Eight participants gathered for November’s Fourth Friday tournament (Nov 27), including the first six players of the championship ranking and new player Nikos Halkias.
As we are getting close to the end of this year’s championship, each match is of particular importance. The high stakes didn’t bother Guy who was the only undefeated player after 2 rounds and we suddenly realized he can win the championship already in November. However, it wasn’t meant to be that way: he was defeated by Johan in the 3rd round so the title will be decided in December.
Guy Van Middelem (White) vs Zsolt Tasnadi (Black), 2-3 in a 5-point match. Guy to play 33.
In the last round, Guy played Zsolt and, after loosing an unlucky backgammon, he was trailing 2:3. In the attached position, Guy (playing white) rolled 33. It is tempting to play 13/10(3) 6/3 but white has to realize that even after playing this roll, he is behind in the race. Therefore, it is better to clear the 8-point and wait for a shot while black is likely to destroy his board. Guy took his time but played correctly.
This was a crucial match; if Zsolt had won, there would be a triple tie between Guy, Johan and Zsolt. However, Guy prevailed which means that he continues to lead the championship ranking, 4 points ahead of Johan and 8 points ahead of Zsolt.
This sets the stage for an exciting finale. Guy has the advantage and he is in a good shape: he won 10 of his last 12 matches in the championship and had a good run in the Leuven Open. Johan is not much behind and he will be desperate to keep the cup in Leuven. Zsolt needs to win all four matches to defend his title, a feat he achieved 3 times in 2014 but not once this year. In fact, we cannot exclude a tie in the final ranking in which case the number of matches won over the year will (hopefully) decide the championship.
If you want to witness (and of course play in) round 12 of the club championsip, please note that it will take place on 23 December, Wednesday!
Six players participated in the Vesalius challenge at the 7th Leuven Open, for a total of 6 x 6 = 36 matches, at €2 stake per match, so €72. For each match a performance rating (PR) was computed using eXtremeGammon. To each PR, a score between 0 and 2 was calculated:
PR > 6 : score = 0
PR < 4 : score = 2
4 < PR < 6 : score = 6 – PR
The pay-off for each player is proportional to the total score obtained by that player.
The highest scores were for Paul van Dijke, Michel Lamote, and Guy Van Middelem. No coincidence perhaps that these gentlemen also constitute the Brugge team, winner of the 4 Cubes 2015?
Remark: in his match with Zsolt Tasnadi, Michel Lamote lost on time. Since losing on time costs tons of equity, this has been taken into account as a “resignation error”.
Thanks to all participants for having joined this fun an instructive experiment.
All members, future members, and friends of the Backgammon Club Leuven are cordially invited to the next member meeting on Monday, December 14, at 19:30 in Café Sport, Martelarenplein 13, 3000 Leuven. After the meeting you can stay to play some friendly games.
Please drop us a line of you plan to participate: BackgammonClubLeuven@gmail.com. Your suggestions and ideas are very welcome!
Agenda:
Bilan budget BCL npo
Membership fee 2016
4th Friday:
how to attract more people?
new location?
Website – Facebook
4 Cubes 2016: Who wants to play? How many teams? (25€ per team)
Twenty-eight players enjoyed the view and the catering at the beautiful Abdijmolen in Heverlee during the 7th Leuven Open on Sunday, November 29, 2015 (announcement). We played upstairs, in the two “Gottfried” rooms, and we were assisted by the very friendly staff of the venue.
Four players having 5 out 6: Robin Bilderbeek (2nd prize), Johan Brisaert (1st prize), Guy Van Middelem (showing Elkie), and Zsolt Tasnadi (3rd prize).
After six rounds (Swiss format, 5-point matches), four players had scored 5 points, and the mutual results between those four players did not help to rank them any further. Swiss tie-break rules then had to be applied to arrive at the final ranking:
Johan Brisaert (Brussels)
Robin Bilderbeek (Gent)
Zsolt Tasnadi (Brussels)
Guy Van Middelem (Brugge)
Please see below for the detailed results.
The Brussels team winning the Fonske challenge: Alain Chif, Zsolt Tasnadi, Nabil Antoun, Maurits Pino, Liliane Baptista, Johan Brisaert, and Kristoffer De Weert.
In addition, the Brussels team won the Fonske challenge, the Brussels players scoring a total of 18 victories against players from other clubs. Second team was Brugge, whose four players still scored 16 victories against players from other clubs, a very strong result. Third team was Leuven with 14 victories; Gent and Hasselt scored 10 and 8 victories respectively.
Michel Lamote giving a backgammon lecture to the participants of the 7th Leuven Open.
At lunch time, Belgium’s number one player Michel Lamote (Brugge) gave a lecture about basic principles in backgammon. To prepare for the lecture, participants were invited to think about a set of exercices, taken from recent live games between Belgian players. You can hereby download the exercices and the slides.
Finally, six players competed in the Vesalius challenge, fighting not only for the best result but also for the highest playing accuracy, as measured by an analysis of the match records by a computer program. The results will be announced later, after all analyses have been completed.
Thank you to all participants for having joined us for a great backgammon day!
[NL]
Dag 11 van het Leuvens clubkampioenschap 2015 vindt plaats op vrijdag 27 november in “De Vaart”. Het toernooiformaat is Zwitsers, 4 rondes, matchen tot 5. Gratis deelname. Praktische info hieronder.
[FR]
La 11ième journée du championnat de Louvain 2015 se déroule le vendredi 27 novembre à “De Vaart”. Le format est suisse, 4 tours, matches à 5. Participation gratuite. Infos pratiques ci-dessous.
[EN]
Day 11 of the Leuven club championship 2015 takes place on Friday, November 27, in “De Vaart”. Tournament format is Swiss, 4 rounds, 5-point matches. Free entry. Practical information below.
* Fri Nov 27, 20:00, Sport & Squash Club De Vaart, Kolonel Begaultlaan 15, 3012 Wilsele.
Announcing your arrival to Johan facilitates the pairings, but even unannounced you’re always most welcome, at any time. Arriving before 20:00 guarantees you can participate from the 1st round on. Arriving late? No problem: just call. Contact: +32 (0)494 29 44 60, BackgammonClubLeuven@gmail.com.
Next events:
Sun Nov 29, 09:00 – 19:00 : 7th Leuven Open in the Abdijmolen, Heverlee
This year’s Club Championship seems to have become the private tournament of the four leaders, Alain, Guy, Johan and Zsolt. In fact, in the October 23 tournament Henri was the only one who dared to face them. He did that in style, defeating Guy and Zsolt in the first and second rounds but was stopped by Johan in his next match.
Alain will want to forget this night as soon as possible. After a bye in the first round, he played Johan, leading 3:2, and was about to win the match with a gammon. However, Johan managed to hit and contain Alain’s very last checker and won the game. Things went from bad to worse: Alain lost the match on time and then repeated this feat in the last match with Zsolt…
Johan was close to winning his third Leuven tournament this year. However, after three wins, he lost to Guy in the last round. As a result, the standing remained tight: Guy leads by only 4 points ahead of Johan and Zsolt. Alain fell behind but is still within sight.
Henri Pollet (White) vs Guy Van Middelem (Black), 2-4 Crawford in a 5-point match. Guy to play 21. The match seems all but over, but…
This is a position from the match of Guy and Henri. Guy (playing black) rolled 21 and played 5/2. According to computer analysis, 6/3 is marginally better but the difference is really insignificant. In any case, Guy remains a big favourite after any play. This didn’t prevent Henri to win the game with the help of a well-timed 55 and then he went on to win the match.
The 4th Friday of December being Christmas Day, we needed to find a different date for round 12 of the Club Championship 2015. A Doodle was launched among the regular players, and the date finally retained was Wednesday, December 23, in the usual location, Sport & Squash Club de Vaart in Wilsele.
[NL]
Dag 10 van het Leuvens clubkampioenschap 2015 vindt plaats op vrijdag 23 oktober in “De Vaart”. Het toernooiformaat is Zwitsers, 4 rondes, matchen tot 5. Gratis deelname. Praktische info hieronder.
[FR]
La 10ième journée du championnat de Louvain 2015 se déroule le vendredi 23 octobre à “De Vaart”. Le format est suisse, 4 tours, matches à 5. Participation gratuite. Infos pratiques ci-dessous.
[EN]
Day 10 of the Leuven club championship 2015 takes place on Friday, October 23, in “De Vaart”. Tournament format is Swiss, 4 rounds, 5-point matches. Free entry. Practical information below.
* Fri Oct 23, 20:00, Sport & Squash Club De Vaart, Kolonel Begaultlaan 15, 3012 Wilsele.
Announcing your arrival to Johan facilitates the pairings, but even unannounced you’re always most welcome, at any time. Arriving before 20:00 guarantees you can participate from the 1st round on. Arriving late? No problem: just call. Contact: +32 (0)494 29 44 60, BackgammonClubLeuven@gmail.com.
Please register by the online registration form.
Reduced fee (€27) if you pay before November 26. After that date, the fee is €30, to be paid in cash the day itself.
Small breakfast and lunch included.
As usual, there has been a drop in the number of participants during summer but, mysteriously, the trend continued into the autumn: only 7 players gathered in the September tournament, with Miguer joining us for the last round. Considering that half a year ago we had up to 18 participants, this is rather disappointing; let’s hope it is just a temporary decline. In any case, those who were present (including Lieve who showed up after a long absence) had a good time and some exciting matches.
Guy was back after missing the July and August tournaments. He had a tiring week after coming back from the European Championship in Budapest on an unhumanely early flight on Monday morning but he left no room for doubt that he is a contender for this year’s title: he won all four matches, beating the three leaders of the championship ranking on the way. He jumped to the top of the ranking, joined by Zsolt who scored an important victory over Johan in the last round. The standing in the Club Championship 2015 remains very tight, with Alain and Johan trailing by only 4 points.
Alain (White) vs Guy, 1-4 post-Crawford. Alain to play 55. Shift or block or … ?
This is a position from the match of Alain and Guy played in the first round. After a late hit, Alain (playing white) had good chances to win this game and stay in the match. However, an unlucky 5/5 upset his plans. After the match, Guy and Alain discussed vividly whether it is better to hit (7/2(2) 6/1*(2)) or keep the black checker on the 1-point (12/2 7/2(2)). In both cases, black needs a 6 to escape but in the first case white may have another shot with the checker left on the 12-point. Probably this is the reason that, according to computer analysis, hitting is significantly better. But watch out, there is an even better play! It is easy to overlook 12/2 7/2 6/1*. It leaves 2 blots in white’s homeboard; if black dances, white has good chances to cover the 6-point while if he is hit, he will have a shot at black’s blot on the 24-point. This bold play gives the highest chance of winning the game (28%)!
