August 20 Backgammon Tournament Results

You know how many people it takes to play a match? Two. We had one more than that show up, since my youngest consented to come along. But Martin & I played a couple of 9-point matches anyway. I won the first, and not to brag, but I won a match against Martin! So that was cool. He, naturally, made up for it in the second – but it was a great match! We traded games for a few, then he got me on the ropes. I survived the Crawford game to get to an 8-5 deficit. Then I won a doubled game to get to an 8-7 deficit. Double match point game at one point had me looking like a strong favorite; but I misjudged. I thought I was far enough in the race to not bother hitting him on the ace point, and Martin took a couple of big rolls to come back and win the second match! Ah, well, live and learn: always hit on the ace point if your opponent doesn’t have a closed board! Unless you shouldn’t for some other reason, of course.

Anyway, the cider house seemed like a lovely location, although it was a big warm on this particular day. Apparently, don’t schedule tournaments in August, or not the day before total eclipses, or something.

Martin wanted to have a third tie-breaking match, but I begged off to drive to Madras, and let me tell you, seeing the totality was worth the effort. We even made it home afterwards – eventually. So if you have the choice between playing backgammon and watching a total eclipse, I recommend taking the eclipse. But bring your board, because there’s plenty of time during the buildup to get a game or three in.

-Mark