This was what I was dreaming of when I created the Patio Series – a balmy but not unbearable afternoon, a shady patio, some good beers, and some enjoyable backgammon. APEX was a decent spot for the meetup, but probably not one we’ll go to again – the only beverage choices are beers and ciders, and no food choices, and modestly strict about outside beverages given they don’t offer coffee even. So it didn’t work for everyone for refreshments. On the other hand, we weren’t hassled at all.
Having learned from the fiasco at Prost!, I did bring spare boards this time. We didn’t need them – Julie, Martin, Kris and Tim all brought boards, so we were set. We had 6 people initially, and so settled into 3 pairs. Jarom showed up about 15 minutes late, but we were able to deal him in no problem.
My first match was against Martin, and it was one of those one game matches. Martin doubled me early, I had a chance to redouble later, and then pulled off a gammon. I wasn’t nearly so lucky the next round. Jarom and I went back and forth – he took the first game or two, I rallied to 4, he survived the Crawford game, and then pulled off the remaining games necessary to take the match. I ended up by playing Julie, who proceeded to not only win, but to frankly slaughter me. It was fun!
Martin had a chess buddy who was hanging around, and made a poorly advised bet, that if Martin beat Kris that the group would have to buy him a drink but if Kris won, he’d buy everyone a drink. Naturally, he left before the match was over. But Martin knows a free drink when he hears one – I’m not saying he threw the match, but that was one we were all rooting for Kris. After that, Martin threw in the towel, so he only got two matches out of the day. Somehow, we ended up with everyone else getting 3 games, though I might have had 4. It’s a little fuzzy now. Tim took first place, Jarom took second, and I took off while Julie and Kris finished their third matches.