There is a great atmosphere with lots of action while camera people and interviewers are walking around looking for good stories.

Gus Hansen the Poet

 At 7 p.m. Gus Hansen did a fabulous welcome speech, where he, only by memory, recited some lines from a very famous Danish poet, Dan Turéll. The meaning of the words was “everybody should feel welcome”. Gus Hansen spoke very fast and received a big round of applause afterwards.

Public draw in Championship, 154 participants 78 participants in each of the Advanced and Intermediate.

Backgammon President of Japan

Before the tournament I spoke with Kenji Shimodaira, President of the Japanese Backgammon League. He is a very jolly person and laughs all the time, even while he answered the questions.

Playing in his sixth Nordic Open, Kenji says the competition is hard, “There are many very strong players, so it will be a very tough tournament to win, but of course I sure hope to do so, Kenji remarked.

Kenji likes the new boards. Or does he?

“I like the colour of the points which are black and white, but don´t like the red and orange colours of the checkers,” he smiles.

Unfortunately, Kenji lost in the first round to Achim Müller of Germany.

"I can beat everybody."

I also met Tage Mellgren, a Swedish fellow who has lived in Denmark since 1980. What are your expectations?

“Well, I can’t compete with the skills of the best players, but I have a good table feeling, and on a good day, I can win beat everybody. I like the rooms we are playing in and the new boards, because they don´t make any noise, and all in all I am looking forward to a great tournament” Mellgren said.

Unfortunately, Mellgren also lost in Round 1, to Martin Howe of Sweden.

Exhibition match

There were also played an exhibition match played between the defending Danish champion, Andreas Christian Olsen, and Kenji Shimodaira. Both played a good match, and the Dane won.