Live recording of matches has become increasingly popular in recent times. When I started out at tournaments I saw the occasional annotator sat desperately scribbling away trying to keep up with a headline game – surely that’s a thing of the past now!
As soon as it became practical to mount a camera over the board, players started taking their real-life games away and analysing them to improve their play; not long afterwards, advances in the internet meant that we could all look in on the giants from time to time (and perhaps kibitz out loud with no risk of being overheard!). And of course PR-based tournaments wouldn’t be possible without the technology.
At the UK Open we kept a live stream on a featured board, picking out a selection of matches from various events including the Doubles, SpeedGammon and Super Jackpot, and you can find them all on our YouTube channel. We are also coming to the end of the process of transcribing the matches and running them through eXtremeGammon – you can find a collection of the match files in our growing library and we’re also adding in big matches from international tournaments such as Monte Carlo, Japan and San Antonio featuring UK players. We hope you’ll find them interesting and instructive.
We’re deliberately not cherry-picking the outstanding performances, though we do like them when they happen – it’s just as valuable to see the experts making the occasional blunder! We would also welcome submissions – particularly tournament finals and other notable events; just get in touch with julia@ukbgf.com.
[If you haven’t got eXtremeGammon yet, don’t forget UKBGF Premium Members get 20% off their first copy]
It is compulsory in most tournament chess matches to record your moves (by hand). As a result, there is a vast array of games available to analyse online. I agree that the UKBGF should encourage the recording of matches, as this will provide a rich learning resource and also allow average PRs to be added to the ratings system. However, I can’t see why the only way to achieve this, in the modern age, is by purchasing a camera. I record a number of my matches by hand and this does not slow the game down significantly. Chess players have been recording their matches by hand for years and I would argue that if we want to advance backgammon in the UK then recording matches (by hand, if necessary) should be a thing of the future not a thing of the past!
I recorded 2 matches at the UK Open and if my opponents (Anna Price and Graham Coventry) permit, I would be happy to share them.
We’d be delighted if you would send them through! I suspect not everyone would find it so easy to keep up, especially on clocked play, and some would no doubt say it interrupted their concentration, but if it suits you then that’s great – and obviously you don’t suffer the technical gremlins that inevitably creep in to anything electronic!
Hi Mike – yes, no probs. Go ahead.
(proof that I only lost due to the dice gods lol 🙂