Written February 2025
I thought I’d put down a few words after a really fantastic weekend spent in Torquay. Not words I ever thought I’d write to be honest but life is full of surprises.
Anyway, my wife and I spent 48 hours from Friday late afternoon in the wonderful, if dated, surrounds of the Livermead House Hotel in Torquay for the inaugural English Riviera Backgammon Congress. It was my sixth (I think) tournament and Ruth’s second. It was organised with backgammon friends who we have been playing with for some time in Tavistock and Plymouth and so was a learning experience for our brave tournament director Plamen in his first venture into organising and running an event. Everything came off very well, in fact it was a wonderful success and we enjoyed a weekend of backgammon with friends old and new. I also managed to do pretty well: not quite as well in terms of progression as last June in Cambridge where I managed to make it to the last 16 knock out on Day 2 perhaps, but unlike then I did succeed in winning a bit of money by reaching the semi final of the consolation tournament. Alright it was only £50, neither here nor there really compared to the cost of entering, accommodation, food etc, but it was very nice to be handed some money!
Anyway, a few words on the game: it’s pretty compulsive, gives your brain a workout and is a source of endless fascination and depth. I have never come across anything that resembles so closely the ups and downs of real life; the random element of the dice makes it all somewhat unpredictable in the very short term. Over the long term better players will always prevail: those with strong analytical skills, understanding and feel for odds and combinatorics are well placed to become good players. If you can combine that with the ability to bluff, ruthlessly capitalise on an opponent’s weaknesses and control your own play then you are well placed to learn quickly and do very well. It’s a game that takes five minutes to learn but you’ll always really be a student. Add in a culture of gambling and slight rakishness that still surrounds the game and, well, for me you have an addictive blend, though I should say that I never gamble on backgammon (I prefer to lose a few quid on horses).
Anyway, for those interested here is a brief run down of my tournament:
Day 1 (5 matches to 9 points, win all 5 or 4 and you are through to the last 16. Winners of 3 games go into a one game shoot out with the winner progressing. Those not progressing go into the consolation tournament)
(My rating at the beginning of the tournament was 1,465, the higher the rating the stronger the player and the top rating in the UK is currently 1,879. I’m hoping that once the results are uploaded my rating will improve).
Game 1: beat Catherine Seale (rated 1,458) 9-7 in a bonkers ding dong that seemed to go on forever. We met again on Day 2.
Game 2: lost to Yas Turan (rated 1,555) 9-7. Close match, I thought after this it would be the usual story of genteel decline through the trapdoor.
Game 3: beat Ann Pocknell (rated 1,625) 9-7 in a tough match.
Game 4 beat Tim Paulden (rated 1,636) 9-6. This was a tough game and I probably got a bit lucky, Tim recorded the match so I should get the transcription of this one and will be interested to see how I did.
Game 5 lost to Charles Hill (rated 1,679) 9-8. We had both won 3 so the winner would proceed automatically. Charles was a real gent, a former winner of the UK Open, and gave me some useful feedback the next day and proceeded to win Runners Up on Day 2.
All in about ten hours from start to finish, each game taking longer than normal, and as we were the last playing in game 5 we had a small crowd for the last game, unusual for me!
So it was into the shoot out to proceed to the main but as it was so late we agreed to do this first thing on the Sunday.
Day 2. I slept badly and woke up with a headache, feeling rather sick and absolutely rinsed. I forced some fruit and yogurt down for breakfast and to my surprise felt restored. The shoot out with Mike Grabsky just went his way on the final roll, so he went through to the Main and I was in the consolation (5-point matches)
Game 1 beat Samantha Tierney (unrated, this was her first tournament) 5-4. Was looking like plain sailing after I won a doubled gammon to go 4-0 up but it was a lot closer in the end than I expected.
Game 2 beat Catherine Seale 5-0. She was determined to have her revenge and said she’d slept badly remembering my double 5 from our match on Day 1. Things just didn’t go her way but she took what must have been a disappointing result with very good grace.
Game 3 beat Gary Lloyd (rated 1,583) 5-3: I thought this would be it to be honest but came through in the end. Gary did point out one clanger I’d made but in the end it was OK.
Game 4 (QF) beat Michele de Havilland (rated 1,506) 5-2. Great game and when 2-1 down I accepted a double and managed to get into a reasonable position from which I redoubled. I suspect this was technically an error but thought if I lost I’m 4-1 down and have to win the Crawford game then two more so my match chances were better recubing. Michele couldn’t really drop it and well, what can I say, it worked out. Into the semi-final and, to my surprise, into the money!
Game 5 (SF) lost (inevitably!) to Damon Denis (rated 1,667) 5-0. I know Damon from home clubs and he is a really great player so I knew I had a slim chance of making it past him. I was unable to defy the odds (I’m not sure I’ve ever beat Damon in fact) so that was it. Damon went on to lose to Tim Paulden in the final.
What a fantastic two days though. Not only was the tournament itself enormous fun, but the venue was lovely in a way that only rather old fashioned hotels in English seaside towns can be. It’s obviously seen a lot of history (Charles Kingsley stayed there and is celebrated throughout the hotel) and the food was great (and silver service, which was a nice touch that fitted the place). We’re already looking forward to next year and upcoming tournaments this year: roll on!