NSW OPEN 2025

 The NSW Open Backgammon Tournament was held on Saturday and Sunday March 8-9 at the North Ryde RSL.

The Main Flight was 8 rounds of double-elimination Swiss format and attracted 26 entrants.

The winner, and 2025 NSW Champion was Terry Christodoulou

Runner-up was Ken Vaughan

Jim Bean and Gary Stavrou tied for 3rd place.

Players who were knocked out on Saturday had the option of entering the Second Flight on Sunday and nine players took the opportunity.

Breck McCormack won the Second Flight. Robby Solomon and Jenny Saunders tied for second.

Ken Vaughn is runner-up in the NSW Open

Gay Stavrou and Jim Bean tied for 3rd place

Jenny Saunders and Robby Solomon tied for 2nd place in the Second Flight

Breck McCormack wins the Second Flight

Jim Bean

Andrew Mowbray

Gary startles his opponents with the brilliance of his shirt rather than the brilliance of his playing

Jan Spillekom can never get sleeves to fit his extra long arms

Joseph El Alam

One of our finest new players, Morteza. Keep an eye on him, he's going places

Ken Vaughan

Steve Clarry

Paula O'Connell

Michel Gerges

John Symon

Terry Christodoulou

Ian Dunstan

2025 NSW Champion Terry Christodoulou congratulated by Sheriff Gary

Tuesday March 4th 2025

 Just 27 players tonight, probably due to the proximity of the NSW Open which will be run this weekend.

Nevertheless we were visited by two new players, Matt Smith and Kevin Stubbs. In fact, Matt won the night. What an introduction to Sydney Backgammoners!

Yalli Pleshet was declared Player of the Month for February and was given free entry to tonight's tournament. He managed to come second and also scooped the side pool.

Robin Lanesman was the drawn Giantslayer to take on the current Ladder Leader, Mahnaz Rostami.

FINAL	TOT
R3 RANKING	PTS
Matt Smith	316
Yalli Pleshet	315
Robbie Baudish	311
Robin Lanesman	309
Kee Yio Wan	207
Jenny Saunders	206
Angelo Voulgaris	205
Morteza Shaabanifar	205
David Reitzin	205
Jim Bean	204
Amir Tehrani	202
Zhiman Rahmati	199
Carol Wakelin	198
Nick Macoun	99
Mohammad Nejati	98
Andrew Mowbray	97
John Symon	96
Alex Colombis	96
Adam Makda	96
Michael Raptis	96
Deniz Agdiran	95
Gary Stavrou	92
Mike Baldwin	91
Paula O'Connell	91
Kevin Stubbs	91
Rafael Chattah	-10
Andrew Clarke	-13

How did Andrew manage to get 4 of his opponents checkers on the bar with only 2 home points?

Amir and Andrew

Robin Lanesman

Where are the red checkers?

Deniz

Jenny had been doing well until she faced Matt

Robbie and Kee Yio setting up

First-timer Matt Smith wins the night

Yalli

"Yes, thanks" says Robbie

Tuesday February 25th 2025

 We had 32 players tonight including newcomer Andrew Clarke.

Michel Gerges was the drawn jackpot but only made it to the second round, succumbing to Steve Clarry.

FINAL	TOT
R3 RANKING	PTS
Gary Stavrou	314
Angelo Voulgaris	311
Yalli Pleshet	309
Steve Clarry	308
Carol Wakelin	209
David Reitzin	207
Aram Amirghan	206
Jim Bean	206
Mahnaz Rostami	205
Michel Gerges	204
Tony Giannoulis	204
John Symon	203
Sean Ghodsi	203
Joseph El-Alam	200
Morteza Shaabanifar	199
Jenny Saunders	198
Jeremy Whitelaw	100
Paula O'Connell	99
Rafael Chattah	98
Adam Makda	98
Robbie Baudish	98
Mike Baldwin	97
Zhiman Rahmati	96
Aslin Sagnaklar	95
Amir Tehrani	95
Robin Lanesman	94
Kee Yio Wan	94
Nick Macoun	87
Michael Raptis	-5
Andrew Clarke	-9
Dilhun Akpinar	-11
Mohammad Nejati	-12

All eyes on the posted results

Are Kee Yio and John rolling simultaneously?

Paula keeps Mohammad on the bar

Jenny towers over Steve

Dilhun and Amir in a "who will escape first" situation

Jeremy with newcomer Andrew Clarke

Tuesday February 18th 2025

 We had 31 players tonight including newcomer George Nader who is Michel Gerges' brother-in-law.

Jeremy Whitelaw was the drawn jackpot but Zhiman squashed his hopes in the first round.

TD Gary was the wooden spooner for the night and is still licking his wounds.

Yalli Pleshet is having an operation tomorrow and we wish hi a speedy recovery.

FINAL	TOT
R3 RANKING	PTS
Morteza Shaabanifar	310
Mahnaz Rostami	310
Aram Amirghan	309
Nick Macoun	300
Kee Yio Wan	210
Deniz Agdiran	208
Zhiman Rahmati	207
Rafael Chattah	207
Breck McCormack	206
Paula O'Connell	204
Robbie Baudish	203
Sean Ghodsi	203
Yalli Pleshet	203
Dilhun Akpinar	202
Mike Baldwin	198
Angelo Voulgaris	100
Adam Makda	99
Jeremy Whitelaw	99
David Reitzin	99
Jim Bean	98
Mackenzie Little	97
Mohammad Nejati	95
Carol Wakelin	95
Amir Tehrani	94
Robin Lanesman	90
Matt Bridges	-4
George Nader	-6
Andrew Mowbray	-8
Michel Gerges	-8
Gary Stavrou	-16

TD Gary

Michel Gerges

Jeremy, on the bar, worried about the opponent's 3-point board

"It's all in the dice" says Robbie

"i don't wear make-up, truly I dan't" says Breck

An ever-startled Mackenzie

An early cube from brown

All eyes on the Robbie/Matt match

Tuesday 11th February 2025

 28 players graced our shores tonight.

Yalli Pleshet was the drawn jackpot but was denied in the first round by Ben Anderson.

FINAL	TOT
R3 RANKING	PTS
Adam Makda	312
Morteza Shaabanifar	308
Michael Raptis	307
Mahnaz Rostami	306
Paula O'Connell	208
Robbie Baudish	206
Dilhun Akpinar	206
David Reitzin	205
Carol Wakelin	204
Ben Anderson	204
Yalli Pleshet	204
John Symon	202
Mackenzie Little	202
Tony Giannoulis	199
Angelo Voulgaris	101
Gary Stavrou	100
Sean Ghodsi	99
Rafael Chattah	99
Nick Macoun	98
Andrew Mowbray	98
Robin Lanesman	97
Jenny Saunders	97
Mike Baldwin	95
Jim Bean	91
Mohammad Nejati	-6
Kee Yio Wan	-8
Zhiman Rahmati	-15
Amir Tehrani	-19

John at full stretch

Kee Yio

Sean and Dilhun

Paula and Carol

Mike Baldwin

Ironic that Sean is one of our least reserved players

Garry and Sean

Robbie

Zhiman

Morteza and Ben

Morteza was 2nd tonight

Michael Raptis was 3rd placed

Two of tonight's winners, Adam and Mahnaz