PETER JES THOMSEN WINS WORLD TITLE IN ALL

AMERICAN BACKGAMMON TOURAMERICANBACKGAMMONTOUR* 1993* 1993Top 100 through 1 August 1993 after 10 tournaments(Includes Thousand Islands tournament)Howard Markowitz 26.66Ben Lang26.00Marty Storer23.83Frank Talbot22.16Woody Woodson 21.12Bob Holyon19.52Ken Bond16.16Paul Stebbing16.00Quint McTyeire 14.53David Hochron 14.40AI Jones13.32John Mansey13.00Ralph Levy11.44Dean Muench11.33Arnold Zousmer 10.85Perry Gartner10.84Paul Strasberg10.63Felix Yen10.44Mike Nelson10.44Jake Jacobs10.07Jorgen Granstedt 9.69Stuart Thompson 9.58Andy Palumbo9.05Ami Tennenbaum 8.82Ira Hoffberg8.40Herb GurlandYamin YaminFrank FrigoDave OrandleRon WeingradGabe StiasnyAlan SteffenJim LakdawalaMike PettigrewRay DesforgesKen CohenPeter KalbaJeff KaneMarty KohlerFred GehlhoffMike ShanasEd PavilonisLila SwanRich SweetmanLarry LauCarol FalkNorma ShyerMark DonaldsonDean AdamianJoe 24.034.03John Rockwell3.96Norm Wiggins3.96Bill Bartholomay 3.79Carl Adamec3.76Sam Hanna3.76Belle Pronman3.73Carol Joy Cole3.60Jerry Ungar3.53Randall Witt3.53Bob Wachtel3.34Stu Hosen3.34Carl Sellars3.34John Lear3.20Dave Pink3.06Leo Tuin3.06Jan Carlstrom2.94Denny Leatherman 2.90Nayan Shah2.90Michael Sharp2.50Holly Stowe2.41Ed Zell2.40Ed Buerger2.13Dale Haukenfreres 2.13Wally Watson2.12Walter Trice2.12LETTERS .AMERICANBACKGAMMONTOUR *1993George BarrLarry StrommenMiriam BuresonJavad FarjoodArkady KupermanJerry PadovaJill FerdinandMark DamishDavid RubinKurt SchurechtBob HowingtonMike LawlessAllen LevienDavid MacBrydeFarzan GarmroodiPeter ZacksRay FogerlundLance JenkinsJohnnie RobertsGurbachan KhosaNoah MonroGardner SouleGeorge PhotiasRandy PetersonFour tied 0.88Ottawa's Paul Stebbing moved into 8th place following his 16.00 point win in the ThousandIslands Tournament at Alexandria Bay, New York (30 July-1 August). With eight 1993 tournaments remaining, this year's ABT race remains up for grabs.Coming up in August: Green Mt. Festival of Backgammon and 30th G/A Invitational.ICHICAGOBARPOINTCLUBNeil Kazaross16.40Gary Kay16.04Yamin Yamin13.28TakMorioka13.12David Rubin12.20Jake Jacobs11.76John Demian11.04Don Jayhan9.40Phyllis Smolinski 9.28Paul Friedman8.48Deeb Shalati8.00Jolie Rubin6.64Paul Franks6.20Herb Roman6.16John Brussel5.68Bobbie Shifrin5.60Bill Davis5.56Mary Franks5.44Ralph Levy5.28Norma Shyer5.04Allen Zimmerman 4.88Ken Bond4.72Tim Mabee4.72Danny DeRoche 4.08Howard Ring3.76Peter Kalba3.68CHICAGO BAR POINT CLUB1993 PLAYER OF THE YEARRichard Stawowy 3.52Alice Kay3.48Dave Cramer3.44Ed Buerger3.36Stan Kucharz3.32Georgina Flanagan 3.28Joann Feinstein3.20Bob Ebbeler3.16Sarg Serges3.12Alex Itkin3.04Marcy Sloan3.04Stu Katz2.80Femi Owiku2.72Bill Keefe2.36V.W. Zimnicki2.24Bruce Witter!2.16Leslie Lockett1.96Chuck Olson1.92Wilcox Snellings 1.92Phil Simborg1.84Howard Markowitz 1.84Elaine Kehm1.84Arline Levy1.76Tim Serges1.76Don Desmond1.60Steve GrubartTony SchroederPaul KleinAmy TrudeauAndy KrenitzLou SalzmanJill FerdinandBetsy MillerPeggy FlemingJim PappasLarry StrommenMarty TatosianGeorge BarrRon SturRoland DieterDave RockwellTad WilsonJ.A. MillerSteve KatzBarry MillerRay KershawReggie PorterDan JuddLarry YakowenkoJeff 0.64COMPILEDTHRU 31 JULYGreg RolandKurt SchurechtMike SpiropoulosDick McCallRichard BeagarieJohn StrykerJoe KoucharianGraham SieversJerry BrooksFrank CalleaJohn MeyersWilliam FriersonHarry HaywardJay WardKaty ClarkGreg TryBarbara LevinsonAndy ArgyJoe MangineMark KayMark MurphyMary VitalePaul ReinerAndy BittmanBarry .160.16[Continued from page 2]be forgiven. A director's ruling will alwaysbe for one player and against another. Thequality director will take the ruling processas part of his responsibility and make thetough rulings necessary for a well-run event.A tough ruling in a given situation willnot be well-received by at least one player,but in a way, the penalized player willbenefit from it. Severely hurt once, it isunlikely that he will ever make the samemistake again!-Larry Strommen, Indianapolis, INA VOTE FOR HASTY PLAYSMy favorite column in the POINT is"Hasty Plays" by Duane Jensen. All ofthem are clear, concise and to the pointDavid Rubin, Chicago, ILANTOINETTE A HITI sure like those CHICAGO POINT interviews.Your most recent one with AntoinetteWilliams and a previous one with JackKissane were very enjoyable. A splendidfeature!-Haro/d Branch, Louisville, KYI enjoyed the Antoinette interview verymuch. On another topic, who was theabsent-minded player who put his man onthe bar during the bear-off? I would haveruled that the man must stay on the bar.This is like when somebody is forced to hityou, but forgets to put you on the bar andpicks up his dice. Tough luck for him .Mario Madrigal, President, Costa RicanBackgammon Association.[Continued on page 5]your movePROBLEM #196Match to 11 points. White leads Black,7 to 1. BLACK TO PLAY 1-1.Perennial challenger TAK MORIOKA grabbed two wins in July to collect 3.84 master pointsand Player of the Month recognition. There was a three way tie for second between Gary Kay,David Rubin and Jolie Rubin (2.80 each).August 1993CHICAGO POINT 61

In a recent chouette, I put a fourth manon the bar against a closed board. Eventually I was hit by that fourth man andrecubed out. One of the players criticizedme for being too greedy. "It was neithernecessary nor prudent to hit that extraman," he claimed. I felt certain that hittingthe fourth man was correct and decided touse Expert Backgammon to verify mybelief.White was given a position where if shehit, she would probably win. One to fourWhite men were placed on the bar vs.Black's strong closed board. I had thecomputer roll the position out either 1296times (36 x 36) or 2592 times (36 x 36 x 2)to minimize statistical variances. Theresults were very educational.Of particular interest was the consistently low game-winning rate for White. Inother words, as Black, no matter how manymen you hit in these situations, yourchances oflosing are very minimal.POSITION #1Money game.Black hasclosed out oneWhite man.With one man closed out on the bar,White won only 1.8% of the games. Irolled this out a total of 2592 times becauseI was surprised by the low winning rate.Black's equity with no cube was 0.99points per game. An equity of 0.50 is thebreak even point, so this is a huge pass.Black's gammon chances were only 2.0%.Remember this gammon figure. It andBlack's backgammon chances becomeimportant as additional men are closed out.Incidentally, the winning percentagesand points per game are based on thecubeless probabilities of winning (CPW).Cube ownership adds 3-5% to White'sgame-winning chances. Likewise, if Whitealready owns a 2-cube, Black's equitywould be twice that shown.POSITION#2Money game.Black hasclosed out twoWhite men.dramatically. With three men closed out,Black wins 73.2% gammons and 3.6%backgarnmons. Black's equity increasesfrom 1.28 points per game to 1.73 pointsper game. White wins just slightly over 1%more games, but Black wins an additional 0.45 points per game. It is clear thathitting the additional, or third man, iscorrect by a wide margin.POSITION#4Money game.Black hasclosed out fourWhite men.With two men closed out on the bar,White's game-winning chances increasefrom 1.8% to 2.3%-an increase of only0.5%. However, Black's gammon andbackgammon chances greatly increasefrom 2.0% to 31.6%.I rolled this position out 2592 timesbecause I thought the gammon/backgammon chances seemed low. I still think theyare low and while in the United States, Icalled Tom Weaver, one of the two individuals involved in programming ExpertBackgammon . He said the actual rateshould be about 38%, so it seems the program might be playing too conservativelyin these positions. I'm told this will beimproved in future revisions. However,Black's equity still increased from 0.99points per game to 1.28 points per game.Obviously, it's correct to hit the second man.POSITION#3Money game.Black hasclosed out threeWhite men.With three men closed out on the bar,White's winning chances increase from2.3% to 3.6%. Note that hitting the thirdman increase White's chances by only1.3%-not much of a change. However,the gammon/backgammon rate changesNow we arrive at a position with fourmen closed out on the bar. White's winningpercentage actually decreases from 3.6% to3.2%-almost no change. With four menclosed out, Black wins 75.5% gammons.This is just a slight increase from the73.2% he won with three men on the bar.However, his backgammon chances risenearly fourfold from 3.6% to 15.0%. Thischange increases Black's equity from 1. 73 points per game to 1.99 points pergame. Once again, it's definitely correct tohit the additional man.OUT OF CURIOSITY I decided to put five menon the bar to see if Black's equity wouldagain increase. In this case, White's winningrate of 3.3% was virtually the same as withfour men at 3.2%. However, there was anextremely large increase in Black's backgammon rate. Black's gammon rate decreased from 75.5% to 58.0%, but his BGrate increased from 15.0% to 34.3%. Thisresulted in an increase of Black's equityfrom 1.99 points per game to 2.20 pointsper game.IN SUMMARY, if you have a closed boardand you can hit additional men, then thestrategy is clear-pound away. But if youare in a match situation where a gammonvictory is meaningless, the correct approachis to hit just one checker. LlThe preceding article was reprinted fromthe Hong Kong Backgammon Club newsletter with the permission of Jerry Godsey,newsletter editor and club president. C H IC A G O P O IN T 6 1 Gr) A u g us t 1 99 3

MONTE CARLO .LETTERS .[Continued from page 3][Continued from page 1]21-20 in the wild Intermediate finals.Achim Mueller gave Germany her secondfirst place trophy in the Beginner divisionby defeating Gitte Dalgaard (DEN). S.Havlik (CZH) cptured the Super Jakcpot.And Hong Kong's team of AndreHoffman, John Simon and Patrice Hattuupset USA masters Nack Ballard, BillRobertie and Mike Senkiewicz in the FredTeam Championship.Congratulations to our two Chicagorepresentatives who made a good showingon the Riviera. Yamin Yamin reached theChampionship final 32 and Marcy Sloanadvanced to the Intermediate serillfinalsbefore falling to Martin Menzer. Marcyalso collected the Intermediate LadiesPrize. Complete results: L1MONTE CARLO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPCHAMPIONSHIP (196): 1-Peter Jes Thomsen(DEN), 2-John Sj0lin (DEN), 314-lrfan Mizirakci(TUR) I Rageb Shadallah (USA); FirstCon1Benjamin Lund (DEN), FirstCon2-KazuhiroShino (GB), FirstCon314-Michael Lofblad (GER)I Rassoul Zomorodi (GER) ; SecondCon1Gerhard Schiesser (GER), SecondCon2-NackBallard (USA), SecondCon314-Sebastian Taylor (GB) IYannis Tomazos (GRE) ; LC1-ShimonKagan (ISR), LC2-Salvador Treves (FRA).INTERMEDIATE (88): 1-Martin Menzer (GER),2-Vazgen Matevosian (ARM), 314-Udo Geib(GER) I Marcy Sloan (USA); FirstCon1-RichardMayer (GER), FirstCon2-Fernando Durao (POR),First Con314-Brian Lever (GB) I Rene Mortensen(DEN); SecondCon1-Bernard Chetrit (MARTO),SecondCon2-Molt Thies (GER), SecondCon314-Parker Gilbert Carualho (SPN) I Juan Kipiani(GEOR); LC1-Nicole Taboury (FRA) , LC2-TeunRuardy (DEN) .BEGINNER: 1-Achim MOeller (GER), 2-GitteDalgaard (DEN), 314- Nicky Niknam (USA) IPaul Van Rooijen (NETH); FirstCon1-PeterRuppel (GER), FirstCon2-M. Batie (GER), FirstCon314-A. Kaunert (GER) I Volker Sonnabend(GER); SecondCon1-Marco Doettlaff (GER) ,SecondCon2-Peter Berhrendt (GER),SecondCon314-Trine Binderkrantz (DEN) ILucas Pagane (ITA); LC1-Bernd Hoff (GER) ,LC2-Giammichele D'onofrio (ITA).SUPER JACKPOT 1-S. Havlik (CZH) , 2-NevilleEber (S AFR), 314-Perry Gartner (USA) I FredSalomon (USA).LADIES PRIZES: Championship: Antoinette Williams (USA), Intermediate: Marcy Sloan (USA) .WORLD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: 1-Hong Kong:Andre Hoffman, John Simon, Patrice Hattu, 2USA: Nack Ballard , Bill Robertie, MikeSenkiewicz.August 1993BACKGAMMON AND ART IN NEW YORKIn the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NewYork, in the section "Still Life 1910-1940,"there is a most interesting painting (about6' x 3') by Charles Sheeler (1883-1965)entitled "Americana." It is of a backgammon bear-off (with no cube, apparently)and illustrates modernity at the time1931, the year when the Racquet andTennis Club of New York formulated therules of backgammon.Unfortunately I could not get a reproduction. Perhaps one of your New Yorkreaders rillght be able to supply you with aphoto.-Ray Kershaw, London, EnglandSOUNDS LIKE A REAL PROBLEMThe Miss Lonely blots article on vigorousshaking was well-written, but failed tocover one important point. The directormust be the one who believes in a vigorousshake for the article to have meaning. Inother words, what does a player do whenthe director is the one who frequently andintentionally fails to shake his dice?Name withheld upon request L1ROOM RATES IN SOUTH AMERICAWe look forward to seeing you and YaminYamin in Rio and Buenos Aires this year.Please inform your readers that hotel rates areabout 70 per night. This information wasnot included on the brochures .-AlveroSavio, Brazilian Backgammon Association L1ICH/CAGOBARPOINTCLUBBill Davis3121338-6380Peter Kalba312/276-4144Tuesday, 6:30P.M. at GoldenFlame, 6417 W. Higgins Rd.,Chicago; 312/792-0424.Sunday Bimonthly, 12:30 P.M.at Braxton Seafood Grill, 3Oakbrook Center Mall, OakBrook; 708157 4-2155.PUB ClUB: Tournaments Monday, 7:30 P.M. at Fiddler's,345 W. North Ave., Villa Park. V.W.Zimnicki (708/924-8632.)SANGAMON VAllEY BG ASSN: Tournaments Tuesday,6:00 P.M. at On Broadway, 210 S. Broadway, Springfield.Randy Armstrong (217/528-0117).BlOOMINGTON-NORMAl BG ClUB: Tourn. 1st/3rd/5thTuesday, 6:15 P.M. at Ride The Nine. 503 N. Prospect,Bloomington. Lane O'Connor (309/454-1947).WINNETKA BG ClUB: Tournaments Wednesday, 7:00P.M.at 620 Lincoln, Winnetka. Trudie Stern (708/446-0537).CENTRAl Ill. BG ClUB: Tourn. Thurs . 6:30P.M. at ChiChi's, 4415 N. Rockwood. Peoria. Sue Will (309/699-6005).PRIME BG ClUB OF CHICAGO: Tourn. Friday, 7:00P.M. atTJ'slounge, Radisson Hotei,4500W. Touhy, Lincolnwood.Joann Feinstein (708/674-0120).NORTH ClUB: Daily side play except Sunday at 4747 W.Peterson (402). Chicago. Greg Defotis (312/286-6719).who did whatWINNER'SCORNERMay-July 1993BIBA Trophy Tournament No. 2 (Soli hull, England; 29-30 May) . OPEN (80): 1-JimJohnson, 2-Harvey Barnstien , 3-Da veRaynsford, 4-Mike Grabsky, 5-Steve Bland, 6Paul Lamford, 7-Simon Morris, 8-Dale Taylor.TOP LADY: Monica Beckerson. BETIER LUCKNEXT TIME: Rachel Davies.Double Five Summer Jackpot (London , England; 19June) . . OPEN (26) 1-MarkAdkin s.Double Five C lub directors George & DianaSulimirski inform us that the wi nner of their sixmonthly league for the first half of 1993 isRichard Whitehouse.College Park Summer Open (Bethesda, MD ;10 July) . OPEN (29): 1-Harry Zilli , 2-BiakeSo rem; 1C-Ali Rebatchi; 1LC-Barry Steinberg .Hilton National Trophy Tournament (East idlands, GB; 10-11 July) . OPEN : 1-BrendanBurgess, 2-Paul Lamford, 314-John Broomfiel dI Catherine Winter; 1C-Rick Janowski, 2C-MikeGrabsky; 1LC-Jeff Ellis, 2LC-Joh n Azraq. SUlCI DE! (3-checker): 1-Paul Barwick, 2-Ji mJohnson.European Backgammon Championship(Menton , France; 15-18July) . MASTERS(29):!-Matthias Korner (GER), 2-R icardo Spinola(BRZ), 3/4-Tina Lechich (AUSTL) I Joel Schiff(ISR). CHAMPIONSHIP (85): 1-Rino Math is(SWIT), 2-Matthias Korner (GER), 3/4-TinoLechich (AUSTL) I Manfred Holl enderer (GER);1C-Joel Schiff (ISR) , 2C-Joh n Sj0lin (DE N), 3CI4C-Gerard Duguet-G rasser (FRA) I RogerStaiger (SWIT); 1LC-R ageb Shadallah (USA),2LC-Cyrus Vafa (SWE); Ladies Prize-AntoinetteWilliams (USA). INTERMEDIATE (30): 1-AianHerskind (DEN), 2-Ciaus Weissbarth (GER), 314-Christian Zenkner (GER) I Carlo Facchetti(ITA) ; 1C-Luisa Sequeira (POR), 2C -PeterBardehle (GER); 1LC-Frank Gi llar (GER), 2LCUdo Geib (GER); Ladies Prize-Ling Nelson (HK).BEGINNER (1 0): 1-Jeffrey Ansari (USA), 2Mihai Raducanu (RUM); 1C-Mario D'Osvualdo(ITA), 2C-Marcello Carpi {I TA); 1LC-MikeHOskes (GER) , 2LC-Ellen Schlafke (GER); Ladies Prize-Zoe Giakopoulou (GRE). SUPERJACKPOT: 1-Cyrus Vafa (SWE), 2-Stuart Dunkin(USA) . . Worldwide Backgammon Federation president Alberto da Pra reports that 24 countries participated under the direction of MarcoFornasir. Over 100,000 in prize money wasdistributed.Thousand Islands Tournament-ABT (Alexandria Bay, NY; 30 July-1 Aug .) . OPEN (32):1-Paul Stebbing (CDA), 2-Stuart Thompson(CDA), 3-Ray Desforges (CDA) . DOUBLES #1(7): 1-George & Fran Photias (ME) . L1CHICAGO POINT 61

AMALGAMATIONOld Hudson and the Kid enjoyed theirweekly backgammon get-togethers.Their diverse styles produced a number ofinteresting games often resulting in volatilemoney swings.Old Hudson was impulsive and playedwith a flair for action. He went for bigdecisions, sometimes unsoundly. He wouldoccasionally err mechanically and wasknown to commit errors of "enthusiasm."The Kid was accurate. He was relentlessly thorough in considering moves andwas not known to make mechanical mistakes. His overall style would be rated as"conservative."Both competitors were thought to beroughly equal, but The Kid was probably alittle more equal.The first game had gone to Hudson: onepoint. He was now absorbed with a verytricky cube decision:Money game. CUBE ACTJON(S)?TH E KIDThen 3-1. Inside point-out. "Uh-TWO!"Then another immediate 6, scrambling."Uh-THREE!"As he was bearing in smoothly, andthen off in handfuls, Hudson thought heheard a low sound from The Kid. Itsounded like, "Short evening." Thegammon was duly registered.The Kid had had enough fun for onenight. He silently rose, dropped a few billson the table, and walked out the door. Twogames. Nine points. "Short evening!"Hudson's thinking drifted back to thecritical position. He was pleased withhimself. He had foreseen and optimized hisopportunities, had he not? He had taken asporting shot and won big. Still . . whatwas The Truth in the position?Thoughtful, if a bit muzzy-minded, hedecided to roll it out. And, since the firstshot was so touchy, he would use thestructural method, covering every rollAs he worked along, he started noticingsome astonishing realities. He sure waslooking at a lot of crumbling and escaping.The Truth dawned. Forcefully. He sawthat Black (on roll) did not have a positiveexpectation-most especially, if he handedthe cube over to White. White had theedge-not Black. (You knew that all along,didn't you?)The numbers for 144 structured rollouts(36 x 4) with the cube on 4:Black: 41 plain game wins and 18gammon wins 308 points.White: 73 plain wins(!), 11 gammonsand 1 backgammon 392 points.OLD HUDSONCould it possible be right to redouble?He eyeballed the two vulnerable blots. Heargued himself into it . . No 5s, please!"I think I'll double," Hudson said,firmly pushing the doubler towards hisyounger opponent."Take," The Kid replied, grabbing thecube and shepherding it to his side of theboard.And the optimistic Hudson proceededto blow his opponent's house down! 6-1played 24118*/17. Fan. To quote Cubsbaseball announcer Harry Caray, "UhONE!"That's 84 net points to White, or anaverage net-per-game of 0.583 points toWhite with the cube on 4.Looking over his figures, he startedtalking to himself as old men sometimesdo: "You see, Speedbump, it's like this.Those inside point-outs mean nothing. Youhave nothing until you throw that first 6!That will be time enough to think about thecube. Now try not to get arrested for vacancy, you big hamburger!" When he's not contribu

15th Green Mountain Festival of Backgammon. Stratton Mountain Inn. VT Third Thursday Bonus Tournament, Ramada Inn, Flint, Ml Central Illinois Club Summer Sizzler Tournament, Sly Fox Pub, Lacon, IL South Florida Summer Tournament, London Pub, Pompano Beach, FL NY/