Many thanks to everyone who voted in this year’s Awards – a record 137 votes were received and the results themselves were first announced at the AGM. Sadly with no face to face play we can’t have our usual presentation, but the winners – and we certainly have a deserving set – will be getting framed certificates in the near future one way or another.

British Player of the Year (Face to Face): Tim Cross

British Player of the Year (Online): Tim Cross

Tim’s year included the UK Open title and third place in the Bristol Open, as well appearances for the UK in Forges-les-Eaux and Gothenburg; in the online world he’s been anchored fast at #2 on Galaxy’s ratings, only one of three people every to reach a 3000 rating there, and won the Los Angeles Open.  On top of that Tim is a superb ambassador and evangelist for the game, always willing to spend time with newcomers and aspiring future champions.

International Player of the Year: Michihito (‘Michy’) Kageyama

A superb player, and again a great evangelist for the game, Michy is a regular figure in the UK in normal times – supporting the UK game by giving seminars while here, and of course a well-known author too with Opening Concepts and Endgame Technique being very popular titles. Volume 3 of the Odyessy is keenly awaited later this year!

Club Organiser of the Year: Richard Biddle

Keeping a club going through the challenges of COVID is an achievement. Keeping multiple clubs going, as well as major online tournaments in the form of the London and Champions’ Leagues is truly awesome. One particular nomination sums up the award well:

Easy to forget as he has been part of UK backgammons furniture for so long, the amount of work that Dicky does for UK backgammon is incredible. It’s easy to come up with great league ideas, but it takes a great organiser to be able to put it into practice year after year.

Online TD of the Year: Julia Hayward

I’m delighted that the somewhat impromptu Clubs Championship worked out well; and of course the Online Championships, the Charity Challenge making a record £800+ for the Alzheimers’ Society, and running the tech behind a number of international fixtures. I should really thank my employers for allowing me to have a lot of state-of-the-art tech at home ready to act as a tournament control room at weekends!

Online Backgammon Site of the Year: Backgammon Studio Heroes

In a year when online play has exploded in popularity, both our nominees (Heroes and Galaxy) have done a massive amount of work to scale up their sites to cope with us all, and roll out new functions to enhance the offerings. Both proved very popular among our voters, but Heroes gets the edge – particularly with the ability to have dedicated tournament rooms, live analysis for spectators, and their integration with the WBIF tournament system.

Most Significant Contributor of the Year: Andrew Selby and David Potter

The UK Open Online set a new high for an online tournament, both in terms of the sheer size – we believe it set an all-time record – and also the professionalism with which it was run. But that’s only part of the story, with Andrew and David running many events in the London backgammon scene up to now. Only one vote behind was Peter Bennet, a past winner and stalwart of the behind-the-scenes work at the UKBGF.

Most Sporting Player of the Year: Kev Jones

It takes a strong player to win as many tournaments as Kev has done – it takes a truly great player to make sure you always have a really enjoyable match as you become the next in the long line of defeated challengers! A big thankyou to Kev and all our nominees for making backgammon the social experience we know and love.

 

You’ll have noticed we didn’t run all our usual categories this year, as the various lockdowns made some rather difficult – not least the Most Improved Player, with less than half a year’s worth of ratings data to go through. We’re looking forward to having a full set next year!

 

We’ve had a lot of nominations over the last month for the British Backgammon Awards, and it’s time to reveal our shortlists ready for the final vote. Members should get a personalised voting link in their email this evening, and you have until midnight on the 8th September to cast your votes – the winners won’t have to wait long as the results will be announced at the AGM the following day. So… let’s see who you nominated and some snippets of what you said about them:

British Player of the Year – Face to Face

• Jon Barnes: “UK number 1, TWI winner, BMAB winner”
• Tim Cross: “for winning the UK Open”

British Player of the Year – Online

• Tim Cross: “absolutely a permanent fixture at the top of Galaxy’s ratings”; “for winning the LA Open and being #2 on Galaxy” “…taking part in the UBC 2020 Contenders Tournament”
• Gaz Owen: “awesome in all forms of the game – MSO’s Blitz [4sec/move] champion – and a great commentator too. Thanks for the exhibition matches with Julian!”
• Oliver Squire: “A rapid ascent right up to the top levels of the game, including playing for the UK – surely a regular future champion”

International Player of the Year

• Jon Barnes “awesome results overseas and online for the UK”
• Tim Cross “flying the flag in the US online tour!”
• Michy: “for his extensive travelling to international tournaments”; “great player and great author/teacher too”
• Hideaki Ueda: “UBC 2020 Contender tournament Winner.”

Online Tournament Director of the Year

• Richard Biddle “The Champions League is the model of organisation”
• Irving Czechowicz “for the Stay at Home Cup”
• Christoph Deiter “a relative newcomer to the TD world  who has stepped up to organsise weekly events, and team challenges”
• Julia Hayward: “for the Online Championships and UKCC online”; “her charity tournament is one of the most friendly and enjoyable there is”; “directing and streaming lots of internationals from lockdown”
• Steve Lee: “He has been running a weekend tournament – every weekend – since April… He has done a fantastic job of keeping people engaged & connected”, “one of the earliest on-line adopters who has organised weekly events for the last 5 months, helping to keep us all sane”
• Marc Olsen: “For big events and comprehensive streaming on Galaxy” 
• Dave Sanders: “actively organises and promotes Worcester weekly events, excellent updates, and spreadsheets!”

Club Organiser of the Year

• Richard Biddle (numerous clubs) “does a fantastic job”; “he has been part of UK backgammon’s furniture for so long, the amount of work that Dicky does for UK backgammon is incredible. Its easy to come up with great league ideas, but it takes a great organiser to be able to put it into practice year after year”
• Guy Haslam (Bone Club) “great work keeping things running!”
• Chris Purchase (St Albans) “extremely helpful; organised and very hardworking”, “unflagging good humoured admin during the Covid quarantine”, “without Chris this club would not function the way it does”
• Tariq Siddiqi (Holland Park) “looks after a thriving and fun club”
• Ian Squire: (St Annes) “for establishing and publicising backgammon in Lytham and St Annes”
• Colin Whiers (Harrogate) “an unsung hero who has set up a local club running weekly meetings and early morning backgammon sessions (6:30am – what’s that about!)”

Most Significant Contributor to British Backgammon of the Year

• Peter Bennet: “The UKBGF wouldn’t function as it does without his sterling efforts”
• Tim Cross: “for putting UK BG on the map”
• Tim Parfitt: “A stalwart of backgammon on the South Coast, and running events to bring the rest of the world here”
• Andrew Selby and David Potter: “TD of the Players’ Championship, the Memorial Cup, and production of the UK Open Online.”; “Great as a team and also what they are individually organising and promoting”

Online Backgammon Site of the Year

• Backgammon Galaxy: “bringing automated analysis and big tournaments to everyone”
• BG Studio Heroes “hugely improved; the tournament rooms make organising events much easier – and more enjoyable socially too”, “As good a playing experience as GridGammon with the further advantages of instant registration, open to Mac as well as Windows users and a clock”; “excellent tutorial content and tournament hosting”

Most Courteous Player of the Year

• Deana Fawcett: “a friendly face on the backgammon scene both as a player and behind the TD desk. She’s a pleasure to play against, gracious in defeat and humble in victory.”
• Mike Ireland
• Kev Jones
• Julian Minwalla
• Alex Polden
• Martin Reade
• Cecilia Sparke: “We’ve played a few times and always a pleasure to play, a good sport win or lose!”

Good luck to all our nominees, and we look forward to sharing the results – even though the certificates may take a little longer this year…

Nominations are now open for the British Backgammon Awards 2020

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