Tuesday 11th March 2025

 We had 24 players tonight including, for his first visit to our weekly matches, Robby Solomon. 

Uncharacteristically, Robby was bested in his first round by the formidable Mackenzie Little.

Amir was the drawn Jackpot and, although things looked well for him by winning two rounds, Adam dashed his hopes in round 3.

FINAL	TOT
R3 RANKING	PTS
Morteza Shaabanifar	318
Adam Makda	313
Nick Macoun	307
Andrew Mowbray	208
Robby Solomon	207
John Symon	206
Amir Tehrani	205
Zhiman Rahmati	203
Kevin Stubbs	203
Sean Ghodsi	202
Mackenzie Little	201
Jim Bean	200
Robbie Baudish	101
Paula O'Connell	98
Gary Stavrou	97
Robin Lanesman	96
Mike Baldwin	96
Michael Raptis	95
Matt Smith	94
Mohammad Nejati	94
Kee Yio Wan	93
Rafael Chattah	-9
Carol Wakelin	-14
Angelo Voulgaris	-14

Robby Solomon

New blood Matt Smith

Old blood John Symon

Young blood Robbie Baudish

Gary and Robin

Angelo Voulgaris

Our new Ladder Leader, Morteza, wins the night

Gary and Adam, who came 2nd

Nick can barely contain his excitement at coming 3rd

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