We are delighted to announce the schedule and lineup of commentators for Day 2 of the forthcoming UK v Germany online match on Sunday 12th May 2024: 4th round, 17:00 UK time: Individual 11 point matches Featured match: Andrew Fotiadis (UK) v Bernhard Kaiser (Germany) Commentary: Kent Goulding and Dan Rovira (also for 5th round) Kent Goulding is the current St Louis Gateway Open Champion. His citation when inducted into the USBGF Hall of Fame reads “esteemed as a backgammon player, publisher, director/organizer, witty auctioneer, and raconteur extraordinaire. He introduced the first U.S. backg ..read more

We are delighted to announce the schedule and lineup of commentators for Day 1 of the forthcoming UK v Germany online match on Saturday 11th May 2024: 1st round, 15:00 UK time: Consultation Doubles Featured match: Tim Cross and Chris Bray (UK) v Rainer Birkle and Marcus Reinhard (Germany) Commentary: Simon Barget and John Georgiou Following a suggestion from Art Williams, a well known player from the North West, a stalwart of Chester club and the host of the Facebook Backgammon News Group (not to be confused with “Backgammon News” which is associated with Galaxy), we are experimenting by havi ..read more

The 2024 Scottish Backgammon Open is just a couple of weeks away and there are still a few places left. We now have our trophy. Who will be the first to be crowned Scottish champion in more than 12 years? The trophy is too heavy to travel, however Nessie and the winning slate coaster will go home with the champion along with the winner’s £1000 prize money. To register and for further details about the tournament, please go to the tournament website at: http://Scottishbackgammonopen.uk Accommodation is very reasonable at the local Premier Inn Westhill at £45 per night. We are also very lucky ..read more

Tournaments abroad can sometimes be a bit of an adventure – just getting to and from the venue. In mid-April, in search of some warmer climes, Rowena and I decided to attend the 2nd Loutraki Grand Prix International Backgammon Championships in Greece. A delayed flight meant sharing one hire car with CJ and Rachel Rhodes fell by the wayside.  Fortunately, we then bumped into Chris Rogers and Julian Minwalla and we were able to jump into their car instead.  Our travel travails hadn’t quite finished – once at Loutraki we were faced with an hour-long detour, on foot, fully laden with ba ..read more

The UK Women’s Team in Gothenburg (days before Covid forced us online…) Join us for the first UKBGF Women’s Championship on Backgammon Hub! Registration is open until the end of the Bank Holiday weekend. After a lengthy discussion at last year’s AGM went through how women are under-represented at all levels of the game, Merrin Rose, Jay Hayter and I have started looking at ways in which we can encourage more to play; more to join up with their local clubs and play regularly; more to progress up to Masters level and beyond, and simply to normalise our presence as equals in the backgammon world ..read more

During the depressingly long days of Covid lockdown we all faced a choice. Accept what fate presented us which included denial of live play, or try some new initiatives to use the time at home purposefully. This included arranging some online international friendly matches. As I see it, they convey several advantages: The maximum number of players in the squad for the WBGF World Team Championship is only eight (increasing to ten for the 2024 event), of whom only four or five can play in any one match. Online internationals that are not bound by WBGF restrictions can have as many players as t ..read more

One of the newest clubs in the UK is going from strength to strength. Plymouth Backgammon was started by seasoned tournament players Gerald and Rosemary Whitehouse.  Since its first meeting, around 30 players – both veterans and new – have taken part in club meetings. The club meets at 7pm every Monday at Raffles, 5 Ermington Terrace, Mutley, Plymouth PL4 6QG Gerald said: “Plymouth is a major city of 250,000 people, a city steeped in history and adventure and backgammon needs to be represented, so Rosemary and I started the club. On the first night we were joined by Plamen Sivrev along w ..read more

Another superb festival of our beloved sport went down in Clayton, directed with insouciant charm by Steve Lee and a well-oiled machine of assistants.  Interactions at the desk were rarely required, with the draws so well published on our phones and the big screen, with the added flourish of each match being presented with their ticket during play which they then just have to place in the box. Not a common concept, but very clever.  Most players get at least 10 matches in the event which really is a lot, and some a whole lot more – 13 for one I heard. The Super Jackpot final – Olive ..read more

At The Clissold Arms, home of the legendary Kinks, appropriately a Bass by name would capture the sought after seat at The Tour Winners Invitational 2025. Over the Easter weekend, 62 intermediate players took part in London Backgammon’s annual one-day event. The Main was a 7-point knock out and by the end of the day we were left with semi-finals between Ben Owen v Chris Filby and Wayne Joseph v John Bass. Chris and John prevailed and after a hard-fought final, John (pictured right) emerged triumphant and the only undefeated player of the weekend. To the victor the spoils, to the runner-up an ..read more

Back before COVID was a thing – from the UK Open 2019. 2023 was a very busy year for the backgammon world, and I’m sure you all have particular personal highlights. Somewhat belatedly, we’d like you to look back on the the 2023 season and all the great achievements both over the board and in running the community, and tell us who in the backgammon world has made a real difference to the game. The British Backgammon Awards 2023 cover the calendar year 2023 plus the Tour Winners’ Invitational held in 2024 which brought the tournament year to a close. We’ve refined the categories for this year. W ..read more