Biba International Championship 2009

Report by Michael Crane

Pictures courtesy of David Startin

+

Friday 500 (25)
A very good turnout for the increasingly popular, 5-point knockout. Richard Biddle and Tom Duggan faced each other across the board in the final having beaten Brian Lever and Simonetta Herrera respectively in the semis. Richard, all fired up, beat Tom to win his first ever Friday 500 event. Well done, Richard and hard luck, Tom. See page 30 for the list.

Main (47)
Whenever Julian Fetterlein enters a tournament it's a safe bet he'll either win the Main or the Consolation: He's won five Mains and four Consolations during his Biba membership - an impressive record. So, when some of this weekend's entrants saw that Julian was entering it was almost assumed that he'd win one or the other.

As it turned out, he won the Main! His opponent, Uldis Lapikens put up a valiant fight but it was like sticking your finger down the barrel of a gun and expecting not to be shot. Uldis didn't have the benefit of a 1st Round bye, unlike Julian, he missed out by being drawn the last 1st rounder. On his way to the Final he beat new-member, Michael Brigdale, Gerry Enslin, Stewart Pemberton . . . and then it got tough! He beat Peter Bennet in an exciting match that had the onlookers straining to see the board. Then, after beating Peter it got even tougher when he met Julian.

Julian's first opponent was (on paper) his toughest: Lawrence Powell. From there he beat John Hedge (enjoying, for a very shot time, his first ever bye in a Biba knockout!) and then he came upon Rosey Bensley - and he had a very difficult job getting past her. Rosey put up a magnificent fight but Julian managed to emerge victorious. He then faced Nicky Check in what was a disappointing match for Nicky - although Julian was pleased with it. It was then into the final and his 6th Main win. Well done, Julian and hard luck, Uldis.

Main: Julian and Uldis

Consolation (45)
Being knocked out of the Main in his first match by the eventual winner (Julian), Lawrence buckled down and played his way through five opponents in the non-prog side of the Consolation, to get into the final. Here he waited upon Stewart Pemberton who was knocked out of the Main by the eventual Runner-up (Uldis). Stewart had the dubious pleasure of having to beat wife, Vicki, in his first match, and from thereon it was wins up to the final.

In the final, Lawrence picked up a fistful of Grand Prix points for beating Stewart (the wife-beater!) into second place having won six matches in a row. He gained just 0.01 points fewer than the Main 1st and 2nd for his effort . . . and before anyone starts complaining about his Grand Prix points award, let me remind you that if you want to play from the 1st round of the non-prog side all the way to the final, be my guest!

Consolation: Stewart and Lawrence

Last Chance (32)
It's always good to see the younger players doing well. This weekend it was Talan Evans who did very well. He played his way into the final where he sat opposite (not as young!), Gerry Enslin. Age and experience prevailed in the end with Gerry taking first place; but Talan was quite happy to walk away with his first trophy.

Last Chance: Gerry and Talan

The BIC (32)
In the 2nd round of this open 32 draw, Angie Dell and Fanika Petkovsak battled it out to progress to the last eight, a battle that Fanika lost. Undeterred, she re-entered and played her way back through the rounds until she made it into the final to play . . . Angie! Unfortunately for Fanika, Angie reprised her role in their earlier encounter leaving her the Runner-up.

The BIC: Angie and Fanika

Angie last played with us over 12 years ago - it's nice to see her and husband, Carl, back at Biba tournaments. Two more returning to the fold after a 10 year gap (unfortunately, either unable to win a trophy) were Stefan and Rowena Paliwoda. It's good to see some of the faces again. Welcome back all of you.

Poker (16)
Right up until 8.27pm, organizer, Tony Fawcett, had 15 entrants for the Poker Grand Prix, and Tom Duggan, making a last minute decision made it a nice round 16 field. John Hedge is really enjoying the Freeze-outs, and this one was no exception. Chris Evans pipped Rosey into 1st place by being chip-leader between their battle for 1st and 2nd, John came 3rd with Myke Wignall (current leader) in 4th. Tony Fawcett is still warming up! See page for the latest list.

Team (7)
What more can I say? I won again! It might have been another smallish entry but it was very good fun. Happily for me our winning team of three was split into 1 vs 2, and I was the 1. This meant that if I beat Roland Herrera and teammate, Michael Ireland, I'd take all the pot . . . . and I did, but not until we'd reached dmp, and I eventually out-rolled them in the bearoff with three big doubles. Sorry, guys.

Jackpot (8)
Slipped in to offer players something to do late Sunday afternoon, this little foray was won by Carl Dell when he beat Marcus Wrinch in the final. So, both Angie and Carl went home, happy bunnies. Let's hope we don't have to wait another 10 years or so before seeing them again.

Finally
The entire weekend went along quite smoothly and I wasn't called upon to do any adjudicating at all. It's so nice to have such well behaved members! I'd like to thank my assistant, Deena Fawcett for her great support, and Tony for running the poker. I appreciate it.

I hope to have the match between Julian and Uldis into Snowie soon, but time constraints dictate that the the Bibafax will not feature it until the May issue.