points, ahead of last year’s champion Zsolt Tasnadi and tournament director Johan Segers. Congratulations!

P1110850

Guy van Middelem (left) playing Akbar Soltani in the December tournament of the Leuven Club Championship

At the website of the Leuven club you can find detailed reports of all rounds, with each report containing an interesting position.

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BIC now BMAB approved!

BMS(BE) is proud to announce that the BIC competition has received official BMAB validation for 2016.  That makes it the first European national competition to be acknowledged as official BMS tournament. Before, only Denmark could boast a similar achievement with their very ambitious and high-level XG Masters Event (35 players this year,  ALL matches filmed!).

What does this mean for our BIC players?

All BIC competitors (24 players registered for 2016) can have their performances recognised by the international backgammon community if they so desire.  No need to travel abroad and pay large entry fees and expensive hotel rooms.  Just complete the 2016 BIC competition and you can receive an official BMAB Grading.  This comes on top of the BMSB Grading  (which only has national relevance).

Since all applications need to be submitted to BMS(BE), the procedure to follow is similar to playing a MS2 :

1) send an e-mail to me ( kynos8000@gmail.com) to have your BIC Series pre-designated.

2) film ALL your 2016 BIC matches (including play-offs and final rounds).  Matches notated manually or on tablet are not valid for BMAB, but can be submitted as a MS2.

3) the video files need to be submitted to BMS(BE) within 8 days after completion of a match.  This can be done either by e-mail or by uploading the video on YouTube.

4) the same holds for the XG-files.  Applicants can either do the transcription work themselves or have it done by BMS(BE).  In the latter case, a transcription fee of 20€ will be charged for 11- and 13-point matches.

5) players need to adhere to the BMSB Conditions of Play and the BMAB Consideration of Individual Applications for Awards (see : www.bgmastersab.com).

At this moment, 8 players have officially applied for their BIC 2016 matches to be BMAB validated : Walter M., Luc P., Paul Van D., Maurits P., Guy Van M., Johan S., Geert VdS. and myself.

Applications can be submitted till 10 January 2016.

Why not take up the gauntlet?

M

 

 

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Rating update December 13

Biggest jump up by Bert Van Kerckhove (Ghent, from 1568 to 1589), knocking on the door of the top-3. Johan Huyck, another Ghent player, had a successful backgammon week too: +20. But the rating list is a zero-sum game, and this time, it was up to Michel Lamote (Brugge) to preserve the balance: -26. I’m sure he doesn’t mind, given his fresh BIC 2015 title, which he acquired Friday December 18 at Longchamp’s after two consecutive 13-point victories to runner-up Luc Palmans (Hasselt). Congratulations! The second match has been recorded and analyzed and will be made available in due time.

– JS

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7th Leuven Open: Double victory for Brussels; Most accurate play by Brugge

Thank you to everybody for making the 7th Leuven Open (Nov 29, 2015, in de Abdijmolen, Heverlee) such a wonderful day.

Congratulations to the winners of the main tournament:

  1. Johan Brisaert (Brussels)
  2. Robin Bilderbeek (Gent)
  3. Zsolt Tasnadi (Brussels)
  4. Guy Van Middelem (Brugge)

Congratulations also to the Brussels team for winning the Fonske challenge.

Congratulations finally to the laureates of the Vesalius challenge, a Performance Rating (PR) based competition. Most skilfull players were Paul van Dijke, Michel Lamote, and Guy Van Middelem, incidentally or not the three players of the Brugge team, winning the 4 Cubes 2015.

Report, pictures, full results:
http://backgammon-leuven.be/2015/11/29/double-brussels-victory-at-7th-leuven-open/ http://backgammon-leuven.be/2015/12/04/results-vesalius-challenge/

– JS

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Benelux Masters Antwerp postponed – New date and venue to be announced

Paulus van Rooijen, tournament director of the Benelux Masters, asked me to announce that the Benelux Masters, which the past years has taken place the second weekend of January in Antwerp, will be rescheduled to a new date and a new venue — to be announced.

– JS

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Rating update December 6

After playing Brussels Friendly 56 on December 4, Sabrina Vastapana has collected 105 experience points and she enters the main list as the highest-ranked woman – congratulations!

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Bert and Robin wrap up Autumn Series.

In just under 2 months, Bert Van Kerckhove and Robin Bilderbeek completed a series of ten 7-point matches.  They played these matches during the weekly club evening at the Sandeman, the home of Ghent BC.  This series of matches is known as a Master Series and it grants both players a spot on the BMSB GT (Grading Table).  This GT is meant to reflect players’ performances in longer matches – as opposed to the BPR RT (Ranking Table), which also includes matches of shorter length.

Here are the numbers which quantify both players’ performances :

Bert Autumn Series 2015

Bert Autumn Series 2015

Robin Autumn Series 2015

Robin Autumn Series 2015

As was to be expected, Bert outplayed his opponent  by some margin.  It is not illogical that he won 7-3.  However, his overall PR of 7,78 might raise an eyebrow here and there.  The relaxed atmosphere at the Sandeman is of course an extenuating factor, but insiders nevertheless expected a better performance by this experienced player.

Robin has worked hard in previous months to improve his game.  He records almost every match he plays and analyses them attentively.  As we can see from the info above, his checker play is expert.  It is – as for most of us – the cube handling that needs more careful attention.

Below is the updated BMSB GT : (enlarge by double-clicking)

BMSB Grading Table December 2015

BMSB Grading Table December 2015

 

Other Master Series currently underway :

Winter Series Michel Lamote v Geert Van der Stricht (10 x 15) : 0-3.

Winter Series Geert Van der Stricht v Johan Huyck (10 x 15) : 0-2.

Autumn Series Maurits Pino v Zsolt Tasnadi (8 x 9) : 2-3.

MS1 2016 Walter Meuwis v Ronny Connaert (10 x 15) : … (?)

If you feel like playing a Master Series, send an e-mail to kynos8000@gmail.com.

M.

 

 

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