SAC Trophy 5, 6,7 August 2011

Report by Michael Crane

With twenty-eight entrants we fell just four short of an ideal draw, but it wasn't to be, so we set off at 1pm Saturday and by 10.30am Sunday we had four on 3-3; Julian Fetterlein vs Marc Turner and Mike Heard vs Chris Ternel; encounters from which Julian and Mike were the victors. These two sat down, both on 4-4, and Julian prevailed. For the 6th Round, Chris Ternel was pitched against Julian, and it was on Chris to stop Julian's 6-6 and the Winner-Takes-All £195 from being won.

Chris got off to a good start with a 2-cube gammon in the first game. Here he is playing as black.

Black to play 61

It was here that Chris took his time, being unable to decided between the bar- or the 5-point. After trying each move he finally opted for 13/7, 8/7. Julian thought he should have gone for the 5-point and XG concurred, rating Chris's play as a blunder!

Having slotted two inner board points (4- & 2-) with his double-six, Julian is now faced with a dilemma:

White to play 43

He wants to hit, 24/17*, but the two inner blots are stopping him. After a lot of toing and froing he decides on the correct play of 8/5, 6/4. Chris then faces another choice:

Black to play 33

He looks at three plays:
13/10(2), 6/3(2): Two good points which use the extra checkers on the mid- and 6-point, well. XG says, OK
11/5(2): Making the 5-point he didn't make earlier. XG says 'error'
11/8(2), 6/3(2): Two points that could form part of a 6-prime if he can make the 5-point soon. XG says 'blunder'.

He chose to play 11/5(2) which XG rated a slight error.

Black Cube Action

Chris takes his time here before shipping across a 2-cube; and Julian takes just as long before taking. (in fact it's twice as long because he was also thinking while Chris was thinking!) There's just 4 pips in the race and Julian has a very good home board 5-prime, but Chris is on roll and very likely to cover his 3-point blot. XG isn't keen on the take and rates it a Double/Pass.

Julian must now regret taking for Chris rolls 31: 13/10, 4/3 and from hereon Julian is unable to escape his runner - and it is joined later by a second checker as Chris bears in and off.

Black plays 8/0

Three rolls later Julian rolls 65, and gets both checkers in behind Chris and he races to save the gammon, ending up in this position:

Black rolls 53: 5/0, 3/0

Chris takes a 4-0 lead and thne the score progresses: 4-2, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5, 6-7, 8-7, 8-8, 8-10 Crawford, 9-10.

Black Cube Action

Chris ships across a 2-cube and Julian doesn't take his free-drop, instead he takes . . . and then it all goes wrong two rolls later:

Black plays 8/4*, 6/4

Julian cannot escape his back checker and it is eventually joined by two others as Chris starts the bearing off

Black plays 4/3, 4/0

Onlookers thought this move a mistake and reckoned shifting off the 6- or 5-point is better. Chris pointed out that this left just two bad rolls, 62 . . . . and he then went and rolled it, moving 6/0, 3/1! Julian danced with 52, and Chris cleared and went on to win the match.

The outcome of this was that we now had four players on 5-6: Julian, Chris, Mike Heard and Dan Tutchings. Head-to-head and shared opponents couldn't provide a 1st and 2nd so we resorted to the average ranking score of opponents and from this Mike was declared the winner with Julian 2nd, Chris 3rd and Dan 4th. And the good news is . . . no one won 6-6 so we have a Rollover of £195 for September's 'Hinckley 50'.

Main: Mike and Julian

Meanwhile, in the Consolation element, David Motley, Myke Wignall and Uldis Lapikens were all tied on 2-2. David played against Uldis and Myke was drawn at random to play Gerry Enslin on 1-2. David beat Uldis but Myke failed to beat Gerry, thus David was 1st with Marcus Wrinch 2nd after the 'average' tiebreaker was used to decide final places.

Consolation: David

(Marcus left before discovering he was 2nd)

As always the weekend began with the Friday 500 (6); a smaller than expected turnout, but that didn't bother those entering for the least number of points they could get was seven! Although David Wallbank came out 1st with Mike Heard 2nd, the 'winner' was Myke for his seven points placed him just two behind the leader, Tim Line. [see here]

On Saturday night we had the Doubles (7). Just like last month, lots of laughs and lots of backgammon. Round 1 casualties: Losing For Fun did just that thanks to Pure Evil. Monte Carlo and Bust, were busted by Mummy & Daddy; and Free Spirits were set free by Untouchables. Mummy & Daddy were impervious to Pure Evil and Untouchables were touched by Cottagewebs as they spun their magic. In the Final, Mummy 7 Daddy proved too paternal and it was Cottagewebs that wove their way to the money!

In the Poker (4), a very low turnout, Myke Wignall came top and Mark Calderbank 2nd. Myke's win didn't alter the top five positions in the listing, but he did edge a tad closer to Marcus Wrinch. However, when Andy Darby next attends he will almost certainly go straight to #1. [see here]

Finally. Don't forget, there's a Rollover of £195 and £500 added prize money waiting for you at the Hinckley Five O in September. See here for details of the event.