Manchester Backgammon Archive 2003

Manchester Backgammon Club

Archive News 2003

Gerry Smith

It is with sadness that I heard of the sudden death of Gerry on 25th August 2003. He was an occasional visitor to the club when he lived in Blackburn. He was a true gentleman and it was always a pleasure to meet him and his late wife Daphne at backgammon events. There is a full obituary on the BIBA website.

Mind Sports Results 2003
Six Medals for Club Members

The Rudolf family had a good first weekend at the Mind Sports Olympiad. Club member John won the silver medal, an excellent result especially as he only started playing tournament backgammon a few months ago and this was his first major tournament. His son David won the Junior Gold and was second in the beginners tournament and also came fourth in the main tournament. John's wife Pauline was third in the beginners tournament.

In the mid week Olympiad tournament Manchester players did well. Rodney Lighton and Kevin Stebbing were first and second in the Gold category respectively, while John Rudolf won the Silver category and Barry Teece the Bronze category. Rodney's luck continued in the English Open where he won the Silver medal.

Last Day - Irving wins Gold

Irving Czechowicz showed a clean pair of heels to the field in the Blitz championship on Bank holiday Monday, winning his first 5 matches to gain an unassailable lead.

So the final medal tally for Manchester club members was 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 bronze (+ Kevin Stebbing's Silver and David Rudolf's Junior Gold).

Rodney Lighton, John Rudolf and Irving Czechowicz with medals
(Thanks to Michael Crane of BIBA for the photos)

See the BIBA web site for a full report and pictures.

Kevin wins at BIBA

Congratulations to Kevin Stebbing, founder of the Manchester Club, who won his first ever major BIBA tournament, the Hilton Trophy, at Coventry on 8th June.

Manchester One Day Tournament 2003

The inaugural Manchester tournament attracted 36 competitors who gathered at Manchester Bridge Club’s excellent venue on Sunday 27th April. Most players were from the North West, with some from across the Pennines and a few from further afield.

Shamelessly stealing Liverpool’s excellent one day format (why change a winning formula) a five round Swiss tournament of five point matches was played, with the top eight qualifying for the Main seven point KO final and the remainder playing a five point consolation. Running all day was a one point KO and there was also a three point last chance event in the evening.

In the main event Nottingham’s Darryl Artt beat Nigel Merrigan in the semi-finals after trailing 6-3. He played Scottish Open champion Peter Chan in the final, Darryl quickly reaching a 6-1 lead. Peter clawed his way back to 6-4 and with the cube on a mandatory 2 an exciting game ensued. At one point it looked as though Peter would win a gammon and the match and then the game swung several times from one player to the other, with Darryl finally emerging victorious.

The consolation final was won by Yorkshire’s Anthony Fawcett who beat Liverpool’s Simon Jones in the final. It was left to Manchester’s Ian Shimwell to salvage home pride which he did in fine style by winning both the last chance and the one-pointer.

Thanks to Lucy Jones and Lorraine Lighton for their help with the scoring and administration.

Darryl Artt with winner's trophy		Consolation Final Runner up Simon Jones and Winner Anthony Fawcett
Main Winner Darryl Artt Runner up Peter Chan 3/4 Adam Stocks Nigel Merrigan 5/8 Peter Bibby Darren Kerrigan Kevin Jones Barry Teece	Consolation Winner Anthony Fawcett Runner up Simon Jones 3/4 Harry Davis Jane Jacobs 5/8 Jim Davis Kevin Stebbing Ian Gwynne Ian Vaughan	Ian Shimwell winner of Last Chance and One Point Tournaments
Last Chance Winner Ian Shimwell Runner up Adam Stocks 3/4 Jim Pennington Brian Lever	One pointer Winner Ian Shimwell Runner up Brian Lever 3/4 Kevin Williams Kevin Stebbing
Non expert prize winners Peter Bibby Ian Gwynne

Scottish Open Champion Peter Chan in play against Adam Stocks Watching is Brian Lever	Irving Czechowicz playing Ron Havenhand
Harry Davis against Anthony Fawcett (foreground) Jane Jacobs playing behind, with Simon Jones watching	Brian Lever and Ron Havenhand with Milton Livingstone and Jim Pennington behind

Club Competition Winners

Month	Winner	Runner up	Semi finalists		One Point Winner
Dec 2003	Ian Gwynne	Irving Czechowicz			Steve Grundy
Nov 2003	Barry Teece	Irving Czechowicz	Ron Havenhand	Rodney Lighton	Kevin Jones
Oct 2003	Ron Havenhand	Richard Johnson	Irving Czechowicz	Ian Gwynne	Heidi Goldemund
Sep 2003	Maureen Crane	Ian Shimwell			Peter Bibby
Aug 2003	Barry Teece	Michael Crane			Jeff Barber
Month	Winner	Runner up
July 2003	Ian Vaughan	Irving Czechowicz
June 2003	Ian Gwynne	Richard Johnson
May 2003 Group 2	Ron Havenhand	Jane Jacobs
May 2003 Group 1	Ian Vaughan	Jim Pennington
Apr 2003	Rodney Lighton	Ian Vaughan
Mar 2003	Rodney Lighton	Kevin Jones
Feb 2003	Rodney Lighton	Ron Havenhand
Jan 2003	Kevin Jones	Jane Jacobs