It was a full house of 64 players (with 10 on the waiting list*) for the fourth Worcester Intermediates tournament on Saturday won by Charles Pell who hails from Cambridge, coming out on top with six wins, beating Richard Bassett from Lowestoft in the final.

As a member of the UKBGF the victory secures Charles a place at next year’s Tour Invitational event at Shrigley Hall in Macclesfield in January.

Meanwhile, Aniel Ciobanu continued his fine recent form by winning the Elgar Trophy in the consolation event, with Rob Budworth the runner-up. And it was Mark Williams who came away with the last chance Severn Cup in the final against Pat Brooks. There was also an Unlucky 8 event for those who were knocked out in the third round of the main event. Alan Joicey won, with Worcester’s own Fak Laight the runner-up.
​
Intermediate tournaments are critical for the development of and popularity of the game. Intermediates master the art of tournament play (clocks, dice throwing, not dice on checkers, etc.). This is truly a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) tournament! No Super-grandmasters, grandmasters, or advanced players, but new and improving players enjoying a tournament where they are up against players with similar levels of play. This opens the chance of winning and, as this is on the Tour Winners Invitational, can be an opportunity for UKBGF members to get an extra tournament with most of your expenses paid.

The event at the Claines Royal British Legion Club in Worcester was organised by Dave Sanders and Sean Jones, ably assisted by Kev Jones. Sean said: “Thanks to everyone who took part – we were delighted to see so many people, with players coming from across England and Spain to take part.

“It’s a bit of a challenge to cram so many matches into a one-day event and my colleague Dave deserves all the credit for making sure the day ran as smoothly as it did. To help the growth of the game in the UK, it’s important that there are tournaments specifically for intermediates, so we’ll be back next year.” (* Let that be a lesson to you – register now to avoid disappointment).
​
Without the necessary nourishment there is no tournament. The great sandwiches/rolls/wraps are all kindly arranged by Ian Gwynne – this enables us to keep costs down and run this tournament with a reasonable registration fee. Thank you, Ian.

As a HIIT day of backgammon with clocks and rules strictly adhered too, the necessity for carbs is high! So, when the last few games are being played (the finals) some Pizzas are ordered to keep the athletes going!

Thanks to Dave, the Steward of Claines Club (ex-serviceman who could tell stories from the battle of the Somme, but not Agincourt), who was delighted with the sale of poppies on the day and who attended to us behind the bar. There are many people behind the scenes or on the day and without naming these people we just say thank you for making this day a pleasure to attend.

The first Worcestershire Open was held at Hillscourt in the picturesque Lickey Hills over the weekend of 1st to 3rd August. Headline results are given below:

​ Serban Murgu is the champion of the inaugural Worcestershire Open, beating Radu Ciortan in an all-Romanian and dramatic final.

​Meanwhile Andrew Darby triumphed in the Lickey End last chance event, with Hazel Harper the runner-up.

​And the doubles trophies went to Alex Hannam and Mike Snowdon, defeating Rowena and Stefan Paliwoda in the Saturday night final.

There were also several side events to get things going on the Friday night.  Anna Price won the speedgammon in the final against Serban Murgu, while the finalists of the Friday Night Super Jackpot, Mark Dixon and Andrew Darby shared the spoils.  In the other final match:  Mark Dixon took the winning place against Steve Carder in the Friday freeroll, and Andrew Selby just took the win at the Friday Warm Up with the crafty Rowena Paliwoda coming in runner up.  A lot of backgammon played by all!

The 80-player Open, which is part of the UKBGF tour, was held at the Hillscourt Hotel and Conference Centre.

TD Sean Jones said: “As with any tournament, there was a great deal of preparation in the lead-up to the weekend.  As this was our first Worcestershire Open and a new venue for the club, it was always going to be a bit of a nervous occasion – hoping that everything went smoothly, but everyone seemed to have a great weekend, with the facilities, accommodation, and food all fitting the bill.”

“With the ‘other’ big competition going on at the same time, players were able to keep up to date with events at Monte Carlo in between matches.  We hope to be back at Hillscourt next year.  Thanks to everyone who supported the event and all the staff at the venue.

“In particular, I’d like to thank Dave Sanders who put in so much work both before and during the event, along with Kev Jones and Sarah Jolliff who stepped in to help over the weekend.  It was very much appreciated.”

“See you next year.”
​

Turning the Tables

In a packed room, Dan Rovira gave a presentation on the Sunday morning on Turning The Tables – winning from a losing position.

Dan Rovira of ‘Backgammon is Beautiful’ fame gave a very informative and provoking talk which will be available on line. For all standards of player there will be something on Dan's YouTube channel of interest including some very good interviews:
https://www.youtube.com/@BackgammonisBeautiful
​

Not bad performances from both after 12 hours of grueling backgammon!

The most important information is how much did we make tor the Royal British Legion and The Poppy Appeal: £1,440 (at time of publication)

​Thank you to all those who travelled to play in this Christmas Tournament, for without you there is no tournament and the fun and frustration, that is, backgammon.

Garry Jones

This, the third Worcester Intermediates Open, was well attended by a full field of 64 players from across the country, many trying to increase their tour points total, but the majority just out for a good day of backgammon.  The highs and the lows of this incredible game.  Will the dice go my way?  Will I play to my true potential?  Will they have those lovely cookies like last year?

The usual team of Sean Jones, David Sanders and Kevin Jones are present to make sure things go smoothly to ensure a good player experience.  Every year at this competition someone is playing in their first tournament because it is a good tournament to experience what a tournament is all about.  Those seasoned players that have been to many tournaments already know and appreciate the intensity of the play, but for new players who have not experienced this, the Worcester Intermediates is a great tournament to be a part of.  With a very low registration fee (fifteen pounds with lunch) and an entry fee of twenty pounds it is a relatively inexpensive day out in Worcester with lots of backgammon to play on the day.

​
Main Winner: Robert Breen
Main Runner-up: Hannah Parente
Main Semi-finalists: Mark Smyth, CJ Uttley
 
​

Elgar Trophy Winner: Art Williams
Elgar Trophy Runner-up: Serban Murgu
Elgar Trophy Semi-finalists: Michele de Havilland, Philip Cherrington

 
Severn Cup Winner: Nick Close
Severn Cup Runner-up: Shof Miah

​Unlucky 8 Winner: Sarah Jolliff
 
  
One great moment of the day was the pure joy shown by Shof Miah who won her first tournament trophy.  More delight was never seen in someone coming runner up!  It is a lesson to all, to enjoy those special moments that are so hard won in the game of backgammon.  It was a real intermediate moment to be so proud and delighted to win a first trophy!  Intermediates are arguably the future of backgammon and must be encouraged to keep going.  The delight of Shof makes everyone hopeful and strive to get that trophy!
 
Traditionally, at the end of the day, when the tournament directors are winding the tournament down, pizzas are ordered while the last few finals are played.  One story was funny, as Art Williams, who won the Elgar Trophy and personally commented on how beautiful the trophies were, drove back to his hotel only to realise that he had left his trophy behind!  We were well into our pizzas when Art turned up again to reclaim the trophy after having to drive right across Worcester to retrieve it. 
A great day, some great competitors, some fine gameplay, and no issues.  Intermediate tournaments are where the basic foundations are laid down; how to roll dice, how to use a clock, what does ‘Legal Moves’ or ‘Responsible Moves’ mean, what is a premature roll and how is it dealt with, how many hands you can use to play, which way to bear off with the clock and so many other particulars of tournament backgammon play are learned. 
​
Worcester’s next tournament is the infamous Turkey Tournament, from the same people that brought you the Intermediate and Bunny Bash Tournaments.  Worcester’s favourite tournament and longest running tournament (10th Year), The Turkey Tourney is a tournament run specifically to raise money for a Charity.  Register soon! 
https://worcester-turkey.weebly.com/
​

The Bunny Lady
​
Behind every great tournament director is (or at least should be) a Bunny lady.  Would be incredibly missed if not present-imagine; no coffee, milk, sugar, biscuits, eggs and many other little details that can be missed if someone doesn’t get it done.  The Bunny Lady had her ears on full display and being detachable they ended up on the heads of some other people.

The Swiss

The blessed forty-eight begin the four rounds of backgammon.  The aim is three wins or three losses depending on your target.  Fastest way to consolation is three losses!  To accentuate the positive, qualification to the consolation in the least painless way could be considered a win.  However, for those serious players the route is three wins, no losses to get to the top six and automatic qualification to the last 16.

​The most notable round was round three, the culling of the couples.  By chance a couple of couples ended up playing each other.  Cheryl Oliver played her husband Robin and he managed to get the better of Cheryl.  As it happens Robin continued to succeed and made it all the way to the semi-final only to be knocked out by Jamie MacPherson, the eventual Bunny Champion.  Mike Wood fared the same fate as Cheryl and was beaten by his partner Anne.   Would not want to be in the car on the way home!!!

Hi-Lo?
​
In tournaments there is often a period where you are hanging around a bit waiting for your next match.  This can never be eliminated, but Sean had a plan to keep the top six who only need to play three matches and the bottom six who only needed to lose three matches to either be in the last sixteen or qualify for the consolation tournament.  He created a mini tournament for these twelve players as they did not need to play the fourth round of the Swiss.

​CJ went on to join Jamie MacPherson in the final.  Jamie won the match and the crown of Bunny of the Year 2023.

Consolation
​
Concurrently with the last 16 the Consolation tournament was underway.  This ended in a battle between Rachel Rhodes and John Georgiou.  John used his Jedi mind tricks and won.

Another great tournament by the team at Worcester.  This time an event held to raise money for the awful tragedy in Turkey brought together at short notice.  A good response from the friends of Worcester means that we raised a total of £1520 for this cause. 

A tournament borne out of a simple Facebook post.  One of our members had to withdraw from our usual online tournament to mourn the loss of family, friends and their fellow citizens.  ‘I can’t play during 6 weeks depend on mourning. I lost my friends and members of family. Pray for to Turkey Thanks.’ 
The tragedy became very immediate. 

Not just a story on the news, it was something that affected someone close to the club, someone relatively new to the club, who had joined us for our intermediate tournament and had won the final chance.  The touch of the human tragedy was palpable and Mochy was mobilizing in his own way an online tournament to raise funds for Turkey-Syria.  We could not see why we shouldn’t do something too, to raise funds at this crucial time for our friend and her people. 

Ever the action man, Sean Jones decided to buy an ArtGammon board and offer it as a prize and Ian Gwynne, always the generous sponsor of Worcester Backgammon club, offered food to the tournament and David Sanders offered his professional expertise in putting together a website and the necessary spreadsheets etc. to get the registration and donations recorded and coordinate the tournament during the day.

A lot goes into arranging a tournament.  At Worcester we have all the skills to bring together a tournament at short notice.  With a lot of support from our sister club in Birmingham, we had a good number of people register and many donated even though they knew they were unable to attend.  It was a real inspiration for the club to see the support we got from players around the country as well as our own club members.  One very brave member made this the first tournament she attended, and hopefully not the last!

We all arrived in the morning hopeful of taking the ArtGammon board home with us, but that is not in the slightest bit true!  I should be a BBC reporter!   We were all there to have some fun and raise money for a good cause.  Sean started by explaining how to roll dice (again).  Then got to the substance of the day, raising money for the earthquake victims.  An issue with charities is you do not know which ones to trust.  Sean explained his POA (Plan of Action) for the money raised.  He had been given the name of a non-governmental charity with a good track record in helping victims.  We also had our friend who was taking stuff out to Turkey, direct to the victims.  It was agreed with those present that we would send the first thousand pounds raised to the nominated charity and the rest to our friend to spend on items to give directly.

The tournament started as a round robin group stage followed by a straightforward knockout.  This meant a lot of matches for the players.  In the end the finalists were Julian Minwalla and Ian Gwynne.

After some excellent and enjoyable matches, the final was played between Ian Gwynne and Julian Minwalla on the prize board. The match had more twists than a crafty corkscrew, particularly in the last two games with multiple jokers and anti-jokers, until eventually Julian came out as the victor.

The XG transcript of the final can be downloaded here:  ian_gwynne-julian_minwalla_9_point_match_18-03-2023_replay.xg

The full results are available on the website at
https://wbgc-earthquake-appeal.weebly.com/brackets.html

If you would like to donate to this cause, please contact Sean at Sean.Jones@2plan.com and we will make sure your kind donation reaches those in need. Many thanks.
TEAM WORCESTER.