Backgammon in Greece - Tournament #8

Mastorakis Wins His Second GBgF Athens Monthly Tournament
by Michael Strato - 30 June 2008

MANOS MASTORAKIS

Manos Mastorakis won his second Greek Backgammon Federation (GBgF) monthly event on Saturday, June 7 at Cafe Aias in the district of Anthousa, Athens. Twenty-one players competed in this 8th monthly tournament of this new national backgammon federation in Greece.

Mastorakis bested his good friend, Dr. Christos Groutsos, in the final to take the June title. Both these players will be attending the PartoucheGammon Tour (PGT) Riviera Backgammon Festival to play in the Main Championship event, where a Greek team will also be formed to compete in the Nations Cup international team event.

After his victory, Mastorakis said, “I guess that experience playing against top players in Paris in May, helped me, and I won the main of this Athens tournament here in June. In fact, three out of our final four players in Athens this month, played at the PartoucheGammon Paris Master and Open 9. Furthermore, the fourth played in 3rd Portuguese Open last month in Estoril, Portugal. I think that playing abroad against strong players helps a lot.”

The current #1 Greek player, George Klitsas, who has dominated the top spot since the second monthly Athens tournament, will be also be in Cannes and will definitely play in the Nations Cup. Some of you may remember Klitsas as was one of the panel of experts on Kit Woolsey’s former monthly quizzes on the GammOnLine backgammon magazine.

Dr. Groutsos is currently the #2 player in Greece and will compete in the Nations Cup as well. Charis Christidis (#3) and Costas Costopoulos (#4) cannot make it to Cannes. Mastorakis is #5 and will likely get to Cannes only in time to play in the Championship, and therefore, Alexandros Kolonias, who was a Semi-Finalist at this year’s 20th Partouchegammon Nordic Open Backgammon Championship, will likely be the third member of the team representing Greece in the Nations Cup.

There will now be a two-month break for summer and the next tournament of the Greek Backgammon Federation will be held in Thessaloniki around mid-September.

In October, regular monthly events in Athens will resume until December when there will be a special €150-entry tournament to decide the final rankings for this first year of the GBgF.

Here are the full results of the June tournament:

Main Winner: Manos Mastorakis
Main Finalist: Chris Groutsos
Main Semi-Finalists: Takis Chatzelis and Costas Christou
Consolation Winner: Costas Chiotinis
Consolation Finalist: Charis Ladis

One of the matches from Round 2 of this event, played between Charis Ladis and Michael Manolios, was recorded and has been analyzed by Snowie - it can be viewed at this link.

Here is a photo of Manos Mastorakis and Michael Manolios who are two of the three directors that run the Athens events (the third is Costas Chiotinis):

Michael Manolios and Manos Mastorakis.

The Greek Backgammon Federation is sponsored by PartoucheGammon.

For more information on how to participate in GBgF monthly tournaments, please contact Director Manos Mastorakis by phone at 6973990985 or by email at manostop@hotmail.com.

Here is the updated ranking list after eight monthly events:

HELLENIC NATIONAL RANKING LIST

Rank	Player	Points	%	Wins	Matches

1	Giorgos Klitsas	158	64.86	24	37
2	Christos Groutsos	144	60.00	21	35
3	Charis Christidis	139	64.52	20	31
4	Costas Costopoulos	136	68.75	22	32
5	Manos Mastorakis	134	60.00	18	30
6	Filomila Karantzali	131	62.07	18	29
7	Costas Chiotinis	126	52.94	18	34
8	Yiannis Theologitis	109	40.74	11	27
9	Stephanos Bonanos	104	59.26	16	27
10	Michalis Manolios	103	39.29	11	28
11	Charis Ladis	93	59.09	13	22
12	Yiannis Pasialis	92	43.48	10	23
13	Yiannis Valianos	91	47.83	11	23
14	Thanassis Makris	84	45.45	10	22
15	Takis Chatzelis	80	40.00	8	20
16	Andreas Kourouklis	78	52.94	9	17
17	Costas Mitrelis	77	64.71	11	17
18	Takis Sakalis	74	62.50	10	16
19	Stephanos Katogiannakis	72	44.44	8	18
20	Antonis Vamvakaris	70	60.00	9	15
21	Costas Christou	70	58.82	10	17
22	Theodoros Triantafyllidis	68	62.50	10	16
23	Pavlos Thanopoulos	67	41.18	7	17
24	Nikos Sapountzakis	65	61.11	11	18
25	Alexandros Kolonias	63	31.25	5	16
26	Giorgos Tsiris	62	23.53	4	17
27	Stelios Kousis	61	31.25	5	16
28	Nikos Mastroperros	59	50.00	7	14
29	Takis Kassidopoulos	53	38.46	5	13
30	Giorgos Sotiriadis	51	58.33	7	12
31	Giorgos Vadiakas	42	44.44	4	9
32	Costas Efthimiadis	42	40.00	4	10
33	Giorgos Kafetzopoulos	40	60.00	6	10
34	Nikonas Panagakis	35	33.33	3	9
35	Nikos Psaroudakis	34	50.00	4	8
36	Argiris Argitakos	34	25.00	2	8
37	Aris Sarakakis	34	25.00	2	8
38	Vagelis Alexandrakis	30	50.00	4	8
39	Philippos Avanidis	29	50.00	3	6
40	Herbert Bornand	29	50.00	3	6
41	Fanis Matsoukas	27	37.50	3	8
42	Giorgos Stephanopoulos	26	85.71	6	7
43	Theodoros Dimakis	26	80.00	4	5
44	Yiannis Doukakis	26	80.00	4	5
45	Petros Aggelopoulos	26	66.67	4	6
46	Vasilis Zisis	24	33.33	2	6
47	Alexandros Politis	22	66.67	4	6
48	Andreas Pournaras	22	40.00	2	5
49	Takis Aggelopoulos	22	33.33	2	6
50	Theodoros Meimaris	21	60.00	3	5
51	Neculai Draganuta	19	60.00	3	5
52	Petros Selelis	19	20.00	1	5
53	Stavros Petmezas	19	20.00	1	5
54	Vasilis Mitkidis	19	20.00	1	5
55	Simos Akrivos	16	50.00	2	4
56	Alekos Deliakis	16	50.00	2	4
57	Michael Strato	16	50.00	2	4
58	Proukakis	15	25.00	1	4
59	Constantinos Giannakopoulos	14	50.00	2	4
60	Kostov	14	50.00	2	4
61	Yiannis Antourakis	13	33.33	1	3
62	Nikos Dikaros	13	33.33	1	3
63	Constantinos Sarris	13	33.33	1	3
64	Maria Panou	13	33.33	1	3
65	Kridas	13	25.00	1	4
66	Gabriel Brescan	11	33.33	1	3
67	Nikos Kouroublis	11	33.33	1	3
68	Giorgos Kraniotis	11	33.33	1	3
69	Giannis Matsoukakos	11	33.33	1	3
70	Costas Petropoulos	11	33.33	1	3
71	Panagiotis Strangas	11	33.33	1	3
72	Michalis Christoforidis	9	33.33	1	3
73	Stamatis Chatzigeorgiou	8	0.00	0	2
74	Christos Dimitropoulos	8	0.00	0	2
75	Iakovos Iakovidis	8	0.00	0	2
76	Nikos Tarapatsopoulos	8	0.00	0	2
77	Sotiris Vionis	8	0.00	0	2
78	Manolis Kanakaris	8	0.00	0	2
79	Hologounis	8	0.00	0	2


Tournament Point System
Sign up for the tournament	3
Main match participation	3
Main match win	2
Consolation match participation	2
Consolation match win	1

See previous GammonLife reports on the Greek Backgammon Federation’s monthly events at these links: