It is with great pleasure that I can invite you to the 18th edition of the Gent Open backgammon tournament on Saturday, March 22, 2025, in the K.A. Club Union Sandeman, Kantienberg 5, 9000 Gent. For details see the flyer.
Included will be, as always, ‘koffiekoeken’ at your arrival and a hot meal after the second or third round.
Important: please register beforehand as the number of participants is limited to 44 and also in order to provide the correct amount of catering.
To register, just write to bert.vankerckhove@skynet.be.
I’d like to invite you to participate in the 17th edition of the Gent Open Backgammon tournament which will take place on Sunday February 11, 2024, from 10h to 23h.
This is a special edition in the sense that it will take place for the last time in the cellars of St. Peter’s Abbey on the Kantienberg 5, 9000 Gent. So for those who want to experience this again at our current playground, this is a unique opportunity.
Total number of participants is limited to 40. Only players that registered beforehand are certain of a seat.
On April 22nd the Gent Open XVI attracted 25 players over 3 categories: 8 masters, 8 intermediates and 9 beginners battled it out for 7 rounds of 7 point matches at the premises of K.A. Union Sandeman. In the masters, last man standing after 7 rounds was Michel Lamote, who wins back-to-back editions of this tournament!
Paulus Van Rooijen and Bert Van Kerckhove share 2nd prize. Jasper Watertor, organizer of the Rotterdam tournaments, wins the intermediates on resistance points and shares prize money with Robin Bilderbeek and Eric De Bouter. Johan Segers wins the beginners division and receives a backgammon book to up his level of play even more! Maybe next time he can compete in a higher category…
Everything went fluently and according to the schedule. A big thank you to Nick De Ruyck for the catering, and to Magda, Roos & Bob for tending the bar. A special thank you to bgfed.be for the financial support and to Toon Van Herreweghen for the tournament software.
On Sunday November 20th the fifteenth edition of the Gent Open Backgammon tournament was held at the premises of the Union Sandeman, home location of the Ghent Backgammon club. 7 rounds of 7-point matches had to be played during this all-day event. All matches were played with clock, 14m 12s delay. This Swiss style of tournament ensured a lot of action until the final round. Thanks to Toon Van Herreweghen’s tournament management software, entering results and making new pairings was so easy that tournament director Bert Van Kerckhove had the time to join the tournament as well. On top of that the players could follow the ranking and draw on a big projection and on their phones.
Another feature of this tournament was the TV table, a setup from Robin Bilderbeek who has published the matches there on youtube.
32 players showed up and got coffee cakes for breakfast. Between rounds 3 and 4 there was catering provided by Alf Martijn.
All participants were playing in the same tournament mixing 14 masters, 12 intermediates and 6 beginners.
As expected, after 4 rounds there remained 2 players with 4 points who would have to battle for taking the sole lead in the tournament. In the masters division it was Michel Lamote who prevailed in round 5 over Arthur Braacx making him the first player with 5 points, followed by Arthur, Zeki Dogustan and Paul van Dijke with 4 points.
In the intermediates, after 5 rounds, Riza Yalçin and Sonja Custers lead with 4 points on a pack with 3 points.
Beginner Hubert Verstraeten won 3 out of 5. Still without any win by then is Chantal Lensen, who allowed Nardy Pillards to score his first point.
In round 6 it was Zeki who fell for a relentless Michel. Michel made a bid for the sole win if he could also win the final round. Arthur and Paul van Dijke both win their matches and have 5 wins out of 6. Sonja, Line and Mahir Yalçin share the lead in the intermediates with 4 wins.
The final round would be decisive for the final results. If Paul van Dijke won from Michel there could be 2 or 3 players with 6 wins out of 7 and resistance points would decide the winner. Michel did not fail and won his 7th match to claim first prize, the trophy and the title in the masters division. Arthur won too and finished with 6 points taking second prize, followed by Zeki, Paul van Dijke and Paul Van Koningshoven who shared 3rd prize with 5 points.
In the intermediates 7 players finished with 4 wins out of 7 and shared first and second prize. The trophy went to Line Vandamme who scored the most resistance points.
Hubert Verstraeten scored 5 wins and took home the trophy in the beginners division and a DGT game clock as a bonus.
Congratulations to the winners and a big thank you to all players for attending.
Also thank you to Alf for the catering, Nick for assisting the td, Robin for the feature table and Toon for use of the software. Thanks also to BGFed.be for the financial support.
A special thank you for Ben Van den Brande for tending the bar on his own during the whole day.
— Bert
Winners of the Gent Open Backgammon XV, from left to right: Line Vandamme (Intermediates), Michel Lamote (Masters), Hubert Verstraeten (Beginners)
