Wednesday July 20th 2022

 The cold weather and increased Covid warnings again conspired to keep our numbers down to 11.

Hammon Mans was the drawn jackpot player and after two rounds appeared to have the prize sewn up until a knight in shining armour, in the form of Jim Bean, dashed Hammon's hopes.

The results were:

1st Jim Bean

2nd David Reitzin

3rd Antonio Andolfo

4th Hammon Mans

New member Antonio Andolfo warns Malcolm Stradwick that one more double six in the bear-off will incur a close encounter with his fist... Naples style!

while......

Rafael Chattah wisely refuses Hammon Mans' invitation to a left-handed arm wrestle

Wednesday July 13th 2022

Just 11 starters tonight, probably due to the clash with the State of Origin decider match.

We welcomed new member Antonio Andolfo who learned of us at the Sydney Open last week.

Koosha Hedjripour was the drawn jackpot player but failed to capitalise.

Results were:

1st John Symon

2nd Gary Stavrou

3rd Mohammad Nejati

4th Jenny Saunders and Dilhun Akpinar

Gary Stavrou looking for that magic roll and Jim Bean thinking "no way!"

2022 Sydney Open

 The 2022 Sydney Open, run by Sydney Backgammoners, was held on Saturday July 9^th with 36 entrants.

A new format was introduced: 3-tier single elimination with mandatory clocks.

After some early hiccups players settled down to the use of clocks and, pleasingly, no players genuinely ran out of time.

 

Ben Phillips won the tournament from John Symon in a nail-biting decider round.

Ben was also the winner of the optional Side Pool with Hammon Mans coming second.

 

Robby Solomon, as winner of the 2^ndFlight, took out 3^rdprize.

 Brenton Mestel, as winner of the 3^rdFlight, took out 4^thprize.

 

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all the players for participating in this very successful backgammon tournament.

Ben Phillips, winner of the 2022 Sydney Open, receives his prize from
Tournament Director Gary Stavrou

Sydney Open Winner Ben Phillips proudly displays his crystal cube award

John Symon was runner-up in the Sydney Open and takes 2nd prize

Robby Solomon takes 3rd Prize in the Sydney Open

Brenton Mestel wins 4th Prize in the Sydney Open

Hammon Mans takes 2nd prize in the Side Pool

Wednesday July 6th 2022

An uneven bakers dozen of players fronted up to play tonight and the first  item on the agenda was to announce the player of the month who gets their entry fee refunded.

This month David Reitzin got a free ride.

 

Next was to pick the Giantslayer who would battle Gary Stavrou for some of his points. After a couple of false starts Dilhun Akpinar was offered, and took, the opportunity.

 

Next – the jackpot player and Jim Bean was again the man with a target on his back.

 

 The final results were:

 

1^st           David Reitzin

 

2^nd         Jeremy Whitelaw

 

3^rd          Michel Gerges

 

4^th          Jim Bean and Gary Stavrou 

 

See you all next week !

There's a match in progress - and everyone is looking at Adam

Gary Byrne and Dilhun Akpinar having a happy time.

Wednesday June 29th 2022

Our numbers were up a little tonight with a healthy 17 players arriving to play.

 

David Stubbs was AGAIN picked as the jackpot player, but was not successful.

 

The final results were:

 

Equal 1^st       Angelo Voulgaris and Adam Makda

 

3rd                Rafael Chattah

 

Equal 4th      John Symon and Jim Bean 

 

 

Well done all – see you next week !

A very protected Ned Marootians takes on Garry Byrne in a tough contest.

Not much talking going on in the match between Dilhun Akpinar and Jenny Saunders.

TD Gary Stavrou and Angelo Voulgaris battle it out.