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CANNES DAY FOUR (FINAL) "Riviera Cup Final; Time for the Sweet Sixteen"
Posted By: Andy Bell
Date: Monday, 21 July 2008, at 4:21 p.m.
LIVE DRAW-SHEET, AS IT HAPPENS ON WWW.WORLDBACKGAMMONRATINGS.COM LIVE BLOG BY WILL COCKERELL ON WWW.WORLDSERIESOFBACKGAMMON.COM/FORUM
World Series Of Backgammon WSOB/PGT RIVIERA CUP, Palm Beach Casino, Cannes
Day four, Sunday 20th July 2008, by Will Cockerell Riviera Cup Final; Time for the Sweet Sixteen
And now we’re just getting spoilt. Day four of WSOB’s Riviera Cup was another suspense fueled Hitchcock thriller as the eight contenders for the final four spots tore chunks out of each other, doing everything in their power to qualify for super-Monday’s sweet sixteen.
The eight online qualifiers/direct buy-ins were: Lagopatis, Carlsson, Korper, Trabolt, Plater, Andrieu, Svobodny, and finally, at the very last minute, a hugely relieved Francois Tardieu who won his satellite final at dmp against a distraught Piergiorgio d’Ancona.
The WSOB race boiled down to: IN Rida Hassan, John Hurst, Tassilo Rzymann, the Riviera Cup winner, and then who? Well, the unstoppable force that is Karsten Bredahl had a massive Consolation semi with Jacob Simonsen, before reaching his second WSOB Consolation final in a row, and then out-gunning Alain Babillon thanks to a freak 35-1 shot 44 off the roof to swing a late, key game.
So Bredahl booked his place, and Simonsen’s fine tournament gave him the green light too. Andreas Olsen’s miserable tournament both here, and last week in Monte Carlo gives him a 2-8 reverse for his fortnight’s work, but his dominant second place in the race has just held up under scrutiny for him to sneak in. And the final spot? Who else but the delighted Falafel, who edged out Mochy and Atle von der Fehr by a couple of spots. It’s a new look Falafel we see these days, considerably more streamline than what we’re used to, and looking happier and perkier with it. He smiles more and the excited look of childish delight on his face when he learnt he was last man in, was a picture.
------------------------------------- As for the climax of the Riviera Cup, Nicky Check got off to a dreadful start against Gus Hansen in the second semi-final, as he lost games 1 and 3 when 96% and 90%, and lost the second as well. 0-6. Nicky dug his heels in thereafter and only had a 44 or better to save the match in Crawford, 44 it was and Nicky was back in with a breath at 6-12, but it was not to be and the Great Dane took his place against Koca in the final. Nicky played pretty well though with a 5.9 error rate, to Gus’s fine 2.9, and went into the match a 45-55% underdog, much as you’d expect.
RIVIERA CUP FINAL
Gus Hansen (DEN) vs Bob Koca (US)
Match to 13 points.
Game 1: Koca slightly late with the cube with Gus pinned back on the deuce, easy drop. 0-1.
Game 2: Gus has one back on the 3 when the cube flies over, behind Bob’s 5 prime on points 8 thru 5. Take. Another man gets sent to a high security detention centre and it gets gammonish. Gus goes into Steve McQueen ‘Great Escape’ mode and genuinely threatens to get out of this, but like in the movie his motorcycle jump is not quite enough to clear the barbed wire and he’s caught in a bloody trap. Gammon 0-5.
Game 3: Easy cash for Koca 0-6. Bob’s used nearly half his time though, Gus must look to just keep him out there.
Game 4: Gus is really struggling to find a way to win a darn game here as the next is a nip-and-tuck holding game. He finally advances his anchor to Bob’s 10-point which gives him enough to cube. A 44 and Gus ain’t getting white-washed today. 2-6.
Game 5: Hansen, defending on the four point can take this as Koca is gappy both on 5 and 8. A shot rings out into the night! Gus misses. A 55 gives him racing equity, but not enough. Time for a break 2-8.
Game 6: Gus, for almost the first time in the match is off to a good start. His blitzing potential is a take for money but not at this score. 3-8.
Game 7: More blitzing from Gus and this time he gets the take. Koca is in huge gammon trouble on the roof of the 5 point board. He finds a crucial 5 to enter and a freak 66 from Gus leaves a shot! An ace for Koca for the sick, sick swing, but it’s not there. “Koca has lost all his momentum now,” observes Morty Holm sitting in for Hansen in the commentary box. 5-8.
Game 8: Koca passes a trivial take in the next as Gus’s 2-point board scares him off. Holm ups the ante: “Koca is now starting to fall apart.” 6-8.
Game 9: Koca correctly passes with fine discipline after Hansen starts to blitz. The tendency after losing several games like this is to snatch the cube. 7-8.
Game 10: Koca fans early on a one-point but just when it appears he can do nothing right he gets his scoreboard ticking again as Gus passes in a complex position, with 2 in the air a 3 point anchor and one on the ace. 7-9.
Game 11: An amazing moment in the next as before the cube, John Clark in the commentary box says that although the position is a trivial no-double take, Hansen may just try his luck with a bluff double as Koca has a tendency to pass when there’s blood in the water. Hansen delays, delays… Koca, white as a sheet, gulps nervously. Hansen CUBES! And Koca PASSES! Bouquets all round to Clark and Hansen. Get this sequence up on You Tube! 8-9.
Game 12: What a comeback by Hansen, what a match. However, Koca quickly finds a glorious 33 in the next and despite having four men back is correct to play on for the undoubled gammon due to some fancy moves by Gus on the dancefloor. He ‘may not feel like dancing’ but Michael Jackson would be impressed by this. Koca rolls it home for 8-11.
Game 13: Both grab the golden anchor in the next, while Gus gets highly creative by breaking his 6-point. This gives Koca flexibility and he cubes when 78-65 up in the race at 77%, it’s 1.005 if Hansen takes, so a miniscule pass. Gus finds it, preferring to prolong the outcome and not gamble it on a no skill situation. 8-12.
Game 14: Koca secures the golden anchor yet again but massively crunches his board. Hansen blocks his 66, but Koca gets several punts at 44 or 55. It never comes and after a dazzling blot-hitting fest Gus puts two checkers on the roof for the gammon, which for one startling moment becomes a possible backgammon, but Koca manages to scramble away. 10-12.
Game 15: Remarkable drama as Hansen withholds the cube until he scents Koca could possibly pass. Finally he ships in with Koca a man on the bar, the 3-point anchor and a man on the ace. It is an incredible position that has confounded most, with the take looking trivial. But Koca PASSES for us to go to double match point. The computer flashes up 33.2 gammons and 33% wins for Koca, indicating a stroke of genius by the American. But try telling to that to some of the world’s leading players. 11-12.
Game 16: As with London and Nordic we have a magnificent final to savour. It has been a superb fightback from the never-say-die Dane. Now, can he apply the coup-de-grace? Hansen has 3 men back but is blitzing the other side. Both men make their 3 and 4 points in positions that almost mirror each other. Hansen moves into a slim lead. Does he race with a 65, or the “kamikaze” play of hitting twice in board. “At DMP you just want to race,” observes Sander Lyllof. Hansen tries a bit of both and Koca lashes back at him to retake the edge. Both have under a minute left on their clocks, great time management.
Koca ominously moves up to his favourite golden anchor, but then Hansen, with 3 stuck on the deuce, fires a 64 to safety one to the mid-point and then a 55 to secure the bar! Koca it is in trouble now, terribly stripped with an array of Hansen’s sentries waiting should he pop off the golden anchor. Any non-double without a 6 and he’s smunching his board, and any 6 (without its brother) and he is at Hansen’s mercy. Koca had the 44 55 shot in game 14 but it never came. BUT IT COMES HERE!! Could that be it?! Hansen nearly 30 down in the race now, screaming for a double 6. The bear-off is fairly exciting but Gus has just too much to do, and Koca stumbles over the line, for the title, a gold cube, a place in super-Monday, and a shed load of wonga.
Copyright World Series of Backgammon Enterprises Limited/ Will Cockerell 2008
www.worldseriesofbackgammon.com
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