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12th City of Venice International Tournament (Casino, Lido of Venice/Italy, 6th to 9th July 2000) |
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Arthur
Muradian from Armenia came to the backgammon tournament at the Lido of
Venice for the first time and succeeded in taking away the big Muarano glass
trophy.
Although this was the 12th City of Venice Tournament, the tradition of the backgammon tournaments in Venice go back far before 1989. The 1st International Tournament of Backgammon at Venice was held from 20-23 October 1977 at the Casino Municipale, situated on the Grand Canal. The top players from Europe came from the British Isles at that times. Martin King won the first tournament in Venice and George Sulimirski won the second one year later at the Lido Casino. If the casino at the Lido closes its doors next year the organizer Dario de Toffoli moves to the Casino Municipal where the first backgammon tournament in Venice took place (the chances are 50:50). This year 220 players from 26 countries and 5 continents gathered at the Lido and the championship field had 105 tough players. The experienced organizer´s team made a good job and the big tournament hall of the Casino at the second floor was well air conditioned and had room enough to sit comfortably while playing. |
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The Armenian Arthur Muradian made his way to the
finals by beating the 1998 finalist Vittorio Castro in the semi finals and
Michel Serrero from Paris beat Elmar Kofler from Italy in the semis.
Although Arthur Muradian lost a 4-cube gammon at the score of 6-5, he always seemed to be confident to win the 21-point finals. Michel Serrero acted a little bit conservative on the cube when he was leading. Here are two examples: |
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Pos. 1: White
leads the race by 14 pips, has an advanced anchor, owns the better board and
the opponent has one checker on the bar. Double - pass is the correct cube
action. Michel Serrero didn´t double and lost the game.
Pos. 2: Schwarz führt mit nur 6 Punkten im Rennen. Weiß besitzt einen Anker auf dem 22er-Punkt, hat das bessere Board, ist aber mit drei Mann hinter einer 4er-Prime, während Schwarz nur noch einen Mann hinten hat. |
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Black leads the race by only 6
pips. White owns an anchor on the 22-point, has the better board, but is
behind a 4-prime with three checkers while Black has only one man back.
This is only a marginal double because of Black´s escaping chances with his back checker. White has a clear take by the chances to prime or close out Black´s back checker or simply by the chances to win the race. Michel Serrero passed the offered cube. Arthur Muradian took profit of the errors and won the match by 21-15. After the match Arthur Muradian proudly told me: "I have no computer. I improved my play only by reading your journal (Backgammon Magazin)! It´s a pity that you don´t make it any more!" Thanks for the compliments, Arthur and congratulations for the big win! |
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| Die Ergebisse der 12. City of Venice in Kürze: | ||||
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Champion (105): Main: 1. ARTHUR MURADYAN (ARMENIA) 2. MICHEL
SERRERO (FRANCE) Intermediate (76): Main: 1. JAKOV NEPOMNIACHTCHI (RUSSIA) 2.
CHRISTIAN ZENKNER (GERM.) Beginner (35): Main: 1. LUCIANO RUBBI (ITALY) 2. JINELLE GIRARD
(CANADA) |
TEAM TOURNAMENT (27 teams): Winner: YAN (Armenia) Arthur Muradyan / Avetis Rostomyan / Hambardzum AtoyanFinalist: GO VENICE (Italy) Andrea De Zandonati / Sergio Fragiacomo / Mattia Ballarin Semi-Finalists: PERSIA Ferì Rassouli / Cyrus Afchani / Nasser Hadjihossein, BIC BOYS (Italy) Giuseppe Baù / Sandro Mescola / Nicola Spiro 1st SUPERJACKPOT (16): 2nd SUPERJACKPOT (8): 3rd SUPERJACKPOT (16):
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