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WSOB Shootout and Jarvis Trophy ResultsTwo major backgammon tournaments took place in the UK last weekend: BIBA Jarvis Trophy 2010, the first stop in BIBA Grand Prix and the UK Finals for this year held on 5-7 in February, and the 2010 WSOB Shootout, the final stop in the World Series of Backgammon Season III, on February 6-7, 2009.
Jarvis Trophy, set at the Barceló Daventry Hotel, catered mostly the local backgammon community, and was won by Andy Darby, who triumphed the Main event and Ann Pocknell (the Consolation winner). The WSOB Shootout, offering $480,000 prize pool, drew backgammon stars from around the globe to the posh London Adam Street Club. One of them was reigning World Backgammon Champion, Masayuki Mochizuki, who came all the way from Japan but lost on the first round to British John Hurst.
The WSOB Shootout might have had the upper hand in prizes, handing the winner, UK based, Kazuhiro Shino, $150,000 and $90,000 to the finalist, Peter Jes Thomson of Denmark. But when it comes to sportsmanship and good organization, the World Series of Backgammon lose to BIBA. If it is not enough that almost every event in the WSOB 3rd season was postponed in the last minute, the final day of the long awaited Shootout was a spectacle of poor sportsmanship and disputable decision making of the tournament directorship.
It all started at the final quarters, when the WSOB 2010 champion to be, Shino, who played against German Christian Plenz, has failed to use the clock properly. What started as bitter complaints from Shino's side, continued with his hard bashings of the clock that led to three destroyed clocks, as the tournament director, Will Cockerell was busy playing the quarters as well, and reporting about the incident in his blog. Shino's behavior did not stop him from winning the match, and climbing up to win the final, what was harshly criticized by members of the backgammon community.
The WSOB Shootout raised many ethical questions about the ways an international backgammon tournament should be (or mainly should not be) conducted. Should a tournament director, even though not the sole functionary, be playing in a tournament he is organizing? Should a TD disqualify a player who violently attacks the equipment, or should an administrative reprimand suffice? More, should the tournament committee compensate the participants for postponing or relocating a scheduled grand final?
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