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Townharbour Trophy (39)
Report by Michael Crane. Pictures Peter Chan and Michael Crane

(several more photos can be see here)

When it comes to birthday celebrations some people opt out for a quiet meal out or perhaps a few friends or family round to the house for a party. Not Arthur Wright! He opted to celebrate his 70th birthday by sponsoring a backgammon tournament with over 40 other backgammon players and a dozen or more family and friends. It was not a quiet affair!

Throughout the weekend he was feted and dined and fed copious amounts of alcohol that would have floored a 50 year old, let alone a 70 year old! He was bombarded with cards and gifts and more alcohol for a full two days. In a way he was treated like royalty - he had two 'birthdays' - one on the Saturday, and one on the Sunday, the 'proper' one. Both were hectic and highly enjoyable.

Arthur as a lad . . .	Arthur as a bit older lad

The cake that Arthur made . . . . as if!	The cake that I made . . .

The playing-room was decorated with photos and banners and balloons and two birthday cakes - yes, you read that correctly, two cakes. One, a work of art that resembled a backgammon board down to the finest detail - the ring-binder on the scorer being an example. This was Arthur's cake, he had it specially made for the occasion, the only drawback being, it was going back home to (even more) family and friends to be eaten. The second cake, supplied by Biba, although smaller, was itself a work of art and featured a photo of Arthur dressed as a big baby - a theme carried through in tee-shirts worn by yours truly, Sharen, Tony and Deana, plus Rachel Rhodes. I gave one to Arthur, who wore it for the remainder of the weekend, taking it off only for his birthday dinner on Saturday night.

Dinner	Arthur is attacked by a Zombie!

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And what a dinner that was! Tony Fawcett took Halloween to heart and dressed himself up as a zombie, and Rosey Bensley was the Mistress or Ceremonies reading out the cards and handing out the gifts. Peter Chan was dragooned into being the 'official' photographer - he didn't need much persuasion! We had a fantastic evening and it culminated in Arthur opening his 'biggest' gift of the evening, a Space-Hopper from (the newly wed Paul and Tracey Gilbertson)! Only Paul would think to buy a 70 year old a SpaceHopper.The (smaller) cake was cut after dinner and it went round the whole of the backgammon crowd with a few spare slices - some of which I scoffed - but don't tell Sharen!

As well as the party there was a bit of backgammon going on as well. We had a turnout of 39, divided into Main (20) and Consolation (19). In the Main, 6th Round we had two on 5/5, Mardi Ohannessian and Stewart Pemberton. I was happy with this pairing for it gave me a 6/6 but it left me with four on 5/6. Eventually the Runner-up was Paul Gilbertson after tie-breaks were applied.

The final between Stewart and Mardi was one of the shortest on record, taking fewer than 40 minutes from start to finish. It was made short by cube decisions in the final game. Stewart took an early lead of 5/0 and then Mardi began pulling it back. He took it to 5/5 and off they went again. What clinched it was the cube action in the 8th game. Mardi is playing as black in the following positions and the match is to 11 points.

Black 7 White 6
White cubes

Stewart took some time to decide on offering this cube - Mardi took far less time to take. This isn't that good a cube, Stewart leads by six pips, but this is an easy take for Mardi. Stewart should have held on to it for a tad longer. The game continues:

Mardi re-cubes to 4

This is a re-cube and a take. To hang onto the cube now would be a mistake; of course it'll be winging its way back on 8 on Stewart's next turn.

On his next roll Stewart ships across the 8-cube, as expected.

So, Mardi took home the winner's trophy for the third time leaving Stewart eventually in 5th place and Paul Gilbertson as the Runner-up. Click here for Snowie stats - Click here to see the doubles on YouTube

Main: Paul, Arthur and Mardi

The Consolation element saw three players on 3/3 on the Sunday, Nicky Check, Brian Lever and Peter Christmas. Head-to-head and shared opponents couldn't decide in which position each would be placed so the average score of opponents was brought in and it was Nicky and Brian 1st and 2nd leaving Peter in 3rd place.

Consolation: Brian, Arthur and Nicky	1-pointer: Tony and Arthur

In addition to the Swiss we also ran a 64 draw 1-point Knockout, free entry with a 1st prize of £25. Arthur had set his hopes on winning something during his own tournament and he knew after some time that it wouldn't be via the Swiss. With just the 1-pointer to do it in he fought his way into the Final where Tony Fawcett dashed his dreams and left him in 2nd place. Boo! Hiss! Boo!

The Friday 500 (15) concluded with Gerry Enslin (making a welcome return after being absent due to business commitments) who got the better of Brian Lever in the Final. The Poker (12) also came to a conclusion after Myke Wignall came out the winner with Tony Fawcett (at last!) in 2nd place with John Hedge in 3rd. And in the Team (9) I was robbed again and this time the final was between Gerry Enslin and Jean Wade. Having given advice and helped Jean win in the semi-final, Gerry then went his own way and left Jean in 2nd place.

Finally.
It was a fantastic weekend and one full of memories, many of which Peter Chan captured on camera and they can be seen here. I'd like to thank Arthur for sponsoring the event and allowing us the pleasure of sharing his 70th birthday; Tony and Deana for their invaluable help and to everyone who turned out and made it the success it was.