Biba World Championship. 2, 3, 4 July 2010

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Report by Michael Crane

There's always a danger when you guarantee something that it could all go pear-shaped. When I was a double glazing sales manager the Company I worked for offered a lifetime guarantee backed by an insurance policy. Unfortunately for me my guarantee of £1000 first prize in the Main (34) wasn't backed by an insurance policy, and the quick-minded among you will have already calculated there was a shortfall of £320! You will be pleased to learn that I handed over £1000 to George Hall after he got the better of Chris Ternel in the exciting final. I keep my word.

The Main was a draw of two halves. In the top half, 1/4 Finals, we had four very skilled players: Chris Ternel (defending champion) vs Nicky Check and Peter Bennet vs Lawrence Powell - an average ranking of 1893. In the bottom half we had an easier draw when compared to rankings, George Hall vs Danny Cohen and Gerry Enslin vs Paul Barwick, an average ranking of 1597. Chris prevailed in the top half and George in the bottom half. With ranking scores of 1936 and 1485, George was the underdog, and Chris was favourite to retain his world title.

But! It's not called the cruelest game for nothing. George played a blinder (aided by a smidgeon of luck) and he was rated by xG as Expert with an Elo estimated at 2038, and Chris was rated as World Class (which he is, incidentally) with an estimated Elo of 2092. George won the first game and went ahead 2-0, then Chris leveled it to 2-2. It was during this game that each of them made back-to-back blunders. The match is to 11 points and George is playing as black.

Black 2 White 0
Black to play 61

In this position the best move is the simplest and safest move: 25/24, 9/3; there's no need for heroics or rash positioning - so why did George play 25/18 giving away a triple shot? With the checker on the white 1-point it'll be hard for Chris to play checkers into his home board, meanwhile, George could concentrate on making his 3-point.

White to play 62

This is another move where the simplest is the bestest: 15/13, 8/2. No risk, keeping well ahead in the race and posing threats to black. Chris played 15/7* and lost a bucketful of equity into the bargain! As it turned out George didn't get the hit off the bar and eventually Chris bore in safely and won the bearoff thanks to a timely 66.

The match then continued with George leading at every game: 2-2, 4-2, 4-3, 5-3, 6-3, 7-3, 7-4, 7-6, 8-6, 9-6. It was here, in game 12 that we see another set of back-to-back blunders. George kicks off with:

Black 9 White 6
Black to play 54

George fails to see the hit, 24/15* and instead plays two off the mid-point. 13/9, 13/8. Soon after hitting the clock to conclude his move he realised the mistake - but it's too late. It might appear a little churlish reproducing this position, after all, it wasn't so much a checkerplay blunder, more of a lapse in concentration - and that's why it's important to see these lapses, to remind us to always look before leaping.

White to play 54

It's the very next move and Chris plays 11/2 (I am not too sure why!) when he would have been better off playing 24/15, a move that, if missed, will be very useful in white's outer board. The irony is, if George had played correctly, Chris would have got himself a nice advanced anchor with this 54!

George goes on to win and the match moves to Crawford, leading 10-6. Chris saves the game and the score moves to 10-7, and at the very end it looks as if Chris is going to make it 10-9 when George rolls a cracking double-two to take off his last four checkers to win the title! Well done, George, and hard luck, Chris, robbed by two little ducks! The losing semi-finalist were Gerry Enslin and Lawrence Powell.

Click here for eXtremeGammon stats.

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Main: George and Chris	Lawrence (Gerry left before getting his trophy)

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Consolation: Paul and Peter	Last Chance: Uldis and Jeff

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In the Progressive Consolation (30), Paul Plumptre entered into the 2nd Round and played his way to the final where he met up with Peter Bennet who jumped in after losing his 1/4 Final match against Lawrence as mentioned above. It was Paul who prevailed as he took home the winner's trophy. The Last Chance (16) pitched Jeff Barber against Uldis Lapikens (two of Biba's longest-serving members), an encounter from which a happy Jeff emerged victorious. Being registered blind doesn't deter Eric Westbrook from playing backgammon and when he beat (a returning to Biba) Al Hogg in the Final of the World's End (16) he was very pleased to win his first Biba final, and he gets to keep this lovely globe for a whole year!

World's End: Al and Eric	The Globe!

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In the Friday 500 (16), Paul Gilbertson beat Andy Darby in the final, and Nicky Check, Andy's nearest rival for the #1 spot was knocked out in his first match by Myke Wignall, Nicky's nearest rival! The outcome of all this is that Andy remains at #1 and Nicky and Myke share #2 with 78 points each. Andy is away for next month - so perhaps he will return and find himself usurped. Check here next month after the SAC Trophy. LOOK HERE

The Poker (16) was a decent turnout, and Vicki Pemberton is now preparing to leave these shores and return to her native USA. Before she finally leaves she's determined to get a good score to see her through to the end of the year. Unfortunately she was unable to better her score of 106 when she went out in 10th place. Of the top five placings this weekend, three of them were Tutchings! Al Hogg, the winner and Lawrence Powell, 4th, were the only two who were not called Tutchings! The others were Dan, Phil and Rob. Although Vicki remains at #1, Lawrence Powell and Mark Calderbank are snapping at her heels and it is going to be very difficult for her to remain in the top five for much longer without a couple of big wins. LOOK HERE

The Team (6) saw me being thrashed in the semi-final by my old adversary, Richard Biddle and his teammate, Arthur Wright. Having gotten rid of me they sat down to battle it out - and it turned out to be as one-sided as my match, with Arthur taking the pot away from Richard's grasp. To finish off the Saturday night there was little Jackpot (4), the winner of which was Peter Bennet.

Finally
Thanks to Casinorip for supplying the special 'world' trophies, they were admired by all.

Thanks too to my little helper, Deana Fawcett and to Mark Calderbank for running the poker. And I think I am going to have to rethink my £1000 guarantee for the future - unless I win the national lottery, that is!

And I have saved the best news 'til last:

George wasn't in the Winner-Takes-All prize fund so we have a Rollover of £225!

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