After Nine Tournament

[Naavanaxx]

In order to give back to community for all the great time I'm having playing backgammon at FIBS, as well as for the nice people I get to meet almost every day, I have decided to create new regular weekly tournament branded After Nine.

A9 is single elimination tourney seeded by ranking (from Session 3 onwards A9 seeding is random), with 3-pt matches and 5-pt finals; minimum number of players are 4, maximum up to 32; all players exceeding following limits are more than welcome: min rep 75000+, min rate 1501+ and min experience 2000+. Idea is to be oriented towards well-reputed players providing excellent conditions for challenging matches. A9 is going to take place every Saturday, with registration starting at 2100 UTC and plays starting 30 minutes latter or when the bracket fills in.

Concept is related to establishing weekend tourney taking place on Saturday evening (for European players) and providing daily dose of fun for players across the oceans. Initially, plan was to have 2 different time slots - enabling rotating time for each session and providing Saturday evening tourney for everybody - but that proved to be complex, contra productive and possibly over-committing (at least for solo TD). If you seek to learn more about this and many more about A9, I kindly invite you to visit http://a9tourney.wordpress.com/ and learn more about tournament premiere, format, series overview, propositions, schedule, time-zones, etc. In order not to repeat myself here and over there we'll start from this and see how the flow of information goes; if there is more that is needed, it will be my pleasure to try to do so.

Now... I have been thinking about doing this for quite some time. I mean, in my book, FIBS is simply the place to be for any true backgammon player. Watching various TDs working on their tourneys, my personal enjoyment in playing on those tourneys, reading various posts and links here at FIBS Board, looking into work of lots of other FIBS contributors keeping, amongst others, this place alive and kicking - well, that has instilled in me simple desire to contribute too. So there lays the reasons for A9, and you will speak about the results.

In doing so, please note that this is my first TD stint at FIBS - in fact, this is actually my first post here ever - hence feedback from all of you will probably be the most crucial thing in, hopefully, building this tourney series into traditional one. So please don't hesitate to point out and suggest any improvements regarding A9.

In closing, at least for now, I would like to thank all of the Tourney Director's providing really inspirational environment for establishing this tourney, particularly to sixtie - and - to say one big THANK YOU to socksey, for all yours hints & tips, advices, smiles, effort and time.

Naavanaxx

[Naavanaxx]

This is to announce After Nine Preseason Schedule - series of 3 shake-up tourneys held from October 29th to November 5th. In order to promote A9 tourney as well as to test TD skills, After Nine Preseason Shuttle tourneys will have same format as weekly ones (3-pt matches, 5-pt finals) so please note provisional schedule:

- After Nine Preseason Shuttle One to be held on Saturday, October 30 with registration starting at 2100 UTC. Play begins 30 minutes latter or when the 32 players bracket fills.

- After Nine Preseason Shuttle Two to be held on Wednesday, November 3 with registration starting at 2100 UTC.  Play begins 30 minutes latter or when the 32 players bracket fills.

- After Nine Preseason Shuttle Three to be held on Friday, November 5 with registration starting at 2100 UTC. Play begins 30 minutes latter or when the 32 players bracket fills.

Looking forward to see you all there. Please visit http://a9tourney.wordpress.com/ and learn more.

Naavanaxx

[Naavanaxx]

After Nine Preseason Shuttle One took place today at 2100 UTC, opening introductional serial of After Nine, new FIBS regular weekly tournament kicking off season at November, 6 at 2100 UTC.

Today's preseason shuttle, first of three shake-up tourneys, took total of 9 players: MacMom, noGuile, dropper, aviator, TriAtma_III, diane, EricCartman, Bine and socksey.

First two rounds brought positional games on majority of matches,  with socksey and diane exiting, and with thrillers won by dropper and TriAtma_III vs. MacMom and aviator respectively. But that was just a glimps of things to come. Semi-finals provided some breath taking moments with EricCartman and TriAtma_III def. Bine and dropper respectively and going forward to meet in Finals. After mild openings from both sides in that 5-pt match, at 1-1 after two games, in third one the cube first went to 2 and than to 4, bringing it on all the table! EricCartman won finals by 5-1 after the great fight of both players.

Congratulation to EricCartman , winner of After Nine Preseason Shuttle One.
Excellent run by runner-up, TriAtma_III. Great finals, guys!

Thank you to all players taking part in After Nine Preseason Shuttle; as shake-up tourney, results from this one – as well as another two coming next week – won't count into Season Playoffs, but we hope it was fun! You are the first 9 players to play at unofficial opening of this new FIBS tourney and we hope to have you again on every session!

For other players, there is much more to come very soon. There are  two more shake-up tourneys coming next week – and - After Nine season kick-off tournament on November 6, 2100 UTC. Don't miss it! Stay tuned and visit A9 Tourney Blog or this post here at FIBS Board.

Full matches listing for A9 Season Shuttle One (Tourney #3665):

T3665R1M2 (3-pt): MacMom (1536) def. NoGuile (1527) 4-0
T3665R2M1 (3-pt): dropper (1876) def. MacMom (1536) 4-2
T3665R2M2 (3-pt): TriAtma_III (1696) def. aviator (1709) 3-2
T3665R2M3 (3-pt): EricCartman (1610) def. diane (1774) 3-0
T3665R2M4 (3-pt): Bine (1755) def. socksey (1654) 3-0
T3665R3M1 (3-pt): TriAtma_III (1696) def. dropper (1876) 3-1
T3665R3M2 (3-pt): EricCartman (1610) def. Bine (1755) 4-1
T3665R4M1 (5-pt): EricCartman (1610) def. TriAtma_III (1696) 5-1

Naavanaxx

[Naavanaxx]

After Nine Preseason Shuttle Two - second of three A9 shake-up tourneys - took total of 7 players: Bodo_SXM, Johnny_Boy, vegas_vic, TriAtma_III, sixtie, Tanika, LuckyDice.

First round took sixtie into early exit by latter finalist Johnny_Boy, Tanika won round derby against Shuttle One finalist TriAtma_III while LuckyDice went to meet vegas_vic in second round (first semis). That matched proved to be real excitement and fun on high skill level!  Johnny_Boy def. Tanika in second semis and went to meet LuckyDice in finals.

Congratulation to LuckyDice , winner of After Nine Preseason Shuttle Two.
It was a great run for runner-up Johnny_Boy too. Nice finals, guys!

Thanks to all players taking part in After Nine Preseason Shuttle Two. Hope to see you all again really soon!

Full matches listing for A9 Season Shuttle Two (Tourney #3672):

T3673R1M2 (3-pt): LuckyDice (1661) def. Bodo_SXM (1705) 7-2
T3673R1M3 (3-pt): Johnny_Boy (1465) def. sixtie (1751) 3-1
T3673R1M4 (3-pt): Tanika (1567) def. TriAtma_III (1735) 4-1
T3673R2M1 (3-pt): LuckyDice (1661) def. vegas_vic (1923) 7-1
T3673R2M2 (3-pt): Johnny_Boy (1465) def. Tanika (1567) 3-1
T3673R3M1 (5-pt): LuckyDice (1661) def. Johnny_Boy (1465) 5-1

[Naavanaxx]

After Nine Preseason Shuttle Three - last of three A9 shake-up tourneys - took place today at FIBS with total of 8 players: stog, socksey, rif_raf, DavidF, austin, Tanika, yourfuturexwife, LuckyDice.

First round took soksey into early exit by LuckyDice, rif_raf won round by awarded win against austin, stog and DavidF had rather interesting match, while yourfuturexwife def tanika. Semi-finals brought positional games to both matches leading rif_raf and yourfuturexwife into finals, which proved to be most interesting finals of whole Preseason series.

With two games into match and 1-1 standings, we had double at board and we had rif_raf pulling astonishing U-turn in match with some high burst of doubles at the very end. Like that was not enough of excitement, at 3-1 for rif_raf, yourfuturexwife doubled, leading game into steady ending with rif_raf apparently locked in at his home; "apparently" soon proved how appearances are deceiving, and with 7 checkers remaining for bearing off by yourfuturexwife, rif_raf executed yet another counter attack, this time more aggressive, taking it to the very end and winning this tournament!

Congratulation to rif_raf , winner of After Nine Preseason Shuttle Three.
It was a great run for runner-up yourfuturexwife. And it was by all means great finals, fibsters!

Thanks to all players taking part in After Nine Preseason Shuttle Three. By this tournament, A9 Preseason series concludes with 24 players taking part in three shake-up tourneys. With season premiere in sight - scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, November 6th at 2100 UTC - we will be taking regular weekly scheduling (every Saturday at 2100 UTC) and we look forward to see more and more players taking part in A9.

Full matches listing for A9 Season Shuttle Three (Tourney #3676):

22:43:29 T3676R1M1 (3-pt): rif_raf (1514) def. austin (1968) 3-0
22:43:29 T3676R1M2 (3-pt): stog (1678) def. DavidF (1650) 3-0
22:43:29 T3676R1M3 (3-pt): yourfuturexwife (1802) def. Tanika (1589) 4-0
22:43:29 T3676R1M4 (3-pt): LuckyDice (1697) def. socksey (1621) 5-1
22:43:29 T3676R2M1 (3-pt): rif_raf (1514) def. stog (1678) 4-0
22:43:29 T3676R2M2 (3-pt): yourfuturexwife (1802) def. LuckyDice (1697) 3-1
22:43:29 T3676R3M1 (5-pt): rif_raf (1514) def. yourfuturexwife (1802) 5-1

[Naavanaxx]

Premiere After Nine kick off session will be held on Saturday, November 6th at 2100 UTC and from than on regularly every week at the same day and time. Play begins 30 minutes latter or when the 32 players bracket fills. Best place to find your local time is WorldClock.

All interested players are invited to take shot at unique title of After Nine Kick-off Champion qualifying for A9 Season Playoffs. More opportunities coming on during 16 weeks A9 Season.

Come and join fun. Let's dice.

[Naavanaxx]

Standings for After Nine #1 (Tourney #3679):
06-Nov-2010 -- Week 1 Season 1

1. diane
2. yonay
3. Backwoods DeaDice
7. Tanika zulu LuckyDice Toado
9. PortWine sixtie rif_raf TriAtma_III

Congratulations to diane, A9 Kick-off Champion who wins an invite into Season Playoffs.
Phenomenal run for runner-up, yonay!! Great finals, fibsters!

A9 premiere - tournament officially kicking off A9 Season - took place today with total of 12 players: DeaDice, diane, zulu, yonay, TriAtma_III, sixtie, rif_raf, LuckyDice, Tanika, Backwoods, Toado, PortWine. Rather nice turnout in first edition, and strong one too: all four of latter semifinalists were 1745+ and two of them 1840+ ratings.

While first round brought surprises with sixtie and TriAtma_III early exits (nice wins by zulu and Toado respectively), second round provided Dices derby (DeaDice vs. LuckyDice) - Dea walking away with win after fantastic match against A9 Preseason Shuttle Two Winner, Lucky! diane and yonay, finalists to be, proceeded strongly further, whilst Backwoods (highest ranking player at the tourney) def Tanika in Round 2 to proceed to semis.

And what a semi-finals those were: yonay vs. Backwoods and diane vs. DeaDice. Atomic backgammon was to be seen in both matches, revealing A9 raison d'etre of featuring fun, skills, humor and competition towards well-reputed players, ones that "play well, play rapidly, play quietly, smile, talk a little, never complain about their luck and believe that luck and skill is the just, the inevitable, reward of the skillful" (hommage to Georges Mabardi, 1930).

yonay and diane went into finals, which presented fast paced side of the game. In a match that just may be decided in its first game, when double cube went to gammon, diane took early lead in match (4-0) and kept it up in Crawford game, winning A9 Kick-off Champion title. It was the end of fantastic performance for yonay, runner-up today and one of the stronger contender for future A9 Champ titles!

A9 Kick-off Champion will wait for other A9 Champions of first season's 16 weeks in order for them to proceed pursue of A9 Season Champion title in Season Playoffs starting late March 2011. Until then, we hope to have all players taking part in A9 premiere tonight back for every edition - special thank you for all of you today - and we invite all others to join us and have fun in this new regular weekly FIBS tournament.

PS. Reporting from A9 tournaments will strive to provide fine mix of well-established formats of other FIBS tourneys with personal 'TD perspective' in order to, hopefully, make tourneys more appealing to every potential player out there. A9 core aspiration remains to be fun with popularization of the backgammon and FIBS, thus we'll try to communicate this reports in a manner that at least reflex a bit of excitement, positive and respectable rivalry and fun surrounding every FIBS tourney. There might be more personal testimonies and experiences at A9 blog though this thread will remain to be official place for all A9 related stuff.

See you all next Saturday at 2100 UTC  

Full matches listing for After Nine (Tourney #3679)
T3679R1M2 (3-pt): Tanika (1586) def. PortWine (1599) 3-0
T3679R1M4 (3-pt): zulu (1467) def. sixtie (1742) 4-2
T3679R1M6 (3-pt): LuckyDice (1706) def. rif_raf (1527) 7-0
T3679R1M8 (3-pt): Toado (1497) def. TriAtma_III (1724) 3-0
T3679R2M1 (3-pt): Backwoods (1857) def. Tanika (1586) 4-0
T3679R2M2 (3-pt): yonay (1746) def. zulu (1467) 3-0
T3679R2M3 (3-pt): DeaDice (1844) def. LuckyDice (1706) 3-1
T3679R2M4 (3-pt): diane (1769) def. Toado (1497) 3-0
T3679R3M1 (3-pt): yonay (1746) def. Backwoods (1857) 6-1
T3679R3M2 (3-pt): diane (1769) def. DeaDice (1844) 5-1
T3679R4M1 (5-pt): diane (1769) def. yonay (1746) 7-0

[Naavanaxx]

Standings for After Nine #2
13-Nov-2010 -- Week 2 Season 1

1. LuckyDice
2. vegas_vic
3. diane SamIam
5. floydband jackdaddy Tanika socksey
9. fortuna moonshadow RickInSF

Congratulations to LuckyDice, A9 Champion who wins an invite into Season Playoffs.
Great run for runner-up, vegas_vic!! Great finals, fibsters!

A9 took place today with total of 10 players in Session 2: fortuna, socksey, moonshadow, SamIam, RickInSF, vegas_vic, floydband, jackdaddy, Tanika, diane. Good turnout for third tourney on this Saturday, and almost strong one as Kick-off session: three semifinalists were 1700+ ratings, with one of them 1800+ and another 1900+ ratings.

What marked this Session of A9 was first and foremost Challonge platform, bringing shuffles in preliminaries that brought early exits for moonshadow and RickInSF. Quarterfinals were interesting to the last match: diane and sosksey played rather strong match, with A9 Kick-off Champ emerging as winner; Tanika and LuckyDice were in different position every time TD visited their clash, providing very interesting match to the last point, which brought future A9 Champ as winner; jackdaddy and SamIam offered next great challenge for latter - SamIam already took its tool with moonshadow in preliminaries - which proved to be upset for former, providing surprising but well deserved win for the rookie; and finally, vegas_vic made clean sweep over floydband announcing high ambitions, as always.  

Those ambitions were put in effect in another clean sweep by vegas_vic over SamIam in first semis, though it should be mentioned that SamIam provided really fantastic performances today proving that A9 is - just as well as any FIBS tourney is - playground where anything is possible. LuckyDice and diane had semi-final that was decided in very positional match, strong game plays and yet another clean sweep in today's semis, bringing LuckyDice into finals.

So there we were in finals: two players both with more than 19k of FIBS experience, outwitting each other at practically every move. LuckyDice took strong and early lead with 3-0, took the next one too to make it 4-0, but vegas_vic came back strong in Crawford game bringing it to 4-1. Just as watchers were preparing for 4-3 and the ultimate game of this match, LuckyDice announced his different plans for finals with several very clever moves at the end of this game, leaving vegas_vic out of the options.

In doing so, LuckyDice won Session 2 of After Nine tourney, becoming A9 Champion and second A9 winner to qualify for Season Playoffs. In addition, this would be second A9 title for LuckyDice considering his A9 Preseason Shuttle Two title.

Full matches listing for After Nine Session 2 can be found in attached .png image as well as here.

A9 Champion will, together with A9 Kick-off Champion, wait for other A9 Champions of first season's 16 weeks in order for them to proceed pursue of A9 Season Champion title in Season Playoffs starting late March 2011. Until then, special thank you for all today's players and we invite all others to join us and have fun in this new regular weekly FIBS tournament.

See you all next Saturday at 2100 UTC  

[Naavanaxx]

There has been proposition update regarding rules governing After Nine tournaments. All players are invited to visit full A9 Propositions page and learn more. Thank you.

[diane]

Thankyou for this update, it is great to see rules advertised and applied, so that players can make informed decisions ahead of time 

[Naavanaxx]

Considering quality comments received about After Nine tournament seeding, which may be seen here, there has been change in A9 proposition regarding this particularity. Thus from Session 3 onwards A9 seeding is random instead of by ranking. I thank again to dorbel, adrian and socksey for pointing this out.   

[Naavanaxx]

Standings for After Nine #3 (Tourney #3704)
20-Nov-2010 -- Week 3 Season 1

1. socksey
2. Tanika
3. Cinderella supermane
5. diane yonay palladin boilermaker
9. LuckyDice

Congratulations to socksey, A9 Champion who wins an invite into Season Playoffs.
Great run for runner-up, Tanika!! Great finals, ladies!

A9 took place today with total of 9 players in Session 3: diane, yonay, palladin, supermane, Cinderella, socksey, Tanika, LuckyDice and boilermaker. Almost usual turnout for this new tourney in Session 3, this time bringing players of various levels and experience.

Session 3 was back on TourneyBot and 1st round brought two previous A9 Champs into match that delivered early exit for LuckyDice by diane. Cinderella - player that picked up couple of kibitzer's eyebrows by tonight performance - took her toll with yonay in second round, making sure that every A9 has at least one upset on board, whereas Tanika offered another one defeating diane by clean sweep (ladies actually decided to take it all in one single game). socksey and supermane made sure other quarter-finals provide no surprises and secured their spots in next round. After strong performances in semis both Tanika and socksey emerged as finalists entering strong match in 5-pts.

After positional initial game in Finals, second one brought cube into 2 and socksey's early lead 3-0; Tani returned in next game, only to face cube in next game (with 3-1 into match) and - to take it! Proceeding without redoubling, Tani faced strong progression by socksey in remaining of that game, leading latter lady to win finals with 5-1.

In doing so, socksey won Session 3 of After Nine tourney, becoming A9 Champion and third A9 winner to qualify for Season Playoffs. Today's A9 Champion will, together with other A9 Champs, wait for future A9 Champions of first season's 16 weeks in order for them to proceed pursue of A9 Season Champion title in Season Playoffs starting late March 2011. Until then, special thank you for all today's players and we invite all others to join us and have fun in this new regular weekly FIBS tournament.

Full matches listing for After Nine Session 3 (Tourney #3704) are as follows:
T3704R1M2 (3-pt): diane (1790) def. LuckyDice (1757) 3-2
T3704R2M1 (3-pt): Tanika (1576) def. diane (1790) 4-0
T3704R2M2 (3-pt): Cinderella (1638) def. yonay (1776) 3-2
T3704R2M3 (3-pt): socksey (1612) def. palladin (1482) 3-0
T3704R2M4 (3-pt): supermane (1714) def. boilermaker (1657) 3-0
T3704R3M1 (3-pt): Tanika (1576) def. Cinderella (1638) 4-1
T3704R3M2 (3-pt): socksey (1612) def. supermane (1714) 3-2
T3704R4M1 (5-pt): socksey (1612) def. Tanika (1576) 5-1

See you all next Saturday at 2100 UTC  

[Naavanaxx]

Standings for After Nine #4
27-Nov-2010 -- Week 4 Season 1

1. pittpenguins
2. zbilbo
3. palladin vegas_vic
5. burton jackdaddy AlmostDecent yourfuturexwife
9. Toado Leudwulf LuckyDice

Congratulations to pittpenguins, A9 Champion who wins an invite into Season Playoffs.
Great run for runner-up, zbilbo!! Indeed fantastic finals, guys!

A9 took place today with total of 11 players in Session 4: LuckyDice, Leudwulf, Toado, yourfuturexwife, AlmostDecent, jackdaddy, burton, vegas_vic, palladin, pittpenguins and zbilbo. Almost usual turnout for this new tourney in Session 4, this time bringing players of various levels and experience. And some family faces, too.

Session 4 was back on Challonge and preliminaries brought early exits for heavyweights like LuckyDice and Leudwulf, as well as for Toado. pittpenguins - definite hero of tonight's A9 - took its toll both with latter in preliminaries as well as with burton in 1st round, whilst vegas_vic, zbilbo and palladin rose to challenges in this round proceeding further. Semis brought youngster pittpenguins into vic with miraculous win by former, while zbilbo took palladin in very equal match in another Semis.

As pittpenguins and zbilbo emerged as finalists, they brought us very interesting 5-pt match, with many turnarounds. After initial lead extending to 4-1 by pittpenguins, zbilbo returned strongly in next three games bringing it to 4-4, but finally having to let it go with strong perfomance by pitt.

In doing so, pittpenguins won Session 4 of After Nine tourney, becoming A9 Champion and fourth A9 winner to qualify for Season Playoffs. Today's A9 Champion will, together with other A9 Champs, wait for future A9 Champions of first season's 16 weeks in order for them to proceed pursue of A9 Season Champion title in Season Playoffs starting late March 2011. Until then, special thank you for all today's players and we invite all others to join us and have fun in this new regular weekly FIBS tournament.

Full matches listing for After Nine Session 4 can be find here as well as in attached file.

See you all next Saturday at 2100 UTC  

[Naavanaxx]

Standings for After Nine #5
03-Dec-2010 -- Week 5 Season 1

1. lou
2. vegas_vic
3. Leudwulf socksey
5. Miccimalou LuckyDice Johnny_Boy Tanika
9. sixtie pollemanden RickInSF rif_raf hotschtick

Congratulations to lou, A9 Champion who wins an invite into Season Playoffs.
Great run for runner-up, vegas_vic!! More than fantastic finals, guys!

Due to very hectic schedule of TD, today's post will lack my personal perspective as previous posts. However, I just have to give it to the guys in finals: absolutely fantastic match!!

Full matches listing for After Nine Session 5 can be find here as well as in attached file.

See you all next Saturday at 2100 UTC  

[Naavanaxx]

Standings for After Nine #6
11-Dec-2010 -- Week 6 Season 1

1. Slipshod
2. TriAtma_III
3. diane socksey
5. jackdaddy LuckyDice karmakat Tanika
9. stog rif_raf pittpenguins

Congratulations to Slipshod, A9 Champion who wins an invite into Season Playoffs.
Great run for runner-up, TriAtma_III!! Great finals, guys!

Full matches listing for After Nine Session 6 can be find here as well as in attached file.

See you all next Saturday at 2100 UTC  

[Naavanaxx]

Standings for After Nine #7
18-Dec-2010 -- Week 7 Season 1

1. csg
2. LuckyDice
3. aviator Cinderella
5. MacMom DavidF bolagno sixtie
9. rif_raf virtuosity palladin Tanika inatizz yonay vegas_vic stog

Congratulations to csg, A9 Champion who wins an invite into Season Playoffs.
Great run for runner-up, LuckyDice!! Great finals, guys!

Full matches listing for After Nine Session 7 can be find here as well as in attached file.

See you all next Saturday at 2100 UTC  

After Nine Champions in Season Playoffs

[table=]
Week, Date     ,Tourney #,    TD(s), Seeding, Registered, Winner

1

,

06-Nov-10

,

3689

,Naavanaxx,

Rating

,

12

,diane,

2

,

13-Nov-10

,

CHAL

,Naavanaxx,

Rating

,

10

,LuckyDice,

3

,

20-Nov-10

,

3704

,Naavanaxx,

Random

,

9

,socksey,

4

,

27-Nov-10

,

CHAL

,Naavanaxx,

Random

,

11

,pittpenguins,

5

,

03-Dec-10

,

CHAL

,Naavanaxx,

Random

,

13

,lou,

6

,

11-Dec-10

,

CHAL

,Naavanaxx,

Random

,

11

,Slipshod,

7

,

18-Dec-10

,

CHAL

,Naavanaxx,

Random

,

16

,csg,
[/table]