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1 Alex Zamanian 490\n2 Greg Jukins 409\n3 Tom O'Riordan 349\n4 Dave Metz 276\n5 Herb Gurland 256\n6 Dan Chicoine 212\n7 Eric Wicklund 211\n8 Jacob Mashak 159\n9 Walter Trice 146\n10 Gil Evans 103\n11 Phyllis Seidel 94\n12 Doug Roberts 92\n13 Antoinette Williams 92\n14 Ed Ahola 88\n15 Roger Rondeau 76\n16 John Smidt 71\n17 George Saba 65\n18 Mark Houser 61\n19 Philip Hodson 54\n20 Julius High 43\n21 Mark Chicoine 40\n22 Eric Sulkala 39\n23 Jerry Padova 38\n24 Gerhard Roland 27\n25 Jim McKenna 25\n26 Al Cantito 20\n27 Tom Meyer 18\n28 Jamie Evans 18\n29 Anne Bidner 11\n30 Jeff Holt 11\n31 Dave Boulay 9\n32 Dave Karjala 9\n33 John Racoosin 9\n34 Howard Coffman 2\n35 Jim Gebhardt 2\n36 Aaron Levesque 2\n37 Howard Peele 2\n38 Wanda Roberts 2\n39 Paul Sciaraffa 2\n40 Marty Storer 2\n41 Nate Jackson 2\n<\/pre>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_text_separator title=”Tournament & Playoffs Results” color=”green” border_width=”3″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n
Playoffs<\/h1>\n
The top 7 in the points race qualified for the playoffs, with the points race winner, Alex Zamanian, earning a bye. The other first round match-ups:<\/p>\n
Erick Wicklund defeated Greg Jukins
\nDan Chicoine defeated Tom O’Riordan
\nHerb Gurland defeated Dave Metz<\/p>\nSemifinals:<\/p>\n
Alex Zamanian defeats Herb Gurland
\nDan Chicoine defeats Erick Wicklund<\/p>\nFinalist: Dan Chicoine
\nChampion: Alex Zamanian<\/p>\nMay<\/h1>\n
May’s Bonus tournament was won by Greg Jukins, with Tom O’Riordan taking second place — a fitting conclusion to an excellent season for the players who finished 2nd and 3rd in the Points Race.
\n1 Greg Jukins
\n2 Tom O’Riordan
\nSF John Racoosin
\nSF Jacob Mashak
\n1C Ed Ahola
\n2C Dan Chicoine<\/p>\nApril<\/h1>\n
Antoinette in April
\nIt was an all New York finals, with Antoinette Williams defeating her travelling companion Julius High to take First Place. (Incidentally, if you are planning a visit to NYC, be sure to check out http:\/\/www.nycbg.com\/ for their club news and event schedule.) Semi-finalists were Herb\u00a0Gurland and Eric Wicklund. Tom O’Riordan and Roger Rondeau were 1st and 2nd in the Consolation.
\nWith visitors taking most of the glory home, the top seven in the points race are the same as last month, the only change being that Eric Wicklund moved up a notch into sixth place, demoting Dan Chicoine to seventh. Since Dan has 169, it looks like anyone in the top 25 at this\u00a0point has some chance of qualifying.<\/p>\n18 players<\/span>
\n1 Antoinette Williams
\n2 Julius High
\nSF Herb Gurland
\nSF Eric Wicklund
\n1C Tom O’Riordan
\n2C Roger Rondeau<\/p>\nJanuary<\/h1>\n
Jukins Wins January Tournament
\nGreg Jukins improved on his December 2nd-place finish by winning the NEBC’s January tournament, defeating Herb Gurland in the finals. Walter Trice and Eric Wicklund were semi-finalists, while Alex Zamanian won the consolation flight over Tom O’Riordan.
\nJukins’s first win for the season moved him up to third in the annual points race. Meanwhile Zamanian’s consolation prize allowed him to recapture the lead — again — from Dave Metz. Remarkably this now makes four straight months in which Dave and Alex have alternated the\u00a0lead. Herb Gurland, relieved for once of the burden of directing, managed his best result of the season to move into fourth position, while Dan Chicoine, wintering in Florida, drifted down to fifth. Tom O’Riordan, clearly a player to watch, stayed among the contenders at sixth with\u00a0his third third-tier (SF or 2C) finish, with Jacob Mashak rounding out the top seven largely on the basis of his September win.<\/p>\n16 players<\/span>
\n1 Greg Jukins
\n2 Herb Gurland
\nSF Walter Trice
\nSF Eric Wicklund
\n1C Alex Zamanian
\n2C Tom O’Riordan[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\nDecember<\/h1>\n
Roberts Returns to Win in December
\nFor the first time in several years Doug Roberts made the trip from Amherst to play in the club’s December Monthly, and won it, defeating Greg Jukins in the finals. For those who have not met Doug before, he was the Club Champion in 1984 and, perhaps even more significantly,\u00a0holds third place in the all-time American Backgammon Tour standings. Semi-finalists in the main flight were Dave Metz and Eric Wicklund, while in the consolation Herb Gurland took first over newcomer Mark Chicoine.
\nMetz’s semi-finalist result nudged him into the top spot in the annual Points Race, and he now leads Alex Zamanian by 19. In other minor shufflings among the top 7, Greg Jukins moved up to 4th and Herb Gurland entered the list of playoff prospects at 6th place.
\nRoberts’s appearance would have been memorable even if he had not won the tournament, since he and his wife Wanda surprised the whole club by bringing a unique cake to celebrate Walter Trice’s 60th birthday. Aside from such conundrums as whether the marzipan checkers\u00a0were as tasty as the dark chocolate points, the cake posed a tough backgammon checker-play problem, taken from a recent lecture by Mike Corbett.<\/p>\n21 players<\/span>
\n1 Doug Roberts
\n2 Greg Jukins
\nSF Dave Metz
\nSF Eric Wicklund
\n1C Herb Gurland
\n2C Mark Chicoine<\/p>\nNovember<\/h1>\n
Zamanian Beats Metz in November Finals
\nFor the second consecutive month it was Alex Zamanian vs. Dave Metz in the finals, but this time Alex won. November’s extra bonus points have put Zamanian on top of the Points Race (by a mere 6) despite Metz’s otherwise slightly better record. Both players have had\u00a0spectacular results in the first three tournaments of the season: Each has a first and a second place, and in September Dave won the consolation while Alex was a semi-finalist. November semi-finalists were George Saba and Tom O’Riordan. In the Consolation flight Dan Chicoine\u00a0took first over Phyllis Seidel.<\/p>\n21 players<\/span>
\n1 Alex Zamanian
\n2 Dave Metz
\nSF Tom O’Riordan
\nSF George Saba
\n1C Dan Chicoine
\n2C Phyllis Seidel<\/p>\nSeptember<\/h1>\n
New Guy Wins!
\nWho is Jacob Mashak? His romp through the field in our September season opener had me scanning lists of winners and finalists at Monte Carlo and other major tournaments, but I did not find his name there. In the Age of Google, however, anonymity is, at most, optional, and I\u00a0quickly discovered that Mr. Mashak is an up-and-coming composer and conductor of classical music currently doing graduate study in Boston.
\nTwo old guys managed to finish in the money. Dan Chicoine made it to the finals before maestro Mashak composed his finale, and Alex Zamanian was a semi-finalist. The rest of the glory was scooped by last year’s new guys. Greg Jukins finished as a semi-finalist in the Main\u00a0flight, while Dave Metz took first in the Consolation over Tom O’Riordan.<\/p>\n16 players<\/span>
\n1\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Jacob Mashak
\n2\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Dan Chicoine
\nSF\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Greg Jukins
\nSF\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Alex Zamanian
\n1C\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Dave Metz
\n2C\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Tom O’Riordan[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title=”Points Race” color=”green” border_width=”3″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”2576″ img_size=”550×150″][vc_column_text] 1 Alex Zamanian 490 2 Greg Jukins 409 3 Tom O’Riordan 349 4 Dave Metz 276 5 Herb Gurland 256 6 Dan Chicoine 212 7 Eric Wicklund 211 8 Jacob Mashak 159 9 Walter Trice 146 10 Gil Evans 103 11 Phyllis Seidel 94 12 Doug <\/p>\n