Beaulieu-sur-Mer is a truly delightful south of France coastal resort. It sits just beyond Villefranche-sur-Mer and is only a short taxi, train or tram ride from Nice airport. David Niven had his summer villa there and if you have a spare €49 million you can purchase it, as it is currently on the market.
For the period 12th-16th June one could have been forgiven for thinking it was part of the United Kingdom as the great and the merely good of the UK backgammon scene descended en masse for the 3rd French Riviera Backgammon Challenge.
The Union Club in London sent a large contingent and I am grateful to Jerry White for inviting myself and my wife, Gill. After the passing of George Sulimirski during (but not of) COVID the mantle of the doyen of UK backgammon has fallen on John Broomfield. Now in his early eighties his mind is as sharp as ever and he was the referee for the final of the tournament. John is one of the few players on the circuit who has never owned a mobile phone, but you can still reach him by either email or carrier pigeon!
Lawrence Powell made the journey but a trip on a loose rug in his hotel further damaged his already injured leg and he couldn’t play. However, it was good to see him, and time will no doubt heal his car crash injuries.
There are lots of good hotels to suit every budget and the plentiful supply of excellent restaurants made the evening dinner breaks a pleasure. Gill and I gave top prize to Ambrosia by the marina, but I am sure other players had their particular favourites.
The tournament was held in the town’s casino and was organised by Patricia Rey of the Monte Carlo Backgammon Association. The tournament was directed by the indefatigable Arda Fındıkoğlu and his team and everything ran smoothly, just as you would expect with the world’s number one tournament director in charge.
There were plenty of UK winners. Chris Rogers won the Speedgammon. Janette Hodgkinson (south African but UK resident) won the Ladies Tournament and Chelsea Arts captain, Brenda Rosen, won the Intermediates Last Chance. Chris and Cecilia Rogers were losing semi-finalists in the doubles and finally Stefan Paliwoda won the DMP Challenge.
This photo shows most of the prize-winners:
The main final between David Brown (UK) and George Simpson Jr. (US but resident in Turkey) was a very curious affair. David’s wife, Trudi, was taken ill on Saturday and went to hospital as a precaution. By the time the final started her position was still unclear (thankfully she has now made a complete recovery) and so David was anxious to get back to her.
As a result, the 17-point final was played at breakneck speed with both players taking hardly any time over their moves. At the end of the match George had managed to use just two of the thirty-four minutes in his time bank!
Very few players in the world can play good backgammon at that speed and David and George are not in their number. The result was an error-strewn match with both players having PRs of around seven. I know David is better than that and probably George is as well. When I transcribed the match after the event (on which I did the commentary with Marcus Reinhard) I kept having to stop the stream so I could catch up with their moves.
To compound matters David had all the luck with a luck rating of +8.4 according to XG. That is nearly impossible to overcome in a match between two nearly equal players and George ended up losing 17-4. In the Crawford Game he finally thought his luck had changed when this position was reached with David (Blue) on roll:
You have guessed it. David rolled doubles fives and George generously helped him to move 23/13, 21/11. Not long after another set of doubles fives wrapped up the match.
All in all, it was a great week in a fabulous location, and I will certainly be booking in for next year, always assuming there is a 4th French Riviera Tournament. I recommend that you book early to avoid disappointment.
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