PlayWSOB.com British Open, 2011

Report by Michael Crane

Main (58): During the Scottish Open in February if your name wasn't Neil you didn't stand a chance of winning the title. The same is almost true of the British Open, however, this time you had to be called, Julian. . . but I am getting ahead of myself.

As usual in the British Open we have several past champions looking to win again and this year was no exception. Early casualties were: Sean Casey (R1), Brian Lever (R1), Ian Shaw (R1), Jon Barnes (R2) and Rachel Rhodes (R3). Nigel Merrigan came the closest when he reached the semi-finals where he was knocked out my one of the Julians mentioned earlier, Julian Minwalla. I should mention here that Rachel had a very tough draw, Brian Lever, Lawrence Powell and Julian Fetterlein, and it was this Julian that carried onto the final. The other Julian, Julian Minwalla, had a cracking match against Nigel Merrigan in the semi-final and he ruined any hopes that Nigel had of winning the title for the third time as he joined Julian Fetterlein on the Final table.

It was a good match and both Julians played well and were rated World Class (JF) and Advanced (JM). JF took an early lead and was leading 3-1 after which JM topped up the score to 3-3. For the next five games they were very close and at Game 13 they were tied at 6-6. From here JF was unable to win another point and Julian Minwalla took his match lead to 9-6 at which point he got a fantastic gammon and came out on top to take the title. This was his second major win of the year having won the Jarvis Trophy in February.

Throughout the entire match of 15 games only two of them was not ended by a double/drop, the 13th game and the final game. Most of the doubling decisions where correct according to XG, with just three of them being incorrect. In the positions below JF is white and JM, black.

Game 4

Black 1 White 2
White cubes, black drops --- XG: No double/Take

Game 5

Black 1 White 3
Black cubes, white drops --- XG: Too Good To Double/Drop

Game 13

Black 6 White 6
Black cubes, white takes --- XG: No Double/Take

It was this take and the two points that JM won that gave him the impetus to push the match in his favour and to eventually bearoff for a gammon at 9-6 to him.

Main: Julian and Julian	Main: Nigel and Peter

Consolation (54): Adrian Jones is making a habit of losing in the Main 1st Round, last year Dorothy Lee knocked him out, and this year he was knocked out by Julian Fetterlein. Being knocked out so early in the Main seems to have spurred him on in the Consolation and he repeated his performance from last year by winning the Consolation this year when he beat Gerry Enslin in the final.

Consolation: Adrian and Gerry	Last Chance: George and Peter

Last Chance (32): Although he has entered the British Open many times, Peter Bennet has never taken home a 1st place trophy from this tournament. This year was an exception when he beat George Hall in the final.

The Blitz (32): Two players took advantage of the re-buys in this element, Rachel Rhodes and Mick Vacarey, a decision that worked out well for both of them when they met each other in the final, an encounter from which Mick emerged the victor.

Blitz: Mick and Rachel	Anabel

Japan Tsunami Appeal (48): During the weekend we held a 1 point Knockout for the Japanese tsunami appeal in which each entrant donated a sum of money to the fund raising a total of £442. The final was between Tim Line and Anabel Carrington, the winner of which would get their donation back and present the money to the Red Cross, and it was Anabel who had the honour, which she did, leaving her donation in the fund so the full amount was handed over. See here for details, and here for the donation.

Poker (19): A decent turn out saw Myke Wignall come out at number one with Paul Christmas and Andy Darby be in second and third place. Andy now has a fantastic lead of 31 points clear of his nearest rival, Marcus Wrinch. Myke comes in @#3 and Mark Calderbank remains @ #4, but we lost Ann Pocknell as Eddie Barker clung to the #5 slot. Once we get to a qualifying level (5 or more events entered), I think the gap at the top will be somewhat less . . . . or will it, Andy? LIST

Doubles (10): Once again we resurrected the Doubles Knockout. It is proving popular again and we had players who would not have normally played and it was one of these pairs that went all the way to the final. The two teams decided that they would share the glory and so, If You Must and Free Spirit finished the night off, winners.

Friday 500 (28): A good turnout, and the winner, Peter Bennet jumped up by 20 points to get himself into the Top 16. His opponent, David Wallbank managed to get a toe-hold as one of the six entrants on 16 points, a tenuous hold that won't last, 16 points being too few to qualify in December. Currently Ginge Fullen (absent until late summer) and Tim Line share the #1 slot and Andy Darby is @ #3. LIST

Finally, a few thank yous. To playwsob via Andy Bell for sponsoring the tournament and supplying the trophies and the online credit donated to the winners: Main 1st, €100 (Julian Minwalla), Runner-up €75 (Julian Fetterlein); the Consolation winner, €75 (Adrian Jones) and the Last Chance winner, €50 (Peter Bennet), all of which will be paid into their online accounts. To Deana Fawcett and Sharen Crane for their assistance in running the tournament. To Brendan Burgess (who gave me a bottle of Irish whiskey. I like Brendan!), Sean Casey, Dave 'Cracker' McNamara and Philip Newton for coming over from Eire. To Billy Sharp and John Frame for coming down from Scotland, and to everyone else who travelled far and wide to be there. To Mark Calderbank for running the Poker Grand Prix; and last but by no means least, many thanks to those players who purchased tickets in the Biba Backgammon Board Raffle in aid of Help Lewis Walk – your help is appreciated and will go towards changing Lewis’s life.

And very finally. You might like to know that Julian Minwalla was not in the Winner-Takes-All prize fund and thanks to him there will be a Rollover of £510 for the County Cups Trophy next month!

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