Backgammon: News, Thoughts, Ideas

CasinoRip Backgammon Champion

Lawrence Powell has been crowned champion of the 2009 CasinoRip Bristol Open backgammon tournament. He beat runner-up Martin Barkwill in a tense final on the evening of Sunday, August 30.

Attendees at this year’s successful event included Japanese World Champion Masayuki ‘Mochy’ Mochizuki, who also gave a seminar on backgammon strategy, and other giants of the game Katja Spillum Svendsen (2002 European Champion), Philip Vischjager (2006 World Champion), and former Danish number one Mikael Jensen. The consolation competition was won by Denmark’s Michael Sorensen, while Pia Jeppesen, also of Denmark, won the ‘last chance’ event. A total of 100 players competed in the three separate competitive flights, including 39 players from overseas.

“It was a fantastic event, one of the most successful Bristol Opens we have hosted,” commented Tournament Director Ian Tarr. “With six Brits in the final eight it was good to see the home contingent do well, and many congratulations to Lawrence and Martin, who have both been here several times before and were justly rewarded for their persistence!”

New Backgammon World Champion

Backgammon got its latest World Champion after a tough competition in Monte Carlo sponsored by online gambling site CasinoRip.com.

Japan’s Masayuki ‘Mochy’ Mochizuki defeated reigning champ Lars Trabolt of Denmark in the final over the weekend to become the first Japanese backgammon champion.

The week-long 34th Annual Monte Carlo World Championship was held at the five-star Fairmont Hotel and featured 173 of the world’s finest backgammon players competing for a share of a Euro 200,000 prize pool.

The thirty-year-old Japanese master beat Trabolt 25 to 20 in Sunday’s final to collect the winner’s cheque for Euro 62,280.

Backgammon Tournament In Riga

An exciting long and short backgammon tournament was held for the first time in Riga, organized by the Association for Development of Sports in Latvia. Around 40 people participated in an incredibly exciting competition, which lasted until midnight.

According to a designer Theodora Dauber, in all major capitals of the world there are backgammon devotees clubs.

“I play backgammon since 10 years,- Theodora said, showing how to properly play and throw the dice. Henceforth, such fights will be held regularly, so that in the long run to reach the international level. It’s very important to distract children from the computers in which they practically “live”. When I was growing up, we played Cossacks-robbers, a lot of talking. And now all sit home and stew in their own juice,” Theodora Dauber said.

“I was told that there is evidence, that people have been playing backgammon for several thousand years. Thus, the most ancient of the boards has been found in Asia Minor and dates to the time of around 3000 BC.E. An analog to the game has been found in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (XV BC. E.), “Theodora Dauber said, as d-pils.lv reports.

31-year-old accountant Darya Safonova noted that she was taught to play by granny and daddy. “My whole family – mother and sister are used to play backgammon. We organize exciting meetings. I love this game since you still need to shoot the dice, and thus not only the skill but also the luck is of great importance,” Darya Safonova said.

As it turned out, backgammon is extremely popular among the Baltic Armenians. Agrafera Kosyan, the champion of Latvia and Jurmala’s “Noah’s Ark” restaurant hostess, attended the tournament.

“We have many times met with our Diaspora representatives”, Agrafena told. “We invite our friends from other cities to come. Estonian Armenians visited us. Among players I was the only woman from Latvia. I have won the first place thrice. I have also received an Audience Award. In Armenia, many people play backgammon. In the evenings when you go out you see how all guys sit at boards,“ she said.

Now the first place was won by the entrepreneur Ashot Grigoryan in short backgammon and the businessman Armen Patochyan – in long one.

US Open Backgammon Winner

Carol Joy Cole became the 13th individual to win the US Backgammon Open. Directed by World Backgammon Association president Chiva Tafazzoli and American Backgammon Tour founder Bill Davis, the event drew field of 54 players to the Doubletree Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.

Carol Joy is well known to the backgammon world. She has directed the Flint Area Backgammon Club (Michigan) and edited the international newsletter for over 30 years. Additionally, she annually directs the Michigan Summer Championships over the 4th of July weekend. She was the only female in the 25 player Championship field, but that didnt intimidate her. She drew a bye, then proceeded to defeat (in order) 2009 Chicago Open champ Larry Taylor (Georgia), 2009 Pittsburgh champ Bob Glass (California), and 2009 European Backgammon Super Jackpot winner Werner Schmucki (Austria) en route to the 17 point finals with 1989 World champion and 1995 ABT champion Joe Russell (California).

New Bwin Backgammon Platform

Bwin launched a new online backgammon platform. The new backgammon platform uses Flash technology and offers players competitive and entertaining features.

Bwin Press Officer Kevin O’Nealaid: “For Bwin, extending the games portfolio with backgammon is a key aspect in the SkillGames sector and a further step in shoring up its position as a House of Games.”

The new game is available at Bwin’s Games section.

CasinoRip Backgammon Tournament

CasinoRip backgammon tournament ran from May 30 to May 31 at Doggett’s Coat and Badge at Blackfriars Bridge in Southwark. Some 100 players battled for the title of London Open Champion for 2009.

German talent Uli Koch captured the title as he recorded yet another stunning victory to add to his ever-growing list of wins. Koch outplayed Julian Fetterlein in a very tense final game.

Tournament saw players from Asia to Eastern Europe and the United States.

Casinorip World Backgammon Championships

CasinoRip gives you a chance to qualify for World Backgammon Championships that will take place in Monte Carlo, Monaco in July. For buy-in of just £1, CasinoRip guarantees a package worth up to £3,500.

CasinoRip offers two ways to qualify for the 8 seat final on June 29th. First is through £1 buy-in qualification on Mondays nights. Second is through beating bots in the ProBot Series.

Take advantage of this opportunity to qualify for World Backgammon Championships through CasinoRip.

Jamaican Backgammon Players Improve Their Game

Head of Internation Backgammon Chiva Tafazzoli had to admit that Jamaican backgammon players picked up their game.

Tafazzoli recently visited the island for the 4th High Stakes Backgammon Championship at Strawberry Hills where he was looking to retain his title as tournament champion. However, he finish outside of the top places at that event.

“This year’s competition was definitely harder than last year… because I did not roll as well as I did last year and the others have been having a better time with the dice. Also the level of gaming has improved in Jamaica; the guys have been playing a lot over the past year so that has contributed and they are doing better,” Tafazzoli said.

Tafazzoli also emphasized that backgammon is the oldest game with over 800 million players around the world.

Play65 Backgammon Room to Battle Cheaters

The biggest online backgammon operator Play65 declared war against cheaters. Play65 backgammon room has formed independent Board of Trustees to fight cheaters who use backgammon bots.

Board of Trustees, composed of backgammon professionals, will check every suspicious activity or complaint regarding a suspected abuse of bots. If the suspicion is approved by three backgammon referee, then suspected user will be blocked from playing on the site.

Computer programs such as Snowie, GNU and Jellyfish, are among most popular ones used to cheat in online skill games such as chess and backgammon.

Sportingbet Backgammon Stays With GameAccount

Sportingbet renewed its agreement with GameAccount Global Ltd., its backgammon provider. Sportingbet backgammon migrated to GameAccount network in 2007.

Sportingbet group finance director Jim Wilkinson said: “This deal ensures our players enjoy ongoing access to one of the largest communities of skill games players in Europe.”