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County Cups Trophy (32)
Report by Michael Crane

By 12:15 on the Saturday I did a head count of entrants and discovered I had 32, a perfect draw for any tournament, but for a Swiss, it was perfecto! I was sorely tempted to close the doors, put the lights out and metaphorically, hide behind the sofa in case anyone else showed up! But, I couldn't do that so I sat there until 12:30, and then I shut the doors!

An entry of 32 was to give me (eventually) 16 in the Main and 16 in the Consolation. By Sunday morning we had four in the Main on 3-3, Peter Bennet vs Gerry Enslin and Julian Fetterlein vs Vicki Pemberton, encounters from which Gerry and Julian emerged on 4-4. On paper, the match between Gerry and Julian should have gone to Julian, he's higher ranked (1940 to 1540) and is recognised as one of the top players in the country, let alone Biba. Julian's problem was, Gerry didn't recognise this fact and it was he that went to the 6th Round on 5-5! Of the 4-5s that had not already played Gerry, Marcus Wrinch was drawn at random to see if he could put a stop to Gerry's run of beating top players (Rachel Rhodes - defending champion and former two-times British Champion, and Peter Bennet - 2008 English Open Champion and currently the highest ranked active player!). He did!

In what was an one-sided match Marcus led from the off and Gerry only managed to get three points the entire match. The eventual score of 11-3 didn't fully reflect the match, each of them played some very good backgammon (and some quite bad too) but overall it was closer than the score would have you believe. Marcus was favourite (58.24%) and Snowie rated them as Expert for Marcus and Advanced for Gerry.

There were just five checker-play blunders throughout (Gerry 4, Marcus 1), but one of Gerry's was a tad large as you can see here. The match is to 11 points and Marcus is playing as black:

Black 0 White 0
White to play 51

With Marcus holding an advanced anchor he's likely to hit loose in his home board if he doesn't get a better move elsewhere. For this reason it is essential to play 24/23 and anchor. The 5 then is between 8/3 and 13/8 - and Snowie gives it to 8/3 by a small margin. However, as you will have gathered Gerry didn't make this move, instead he pokes his head over the barricade with 23/18, 4/3! Big mistake, Marcus then rolled The Girls (55), 8/3*(2), 6/1(2), and Gerry never got both checkers back into play until Marcus bore off and let him in to take the gammon.

Marcus's blunder wasn't so dramatic, it being a borderline blunder:

Black 2 White 1
Black to play 43

Gerry has a fairly impressive home board and unless he hits a black checker he isn't going to win the race from here, although he is 11 pips ahead, positionally he's at a slight disadvantage. So, Marcus should avoid leaving a blot, and Snowie opts for the simple move of 6/2, 6/3. Marcus chooses 8/5, 7/3 and leaves the shot that Gerry needs! Gerry does in fact roll a 4, but sadly for him it is Snake Eyes (11).

The most exciting part of the match was the Crawford game, a game in which the onlookers couldn't believe their eyes. Marcus leads 10-2: (Watch on YouTube or admire the images below)

22/4, 11/5	6/2(2), 4/0(2)

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22/4, 6/0	2/0(4)

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4/0(4)	6/2(2), 5/1(2)

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5/0, 2/0	5/0, 2/0(3)

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3/0, 1/0	1/0(4)

If this sequence of doubles were to come out whilst playing online or against a bot there'd be shouts of dice-rigging and cheating; but this was head-to-head and those that keep moaning about the dice online and against bots should realise, shit happens! Snowie Match Stats

So, Gerry remained on 5-5 and it was left to the tie-breaker to establish that Rachel Rhodes came in as Runner-up. Biba members might be interested in learning that the £410 W.T.A rollover from the British Open is now a double rollover of £810 (thanks to the fact that no one won 6-6), a sum which might (or might not) go at the June English Open! If you haven't yet decided to come to the English Open, perhaps this snippet might entice you.

Rachel and Gerry	Chris and Dan

In the Consolation element we had two players on 3-3, Chris Ternel and Dan Tutchings. The head-to-head tie-break was used and it was Chris who came out 1st after it was acknowledged that he won their Round 3 match. As things worked out, this was Dan's second 'win' of the weekend, for it was he that won the Poker (10) on the Saturday evening. Andy Darby came 2nd, with Mark Calderbank 3rd and Phil Tutchings (daddy!) 4th. In the poker we now have our first qualifiers (5 or more entries) and Vicki Pemberton remains at #1 and Mark Calderbank has moved up to #2 as Lawrence Powell (absent this weekend) drops to #5. Andy Darby moves up to #3 and Myke Wignall replaces an absent Tony Fawcett at #4.

In the Team (6) event it went down to two players going at it head-to-head, Michelle Ford (new member playing in her first ever Biba tournament) vs Brian Metcalf. Michelle's inexperience was to Brian's benefit and he came out the winner; mind you, Michelle is determined to return at a later date to gain that experience - good for you, Michelle. In the 1-point Knockout, Adrian Jones beat Rachel Rhodes. In the Friday 500 (11), Mardi Ohannessian beat Nicky Check in the Final, with Mark Calderbank and Mick Harris in joint 3/4th. The effect of this on the listing is that Andy Darby keeps his #1 slot leading Nicky Check by 10 points, who leads Myke Wignall by 10 points, who leads Mardi Ohannessian by 10 points!   Adrian Jones

Finally. I'd like to thank our anonymous sponsor who provided the trophies and 1-Pointer added prize money in celebration of his birthday. I'd also like to thank my wife, Sharen, for her help in standing in for my usual assistant, Deana Fawcett who was holidaying in Lanzorotte - I must be paying her too much . . . . Oh, I've just remembered, I don't pay her at all! Also, thanks to Vicki Pemberton and Mark Calderbank for stepping in to run the poker . . . . Tony Fawcett was with Deana in Lanzorote . . . . and I don't pay him either!

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