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Backgammon NewsMarch 30, 2008Winners of the WSOB Nordic Open Backgammon ChampionshipTassilo Rzymann of Austria is the backgammon champion of the WSOB Nordic Open, held on March 20-24 at the Marienlyst Hotel and Casino in Denmark. Rzymann, who had beaten his Danish opponent Hans Kristian Mathiesen in a 17-point final match, earned a free 10,000 euro seat at the WSOB Riviera Cup in Cannes. The Consolation Division was won by Masayuki Mochizuki of Japan (who also won the lowest error rate prize with 1.9 error rate). Pia Sevelin of Sweden triumphed the first ever Ladies Cup and the Consultation Doubles was taken by Marko Hellsten & Miika Lappalainen of Finland. The two major teams' tournaments - the Nation's Cup and the Team Event - were outplayed by the Play65 team, a group of 4 Danish players sponsored by the online backgammon website Play65. The frontrunner of the 2008 World Championship/ Cannes Qualifier is Volker Sonnabend of Germany, who will be seating, along with the Nordic Open champion at the WSOB Riviera Cup event at the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes, in mid July. Overall, many of the 2008 Nordic Open Backgammon Championship winners, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, were local players who have learned to play backgammon back in their Danish schools. The Nations' Cup event featured 12 teams of 12 different nations was won by the Play65 team, consisted of 4 Danish backgammon players Henrik Løber, Karsten Bredahl Nielsen, Jakob Holdt-Simonsen and Michael Kjærgaard Larsen all sponsored by Play65 backgammon site that gains great popularity in Denmark. The 2008 Nordic Open was the second qualifying event in the World Series of Backgammon 2007-8 Season II. Preceded by the UK Masters held in London in November 2007 and followed by the Riviera Cup scheduled to July, the 2008 Nordic Open Backgammon Championship was one of the highly anticipated events in the professional backgammon circuit. Among its 154 entrants were backgammon stars such as Gus Hansen, "Falafel" Natanzon, John Clark and others. On top of the prize money, the winner of the 2008 Nordic Open was awarded with a free seat to the next WSOB event in Cannes. |
