1991
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2004

2005

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2009

Paul Money
Derek Matheson
Brendan Burgess
John Broomfield
Brendan Burgess
Michael Crane
Julian Fetterlein
Michael Brereton
Dod Davies
Peter Bennet
Jim Johnson
John Clark
Nigel Briddon

Arthur Musgrove

David Startin

Rachel Rhodes

Tom Duggan

Julian Fetterlein

Adrian Jones

Main (42) : Help! Send for Derek Acorah! I am being haunted by 42s. Last month we had the Backgammon in London @ Biba with 42 entrants for the second time in two years, and now the Sandy has done it too! OK, I'll live with it knowing that I have cracked the answer to the question, "The Ultimate answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is..."

The forty-two were whittled down to 8 on the Sunday, and it was one of the toughest 8s we've ever had: Chris Ternel vs Peter Bennet. Arthur Musgrove vs Simon K Jones. Mardi Ohannessian vs Julian Fetterlein. Adrian Jones vs Jon Barnes. From this lot emerged Adrian vs Peter.

Throughout the match both players made a few blunders with the cube, Adrian 3, and Peter 5. Among them are two quite big ones that are worth looking at. In the positions Adrian is playing as black.

Game 7. Position 5

Black 8 White 4
Black to play 33

Adrian took 35 seconds to play 13/7(2), blocking off white's escape and forming a 4-prime straddling the bar. It looks good but @ -0.272 it is a huge blunder! Snowie much prefers the hitting and threatening play 23/20 - direct 6 bearing upon the white blot -, 8/5, 5/5*(2), placing white on the bar allowing the 23/20 play be be very effective. The key here is gammons: actual play 16.9%, Snowie's play 24.3%. Peter then rolled 65, which would have danced if hit. Ironically, if Adrian had hit, Peter's 65 play would not have been his biggest blunder!

White to play 65

Peter played 13/7, 13/8. Half of this play was correct according to Snowie - 13/7. Playing 13/8 doesn't really achieve a great deal and just places another checker on the 8-point. Better use of the 6 is hitting 8/3*. Adrian is very likely to improve his prime next roll, hitting him now makes that more difficult and could allow white to move up his runners and attack black's 9-point blot. Peter's move was an blunder @ -0.193.

The match progressed with Adrian moving to 9-4. Thereon Peter began to claw it back: 9-6, 9-8. Adrian took it to Crawford, 10-8, but was unable to clinch it and it went to 10-9 and DMP after an early double/take. The game goes along, back and forth until we get to this position:

Peter rolls 64: 25/21, 14/8

Peter's chances are low at 5.6%

This entire sequence can be seen on YouTube: CLICK HERE

This match is now available as a Snowie, JellyFish or text file; however, there is one thing to know. Whilst recording this match on the video the camera stopped for a while (battery low) and I missed a part of the match. I cobbled together what I could and the only consequence is that in Game 2, the score moves to 4-2 to Adrian. It does not affect the analysis.

Main:Adrian and Peter

Consolation (38): Entering from the non-prog side, Mick Vacarey played his way into the final to face Stewart Pemberton from the progressive side. Alas, Mick's progress was cruelly halted as Stewart prevailed. Last Chance (32): Peter Christmas and Rachel Rhodes met in the final after (respectively) beating Paul Plumptre and Brian Lever in the semis. Rachel came out on top and left Peter in 2nd place. The Sandy (32): 3-point matches are hard to win, they are very short and favour the weaker players; however there wasn't any weakness between the finalists, Martin Barkwill and Andy Darby. The two top players battled it out - an encounter from which Andy emerged the winner.

Consolation: Mick and Stewart	Last Chance: Peter and Rachel
The Sandy: Martin and Andy

Poker (18): A good turnout for the penultimate poker Grand Prix fixture. There was a big shock for the 'established' players when Liverpudlian entrants, Carl Dell and Peter Chan came 1st and 3rd . . . the shock made greater by the fact that Peter had no idea what he was doing! Marcus Wrinch came 2nd. John Hedge and Julian Fetterlein came 4th and 5th. Myke Wignall remains #1 and it'll be a challenge for John Hedge (his nearest rival) to topple him - it is possible, but it needs a good turnout and for John to win at least 26 points and Myke to win none. Rosey Bensley and Paul Gilbertson swap positions and Chris Evans moves into the money, replacing Vicki Pemberton. With Arthur's 70th on its way in November there is still time for changes in the money positions for those just nosed out. Latest list HERE.

Friday 500 (15): Marcus Wrinch and Julian Fetterlein battled it out for the winner's prize; and it was Julian who won leaving Marcus with 16 points - enough for him! With just one more event to go, Arthur's 70th (formerly the TT), Marcus Wrinch has secured the £100 prize by topping the list with a lead greater than 20 points over nearest rival Julian Fetterlein. With one more event to go, Arthur's 70th, there's still time for some big changes. With 20 points up for grabs none of those hanging onto the lower positions are safe! Also, if fewer than 16 entrants turn up in December players from 17th upwards will be allowed to enter should they be present. If you haven't booked your November/December accommodation - DO SO NOW! Latest list HERE.

Finally: It was a good weekend's backgammon and everyone enjoyed it. The Liverpool backgammon Club are proving a force to be reckoned with. Last month Simon K Jones won the Main, this month Carl Dell and Peter Chan come 1st & 3rd in the Poker and Adrian wins the Main! I wonder when they'll be stopped?

I am now looking forward the Arthur's 70th - and a break from 42! Life? Don't speak to me about life!