After 7 consecutive editions of the tournament in the Abdijmolen in Heverlee (from 2015 to 2022, except for 2020), we moved this year to the Squash Club De Vaart in Wilsele for the 14th Leuven Open on Sunday, November 12, 2023. The large billiards room was transformed into a backgammon arena hosting 18 boards to allow dice battles for a record number of 36 players.
The Swiss tournament format with 7 rounds of 5-point matches ensured everybody could keep on playing until the end, whatever the results. The pairings were efficiently administered by Toon using the free ludite tournament software. A welcome coffee or tea and some pastries made sure everybody was fully energized to play. At lunchtime, the delicious soup and sandwiches prepared by Miguer and the other friendly staff of the Squash Club provided the fuel to make it through the day.
The final ranking was made on the basis of four criteria:
- Score (number of victories)
- Resistance points (sum of scores of opponents)
- Neustadtl score (sum of scores of defeated opponents)
- Tournament rating
After 7 rounds, three players had scored 6 victories: Paulus van Rooijen, Daniel Rozenberg and Johan Segers. The second and third criterion above were then invoked to decide upon the ranking between these three.
The traditional Fonske challenge between the Belgian backgammon clubs of the participating players ended in a narrow victory of Leuven, one point ahead of Brussels, who were in the lead for the most part of the tournament.
Finally, a big thanks to all players who made their precious game equipment (boards, dice, clocks) at the disposal of the tournament.
We hope all participants enjoyed the day as much as we did and we look forward already to the 15th anniversary edition of the Leuven Backgammon Open in November 2024!