OBSS Team Competes at A Big Backgammon Tournament

With a team of seven, OBSS competed at a big backgammon tournament, 16th İSTAVDER Istanbul Open which is one of the stops of WBA ‘s European Backgammon Tour (EBGT). The backgammon tournament involved doubling cube, chess clocks and some small changes to our traditional tavla. There were team activities like Doubles Consultation where two-person teams compete against each other in single elimination format. Doubles Consultation started on Friday afternoon with 35 teams where our team of Oğuz Keskin and Sabri Büyüksoy participated in a close match. Masters event started on Friday night with 66 players in triple elimination format augmented with fighter’s bracket and a strong final four playoff tournament. Sabri Büyüksoy represented OBSS with four wins but couldn’t get to a prize level. On Saturday noon, Advanced event in double elimination format started with 48 players but soon went up to 64 level with rebuys. Our team of five players, Onur Gürkan Gültekin, Semanur Könezoğlu, Mustafa Taşdemir, Murat Öz and Ersen Başaran Şen who were fully supported by OBSS after competing in a satellite tournament last week, did challenging and exciting matches. Ersen Başaran Şen won three consecutive matches to reach the quarter final. Detailed results can be obtained by clicking http://www.istavder.com/2012/09/16-istanbul-acik-tavla-turnuvasi/.

As OBSS team, we had a good experience of a big-size tournament. Illuminating games played between matches and warm social interactions reinforced the mental flow experience of backgammon. As in the entrepreneurship example of İSTAVDER, we realized that, tavla can break its traditional barriers to become a more challenging game with a sport and competition flavor. We have already started sharpening our skills for December, January and February tournaments 🙂