Biba International Championship 2010

Report by Michael Crane

Main (25): Twenty-five was a poor turnout, and I will not even trot out the usual, "but it was a quality field" even if it is true! On the Sunday the Semis saw Tony Fawcett vs Paul Plumptre and Marcus Wrinch vs Nicky Check, from which Paul and Nicky emerged to face-off in the final. It wasn't a classic match and Nicky came out as 'beginner' to Paul's 'intermediate'. Between them they played an astonishing 53 errors of which 25 were blunders! What perhaps clinched it for Paul was his luck rate: 28.595 . . . pretty high! Here's a few snippets for you from their 11 point match with Nicky playing as white:

Black 2 White 1
White recubes

Nicky took quite a while to ship across this recube to 4. While viewing the video I realised he was counting the pips, which had him 10 pips ahead. Mind you, a glance at the relative positions should have been a good indication of the correct cube procedure: Double/Pass. Black has poor distribution and six checkers stacked on the 6-point with just one 5 to remove before 5s are wasted. White has all points covered and is likely to remove two checkers each roll for longer than black will.

Black 4 White 3
White to play 32

On the video recording Nicky is seen to take 1 minute, 40 seconds (not including his 12 seconds per move allowance) to misplay this roll 8/3. What he should have played is 24/22, 9/6. Coming off the 8-point is a blunder, it's blocking escaping 6s for black and threatening them if they move off and run out with 5s.

Black 6 White 3
White to play 61

Another instance where Nicky thinks a long time (68 seconds) to make a mistake with 13/7, 5/4. He did toy with the correct play, 9/3, 4/3 but for some reason didn't play it. Slotting the bar-point is playing into black's hands and he'd love to have a go at rolling a 6 with a 1, 2 or 3. Black in fact rolled 62: 25/23, 24/18*. Nicky never recovered and was doubled out a bit later on.

Black 7 White 3
White on roll

After a series of stacking moves Paul found himself in this awful position; a position that 'Stacker' Staines himself would be proud of! Incredibly, Nicky couldn't keep the black checker contained and eventually Paul cubed him out to go 8-3 ahead. Thereafter, Nicky gains one more point and is then gammoned at 9-4 to lose the match. Click HERE for the Snowie stats.

Main: Nicky Check and Paul Plumptre	Main Semi-finalists: Marcus Wrinch and Tony Fawcett

In the Progressive Consolation (21), Round 1, Jon Barnes (British Champion 2009) met Rachel Rhodes (British Champion 2000 & 2005), a match from which Jon came through the winner. He then progressed through to the final from the non-prog side to meet Mardi Ohannessian who came through the progressive side. Mardi, more comfortable with head-to-head games than matches, was looking to get back to a head-to-head that was rudely interrupted by this final, and it was he that came out to take home yet another trophy. On a separate note: For someone that has appeared in several films as an extra, Mardi is never serious when in front of the camera . . . as the photo shows!

Consolation: Jon Barnes and Mardi Ohannessian	Last Chance: Rachel Rhodes and Uldis Lapikens

Having been defeated by Jon in the Consolation, Rachel made emends by getting to the final of the Last Chance (32) on her 3rd re-buy! Facing her was fellow 3rd re-buyer, Uldis Lapikens. For a while it looked as if Uldis was going to take the title but Rachel stepped up another gear (she's a truck driver!) and drove off with it instead.

Time Trial: Andy Darby and Phil Tutchings

In the Time Trials (8) the final between Andy Darby and Phil Tutchings was played on the clock (hence the title), and it was Andy that came out the fastest! Last month Andy won the top title - Jarvis Main, and this month he wins the lowest title!

Other events over the weekend: Friday 500 (10) saw Andy Darby (yes, the same one!) fight it out against Myke Wignall in the final - and Myke came out the winner. Poker (9) saw Andy Darby (yes, the same one!!) in 1st place with Tony Fawcett 2nd and Mark Calderbank 3rd. Team (8) saw Irving Czechowicz beating Rachel Rhodes in the final. NB: Andy Darby was playing poker, thank goodness!

Finally. I have been saving the best news 'til last: Paul Plumptre wasn't in the winner-takes-all prize fund so it's a roll-over for Scotland of £210. See you in Scotland!

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Myke Wignall and Mick Harris found hiding!!!!
	This match is available as a Snowie or Jelly match file - email for details.