What a fun weekend this turned out to be! I had to use all of my persuasive powers on Slatts to make him come to this new tournament as he was already planning to go to the opening weekend of the MSO at Manchester. Ed Baars had done a good job of promoting the tournament at Monte Carlo and Myke Wignall, my brothers Paul and John and Ernie Pick were all saying they were going. I didn't want to miss out on this one! As it turned out there were 9 Brits playing in the tournament and we took home 8 prizes between us! Read on and see how we all got on – Tony Fawcett was the star performer and deserves a special mention, as this was his first international tournament!

 

Slatts, John. Paul and I arrived on Friday afternoon to find Ernie at the hotel waiting for us and dying for a game! The Friday evening play was in the Maritime Café just around the corner from the Tulip Inn where we were staying. The action was centred on the quarter entries and the Warm Up tournament. Ernie met Slatts in his quarter entry final having beaten the winner of the August Gammonitis tournament, Rene van der Plujm. He played a good game but Slatts was triumphant. In the warm-up Ernie and Slatts were looking forward to playing each other again in the final, as they had both reached the semis in separate halves of the draw! Unfortunately, it was not to be as they both lost! However, they did each win a Special Backgammon Edition of Jameson's Irish Whiskey. I am sure they both considered this to be better than the first prize of Snowie 4, which, as those of you that know the 2 players concerned, would have been of no interest at all!!! The whiskey actually ended up costing me 20 Euros! After breakfast on Saturday, Ernie was joking around with me, Paul and John (Slatts being still in bed of course!) and was talking about the prize. He said “ it's really a great prize you know, the box opens up into a backgammon board and the pieces are inside.” We all laughed and told him to pull the other one. Unfortunately for me, I had a bet on it and lost!! The plan was to get John and Ernie to pose for a photo with the whiskey but in the end Ernie became camera shy (he even hid when the photo of all the Brits was being taken – I suspect the Inland Revenue are after him and he doesn't want to be recognised!!)

 

On Saturday, we woke up to a very grey, murky, wet day and felt like we were in England! The idea of a beach tourney had sounded a great idea at the time. I decided not to put my bikini on (much to the relief of all present!) and went across to the playing area, umbrella in hand. Myke Wignall, Tony Fawcett and his wife (a non-player) had arrived to join the British contingent and we met up with Zoë Cunningham and her friend Sean (Fox Reformed players) at the beach.

  x

#

Ed Baars and Michel Buket had organised the tournament in a very friendly beach bar. Slatts, Paul and Ernie joined the 32 players in the Masters and the rest of us decided to play in the 16 draw Intermediate tournament. Surprisingly, none of us were drawn against each other in the first round. There were also 8 beginners playing.

 

After the first days play had ended the Brits were feeling good. Slatts had qualified for the Masters Main semi-final and Paul was in the Masters Consolation quarterfinal. However, this was a bit of a disappointment as he had thought his win in his last match put him in the semi, but it was a progressive consolation, resulting in him effectively playing 2 quarterfinal rounds!! Myke, Tony and myself were all in the Intermediate Main semi-finals, which meant at least one of us, was going to go through to the final.

 

The atmosphere in the playing area was very good although it was quite noisy. In the evening the bar was full of non-bg players enjoying an evening out. There was a Doubles Consulting tournament and Jackpots going on throughout the evening.

 

Ed Baars told us that the sun was going to shine on Sunday and I am pleased to report that it did! It made a nice change to be out in the open air playing.

 

I sat down to play Tony and got off to a good start. The dice gods seemed to be on my side and had definitely deserted Tony. He asked for a break at 11-5 down to 15. When we resumed I hoped that my luck was going to continue and sure enough took the next 2 points to make the score 13-5. Tony (white) won the next game and with the score at 13-6 we had this position:-

#

#

I decided that I should play 24/16. Not Snowie's favourite but definitely the play of most of the players whose opinion I asked for after the match had finished. Tony said “I'm going to roll 43 so I had better cube you!” He actually thought that if he didn't hit he would get gammoned and lose 2 points and the match anyway. I took the cube and sure enough the dice gods turned and gave him the 43! I did manage to save a gammon but that game proved to be the turning point in the Match. Tony played very aggressively and I couldn't do a thing! He didn't let me win another point and won the match 13-15. Needless to say I wasn't very happy and told Slatts he had to give me a few lessons on how to win from 2-away. I always seem to struggle to win when at that score! Still, as he pointed out, I had still won a trophy and some money so should be pleased with myself.

 

Myke in the meantime had come second to Leon Weyl so Tony faced a Dutchman in the final. I kept an eye on the match and felt sorry for Tony when he once again found himself trailing 15 –6 to 17, losing 7 games in a row. His opponent asked for a break at this point and I just reminded Tony about his 4/3 joker at 13-6 down against me and told him to come out fighting. This is just what he did! Leon made the mistake of cubing when 2 away. Tony took and gave the cube back on 4. He rolled well and won the game putting him back in contention at 15-10. Tony cubed early on each of the next 3 games, all of which he won! Score now 15-16 to Tony. By now the Brits watching were spurring him onto victory and he didn't let us down. A big congrats to Tony winning his first International Intermediate tournament at the first attempt.

 

In the Masters, Slatts sat down to play his semi-final against Rogier van Gemert, currently considered to be the best Dutch player. They were quite evenly matched. The last time they played was in the Team event in Monte Carlo. In that game, Slatts was 1-4 down in a 5 pointer and he needed to beat Rogier to keep his team in the tourney. He was triumphant and so Rogier told him he was out for revenge in Rotterdam! With the score at 11-15 to 17 Slatts (white) had to play a 51 in this position:-

  #

#

Slatts considered his move for some considerable time and opted for 23/18 6/5. He had decided that his play gave him more flexibility and Rogier still had 4 points to clear with no spares. Slatts strengthened his board and Rogier left him a shot. At this point Slatts cubed to 2. Rogier admitted that he didn't like seeing the cube, but after giving the position due consideration he took it. Slatts missed the shot and Rogier went on to win the match. Francois Tardieu was watching the game and told Slatts that he agreed with his cube decision.

 

Rogier went on to meet an up and coming young Dane in the final, Sander Lillof. Rogier was considered to be the favourite and had a lot of local support of course. He went 7-4 down but then won 8 points in one game to take the lead 7-12 to 19. Then Sander fought back and went ahead 15-12. They got to this position and Sander (white) was looking at whether or not to cube for match. The general consensus in the crowd was that it was a No Redouble / Take position.

#

This a redouble for money but not at this match score. Sanders inexperience showed here. Rogier took the 4 cube and redoubled to 8. He got the better dice and won the game and the match.

 

Meanwhile, Paul (black) was playing his consolation final. He didn't appear to be having much luck (no change there then!) and found himself in this position at 7-4 down to 15.

  #

Paul felt that if he could hit he had a good chance of picking up 4 points. He was, of course, well aware that if the dice gods decided it wasn't his day that he would be massive underdog in the match. As his bad luck would have it the dice went as follows:-

 

Paul rolls 42 He moved 9/5* 8/6 Snowie favoured 9/5* 5/3 but only by a very small margin.

 

Tore rolls the joker 65! Hits and closes his board and gammons Paul for match.

 

Myke decided to get some more playing action and went into a 50 Euro Jackpot. He played in his usual flamboyant fashion and when Tony, Paul and I were watching he had got himself into this position in the Crawford game!

#

#

Yes, he did manage to win the game. Not only that he went onto win the match!!! Unfortunately for him he didn't win his next round so didn't cash.

 

Included in the registration fee was a free meal on Sunday night. This could be eaten at any time between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m across the beach. It was chicken sate, chips and salad and was very tasty. Michel and Ed ended up giving out the prizes at about 9 p.m. and there was free champagne for everyone. Brigitte from Antwerp gave out the prizes and a special thanks goes to her for assisting Ed in running the tournament. The general consensus was that it was an excellent tournament and well worth a visit next year.

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

#

The Results

Beginners:   

1) Duncan Roussou from NL

2) Brigitte Freyer from NL

 

 

Intermediate:

1) Anthony Fawcett from England

2) Leon Weyl from NL

3/4) Myke Wignall from England

3/4) Rosey Bensley from England

 

Consolation:

1) Ali from NL

2) Rob Willems from NL

 

Last Chance:

1) Zoe Cunningham from England

Masters:

1) Rogier Van Gemert from NL

1) Sander Lylloff from Denmark

3/4) John Slatterly from England

3/4) Misja Alma from NL

 

Consolation:

1) Tore Fredriksen from Norway

2) Paul Gilbertson from England

3/4) Paul Van Dyke from NL

3/4) Hassan Rida from NL (Egypt)

 

Last Chance:

1) Paul Van Rooyen NL

2) Phillip Visjager from NL