The UK Backgammon Federation
Have these words ever been uttered by a tournament director before?: “Look… keep the board, it’s theirs, keep the dice, keep the clock, keep the scoreboard, in this envelope is the loser’s winnings, sorry nothing for the winner, but we’ve run out of cash… if they kick you out, play somewhere else; if I don’t leave right now, I am dead!”
By UKBGF reporter Will Cockerell
As we enter into the denouement of this superb festival of backgammon, we have nine players left with a broad range of work to do.
| Name | Wins Required |
| George Jacobs Len Brown Chris Bray Radu Ciortan Will Cockerell Nick Sandqvist Afshin Foulad Romolo Mudu Engin Ongel |
2 2 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 |
It’s remarkable that after some 20 hours of action there are players who still need to win five more times, but such is the ferocity of demands of international tournament backgammon.
Day 1 – by UKBGF reporter Will Cockerell
On a spectacular opening day at the London UK Open at the sumptuous RAC club, one felt very James Bond as we savoured a splendid three days of shake, rattle & roll; led by the intimitable tones and insouciant charm of Andrew Selby, swiftly becoming the most assured tournament director in the BG jungle. 
The 40th anniversary of Bond taking 200,000 rupees off Kamal Khan is approaching this summer, when he could “only win with a 66.” But you know what? This barn-storming action is all based on a lie. I have recently noticed Kamal actually had a checker on his 3 point, and his 4 [see image]… Bond could have have rolled a 21 and still not be drawing dead. I have fired off a letter of complaint to director John Glen [albeit into his 10th decade], suggesting that he reshoots the scene with Louis Jourdan [albeit long expired]. [Read more…]
I wrote at length about my own travails at this magnificent event (a walking, talking horrorshow alone, but unbeatable alongside my Heidelberg heroine); but said little about the other Brits on show – who were remarkable.
After a 10 year hiatus from tournament play, Will Cockerell returned to the fray with a wild ride at the Merit International Open, Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus
After several years of no backgammon at all, I returned to play during Covid via the BG heroin that is Backgammon Galaxy. It’s not for everyone, but 40,000 players in 2020 has become 120,000 now. I hover around the 1,000 mark in the rankings, but I know the top 500 is “where it’s at”. I thought about Monte Carlo in July, but my game was in a mess and the costs so prohibitive. But Cyprus in the off-season, at an all you can eat and drink, wonderful hotel? Now that’s value.
I naively flew into Paphos which is too far away, and had a hideous 6 hour transfer to the hotel, where I learned all about the occupied, stolen land that the two sides dispute. I had a fun practice match with UK prodigy Ollie Squire taking a commercial break from his maths studies at Durham. He is top 100 on Galaxy; a superb achievement for one so young. Ollie and I then ganged up on Martin Barkwill and nicked him. I had my first win of the week.
Tournament day dawned and I indulged in a 2 hour slugfest with Yankee high roller Brandon Macklin who’d recently had a high-stakes all-nighter with my roomie Chris Rogers and narrowly edged him – so no slouch. We played an absurd 22 games, which indicates caginess from both, before I found myself in this encouraging position at DMP. Maybe I have 97% here? But I was unable to navigate that pesky 3%… I exited the playing room and hurled myself from the rocks into the Mediterranean below. As I furiously thrashed around for some 40 minutes, I questioned every life choice made till now. I may have been unlucky against Brandon, but I also knew I hadn’t been good enough: far too anxious, especially in the face of his stern demeanour. He particularly disliked my various ways of communicating a pass: “Super game,” “Well played,” “Incredible”, “Nope,” “Blimey” & “this is a nightmare”, as I’d reach to turn over the scoreboard, were met with [an increasingly frustrated], “do you mean PASS?” [Read more…]
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