Backgammon in Greece - Tournament #5

Greek BG Federation's Monthly

Hits New Attendance Record
by Director Manos Mastorakis - 28 March 2008

ARIS HADJIASLANIS-SARACAKIS

The Greek Backgammon Federation’s fifth monthly tournament was a huge success with a record number of 36 players attending, 10 of them first-time participants, two of which came all the way from Romania.

Held March 9th at Cafe Aias in Athens, the competition was won by Antonis Vamvakaris who disputed the final against Theodoros Dimakis, one of the 10 newcomers.

Congratulations to Vamvakaris, it was his third participation in our monthly events – his victory moves him up to 10th place on the Greek Backgammon Federation’s national ranking list. Although he lost, Dimakis said he was happy and excited about reaching the final. We wish you better luck next time Theo!

Congratulations also to Stefanos Bonanos for his second consecutive victory in the Consolation, which moves him up from 23rd to 11th in the national rankings.

To Neculai Draganuta and Gabriel Brescan of Romania, thank you both for joining us! It was a pleasure to have your company and we hope that you both enjoyed our event. Please come back to Athens to play in some of our future tournaments and bring along some friends!

Nikos Psaroudakis, alias "Psaros", also participated in March’s tournament after a long absence. Nikos is one of the most astute backgammon players around as well as a theorist who is well known for his dictums and sense of humour.

Two other newcomers, Vasilis Mitkidis and Stavros Petmezas, came from Volos, a major city in central Greece some 326 kilometres north of Athens. Vasilis and Stavros said they intend to start a backgammon club in Volos which will likely affiliate itself with the Greek Backgammon Federation.

The new attendance record is very encouraging because it shows that our player pool is growing constantly. Seventy-one different players have joined our group in just the first five months alone, and at this rate of growth, we can foresee some big tournaments happening in Greece in the not too distant future.

As always, a big thank you to GammonLife Editor Michael Strato for his work in getting us started and for helping to make backgammon rise again in Greece.

On a sad note, we received a bit of bad news this month. One of Greece’s finest players, Mr. Aris Hadjiaslanis-Saracakis passed away recently due to long term health problems. Aris was one of our members and has played at the Championship level on the international circuit for many years. In 2006, he won the Doubles Consultation event of the 2006 Paris Masters & Open with Nadya Marinova of Bulgaria.

Aris Hadjiaslanis-Saracakis in Athens last October.

To honour and remember our friend, we have named our April tournament The Saracakis Cup. It will be held at Cafe Aias in Athens on Saturday, April 5, 2008. For details how to participate and get to the venue, contact me, Manos Mastorakis, by email at manostop@hotmail.com

Here the results of the March 2008 tournament:

Main Winner: Antonis Vamvakaris
Main Finalist: Theodoros Dimakis
Main Semi-Finalists: Triantafillidis and Charis Christidis
Consolation Winner: Stephanos Bonanos
Consolation Finalist: Costas Christou

The new updated ranking list after five events:

HELLENIC NATIONAL RANKING LIST

Rank	Player	Points	%	Wins	Matches

1	Klitsas Giorgos	107	73.91	17	23
2	Christidis Charis	93	77.78	14	18
3	Groutsos Christos	88	61.90	13	21
4	Karantzali Filomila	76	64.71	11	17
5	Sakalis Takis	74	62.50	10	16
6	Kostopoulos Costas	74	57.89	11	19
7	Manolios Michalis	69	47.37	9	19
8	Chiotinis Costas	68	44.44	8	18
9	Theologitis Giannis	64	37.50	6	16
10	Vamvakaris Antonis	62	69.23	9	13
11	Bonanos Stephanos	61	73.33	11	15
12	Katogiannakis Stephanos	59	46.67	7	15
13	Mitrelis Costas	56	61.54	8	13
14	Mastorakis Manos	54	28.57	4	14
15	Ladis Charis	53	53.85	7	13
16	Makris Thanasis	52	42.86	6	14
17	Mastroperros Nikos	48	54.55	6	11
18	Thanopoulos Pavlos	47	27.27	3	11
19	Pasialis Giannis	46	50.00	6	12
20	Sapountzakis Nikos	41	75.00	9	12
21	Sotiriadis Giorgos	40	66.67	6	9
22	Kafetzopoulos George	40	60.00	6	10
23	Kolonias Alexandros	39	33.33	3	9
24	Chatzelis Takis	38	40.00	4	10
25	Kousis Stelios	37	33.33	3	9
26	Panagakis Nikonas	35	33.33	3	9
27	Argitakos A.	34	25.00	2	8
28	Sarakakis Aris	34	25.00	2	8
29	Christou Costas	33	55.56	5	9
30	Efthimiadis Costas	32	57.14	4	7
31	Tsiris Giorgos	30	25.00	2	8
32	Avanidis Philippos	29	50.00	3	6
33	Vallianos Giannis	29	14.29	1	7
34	Stephanopoulos Giorgos	26	85.71	6	7
35	Dimakis Theodoros	26	80.00	4	5
36	Doukakis Giannis	26	80.00	4	5
37	Aggelopoulos Petros	26	66.67	4	6
38	Zisis Vassilis	24	33.33	2	6
39	Politis Alexandros	22	66.67	4	6
40	Aggelopoulos Takis	22	33.33	2	6
41	Triantafillidis	21	75.00	3	4
42	Meimaris Thodoros	21	60.00	3	5
43	Kasidopoulos	21	20.00	1	5
44	Kourouklis Andreas	21	20.00	1	5
45	Draganuta	19	60.00	3	5
46	Selelis Petros	19	20.00	1	5
47	Akrivos Simos	16	50.00	2	4
48	Alexandrakis Vagelis	16	50.00	2	4
49	Deliakis Alekos	16	50.00	2	4
50	Michael Strato	16	50.00	2	4
51	Psaroudakis Nikos	16	50.00	2	4
52	Giannakopoulos Constantinos	14	50.00	2	4
53	Antourakis	13	33.33	1	3
54	Dikaros Nikos	13	33.33	1	3
55	Sarris Constantinos	13	33.33	1	3
56	Brescan	11	33.33	1	3
57	Kouroublis	11	33.33	1	3
58	Kraniotis Giorgos	11	33.33	1	3
59	Matsoukakos Giannis	11	33.33	1	3
60	Petmezas	11	33.33	1	3
61	Petropoulos Costas	11	33.33	1	3
62	Pournaras Andreas	11	33.33	1	3
63	Straggas Panagiotis	11	33.33	1	3
64	Christofidis Michalis	9	33.33	1	3
65	Chatzigeorgiou	8	0.00	0	2
66	Dimitropoulos Christos	8	0.00	0	2
67	Iakovidis Iakovos	8	0.00	0	2
68	Mitkidis	8	0.00	0	2
69	Tarapatsopoulos Nikos	8	0.00	0	2
70	Vadiakas Giorgos	8	0.00	0	2
71	Vionis Sotiris	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 articles on the Greek Backgammon Federation’s monthly events at these links: