“Backgammon is not just a game. It is very extraordinary. It’s art!” – Volker Wenzlaff, CEO of “Gammoner”
Volker Wenzladd, with one of the Gammoner boards
Philip Vischjager, world champion (2006); Frank Simon, Giant of Backgammon; Masayuki Mochizuki (Mochy), world champion (2009) and Super Grand Master; Mike Svobodny, world champion (1984); Paul Weaver, Giant of Backgammon; Robert E. Stoller, USBGF historian and board collector; Julie Hillies, New Zealand master (2017); Volker Sonnabend, Denby Pettitt, Serge Engelhardt and and and… What do all these people have in common?
Backgammon in Ealing have been working hard in their local community to promote the game we all love and have recently teamed up with Harris + Hoole coffee shops.
Since the implementation of BMAB three years ago, Mochy has maintained an incredible level of play, never letting his PR average fall below 2.90. More recently he has pushed his performance rating to reach an astonishing level of 2.40 measured over 300 experience points, not only achieving the title of Super Grandmaster, but with a clear margin of 0.10 below the 2.50 benchmark.
Those of you who came along to our AGM at Coombe Abbey will already know the news – that the UKBGF Board is delighted to re-appoint Tim Cross as Team UK’s Captain for the two years 2018-9.
Tim (left) deep in thought vs. John Broomfield, UK Open (photo: Simonetta Herrera)
We have been absolutely delighted with the results Team UK have been bringing home over Tim’s tenure so far:
winning the Worldwide Trophy outright in 2016 and fifth in 2017,
finalists of the European Online championships in 2015 and fourth in 2016,
European Team Championships runners-up to Denmark in 2016
Tim’s not only a leading player, he’s also a very canny selector who knows who’s in form. He’s also worked very hard to foster a strong team spirit and get the very best out of his squads on the day. We also couldn’t ignore the huge support he has from UKBGF members. Here’s to another two great years to come!
Finally, another reminder – if you’d like to represent the UK either online or face-to-face then Tim would very much like to hear from you. Competition for places is tough, of course, and you would need to be playing consistently at around PR 5.5 to reasonably expect to be considered, but if you don’t ask you’ll never know!
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