US Backgammon Open
The US Backgammon Open took place on May 13th-16th in San Francisco. The tournament is the 2nd of its kind.
The Championship level of this tournament starts with a round of 64 players and then is progressively cut in half until only one player remains in the tournament. The field of players included 5 different players who were not from the United States.
One exciting aspect for those players who were not from the United States is that three different players managed to make it to the round of 16. These players were Robert Caradien, Michael Schweitzer and Sasan Taherzadeh. Of these three players one of them, Michael Schweitzer, managed to make it to the 3rd round before being eliminated by Mary Hickey.
With the elimination of Michael Schweitzer, that left only Americans to play each other for the championship in the Semifinal round. The four remaining players were Al Hodis, Mary Hickey, Dorn Bishop and Ken Blame.
In the semifinal matchup against Al Hodis, Mary Hickey managed to take home the victory, securing her spot as a finalist for the tournament. Dorn Bishop was likewise able to overcome Ken Bame in the seminfinal round in order to advance to the final round. Unfortunately only one player could remain between Mary Hickey and Dorn Bishop. Both had well played tournaments, but in the end it was Mary Hickey that took home the victory in the final round. This made Mary Hickey the champion of the 2nd US Open of Backgammon in San Francisco, California.
