The tournament, held from October 5 to 7, 2007 in Seefeld, Austria was also the scene of the WBF's 4th European Doubles Consulting Championship.

In final of the main event, Hildsberg faced fellow German Jerzy Behnke beating him 17-9 in the match to 17 points for the Masters title. Hildsberg has won at least two other major tournaments this year.

Meanwhile, all was not lost for Behnke, who with partner Ronald Reinhardt made it to the final of the 4th European Doubles Consulting event triumphing 11 to 8 over the Italian team of Francesco Grimaldi and Giuseppe Rigon.

WBF Tournament Director Marco Fornasir told GammonLife, “It was a good tournament, with 108 participants. We had five more players than last year and paid out a total of €34,950, about 10% more than in 2006 when we paid €31.800.”

The Seefeld tournament ends the 2007 WBF Golden Circuit 2007. The WBF's annual Caribbean Open tournament, usually held in the first week of November on the island of St. Martin, is cancelled this year but will hopefully take place again in 2008 at a new venue.

In 2007, WBF events saw a total of 404 registrations, with an average of 101 players per tournament.

Many photos from this event can be seen on the website of the WBF-Turkey website at this link.

Here are the full results of the various competitions in Seefeld:

10th Austrian Backgammon Open &
4th European Double Consulting Championship
October 5 - 7, 2007
Hotel Veronika - Seefeld, Austria.

Total money distribution €34.950

Marco Fornasir, General Secretary of the Worldwide Backgammon Federation, has the pleasure to announce the results of the tournament:

Masters - 35 players

Main winner: Götz Hildsberg - Germany
Main finalist: Jerzy Behnke - Germany
Main semi-finalist: Volker Sonnabend - Germany
Main semi-finalist: Michele Muratori - Italy

Consolation winner: Manfred Hollederer - Germany
Consolation finalist: Werner Hertel - Germany
Consolation semi-finalist: Harald Johanni - Germany
Consolation semi-finalist: Rainer Witt - Germany

Last chance winner: Andreas Nussbächer - Germany
Last chance finalist: Stefan Parlow - Austria

Ladies Prize: Andrea Riebler - Austria

Main winner received €5.600

Champion flight - 46 players

Main winner: Roland Sauter - Germany
Main finalist: Christian Setzpfandt - Germany
Main semi-finalist: Michael Roth - Germany
Main semi-finalist: Helmut Gerdenits - Austria

Consolation winner: Damian Plesec - Slovenia
Consolation finalist: Markus Kuntaritsch – Austria
Consolation semi-finalist: Thomas Leitner - Austria
Consolation semi-finalist: Ingrid Sonnabend - Germany

Last chance winner: Horst Ernst - Germany
Last chance finalist: Ferruccio Zucchi - Italy

Ladies Prize Giovanna La Falce - Italy

Intermediate flight - 22 players

Main winner: Sciadi Azizian - Iran/Italy
Main finalist: Alberto da Pra - Italy
Main semi-finalist: Alessandro Stradiotti - Italy
Main semi-finalist: Denise Kaiser - Germany/Switzerland

Consolation winner: Andrea Chen -China/Italy
Consolation finalist: Alfredo Sperti - Italy
Consolation semi-finalist: Christian Derichs - Germany
Consolation semi-finalist: Susanne Lederer - Austria

Last chance winner: Philip Hollederer - Germany
Last chance finalist: Christian Derichs - Germany

Ladies Prize: Denise Kaiser - Germany/Switzerland

Ladies Tournament - 13 players

Winner: Ingrid Sonnabend - Germany
Finalist: Meltem Güçer - Turkey
Semi-Finalist: Petra Jobst - Germany
Semi-Finalist: Laura Monaco - Italy

Warm-Up - 52 players

Winner: Neculai Draganuta - Romania
Finalist: Daniel Scheidiger - Switzerland

Sperti Trophy - 35 players

Winner: Damian Plesec - Slovenia

Finalist: Michele Muratori - Italy

1st One Point Match - 64 players

Winner: Rudolf Prohaska - Austria

2nd One Point Match - 64 players

Winner: Arda Findikoglu - Turkey

Number of players:

Masters: 35 players
Champion: 46 players
Intermediate: 22 players
Ladies: 1 players not participating in the main flights
Doubles: 4 players not participating in the main flights

Total: 108 players

Players came from 17 countries: Austria, Canada, China, Georgia, Germany, Iran, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the UK, and The Ukraine.

Director: Marco Fornasir - Italy
Tournament Committee: Alberto da Pra (WBF President); Arda Findikoglu - Turkey; Harald Johanni - Germany; Fabrizio Lo Surdo - Italy; Peter Winkler - Austria

Worldwide Backgammon Federation (WBF)
4th European Double Consulting Championship

European Champion Double Consulting F. 1 Master
Jerzy Behnke - Germany / Ronald Reinhardt - Germany

European Finalist Double Consulting F. 1 Master

 - 20 Teams x 500 euro =  €10.000

 - Winners 7.500

 - Finalists 2.500