World Team Backgammon Championship Venice 2022
Walking in
Its the first time I went to such an event or any big backgammon event in general. I went there as part of the Cyprus team. I could recongnize some people that I have seen on youtube walking around such as Mochy, Michy and Dirk. But I guess everyone could recongize them. Just looking at the tables and backgammon boards everywhere was imporessive.
Cyprus Team
(The order is alphabetical as given on the events website)
- Alexandros Andreou (me)
- Prodromos Chrysanthou
- Pinelopi Konstantinou
- Vassos Koutsioundas (C)
- Hasan Mehmet
- Stelios Procopiou
- Niyazi Unluturk
Day 1
Austria
My first match of the tournament was against Wolfgang Bacher from Austria. The game started with a gammon 4-cube for Wolfgang so I was behind 8-0 from the first game and lost 9-0. I’m afraid I might have recubed too early. I don’t have the possition. I should probably have asked Wolfgang Bacher for the analysis since he was recording the game, but it was my first match and I didn’t know if it would break some etiquette rule. After all he should have to make the hard work just to give me the prepared file. Then again, he would do have done it anyway. Maybe I should try dropping him an email at some point. Unfortunately we lost this matchup 3-2.
USA
My second match was against Herb Roman from the USA. In this game things worked out for me quiet a bit. I secured a big lead early on, however, I found out that our team already lost 3 out of the reaming 4 matches so we already lost. We kept playing of course and even though I might have made some mistakes towards the end, I won the match 9-2. We lost this matchup 3-2 as well.
Turkey
My third match was against Mahir Kasuto from from Turkey. This match got to 7-7 to 9 which is 2away-2away so I made a rather early cube. If I remember correctly the game stareted with a 6-5 for me which I played 24/13 and a 2-3 for Mahir Kasuto which he played 13/11 13/10. I took a moment to see what my market loosers were and decided to cube. My opponent didn’t even let me land the cube and took correctly. I wasn’t sure if I had a cube so I checked later. It was an optional double. So I’m happy I did not mess it up. I lost this match 9-7. Unfortunately we lost this matchup 3-2 as well.
Switzerland
The last game of the night was against Switzerland. And I was playing against Georges Grünbaum. I once again had an early lead of 8-2 and the team score was 2-2. Everyone gathered over me and Georges Grünbaum and I was down on time. The score got to 8-5 and I was under a minute on my clock when the game stareted. I then manged to get to this possition with about 29 seconds on the clock so I had to make a quick decision.
For some reason I though I was quiet a bit down on the pip count and I barely had time to think about the move, let alone counting (something I’m super slow at). So I made a quick move 10/5*/1. He then got a 5-1 and entered on the ace. However, he never rolled a 4 and I ended up winning the game. We then discussed this roll with Georges Grünbaum and some other people watching. Some people liked it and others didn’t like it at all. So once I went home I checked the possition.
It turns out it was a huge blunder because the pip count was very close. My 5-4 would actually set me 11 pips ahead even without hitting. It doesn’t make it any less of a blunder but I think I would have found the correct move if I had the time to count the race. The fact that Georges Grünbaum considered an escape the previous roll with a 5-2 (even though I corrected the illegal move) might have subconsciously triggered me to think I was behind in the race. I then thought I will make some minor modifications to the possition and see how it would change if the race difference was actually bigger.
Giving a few more pips of a lead to Georges Grünbaum and keeping the same number of crossings made both moves identical.
I won this match 9-7. We won this matchup 3-2 and got to play the next day as well!
Day 1 conclusion
We had a very rough start loosing our first 3 matchups against Austria, USA and Turkey all 3-2. What a horrible win distribution. If we lost another match we would be out. Luckily we ended up winning against Switzerland so we got to play the next day as well!
Day 2
Hungary
My first match of day 2 was against János Baranyai from Hungary. The game started very promissing, I was leading 1-0. I manged to have a 5 point board and him having 3 checkers on the bar and a blot in my board. However, he entered rather quick. I mistakenly rushed to escape my back checkers leaving too many shots and I ended up loosing the game even though I had good gammon chances on a 2cube game. Later on in the game I made an illigal move and János Baranyai spotted it. It would not have changed the outcome of the game but I see how someone could think I did it intentionally, which I did not. It didn’t become a issue or anything, it was just a bit embarassing. At the end of the game the score was 7-3, I was bearing off while he was still on the bar. He could see that I had too many gammon chances so he decided to cube, in case I do leave a blot, which I didn’t. I won this match 9-7. We won this matchup 4-1!
Czech Republic
My second game of day 2 was against Eva Žižková from Czech Republic which I later found out is the mother of Zdeněk Žižka. I don’t remember much of this match but I remember getting a few lucky doubles that allowed me to clear my mid point against a 20 point holding game. I also think I took a cube with a 20 point holding game against a last 10 or 11 point to be cleared and got a hit with a full home board. I won this match 9-4. We won this matchup 3-2.
Sweden
My third game of day 2 was against Kim Westerlundh from Sweden. This game was a long one and the end was just crazy. I have been deaming about this game for days after it was finished. Once again I’m playing the last match of the matchup and both teams have 2 wins. The game is 6-6 and becomes a contactless race. Then Kim Westerlundh gives me a cube and I take some time trying to count the pip difference as fast as possible. I did not get the exact number and unfortunately I don’t remember the possition. If I remember correctly the difference is about 8-10 pips and my pip count is in the 80s. So my rule of thumb is 8% take if I don’t have too much waste so I took. The score is now 6-8 for Kim Westerlundh. I won the crawford point and cubed on the next game which Kim Westerlundh took. The marathon then started. The game quickly weighted towards Kim Westerlundh. I got 4 checkers stuck on my 1 point and he had a 5 point board.
I then got lucky enought to get a shot and the game stareted going back and forth. I made a huge blunder in a possition similar to this. (I don’t remember the exact board distribution though but it must have been something along those lines)
I knew I should not hit but his 2 point board seemed very week so I did it and if I recall correctly he rolled 1-1. He then picked 4 checkers up and entered into his home board where I rolled 5-5 and got back in and hit back. He then manged to escape once again picking another two men up and I again managed to hit him. He finally fanned once and I made my 8 point but I just never got a hitting number.
I then made the following decisions
Kim Westerlundh then rolled a 6-5 and I didn’t get a hit. I got a few good roles and the game got to the following possition and sequence.
What a game… I ended asking Kim for the analysis which he provided, however, he told me the camera ran out of battery and he only recorded up until the score got to 6-6. What a shame… So I didn’t get the analysis of the last games such as my 6-6 cube decision and the final game. All positions I have mentioned are what I recall from memory so there are some mistakes for sure but I did my best to remember. I lost this match 9-7. Unfortunately we lost this matchup 3-2 as well and the tournament ended for us here.
Highlight
The highlight of the matchup and probably the entire event for us, was the match between Pinelopi Konstantinou (my girlfriend) and G1 Thomas Tenland. Pinelopi Konstantinou won the Grand Master 9-2!
Day 2 conclusion
We had a great time. After a loosing strike of 3 we managed to get another 3 games the next day. All our lost matchup scores were 3-2 so we got the maximum number of wins.
Conclusion
Over all it was a very nice experience. Something I never would have imagined being part of. We ended up in 10th place out of 18 teams, but were very close to getting into the final 8 and that is a very big achievement being such an underdog. If we managed to get into the final 8, we most likely would have played with Japan and that would have been a great experience by its self.
Even though we did loose before the final 8, we had a good amount of match wins, which is something I’m happy about.
We then spent the rest of the days going around in Venice which was also nice!