June

The last tournament of the season was won by Eric Wicklund who bested Ed Ahola in the 13-point finals. Semi-finalists were Howard Rosenthal and Steve Cummings. Marty Storer beat Alex Zamanian to win the consolation tournament. 16 players competed.

In the playoffs Albert Steg defeated Tom O’Riordan to become the new Club Champion. Congratulations to Albert!

The club is on summer break until the new season starts in early September.

May

16 players showed up to compete in the May tournament. Greg Jukins, playing in his first tournament of the season, beat Matt Reklaitis (also playing in his first tourney of the season!) in the final round. Tom O’Riordan and Howard Rosenthal were the semifinalists. In the consolation round, it was Steve Cummings defeating Alex Zamanian in the final match.

April

Another solid gathering of 21 players came to the April tournament, including one new player: David Bowen. Alex Zamanian vanquished all five of his worthy opponents, including finalist Tony Wuersch, to take first place in the Main. The semifinalists were Dave Cox and Sokratis Frantzis. Herb Gurland defeated Anne Bidner to win the Consolation.

With his win Alex moved into a small lead over Herb in the Club’s point race, with just one event left to determine the playoff qualifiers- the May Bonus, with extra points at stake.

March

For the second straight time we had an enthusiastic crowd of 22 players for our monthly event. Albert Steg defeated Shahin Sadeghzadeh in the Main finals; semifinalists were Phyllis Seidel and Marty Storer. Daniel Stroe beat Alex Zamanian to win the Consolation.

Albert is a long time player who has at times been away from the game and who last won an NEBC tournament 20 years ago, in 1995. In the past few years he has become active again and has recently greatly improved into a very stong player. We won’t have to wait until 2035 for his next tournament win!

February

A week after the Super Bowl brought another strong showing of 22 players and featured a super finals matchup. Marty Storer prevailed over Alex Zamanian to take the Main; semifinalists were Tom Kunysz and Tom O’Riordan. Roger Rondeau defeated Steve Cummings to win the Consolation.

January

The Club’s season reached its midpoint as we welcomed in the new year. 17 players competed in the event, including one first timer- Sokratis Frantzis. Alex Zamanian won the Main by prevailing over Tony Wuersch in the finals; semifinalists were Albert Steg and Eric Wicklund. Herb Gurland defeated Steve Cummings to take the Consolation.

In the NEBC points race Herb maintained the lead, while Alex’s win left him tied with Eric for second place.

December

The Club had 29 players, a record since we moved to Malden in 2006. There were 3 new players- Marty Orloff, Jeremy Kornwitz, and Robin Clayton (Jeremy is the son and Robin is the daughter of recent new NEBC players).

Eric Wicklund defeated Jeremy in the finals of the Main; semifinalists were Marty and Howard Rosenthal. Herb Gurland won the Consolation over Tom Kunysz. Eric’s victory moved him into second place in the points race behind Herb.

November

We had 22 contestants for the Club’s Bonus Event, including one new player- David Kornwitz. Herb Gurlandprevailed over Steve Cummings to win the Main; the semifinalists were Marty Storer and David Kornwitz. Alex Zamanian defeated Tom O’Riordan in the finals of the Consolation.

By virtue of their strong showings in this tournament, which awarded double points to winners, Herb moved into first place in the points race, with Steve second and Alex a very close third.

October

Among the 23 entrants to our Oct. tournament were 4 new players to the Club- Josh White, Ted Backus, Bogdan Ianculescu and Philip Ring. Philip is the son of the late Howard Ring, who was a great backgammon player and an even better person.

Ed Ahola defeated Herb Gurland to win the finals of the Main; semifinalists were Alex Zamanian and Dave Cox. Daniel Bluestone won the Consolation over Tony Wuersch.

September

The Club kicked off the 2014-2015 season with a good crowd of 21 players, including 5 new ones- Sebastien Biscans, Daniel Bluestone, Michael Crystal, James Grew and Allen Nitschelm.

The finals of the Main featured a duel between the Club’s last 2 champions, Marty Storer and Howard Rosenthal, who holds the current title. Marty prevailed, and probably wouldn’t mind replicating his amazing feat of 2 years ago when he entered 3 NEBC tournaments and won them all! The semifinalists were Steve Cummings and Daniel Stroe. Eric Wicklund defeated Anne Bidner to win the Consolation.