Jay's View
REPORT ON PLAY FROM WEDNESDAY, November 19, 2025
As you saw in an email sent earlier this week, our club is— for a first time ever— NOT playing next week, the night before Thanksgiving Day. From the earliest day I can remember, the club’s founder, Trudie Chibnik, would send an email to our members urging them to not "stay home to baste their turkey" or set their Thanksgiving table the night before the holiday and just come to play backgammon at the club. Thanksgiving, like so many other holidays, is about tradition and this year we are breaking Trudie’s tradition by giving everyone a respite from play so you can all tend to your holiday prep and travel. Whether you’re traveling over the river and through the woods to Aunt Tilly’s in Cleveland, making your yams supreme that everyone pretends to enjoy, or even trying to find tofurkey for the table so your son’s newest girlfriend Moonbeam will have something vegan to eat, take care of your holiday chores and take a break from the game we all love. Perhaps we will return to Trudie’s tradition next year.
Now, about last night. We had another great turnout that included new player, Ariel Weissberg. Ariel seemed to feel comfortable with our format and enjoy the camaraderie and competitive play so we hope to see him again when we return to play on December 3rd and beyond. One of the players that Ariel faced in the Consolation bracket, Michael Stellman made it to the final match of that bracket but was bested by Paul McDonough. With the master points they earned, Paul moved up one slot in the standings from 16th to 15th place and Michael jumped two slots from 22nd to 20th place. Over in the Main bracket, an agreement to split because of time constraints left David Hanold with a split of first place with Amy Trudeau. The master points earned allowed Amy to move up from 9th to 7th place and kept David in 4th place but a bit closer to Albert Simonovich in 3rd place.
It’s getting down to the wire for 2025 as layers jockey for a position on the club’s Illinois Challenge Cup team so stay tuned. We once again have a very talented and competitive group aiming for a spot on the team so it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch once we return to play on Wednesday, December 3rd. Until then, have a great weekend and best wishes for a joyous and meaningful Thanksgiving holiday, everyone!
Jay