Weekly Notes by David Minikus

2008 Minnesota Open Backgammon Championship

A big Thank You to all that attended... Great fun was had by all - many people commented on the move next door to the Courtyard by Marriott, this is a great venue...

July 24th - 18 Players - 1 new - 1 from the past

2008 Week 29 - On her way to the MN Open, Elayne Feinstein flew in from FL a day early & joined us for our regular Thursday tournament. She did herself proud by finishing 2nd behind winner, Kieth , from Rochester. It’s been about 5 years since Konstantin Kogan has played, he lost to Ed in the Consolation Finals.

July 17th - 16 Players - 1 new - 2 from the past...

2008 Week 29 - New Novice player, Leah Mellin, was defeated in the first round, by Steve Maas, who had not played for many months. Absent for a couple of years, Jerry Kressen lost to Hugh in the first round then won consolation matches against Tom & Steve Maas before losing to Steve Brown. Steve was then defeated by Fred for the consolation win. In the finals, Shel defeated Hugh who’s 2nd place finish is his best showing this year.

July 10th - 13 Players - 1 new...

2008 Week 28 - Novice player Scott Schultz joined us this week, and was defeated by Jesse & then Gary. Jesse defeated Steve Brown to win the tournament & I defeated Gary to win the consolation.

July 3rd - 8 Players - 2 from the past...

2008 Week 27 - Hans Wang & Jeff Nitschke both last played in Feb. With several players at Carol’s tournament in MI and this being the start of a 4 day weekend we were lucky to get 8 players. However, only Hugh & myself brought boards so we improvised and played a 5 point round robin doubles tournament. We drew lots to chose partners... With 2 wins each, the teams of Jeff & Duane plus Tom & Hugh split the prize pool with 2 wins each. Steve BS & Hans and Shu & Myself each suffered 2 losses & 1 win...

June 26th - 14 Players

2008 Week 26 - Keith & Mark from Rochester, Bachan from Farmington & Gary Schachtschneider all joined us this week. Gary has been AOL for 3 months... Last time he was here Keith won the consolation, tonight he was defeated in the conny finals by Gary. In the finals, playing Bachan, I made a poor cube decision, got gammoned, and was defeated by Bachan. However, I scored just enough points to win player of the month for June... Six of the top seven players have been player of the month - In 2nd place, Duane is the only player yet to capture that title...

June 19th - 13 Players

2008 Week 25 - This week, the roles are reversed Duane Jensen is not here, and Steve Brown was able to garner only .5 points - It’s getting crowded at the top... Kurt Thompson finished first, Jim second and Ed defeated Ralph in the consolation.

June 12th - 13 Players

2008 Week 24 - With Steve Brown on vacation Duane Jensen had a chance to capture 1st place, but was able to garner only .5 points putting him just .35 behind. Shel finished first, Jesse second and Yury won consolation managing to keep his slim over lead over 4th place Jesse.

June 5th - 12 Players - 1 New

2008 Week 23 - Duane Jensen got a 1st round bye then defeated Me, Steve Cherne & Yury to win and jump to less than 1 point behind Steve Brown who for many weeks was a virtual runaway leader. New tonight is novice player Norm Anderson, who was defeated by his first opponent Phil Rahm, who assisted him with correct plays, throughout their match as did Jim Pokela, his next opponent, until Jim was down by 4-0 in a five point match - not unexpectedly the help level went down a notch or two & Jim survived to his next match with me! A close match, I needed double 2s to win & that’s just what I got!!! Wait, it gets better... In the consolation final... Yes you guessed it, I needed double 2;s and got them......... As Ralph Stowell says “You can’t make this shi stuff up”

May 29th - 12 Players

2008 Week 22 - Jesse Eaton defeated Myron Goldman to make it 5 different winners this month, I don’t recall this ever happening in the 6 or 7 years I have been recording scores. Add to that, the fact that Steve Brown, our year to date leader was not one of those winners!!!  Yury defeated Steve in the consolation final to eek out Player of the Month over Jesse by less than half a point.

May 22nd - 12 Players

2008 Week 21 - Duane Jensen is the 4th different winner this month... Starting with a 1st round bye he defeated Jesse, Ed, and then Jim in the finals. This bumped Duane from 4th place to 2nd less than 3 points behind Steve Brown. Yury won his first match against Steve BS then was sent to the consolation bracket by Jim, where he defeated Steve Cherne, Hugh, then he got really, really, really lucky defeating ME for the consolation win... Isn’t the power of the pen wonderful! :-)

May 15th - 12 Players

2008 Week 20 - We’re spreading the wealth this month... Three different winners, and the 2nd place & consolation winners are all different... Jim Pokela who has been working in Green Bay for the past month defeated Duane Jensen in the finals, while Dave Wetzel defeated Steve Cherne in the consolation.

May 8th - 15 Players

2008 Week 19 - Fred got the only first round bye, then defeated Jesse & Steve Brown - Myron Goldman defeated me, Steve Cherne, & Hugh to meet & defeat Fred in the finals... Ralph defeated Yury in the first round, but Yury got his revenge by defeating Ralph in the consolation finals.

May 1st - 11 Players - Raining Again...

2008 Week 18 - The big winner tonight is Phil Rahm who defeated Ron Kompelien in the finals. Ron defeated Steve Brown in the first round putting him less than 2 pts behind Steve on the leader board...

Apr 24th - 13 Players - Raining...

2008 Week 17 - Paul likes us so much, he had to come one more time - His 16’ trailer is loaded & he headed for Chicago bright & early Friday morning - Good Luck Paul. Jesse was at the Nevada State Championships last week where he didn’t fair too well - tonight, he lost to Ron in the finals and Duane defeated Ralph to win consolations. Also at the Nevada tournament, Bob Schumacher finished 2nd in the $100 Jackpot. The big winner from our club was Gary Schachtschneider, he finished 3rd/4th in the Championships consolations, 2nd in the $50 Jackpot and won big by finishing 1st in the Doubles - he & partner Rob Rossetti (CA) defeated Hsiao-Yee (CA) & Nack Ballard (CA). Congratulations to all...

Apr 17th - 11 Players Again...

2008 Week 16 - Yury was down 2-5 when he staged a dramatic come back, to defeat Steve Brown in the finals... In other news we said good bye & good luck to Paul Knapp, Paul accepted a new position & is headed back to his beloved Chicago. Making his second appearance of the year, Hans Wang having just resigned his long time position as a judge’s clerk says he will be a regular while he decides what he wants to be when he grows up...

Apr 10th - 11 Players - Spring Snow Storm...

2008 Week 15 - Dave Wetzel last here on Feb 14th, got the mini bye... He was defeated in his first match by Yury who was the first to buy back. Dave then got the last buy back & defeated Hugh, Ron, & Yury - revenge can be sweet! I defeated Ron, Phil, & Steve BS only to lose to Wetzel in the finals. I had my chance, with Dave holding a 4 cube for the match, I got one shot, missed, & lost in the race.

Apr 3rd 16 Players - Perfect...

2008 Week 14 - Still hot from his trip to the Pittsburgh Backgammon Championship, where he finished first in the Amateur Jackpot & won the Last Chance in the Advance division, tonight Jesse Eaton defeated Steve BS, Fred, Ron & Kurt to win... This is the second week running that Kurt has finished 2nd. Fred also went to Pittsburgh and cashed in the Masters Jackpot. Steve Brown won the consolation bracket to extend his lead by another point.

Mar 27th - 11 Players - 1 New

2008 Week 13 - Lots of fun and laughter tonight... After reading this blog & checking out our website for months Sandra Kellner (The Queen of Doubles!!!) decided to join us. While she has played online at Yahoo for years she’s had limited live play. That all changed last night as she has vowed to return, and why not, she defeated me in the first round - she played her doubles well :-) Sandra then lost to Kurt Thompson who then defeated Yury. Steve Brown defeated Ron, Jesse, then Phil Rahm, who bought back twice, to meet & defeat Kurt for the win & scoring a total of 5 points to become player of the month.

Mar 20th - 12 Players

2008 Week 12 - The threat of our annual March blizzard must have kept our numbers low this week. A regular at the Flint Club, now living in the Twin Cities, Phil Rahm in his second visit defeated Jesse, Me, Yury & Duane to win the tournament. Gary & Pete were to play for the consolation, but Gary was busy in a head to head confrontation with Yury, so he & Pete decided to split.

Mar 13th - 16 Oops 20 Players

2008 Week 11 - I was half way through the draw with 16 players when Shel walked in followed by Wetzel & a few minutes later Kurt and 10 minutes later perennial last to arrive, Ed Ziesche. Kevin Ahtou had a first round bye and then defeated Ed, Phil, & Gary to reach the finals where he was defeated by Steve Brown who jumped to first place. Steve who also defeated Fred, Jesse & Duane. Jesse scored his highest weekly point count of the year when he defeated Ralph in the consolations.

Mar 6th - 11 Players

2008 Week 10 - Smallest turnout of the year??? It was an all Steve final tonight. Steve Brown defeated Jeff, Jesse, & Ed to reach the final. The route was a little longer for Steve Binenstock, he lost his first match against Duane and purchased the third buy back position. From there he defeated Yury, Hugh, & Ralph to reach the finals.  Binenstock defeated Brown launching himself to the top position on our leader board with 5.42 points.

Feb 28th - 18 Players - 1 New

2008 Week 9 - New tonight, Phil Rahm recently moved here from the Detroit area, he played at Carol Joy Cole’s Flint Backgammon Club. Phil made it to the consolation finals where he was defeated by Pete Kostakis. Ron Kompelien reached the finals by sending Jesse Eaton looking for his crying towel. I was down 5-2 to Kevin Ahtou and had two games in a row where Kevin narrowly escaped a gammon. At 5-4, I did get the gammon, & then won the next game. In the finals, Ron & I played on his board with my dice and he blew me away 7-0.

Feb 21st - 19 Players - 3 New

2008 Week 8 - Hugh Morris has been playing bg on Yahoo but hasn’t played live for about 20 years, he lost his first match and won the next 2, for a good first showing. Cam Anderson & William Stokes visited us a few weeks ago but didn’t play, tonight they discovered how tough the competition really is... Also, missing for a couple of months, Tom Holzer is back... In a classic TCBG Club match fraught with lots of trash talk, Fred Kalantari defeated Ralph Stowell to win the tournament and I, David Minikus, defeated Shel Segal to win the consolation.

Feb 14th - 17 Players on Valentines Day?

2008 Week 7 - I didn’t expect 17 players on Valentines Day! I guess those that have Valentines have had them for a long time! Matches seemed to take a long time, at least one player was “happy & talkative”, so I had to ask viewers to walk away & let them play... Gary Schachtschneider defeated Steve Brown to take first place and Ralph Stowell defeated Jesse to win the consolation.

Feb 7th - WOW 24 Players - Including 2 From the Recent Past...

2008 Week 6 - It has been 10 or 11 years since we’ve had 24 players! Last year we averaged 14 players per week, right now, our average is 19!!! It was nice to see Jeff (I beaver) Nitschke back after a several month absence. Also Hans Wang who played only a couple of times last year has promised to become a regular again this year.

Steve Brown defeated Paul Knapp to win the Consolations. Shu Lee who reached the main flight finals quickly had to wait about two hours for an opponent. Kurt Thompson had a tough route to the finals, he defeated Ralph Stole, Hans, Duane Jensen, then Jesse Eaton to reach the finals.

Kurt having a HOT night, was leading Shu, the much stronger player, 5-0 (7pt match), when he made a huge blunder... He gave Shu a 2 cube which Shu returned at 4. Bearing off, Kurt had 4 off, 4 on his 4, and 7 on his 2 - Shu had 1 on Kurt’s 1. Kurt rolled a 4-1, took 1 off the 4 and hit on the 1. From the bar, Shu hit on the 1 then got 3 off before Kurt came on again. Shu won the race, and suddenly the score was 5-4! Shu tied it at 5, then in the next game Shu dropped a 2 cube and Kurt won the final game, to capture his first ever tournament win.

The second place finish was enough for Shu to pass Jim Pokela for first place in the player standings, and the win propelled Kurt from 15th, to 5th.

Jan 31st - 22 Players - Including 4 New & 1 From the Past...

2008 Week 5 - After a several year absence, Glen Dowd has returned... Glen defeated Yury in his first match and lost to me, David Minikus, in his second. He defeated Duane Jensen in the consolations, but lost to Ron Kompelien who redeemed himself from last week, by defeating Shel Segal to win the Consolation.

Jim Pokela defeated Steve Brown, Duane, then me to reach the finals. Shu Lee, defeated Steve Orthaus and Kurt Gehlert, both new players, then he defeated Pete Kostakis to reach the finals. In the finals, Jim defeated Shu and jumped from sixth to first and player of the month while Shu moved from 3rd to 2nd.

The other new players are Mike Prunenu who came with Kurt. Mike is from Kansas City and gets to Minneapolis frequently on business. The fourth new player, John Heller, is a friend of Jesse Eaton.

Jan 24th - 17 Players - Including One From the Past...

2008 Week 4 - After many years absence, Kevin Ahtou has returned to weekly play.  He got a first round bye and lost to Ron Kompelien in the Consolation bracket. Ron was defeated in the Consolation finals by Yury Millman...  Steve Binenstock got a bye in the first round, he then sent last years player of the year, Yury to the Consolations. In his next two matches, Steve defeated Ron & Fred Kalantari.  Ed Ziesche, who missed the first three weeks, defeated his first three opponents, Pete Kostakis, Paul Knapp, and Duane Jensen.

The really big news is that in the finals, Ed was defeated by Steve who jumped from 6th place, past Fred into First Place, for the first time in his backgammon career!!!

Jan 17th - Another Great Turnout - 19 Players - Including Another New Player...

2008 Week 3 - Another great turnout with 19 players this week, including another new player. Michael Gibbons brought friend, Geno Carlson. Geno’s introduction to the club was a loss in the first round to our favorite unpredictable player Gary Schachtschneider. In the consolation bracket Geno lost to Dave Wetzel... Don’t give up Geno, When I started with the club, I lost every match I played for six months!

Fred Kalantari jumped into First Place, by defeating Steve Brown to reach the finals. With an extra match, on the other side of the draw, Fred had a long wait for an opponent. Instead of waiting, he settled with Pete Kostakis and Duane Jensen. In a close match, Duane defeated Pete to share first and second with Fred.

In the Consolation Final that didn’t start until about midnight, Jim Pokela defeated Steve Binenstock.

Jan 10, 2008 - Two More New Players This Week

2008 Week 2 - A great turnout with 18 players this week, including two new players, Mitch and Pete. Both won their first round matches with Mitch defeating Steve Binenstock and Paul defeating Dave Wetzel then Jesse Eaton who really hates to lose... Paul then defeated Ralph Stowell and lost in the semi’s to Shu Lee.

Absent for a couple of months, Fred Kalantari drew me, David Minikus, in the first round. As can happen in this frustrating game, Fred took an 8 cube in the first game & I won... Fred did go on to defeat Michael Gibbons, Andrew Mack, Ralph Stowell, then Yury Millman to win the Consolation bracket.

In my next match, Steve Brown was up 5 to 3 with a decided advantage when he gave me a 2 cube. I reasoned that I had just as good a chance to win that game as I would to defeat Steve three games in a row, so I took the cube, then nearly forgot to turn it back to 4 to play for the match... Which I won... I then defeated Ron Kompelien to reach the finals.

Shu Lee got a bye in the first round, he then defeated Mike Gibbons, Andrew Mack, and Pete as I mentioned above to reach the finals. Playing for the match, I had a position that I was not sure how to play, to hit or not to hit??? I chose to hit and danced... Shu won and finished first. Shu, Fred and Steve all agreed, hitting was wrong! So I learned another lesson...

Jan 3, 2008 - Twin Cities Backgammon Club Invaded by Players From the South

2008 Week 1 was controlled by invaders from Rochester, MN... Mark Donaldson and Keith Hvamstad joined us with Mark defeating Steve Binenstock for First Place and Keith defeated recent newcomer Michael Gibbons to win the Consolation bracket.

This was Marks first visit in about 10 years and the very first visit for Keith. Bachan Khosa also making his first visit joined us late for some chouette action.

Speaking of chouettes, Mark cleaned up in the pre-tournament chouette as my (David Minikus) partner, we each had 20+ points... AND, Bachan scored big as my partner in the after tournament chouette...