The UK Backgammon Federation
Dear UKBGF Membership,
I would just like to provide a brief update on the UK’s progress in the recent 2023 WBIF World Team Online Championships. This event has just concluded with us finishing in joint fourth place out of nations (tied with Germany and Poland). Italy won the event, with Austria second and Iran third. You can see the full results at the WBIF website.
Despite Storm Isha’s best efforts, last weekend saw the 4th UKBGF Tour Winners Invitational take place in the snow-covered environs of Shrigley Hall Hotel. A fitting place for the Top 16 Masters and Intermediate players from the 2023 UKBGF Tour to do battle over 2 days to become the UKBGF Tour Winners Invitational Champions.
The 2 winners, in addition to receiving beautiful boards by ArtGammon, get a year’s worth of bragging rights as the 2023 UKBGF Tour ‘Champion of Champions’ having won 2 x 13 point matches on Saturday and the best of 2 x 7 point matches – with a 5 point decider – on the Sunday.
The tournament was played in a great atmosphere, lots of fun, many exciting matches, dramatic finishes, and two stalwarts of UK backgammon becoming worthy champions.
A number of both Masters & Intermediate matches were streamed live (you can find full days’ coverage on Youtube for Saturday and Sunday) with a variety of commentators sharing their expertise and insight. Huge thanks go to Alec Barr, Dan Rovira, Geoff Hall, Ian Gwynne, Julian Fetterlein, and Tim Cross for generously giving up their time for our benefit.
Congratulations to all 32 qualifiers and to the TWI event winners:
Masters
Intermediates
Combined Last Chance
Full tournament results can be found on the TWI Website. Photographs from the event can be found on the UKBGF Facebook page.
Please don’t forget that you need to be ‘in it to win it’ so make sure you are a UKBGF member prior to participating in Tour events. The first Tour tournament of 2024 kicks off in sunny Scarborough at the beginning of February.
More information on the Tour together with a calendar of Tour events can be found here.
As players and members we’re grateful to the UKBGF for their continued support and funding of both the UKBGF Tour and Tour Winners Invitational event. Of course, we also appreciate the many TDs who organise any form of backgammon in the UK. Special thanks to Julia Hayward for setting up the streaming service over the weekend as well as competing and to Sarah Jolliff for helping run the event.
Good luck to all players for the 2024 UKBGF Tour, hopefully January 2025 will see you regaling all & sundry with hard-luck tales whilst relaxing in Shrigley Hall’s spa pool!
It is with great sadness that I report the passing of my good friend Rick Janowski, who I have had the honour of knowing for 35 years. Rick died at home on the morning of Saturday 20th January.
This weekend sees the ArtGammon Tour Winners Invitational event take place at Shrigley Hall, deep in the leafy Cheshire countryside. The Top 16 Masters and Top 16 Intermediate players from the UKBGF Tour 2023 will compete over 2 days to become the Tour Winners Invitational Champion.
This year’s annual UKBGF Clubs Championship will be held in York on the weekend of 20-21 of July. The main championship will be held on the Sunday (July 21) and on the Saturday there will be an individual event.
The weekend’s action will be held at Derwent College, University of York, University Road, Heslington, York YO10 5DD. This is the same venue as the Clubs Championship in 2019.
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