– an irreverent and irrelevant blog on the World Champs from our raving reporter.
The approach to Nice Airport is parallel to the beach. The dappled sunlight reflected off the bald pates of the men and the silicone of the women catches my eye. I can just make out the Negresco Hotel on the Promenade des Anglais and with a Proustian rush I am back in the late 90s – my last visit to the Cote D’Azur and the Backgammon World Championships.
Back then I thought I was a decent player, actually winning a nice Nice trophy on the Lido beach, beating Magriel and Corbett on the way, but never cutting it at MC. This time would be different, I thought. Far more experienced, I wouldn’t be fazed by passive-aggressive black women with reflective sunglasses and buzz cuts to boot. Not this time…
Read the full article in the Members’ Area …
Nice piece – t’was fun and quite the experience ! – cost was atrocious, dice were similar but then I hit it big in other ways haha 😉 Was so funny when you said “Bono is sitting right behind you” ( we were very drunk in possibly the cheapest cafe in MC ! )
I’ve now added eXtremeGammon’s opinions on the article…
A brilliantly written piece. Very humorous and gives all of us who think the Dice Gods conspire some comfort that they do visit upon some very good players too! I’ve never been but was sad to read that the facilities, organisation and materials were poor. The Facebook images of hand written knockout sheets showing tournament progress were a shock. When people like Sean Williams and Peter Bennet at almost no notice managed to run the London Open so brilliantly – with progress screens not only at the venue but available on tablets, laptops and smartphones, can the organisers of the World Championships not get their act in gear?
The entry fees seem ludicrous. Great to see Eric do so well (again) – well done.
As for our intrepid reporter…the dice may not have favoured you, nor the Dice Gods, nor the draw, nor the women (??!!), and not even the availability of sobering water, but the pearls of humour and wisdom you bestowed upon your fellow gammoners in this sublime post made me smile as much as if I’d attended, enjoyed the sun, (and sights!) and rolled the odd double or 10. Really enjoyable reading – well done.
“the weather, the women, the glamour….”. pffpht who needs Monte Carlo, already sounds just like the Blackpool Imperial Cup to me? 😉
Great blog post though – was good to see some Brits in the later stages at MC/WC.
Brilliant ! 🙂
Nice post !!!
Thanks – enjoyed the read…………