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Key Positions of the World Team Championships

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Martin Barkwill has written elsewhere about our recent trip to Trier to play in the World Team Championships. I have written this article to provide the analysis of some of the key positions and hopefully you will find them instructive.

As a reminder our team was:

  • Gaz Owen
  • Raj Jansari
  • Jon Barnes
  • Chris Bray
  • Oliver Squire
  • Lawrence Powell
  • Martin Barkwill (non-playing captain)

Let us start with the most crucial position of all. This roll of the dice effectively decided the gold and silver medal positions.

Position 1

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UK vs Germany Friendly

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At the end of February, the UK took on Germany in a friendly match. There were twelve players on each team. This was the UK team: Gaz Owen, Oliver Squire, Rick Janowski, Chris Bray, Aref Alipour, Julian Fetterlein, Sebastian Wilkinson, Tim Cross, Jon Barnes, Lawrence Powell, Charles Hill and Steve Bibby. Chris Rogers was the non-playing captain with overall UK captain, Martin Barkwill, providing assistance.

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UK vs USA – The Magriel Cup

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Back at the start of August the UK took on the USA in an online backgammon match. There were twelve players on each team and four different formats were used over three days of very competitive play.  However, before we look at the 2020 match, we need to use a Tardis to step back forty-seven years to 1973 to find the origins of the match

The 1973 Match

In October 1973 the Clermont Club in London’s West End hosted a match between the UK and the USA. [Read more…]

The Phoenix Rises

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Twenty-five years ago I submitted an article entitled “Backgammon: Quo Vadis?” to all the national newspapers to see if there was any interest in publishing it. I heard nothing whatsoever and so reverted to writing short articles for the members of the Double Fives Club, run by George and Diana Sulimirski, where I played most of my backgammon.

Three months later an editor at The Independent found my article at the bottom of his in-tray and called me. [Read more…]

Paul Magriel: A Tribute

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Last Monday (5th March 2018) one of the founding fathers of modern backgammon, Paul Magriel, passed away at his home in Las Vegas at the age 71. I had known Paul for thirty-five years and this article is written in tribute to him and all that he did for the game of backgammon.

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Paul was the son of Paul Magriel Sr. (1906–1990), an art collector and author, and Christine Fairchild Magriel. He leaves a son, Louis Fairchild Magriel whom he had with his third wife, French poker player, Martine Oulés.

[Read more…]

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