Tournament Results
Sunday, 06 December 1998
San Mateo, California
Just hear those sleigh bells jingle-ing and ring ting tingle-ing for these winter wonderments:
Intermediate section (11 players):
Main Winner - Sho Sengoku
2nd - Ted Chee
Consolation Winner - Christian Stoddard
2nd Rich Orwell
Open section (13 players):
Main Winner - Robert Caradien*
2nd - Rawlin Pullen*
Consolation Winner/ Elliott Winslow*
2nd Kit Woolsey*
(Split)
* denotes BGBB members
A confetti snowfall for you all!
It started in January. A first-place finish (in the special Double Brownie Points tourney) was followed in rapid-fire succession by a semifinals showing and back-to-back firsts, a second-place triumph in August, and then he coasted into December's Consolation finals split clincher. Congratulations to BGBB's 1998 Brownie Points Winner,
Kit joins 1997's Brownie Points Champion Ron Karr in the BGBB Hall of Fame, and gets his own, personal batch of brownies as the grand prize.
Applause and cheers for Intermediate Division Player of the Year, Brian Farr, and Beginners Division Player of the Year, Brad Vogt.
The awards ceremonies will unfold at the first BGBB tournament in 1999, on January 17th at San Mateo. You are cordially invited to join the festivities. White tie optional.
In this month of grand titles and superlative accomplishments, Pia Rasmussen merits the all-time Long Distance Award. Having left Copenhagen in October, she has travelled around the world to arrive in SF for some post-Las Vegas celebrations (see, Players in the News, below), and her tentative itinerary takes her to Brussels before a short stint in hometown Copenhagen, then to New York, Istanbul, Austria, Las Vegas, then hopefully back to California again, before, well, who knows where to then?
Now, Ernest Ho's is a different story. When he arrived in San Francisco for a visit from Hong Kong, business called him off to London. Fortunately, he was able to return for a final few days in SF, and thank goodness they coincided with December's tournament — he gets the monthly Long Distance Award!
Players in the News: Catching up on Las Vegas reportings, congrats to Pia Rasmussen, who won the Beginner Division Consolation AND placed second in the After Tournament $20 Division, and to Rich Orwell, who took first-place recognition in the Beginner Last Chance.
Several BGBBers are stuffing their stockings after the 42nd Invitational Gammon Associates tournament in Los Angeles. Nice showings by Michael Derylo (3rd in the Open), Odis Chenault (3rd/4th in the Super 32), Steve Sax (1st with partner Ricky Sax in the Doubles), and Jon Vietor (2nd in the 1-point Blitz).
A new wreath hangs in the Benjamin household: Art and Deena proudly announce the arrival of Laurel Ruth Benjamin, born 12/3/98! Laurel is a welcome addition (that's a pun). Congratulations one and all!
"Have board, will travel." That was the motto of the River City Backgammon Association, active during the late '70s and early '80s bg mania. Jim and Sondra Stern were the driving forces of the RCBA, and long will be remembered the tournaments they ran at the Steak 'n' Ale. They threw open their arms and their doors to out-of-towners, and the big tournaments in Sacramento meant a lot of out-of-towners. You get that many bg players into one place, and a chouette ensues. They hosted, tolerated perhaps?, games that went on for days (no one ever slept back then, remember) after the tournament was over -- in their living room, dining room, patio and anywhere a backgammon board and a minimum of two players could fit in their house and within the limits of an incredible hospitality. Since leaving California, Jim and Sondra called a variety of locations "home base," the most recent being Jacksonville, North Carolina.
Measured in years, Sondra's life was much too short. She passed away last month, survived by Jim, five children and nine grandchildren. She had many drivers licenses over the years, not a single one of which reflected her true place of residence -- here and forever in the hearts of each and every one of us graced by her acquaintance.
With fond remembrances of Sondra, our love to Jim and the Family Stern.
CyberArts has generously augmented the kudos bestowed on all of BGBB's 1998 San Mateo tourney winners and runners-up. Many, many thanks to Ken Arnold and the gang at GamesGrid for sharing these prizes with the November and December winners:
Six-month GamesGrid prizes:
Peter Blachian
Robert Caradien
Duane Fuller
Sho Sengoku
Three-month GamesGrid prizes:
Bill Caplan
Ted Chee
Danny Epstein
Rawlin Pullen (twice)
Christian Stoddard (twice)
Kit Woolsey
One-month GamesGrid prizes:
Clint McClintic
Rich Orwell
Paul Tanenbaum
Elliott Winslow
It is with tremendous gratitude that we announce CyberArts' continued BGBB tournament prize pool donations. All Main round first-place finishers at the San Mateo tourneys through June of 1999 will receive free GamesGrid subscriptions for three months.
Thanks, CyberArts and Ken Arnold, for being such ardent supporters (heading into a third year, now!) of Bay Area backgammon.
This next item is a very important announcement. Really. If you've read this far in this newsletter, you're going to want to commit to memory what the next paragraph says. WE COULD SHOUT IT OUT, but that would be obnoxious. Just, please, save potential headache and hard feelings, and realize that what is said is what is meant.
BackGammon By the Bay tournaments in San Mateo and Alameda will start at noon.
At noon. Start. At noon. Got it?
So, you can get there at 11:00 am, which is when we'll be starting 3-point blitzes. That will be fun.
Or, you can get there by 11:45, which is when registration closes.
Or, you can get there after 11:45, and have a cup of coffee with us. That won't be fun, if you had intended on playing in the tournament — but it will be nice coffee.
Specific details about:
- blitz matches (they will be going on all day; a player in the main round is not eligible for entry into a blitz; you do not have to be entered in the main tournament to play in a blitz, etc.)
- members' reservations privilege (via E-mail or phone)
- appeals process for late arrival shut-out (there is none)
can all be obtained at the tournaments. This leaner-and-meaner BGBB is by popular demand. We hope that those who made this request for a reliable start time (and those who prompted it!) will like the change.
Web Weavings: Over the course of this year, BGBB has brought you a series of 34 backgammon problems presented in quiz style: Here's the position, what do you do with the roll?, is it time to double?, is it right to take? It's interactive in format, allowing the quizzee to view the possibilities on the board before making the commitment on his or her final answer. Submission of an answer takes you to the analysis page, where the choices and solutions are carefully and thoroughly addressed by Resident Game Analyst Ron Karr.
Richard McIntosh engineered the interactivity, assembled a visually pleasing presentation, and maintained the weekly (with allowances for the odd vacation or two) production schedule of this massive project. The in-depth exploration of the intricacies of backgammon play and decisionmaking supplied by Ron are rare gems of accomplishment, and unreflective of the weekly timeline under which he labored.
Backgammon players everywhere, please join me in a worldwide round of applause for these two giving spirits, and BackGammon By the Bay's Most Important Personages of 1998, Ron Karr and Richard McIntosh. May your efforts be rewarded over the board!
Get your 1999 Brownie Points early! (It worked for Kit!)
Tournament flyers, sample Chicago Point and BackgammoNews newletters, the BGBB Lending Library -- they're all available at the next tournament, which is
Sunday, January 17th
1730 South Amphlett, Suite 116
San Mateo, CADoors open at 10:00 AM
Blitzes start at 11:00 AM
Registration closes at 11:45 AM
Play starts at 12:00 noonPlease bring a board.
Keep on rollin' well,
B
R
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