Main

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Consolation

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Last Chance

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Felix Vink
Roger Keys
Carl Dell
John Broomfield
David Motley
Nigel Merrigan
Peter Chan
Mike Waid

1-point shootout

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Grand Prix Points at Liverpool Open 2008

Rachel Rhodes
Adrian Jones
Jon Williams
Ian Hesketh
Angie Dell
Kevin Jones
Felix Vink
Mick Vacarey
Fak Laight
Brian Lever
Susan Van Der Heijdon
John Wright
Joe Derry
Roger Keys
George Hall
Ann Pocknell
Joe Dooley
David Motley
Steve Rimmer
Uldis Lapikens
Mark Calderbank
Susan Bourne
Shea Mulhall
Mike Waid
Michael Horne
Arthur Wright
Simon K Jones
Ali Shimeri
Carl Dell
John Broomfield
David Phillips
Irving Czechowicz
Tony Fawcett
Rodney Lighton
Steve Simkin
Andrew Smith
Peter Chan
Nardy Pillards
Nigel Merrigan
Tim Brown
Richard Biddle
Alan Greenwood
Dama Cunningham

The Entrants

One week after Monte-Carlo - Backgammon World Championship - it is Liverpool Open. This year during the weekend of July 25th-26th. Twenty-five British Pounds make it a low threshold tournament, negligible compared to +500 Euro tournaments.

Three holiday makers/vacationers started in Amsterdam - Schiphol and took it "easy" towards John Lennon International. They were curious about Liverpool before take off... and surprised afterwards!

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The Liverpool Open is a annual event of the Liverpool Backgammon Club, organized by an enthusiastic trio: Simon Jones, Peter Chan and John Wright. This fourteenth edition was the first we visited. So did over 50 other backgammon players, men and women, younger and elder, English and non-English. How much does Liverpool Open cost, without turning around every penny? Registration is £25 or 30€. In return you can play five matches on Saturday and another three on Sunday. "Even when I lose?" Yes, even when you lose. There is an optional side bet - £5 or £20 - to enlarge your price money, if you're confident enough. The format on Saturday is Swiss: everyone plays 5 matches of 9 points. The Top 16 play the Main tournament on Sunday (11 pts) and the others start the Consolation (7 pts). Losing on Sunday puts you in the Last Chance. Also, there is a 1-point knock-out during the week-end, £1 extra for that one. Included in the registration fee is food and drink (coffee and tea) for both days. A four-table-wide buffet varying from breakfast to lunch via tea-time or coffee-time to dinner... all included. And an extra event on Saturday night: a friendly poker game.

The Food

Most remarkable of this tournament is not the format, not the buffet nor the complementary coffee (!!), not the place of venue - a private English house, home of Liverpool's Bridge Club, with garden - and not the sunny weekend. Most remarkable are the ambiance, the courtesy, the friendship,… *enjoying*. The backgammon matches are real, harsh and cruel like the game can be - "Backgammon is War" - but we will especially remember the friendly and sociable atmosphere. As if we were at home.

We flew Friday to Liverpool and returned Monday evening. Peter Chan picked us up on Friday and gave us a ride back on Monday. Thank you Peter! As if that was not enough, he also offered us a guided tour throughout Liverpool.

The Old Liverpool isn't anymore. In 1986 it still was : "But as they left Liverpool's silent streets far behind to march east, the city smog began to clear enough for a pale dawn to shine through.". But the ever-lasting smog, which also characterized London and the other "Black Cities", that smog vanished. The city glows with green parks, green alleys and nowhere a black cabbage white butterfly to spot, the species "created" by the industrial area. A sunny day really is a sunny day. The City is big enough to visit without getting lost and it is worth visiting with its friendly ever-showing layer.

The Beatles, two of the biggest cathedrals, Albert Dock, the bus-boat, two football (soccer) stadiums, two universities, Europe's oldest China Town... your pick . . . And... the Liverpool Open Backgammon Tournament!

Thank you Peter Chan, John Wright en Simon Jones. "You made our weekend"

We will be back!

Nardy Pillards
From Amstergammon www.backgammonamsterdam.nl/index.php

Main: Adrian and Rachel	Consolation: Jon Willams and Kevin Jones
Last Chance: Roger and Felix
1-point Shootout: Steve and Mick

More photos (175 in total!) can be found HERE on Peter Chan's photo album