Newsletter for 25 May 2004

And the Twenty-First Tournament of the Year is won by...

On Tuesday, 25 May 2004, the Backgammon Club of San Diego met. Not many people showed up, but the show must go on!

Tournament News

6 people entered an 8-player bracket on Tuesday night. We had the following tournament results:

First place: Fred Kamgar
Second place: Sho Sengoku
Third place: Bruce Discher

The Sho Sengoku train was finally derailed last night. Sho made it to the finals, and was attempting an unprecedented feat -- the Grand Slam for May. Sho had won all three previous tournaments in May, all without so much as a buyback or even an initial entry anywhere except the first round. With fifteen consecutive wins under his belt, Sho finally lost -- Fred Kamgar defeated Sho in the finals of the tournament.

Bruce Discher won third place, earning him two master points to make the standings.

An 8-player bracket, when it's the only one of the evening, awards the same number of master points as a 16-player bracket: 8, 4, and 2 for first, second, and third place, respectively. If an 8-player bracket is run as an overflow tournament, then it awards just 4 and 2 for first and second place, respectively.

Player of the Month for May

Sho Sengoku is the BCSD Player of the Month for May 2004. We had four tournaments in May, and Sho nearly won all four. As mentioned earlier, Sho took the first three tournaments of the month, on May 4th, 11th, and 18th, and took second place on May 25th. Sho entered the month in 8th place on the BCSD Master Point list, and leaves the month on top. Congratulations, Sho!

Here are the top point getters for each month this year:

Jan 2004:  Bruce Haight 15 points
Feb 2004:  Jason Lee    17 points
Mar 2004:  Tom Fahland  15 points
Apr 2004:  Adrian Costa 12 points
May 2004:  Sho Sengoku  28 points

Current Master Points Standings

Sho Sengoku has taken over first place in the master point standings, thanks to his 2nd place finish this week.

 1. Sho Sengoku      42
 2. Adrian Costa     39
 2. Jason Lee        39
 4. Bruce Haight     37
 5. Tom Fahland      29
 6. Fred Kamgar      25
 6. Osman Guner      25
 8. Cyrus Mobedshahi 18
 9. Henry Chaboki    12
10. Marcia Karen      9
11. Eric Sedehi       8
12. Greg Kopp         6
13. Mark Weiner       3
14. Bruce Discher     2
14. Ryan Knowles      2
14. Chris Rosin       2
16. Maira Costa       1
16. Sam Mehri         1

Adrian Costa and Jason Lee are tied for second place, just three points back, while Bruce Haight is five points off the lead.

The point leader at the end of the year will be named the BCSD Player of the Year, and the top 16 in the Master Point standings will be invited to the 2004 BCSD Tournament of Champions, to be held in early 2005.

53rd Gammon Associates Invitational

Don't miss out on your chance to enter the 53rd Gammon Associates Invitational on June 11-13, 2004 in Beverly Hills. There should be several BCSD players in attendance.

Problem of the Week

A position from the 3rd round of the Open Consolation of the FIBS 2004 Spring Backgammon Tournament:

+-24-23-22-21-20-19-+---+-18-17-16-15-14-13-+

| |

| | | |

| 1 |

| |

+--1--2--3--4--5--6-+---+--7--8--9-10-11-12-+

Black leads 3-1 in a 7 point match. Black on roll. Cube action? Pip counts: White 116, Black 55
Position ID: s9sAsAF7twMEAA Match ID: cAngABAAGAAA

Last Week's Problem of the Week

No results from last week... we'll be back to analyze all old problems of the week.

See you next week! Keep tossing those cubes,
J. Lee

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