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Live in London Champion of Champions

Posted By: stw672
Date: Wednesday, 1 October 2014, at 3:13 p.m.

Live in London Champion of Champions

With just over a month until the 2014 Live in London competition I took a look back over the 'Champion of Champions' of previous years. The Champion of Champions title and trophy is awarded to the competitor who scores the most qualifying points in competitions played over the weekend. For example points are scored for winning the Weekend Knock-Out the Singles Knock-Out etc. John Broomfield was the first ever Champion of Champions in 2001. The current Champion of Champions is Yan Kit Chan.

Although there have been a couple of duffers winning the title over the years (2007 and 2009 spring to mind) generally the calibre of Champ of Champs has been very high.

John Broomfield has won it twice and was the finalist in the Main Bracket of World Championships this year.

Paul Lamford is a genius at any game he plays and has written numerous books on backgammon. We are still trying to tempt him back from the bridge world where he spends most of his energies these days.

Martin Birkhahn (Bert on Dailygammon) is one of the strongest German players and is a regular winner both there and in live international play.

Tim Line scored the highest score of anyone in Mochy's most recent proficiency test - he got 42 out of 50. To put that is perspective the next highest scorer was Falafel who scored 38 out of 50.

Yan Kit Chan is the current Champion of Champions (LiL took a break in 2013). Yan is not only a world class player (don't take my word for it - ask Extreme Gammon) but he is also blind - a clear disadvantage in a game of pattern recognition.

Champion of Champions by Year

2002: John Broomfield

2003: Chris Gibbins

2004: ???

2005: Paul Lamford

2006: John Broomfield

2007: Sean Williams

2008: Martin Birkhahn

2009: Sean Williams

2010: James Grenier

2011: Tim Line

2012: Yan Kit Chan

The 2004 winner is lost in the annals of time. If someone could help me out with a name I would be very grateful!

Mike Main wrote a great history of Live in London up to 2007. It is reproduced here:

http://backgammonlondon.weebly.com/live-in-london---a-history.html

If you think you have what it takes to be the 2014 Champion of Champions, or if you just like a great weekend of fun backgammon, you can sign up here:

http://backgammonlondon.weebly.com/live-in-london-sign-up.html

Places are selling quickly and the venue has a limited capacity so if you do want to come then sign up now.