Viadas Novicencko (Ireland) wins the Irish Open

By Brendan Burgess and Peter Bennet

This year it was the Cracker’s turn to be Tournament Director but when he announced that he was going to play in it as well, we had a problem. The committee argued that he wouldn’t be able to both play properly and organise properly at the same time. His response that as he wasn’t able to play properly anyway and as he wasn’t able to direct properly either, this made no difference. We were floored by this logic, so Paul Waters volunteered to direct the main event. Even a simple knockout does require a dedicated organiser. Dama Cunningham took the very welcome initiative of organising a €20 jackpot (in addition to the scheduled €200 jackpot) on the Friday night and a one-point shootout to run concurrently with the main tournament.

We had a new venue, the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Leary - a harbour town 20 minutes south of Dublin. This had the intended effect of reducing the number of British visitors, so for the first time we had a majority of Irish players in the tournament.

The €200 jackpot was scheduled to start at 7.30 pm on the Friday and I arrived in good time only to find that they had already done the draw. I had encouraged the Cracker to show a bit of initiative but this was going a bit too far. He got the impression that as there were 8 people at 7.15 , he might as well do the draw as “latecomers would only complicate it”. A few others showed up at 7.30 but they were happy to enter the €20 jackpot organised by Dama. Shea Mulhall beat Mark Calderbank in the €20 jackpot while Robin Swaffield from Hong Kong beat Peter Bennet in the final of the €200 jackpot.

We had 42 people in the main event. 20 from the UK, 22 from Ireland, 1 from Norway plus Robin Swaffield from Hong Kong. Up to now Seán Casey and Felix Vink have been the only Irish players to win the Irish Open, which is a poor record after 18 tournaments. Well the Irish were lucky this year, accounting for 6 of the last 8, and all four semi-finalists. Of course we have to stretch the definition of Irish a bit to include those living in Ireland. Shea Mulhall beat James Degabrielle in one semi-final while Viadas Novicenko beat Jonathan O’Grady in the other semi-final.

This was Jonathan’s first tournament; he is confined to a wheelchair and has limited use of his hands and arms. So his opponents had to roll and move for him. Despite this he managed to beat Ginge Fullen, Peter Bennet and Rune Farevaag, all experienced tournament players. In fact, Rune won the Championship level consolation in Monte Carlo this year. Peter commented that he managed to roll 3 double sixes in a row for his opponent in a race.

The final between Shea Mulhall and Viadas was a great match for the audience to watch. Viadas had a good lead but Shea was clawing it back when, trailing 8-10 to 13, he offered Viadas a redouble in the following position:

White ships across a 4-cube

Viadas leads by 7 pips in the race, but this lead vanishes if Shea hits the ace shot. After much thought Viadas passed to level the score at 10 apiece, and some discussion ensued amongst the spectators during the subsequent break. Interestingly the score is all-important here. For money XG says that the take is easy and it is the redouble which is marginally incorrect. At the match score, not only is the cube dead once taken, but only three of the four points are useful to Viadas. It is this factor, more than the relatively low gammon risk, which makes the pass correct by quite a wide margin. If, instead of 10-8 Viadas had led 9-7, all four points would have been useful resulting in a close but clear take. Viadas eventually went on to win 13-11.

In the Consolation, Robin Swaffield beat Jeff Ellis in the final. So between winning the €200 jackpot on the Friday and the consolation side-pool, Robin must have covered the cost of his flight from Hong Kong.

In the Last Chance, Liz Perry beat Carol Lindley. The prize was a fantastic mobile phone holder which the Cracker had bought in a pound shop. But being the gracious woman that she is, Liz posed proudly with her trophy.

Mark Calderbank won the one point shootout, beating Peter Bennet in the final.

It was a friendly tournament in more spacious and comfortable surroundings than Wynne’s with no hassle for the tournament director. Several players commented that they preferred the Royal Marine Hotel, and hopefully we will be back there next year.

PS: If you were present at the tournament and you have any images of the event/winners, please email them to me. MC

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