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Homeless man camps out at NY Metro Open
Posted By: Rich Munitz In Response To: Updates from Snowed In NYC? (Bill Riles)
Date: Tuesday, 13 January 2009, at 4:08 a.m.
Many rumors were reported in this thread. However, it seems that word had not spread about the apparently homeless guy at this tourney who was seen around the playing area, watching, even playing backgammon at all hours of the day and night. Unshaven, wearing the same clothes each day. Are there no standards in this game anymore?
That homeless guy was me. I went to this event because I live in the area and could easily come in each day and then go back home at night. So I thought.
I went to work in Manhattan by train as usual on Thursday morning and then took the subway in the early afternoon to the tournament. Just had to play a couple of Masters matches and a round in the doubles. Then I'd catch the train back home.
Happily, the Masters was "clock upon demand". I demanded. My first match was against Harvey Gillis. The match was played at a nice pace. Neither of us were ever any close to time trouble, and in fact Harvey actually finished with a bit more time than I did. He asked me to mention that to Howard Markowitz which I did. Apparently it has been suggested by some that Harvey plays slowly. I have played Harvey a few times on a clock and I will go on record as saying that he has never come anywhere near running out of time and has always played at a decent pace on the clock. He has always maintained that he feels comfortable on the clock and not rushed. In my opinion, his play has not suffered in the least due to clock play. (What about off the clock? See below.)
I usually don't play doubles, but in this event I agreed to play with Rod Covlin, who is the organizer of the successful NYC Backgammon Meetup group, and a darn fine player too. Doubles is just a nasty event and should probably be eliminated as it is responsible for more tournament delays than anything else. For some reason, the better players tend to win in doubles and equally strangely, they also tend to win in singles. So it is nearly impossible to get all four players for a match sitting around with nothing to do (especially if one of them is named Falafel). Anyway, I had a doubles match starting at around 10PM. 7 points, how long could it possibly take? Well at 11:30, we took the first break and the score was 4-3. At 12:45, the match ended. 3 hours for 7 points! Unbelievable. Lesson: clock all doubles matches. Apparently, there is no position that is so clear cut that it does not require substantial discussion. My partner almost had an aneurism from the rise in his blood pressure when at DMP during a non-contact bear-off, the roller's partner asked him to hold his roll so that he could count the number of checkers left. Yikes. Anyway, the last train home was at 12:55 with no way to get there in 10 minutes, so I was stuck for the night.
Main event Friday. No clocks. Things progressed reasonably well as all first round matches, including rebuys had to be completed before leaving for dinner. The dinner break was 3 hours from 5-8 to allow people the time to go into Manhattan and have dinner and explore if they wished. A nice touch - if time permits. There is a redraw for the round of 32 and it was no surprise that I found myself playing Harvey Gillis again. Harvey and I always see each other before looking at the draw and joke that there is no point in looking at the sheet since we know we will play each other. It happens very frequently and twice so far in two days here. Anyway, the tournament was right on schedule, it was 8 PM and no clocks. The match ended at 11:50 PM. Nearly 4 hours for a 13 point match. The nice flow, the ability to make obvious decisions quickly, the discipline, the proven capability to play expert level backgammon at a good pace with the clock in place had evaporated with the clock missing. In my opinion, Harvey does not lose anything when playing with a clock except his reputation. I like Harvey and I know he is capable. I believe that he would do himself a tremendous service by getting himself a clock and being the one to request the use of a clock to his opponents. Then, nobody can complain. He has proven he can do it, and do it well, and he should seize the chance to remove this as an issue.
Well now its midnight. Plenty of time to catch my train. Not. Here comes Carter with a clock. We have another match that must be played before the night ends. Same 13 points as before, this match went to DMP, though only 14 games compared to the 17 games in my match with Harvey. However, the match was done at 1AM. 1 hour. Total of 5 minutes of reserve time used between the two of us. Carter plays fast. I was playing faster than usual for sure. But certainly, a 13 point match should be done in two and a half hours tops. Anyway, missed my train again. Stuck another night. More stubble piling up.
Saturday progressed fairly smoothly thru the afternoon. Nearly had a big comeback in the Main-semis against Victor Ashkenazi, but my hopes for pulling out the match on a doubled gammon at 1-away 4-away PC were dashed when he entered two from the bar with double 3s and hit two checkers. After dancing twice on a 3 point board, he ultimately left me with six checkers on the roof against a closeout. No shot ever came and I was finished.
Apparently Thursday and Friday nights were merely a warm-up for Saturday night. Upon return from the dinner break, I was completely done for the weekend except for the doubles. We had a quarterfinal against Falafel and Bob Glass. Falafel proved to be a major bottleneck as he was required to play both the Consolation semi-final and Masters quarter-final before he'd be permitted to play doubles. It was after midnight by the time those were done. This whole mess of conflicts were known and discussed, yet in spite of the massive delays accruing, no clocks were imposed by the directors to my knowledge on these or any other matches during this weekend. Given that Falafel had won his Masters match, the directors graciously permitted the Masters semi-final match to be played on Sunday morning to the great relief of MCG who got to go to bed. That permitted the doubles to finally begin. We were fortunate to have excellent dice against Falafel/Glass. We could not find a way to lose a game no matter how hard we tried. Now just the doubles semi-finals to go. I should be in bed by 2:30. NOT. Turns out that earlier in the night when it became clear that there would be many hours before we'd ever get to play, my fidgety doubles partner had the bright idea to take one of the last spots in the 32 player $50 jackpot. Something to do to kill the time. Why didn't I think of that? Actually I did, and decided not to. Well unknown to me, Rod did not have the good sense to lose any of his jackpot matches before we played that previous doubles match, and he was now sitting in the semi-finals. Guess what? The directors decided that the $50 jackpot semi-final should be played first (without a clock), while the other three available doubles players sat around trying to determine which body orafice enables ones finger to most effectively pass the time. Alas, the all important $50 jackpot semi was completed and the doubles semi could commence. It was close to 3 AM by now and the clock was configured and ready to go. The clock was most unnecessary. Rod and I at least had the courtesy to have allowed Falafel/Bob to develop a nice advantage in several games before staging some very unlikely comebacks. Ray/Petko must have decided that due to the late hour, such pleasantries were just a waste of time. We lost 7-0. I think the only equity advantage we ever had in any of those games was if we won the opening roll. It was that efficient. We were done playing around 3:30 AM. Needless to say, my last train left hours ago and I was stranded once again.
I think it could be inferred that this was a very painful tournament experience. The wad of cash I received for reaching the semis in two events helped dull the pain somewhat, and it didn't hurt that I was paired with Falafel in the Calcutta since he won the Consolation. There is a very good chance that I will never enter a doubles tournament again. I purchased a clock from Carol and I plan to bring it to future tournaments. I plan to ask all opponents if they are willing to play with the clock. I had a good conversation with Howard and made sure that he knew my opinion on the importance of actively getting clocks introduced into the game. In my opinion, every doubles match should be clocked. It is an optional event, responsible for huge delays and nobody is forced to play. If clocks scare players away from doubles, I don't think it would be a disaster to see that event wither away and die. But it may have the reverse effect. I hope that the tide is turning. If this event did not serve to highlight the need for clocks, I don't know what will.
Rich
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