We had an even 24 players show up for today’s tournament, on a gorgeous sunny afternoon. We played outside to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, and with 3 even brackets, it was a very smooth running event. It also helped that all the players today were experienced veterans of the tournament scene – I had one player show up for the lesson ahead of time, but he did not stay for the tournament itself.
In the “A” bracket, round 1 had Paul over Bodger, Aaron over Jeremy, Tim over Jesse, and Dave over me. Aaron and Dave progressed to the finals, and Aaron came out on top this month! In the consolation bracket, Jesse and I fought our ways back to the final, where he wiped me out with a doubled gammon win to take the match in one game.
In the “B” bracket, Kyle beat out Rick D, Bob H beat out Matt H (who was the only Matt this month), Nick whipped Sande in the fastest match of the afternoon, and Mark A beat Richard D. Mark A and Bob H advanced to the finals, where Bob took his first tournament victory! Kyle ground it out through the consolation bracket to take the tie for 2nd place from Rick D.
In the “C” bracket, Bill beat Robert T, Phil beat Steve, Joel beat Julie, and late-comer Carlos beat out Nathan, who would have otherwise gotten the bye. Carlos and Joel advanced to the finals, with Carlos taking it! Julie beat out Nathan in the consolation bracket for the 2nd 2nd place.
With Mark A’s 2 out of 3 performance today, he has at least temporarily consolidated his lead in the race towards Player of the Year, currently having an 8 out of 10 overall performance. But of the top 10 players (based on tournament matches played), 7 have winning records so far, so it is still anyone’s prize to take.
Sande brought some flyers to today’s event, she intends to start up a “second Sunday” backgammon event, which will be neither a tournament nor a chouette, but a more loose social gathering with lots of backgammon play time. I’ve added it on meetup, but no need to RSVP, just show up and have fun!
See you all next time!
-Mark