11th Bright ‘n’ Breezy 2009

Report by Michael Crane

(click here for more pictures from Peter Chan & Michael Crane)

Two players stand out above all the rest when it comes to Brighton - John Hurst and Mark Heidenfeld. Since 2005 they have won it twice each, Mark in '05 and '08 and John in '06 and '07. This year Mark was unable to attend (he moved to Germany from Eire last year) and this left the trophy for John to pursue without the second favourite's interference.

John was the last player to be drawn in the 82 player field and his journey via a 1st Round bye to the final was a tough one: Lee Wood, Ann Pocknell (current British Open Champion), Kevin Dale (CEO of Casinorip.com, the event sponsors), Tony Lee (current UK Champion), Martin Barkwill and Gerry Enslin. Gerry's journey was via the 1st Round: Paul Barwick, Mardi Ohannessian, Talan Evans, Brian Metcalf, Sean Williams, Simon Heath and then John. John's hardest match prior to the final was against Tony and it drew a large crowd of onlookers.

The final got off to a good start for John and he was soon 8-3 ahead. He then took a 2-cube and was gammoned and the score moved to 8-7, from there it progressed to 10-7 and Gerry pulled it back to dmp. The final game went back and forth and in the end it came down to the last couple of rolls.

Gerry, playing as white rolls 11

More than likely Gerry will get one last roll and he therefore needs to maximize his chances of bearing off with doubles. Gerry thinks about the move for a while and then moves 3/1 1/0(2) leaving this position:

This is a mistake for the only doubles that'll clear next roll are double 6, 5 and 4. He should have played 5/3 4/3 1/0 leaving four checkers on his 3-point thus adding double-three to his rolls. As it turned out he didn't roll a clearing double and John won his third Bright 'n' Breezy title, his second in a row.

Main: Gerry and John

During the Main a 'pick up a penquin' was introduced. This was a stuffed toy penguin that was thrown to the players and whomever caught it kept it for as long as they could, it being worth £100 if kept all the tournament. However, if you lose a match it is passed onto your opponent and you got £10 from the £100 for losing it. When initially tossed to the crowed, Myke Wignall launched himself forward and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck. However, his hold was short-lived when Brain Metcalf made off with it in Round 1; and Brian lost it later to Gerry . . . who lost it to John in the Final. The losing semi-finalists were Simon Heath and Martin Barkwill.

Myke gets his teeth into the penguin!	3rd/4th: Martin and Simon

In the Consolation (78), finalist, Paul Barwick made it all the way from Round 1 in the non-progressive side. In the non-prog 'final' he met - and beat - his toughest opponent, Chris Ternel (2009 runner-up Biba Grand Prix and Biba Ranking). Chris had a 1st Round bye, but it came at a price, he played against Mike Heard, Mardi Ohannessian and Rachel Rhodes before being felled by Paul. In the progressive side, Sean Williams beat Kevin Dale (see credentials above) in their 'final' and then he went on to beat Paul in the Consolation Final.

Consolation: Sean and Paul

The Last Chance (64) saw Marcus Wrinch beating Richard Biddle, and Peter Chan beating Crispin Duke in the semis. In the final it was Peter - out-rolling as only he can! - that emerged victorious; and all without taking 30 minutes to shake his dice as he did in Dublin (those Irish are too soft, I'd have put a stop to it after 25 minutes!).

The Tidal Wave (32) didn't reach anything like a 64 draw, but the smaller field favoured Ed Turner and Andy Darby, the two finalists. It was Andy who came out on top, leaving Ed the runner-up.

Last Chance: Peter and Marcus	Tidal Wave: Ed and Andy

On the Saturday evening the Poker Freeze-out (24) saw a few upsets: The 'regular suspects' didn't feature in the results until Myke Wignall appeared in 5th position . . . and Tony Fawcett didn't show until 21st place! This is bound to alter . . . . isn't it Tony? One Tony that did much better was Tony Lee, he took 1st place ahead of John Hedge and Martin Barkwill. The Team (12) saw Peter Christmas take the lion's share of the pot (his partner, Elena Magana from Casinorip.com had to leave before the end). There was also a Doubles KO but this was arranged by the entrants themselves and I didn't get any results handed to me - however, I can report that the final wasn't played Saturday night and the four players involved wanted to play it Sunday afternoon but I didn't allow it for one or more of them was still playing in the elements organised by Biba, and Biba takes priority.

Going back in time, the Friday 500 (44) had a great turnout and taking home the free accommodation and registration for the Biba World Championship was Peter Bennet. Not a regular Friday-nighter, the 20 points he gained might encourage him to attend a few more - who knows, he might win five hundred quid in December!

Finally. From my point of view it was a great weekend, and it went along as smoothly as I'd hoped. I had a couple of disputes but nothing controversial. I know a few of you had issues with the hotel, mainly over cold bedrooms and meals - but it was a very very cold weekend, and if food was a long time arriving, I hope my report to the hotel addresses this for 2010.

Kevin (r) in his match against Arthur Wright.	Elena at her laptop

Lastly I'd like to thank Casinorip.com for their sponsorship of the event, with special thanks to Kevin Dale (CEO) and to Elena Magana for patiently setting up accounts for the dozens of Biba members who signed up over the weekend. Also to Per Petersen who worked behind the scenes via countless emails.