The 3rd Genud Cup – more UK/USA action ahead!

Another exciting weekend of intense competition lies ahead!

This weekend, October 26-27, the UK women’s team attempts to match the achievement of their peers in the Magriel Cup nearly a fortnight ago. They go into the weekend having lost both previous encounters (the first in 2020 by a single PR point), and two defeats to the USA face to face in Stockholm as well – but the team is playing well, and PRs from the UKBGF Women’s Championship and other matches have fed through into the selection process so I believe we have the strongest online team we’ve assembled so far. Indeed, the team is playing consistently better than at our last attempt in 2022 – all the training behind the scenes is paying off – but we’re in no doubt that our counterparts have also been working very hard to polish their game, so it should be a great contest to watch.

As in previous years, the format is a full round-robin of 9-point matches. Points are also awarded for PR performance – three for a win and one for the better PR – so it is essential that everyone is playing well! The schedule is:

Saturday October 26: matches at 4pm, 5.30pm, 7pm, 8.30pm UK time

Sunday October 27: matches at 3pm, 4.30pm, 6pm, 7.30pm UK time

Do note that the clocks change in the UK this weekend, but not in the USA – hence the staggered starts. Scores and PRs will be updated live on our scoreboard.

Our teams are:

• UK:
  • Anna Parker
  • Anna Price
  • Cecilia Rogers
  • Julia Hayward (capt)
  • Merrin Rose
  • Miranda Moulton
  • Rachel Rhodes
  • Becca Bell
  • Jay Hayter (substitute for 2 rounds)
• USA:
  • Kara Schultz
  • Karen Davis (capt)
  • Irina Litzenberger
  • Marcy Kossar
  • Mary Morse
  • Melanie Hughes
  • Seda Eflanli
  • Tiffany Van

There are 256 points available and the first team to reach 129 points wins the Genud Cup.

All matches will be played on Heroes 3 backgammon website and a wide range of expert commentators are lined up to cast their eyes over everyone. Matches will be broadcast on the UKBGF Youtube channel http://youtube.com/ukbgf, and links to the individual days are here: Saturday and Sunday. There will be a selection of great matches to watch so sit back and enjoy the play, and support the UK team with two evenings of tremendous backgammon and commentary.

After the matches are over, Women’s World of Backgammon will be organising an online session with the teams where a selection of the most interesting positions will be dissected in detail, similarly to the one done after Stockholm. Don’t worry, it’s not all about blunders and the teams get to see some of their best decisions highlighted as well!