The maiden Red Beaver League season 2022-2023 has come to an end. First and foremost: thank you to all fifteen participants for playing all twenty-three duels in true sportsmanship spirit and within the set time frame.
Geert Van der Stricht was the last man standing, becoming BGFed.be 2023 Ultimate Backgammon Champion. Player of the year has to be Robin Bilderbeek, who promoted from Level 5 to Level 2. Itzhak Solsky prevailed in the RBL Qualifiers, winning all his duels in masterly fashion with a below-5 overall PR of 4,80 over twelve matches. A detailed report is to be found in the RBL 2022-2023 Wrap-Up document.
BGFed.be’s Red Beaver League: Starting grids Seasons 2022-2023 and 2023-2024
All duels (in RBL and RBL Q) were transcribed and overseen by a Transcriber/Referee, making every duel effectively a RBL threesome. A special thanks therefore to Guy Van Middelem, Nick De Ruyck, Geert Van der Stricht and Robin Bilderbeek for transcribing a big chunk of duels and helping make this start-up season a success.
RBL wishes everyone an exciting and rewarding 2023-2024 season. The schedule will be released in the upcoming RBL 203-2024 Kick-Off announcement.
Brugge: alternatingly on Thursday or Friday evening, Sports bar Extra Time, Nijverheidsstraat 113, 8310 Assebroek. Contact: Line Vandamme, linevandamme@gmail.com
Brussels: every Wednesday evening at 18h15, at The Black Beard — La Barbe Noire, Lakensestraat 166 Rue de Laeken, Brussels 1000
Ghent: every Tuesday evening, at 19h, at Union-Sandeman, Kantienberg 5, 9000 Gent
Leuven Monthly, Sunday, May 21, at 12h45, at Squash Club De Vaart, Kolonel Begaultlaan 15, 3012 Wilsele
Brugge: alternatingly on Thursday or Friday evening, Sports bar Extra Time, Nijverheidsstraat 113, 8310 Assebroek. Contact: Line Vandamme, linevandamme@gmail.com
Brussels: every Wednesday evening at 18h15, at The Black Beard — La Barbe Noire, Lakensestraat 166 Rue de Laeken, Brussels 1000
Ghent: every Tuesday evening, at 19h, at Union-Sandeman, Kantienberg 5, 9000 Gent
Leuven Monthly, Sunday, April 16, at 12h45, at Squash Club De Vaart, Kolonel Begaultlaan 15, 3012 Wilsele
After the first four matches of the Red Beaver League Final, Geert was leading 6-2. This meant he only needed two points out of the remaining three matches to become the first Winner of the RBL.
Marc Van Damme (l) versus Geert Van der Stricht (r) during the final of the Red Beaver League 2022-2023, played on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in the Sandeman (Ghent).
It was therefore imperative for his opponent Marc to not only win M5, but to do so with a better PR. Marc looked well underway to achieving this, but an avoidable checker-play mistake under extreme time pressure had grave consequences. Marc ended up winning M5, but his PR was just 0,016 too high to earn the PR point: 5,01 v 4,85. The score was now 7-3, which meant Geert only needed one more point out of two matches to take the coveted RBL title.
Geert did not falter. Realizing this was the match that mattered, he produced his best PR of the duel (2,45) and although this was not enough to take the PR point (Marc played PR 2,17), he won M6 quite easily with 7-2, making him the Winner of the first edition of the RBL and 2023 BGFed.be UBC Champion: 8-4.
Although M7 was of no importance, Geert and Marc agreed to play it anyway, bringing the final score of the duel to 9-5.
The Red Beaver League cup, now in possession of BGFed.be UBC Champion Geert Van der Stricht. The cup will be passed on to the winner of the next edition. A player who can win the title three times, can keep the cup.
True, Geert was lucky to win five of the seven matches, but his OPR (= Overall PR) of 4,34 shows that he thoroughly deserves this title. Congratulations! Marc, on the other hand, only produced his A-game when the calf was drowned and will regret not having managed his time better and having lost four valuable points with 5+ PR’s in Matches 1, 2, 3 and 5. Notwithstanding all this, he produced a noteworthy PR of 4,11, something he can find some solace in.
As Champion, Geert can now rest on his laurels till the 2023-2024 edition of the Red Beaver League is completed. He will then defend his title against the Challenger, i.e. the winner of RBL 2024.
Please find the updated Results and Leaderboard via the link in the menu.
The Final of the Red Beaver League was looked forward to with much anticipation. Insiders expected smooth sailing for Marc Van Damme, as he had scored amazing PRs in his Level 1 duel. Geert Van der Stricht, however, has years of international chess experience under his belt, plenty of stamina, and is by no means a pushover.
With the dice on his side (Luck Rates of +5, +2,6 and +3,8) Geert quite easily won the opening three matches, but did not manage to do so with below-5 PRs. Astonishingly, Marc (feeling slightly out of sorts after some days of illness) failed to take advantage of this as he ended up with (marginally) worse PRs. In each match he made just one error/blunder too many. The result: a bewildering 6-0 lead for Geert.
Surely Geert was not going to become BGFed.be UBC Champion with an 8-0 whitewash? M4 was therefore crucial for Marc, who showed commendable resilience. He was able to remain positive, regrouped and won M4 with a winning PR of 2,5: 6-2.
After all these trials and tribulations Geert is clearly in the driver’s seat: he only needs two points out of the three remaining matches. Marc will be looking for a match win with a better PR in M5, hoping to close the gap to 6-4 and thus keep his chances to become the first winner of the RBL alive.
The WBGF 2023 Team Championship will take place in Skopje on August, 21-23. Please see the flyer as well as the regulations.
The Red Beavers, Belgium’s national backgammon team, plan to participate. Needed are at least 4 and preferably 5 or 6 players to form a team. In previous editions, Belgium has been reasonably successful but has never made it to the money rounds.
Do you want to play for Belgium? Then please announce your interest to our national coach, Johan Huyck (johan.huyck@wiskin.be), who will make the selection. The conditions to be eligible are light: 1) to be a BGFed.be member and 2) to live in Belgium. It is not required to have the Belgian nationality.
Red Beaver captain Johan Huyck shaking hands with Masayuki Mochizuki (Mochy) at the WBGF Team Championship 2019 in Budva, Montenegro. On the next board, Michel Lamote is playing Michihito Kageyama (Michi).
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