Many thanks to everyone who took the time to send in nominations for the British Backgammon Awards. We’re now in a position to announce the shortlists. All the awards are really competitive and just being nominated is something to be proud of.
Update 21st August: voting closes at midnight this Saturday, 24th August!
British Player of the Year:
- Brian Lever
- Gaz Owen
- Kevin Jones
- Tim Cross
International Player of the Year:
- Allen Tish
- Eli Roymi
- Jesper Carlsson
- Kimon Papachristopoulos
- Michy
- Mochy
Club Organiser of the Year:
- Darren Woodcock
- Ian Tarr
- Richard Biddle
- Sean Jones
- Steve Lee
Tournament Director of the Year:
- Chris Purchase (St Albans)
- Julia Hayward and Peter Booth (Cambridge, online)
- Kevin Jones, John Wright & Mark Calderbank (Blackpool)
- Sean Jones (Worcester, UK Clubs)
- Tim Line (Bristol)
Board Designer of the Year:
- Bone Club (Guy Haslam)
- Gammoner (Volker Wenzlaff)
- Geoffrey Parker
Most Significant Contributor to British Backgammon of the Year:
- Keith Gill
- Richard Biddle
- Tim Cross
- Tony Lezard
Most Courteous / Sporting Player:
- Darren Woodcock
- Peter Hodson
- Richard Furborough
- Roland Herrera
- Steve Bibby
- Uli Koch
Voting is about to start on SurveyMonkey, and a link/password to access the voting page will be mailed out to members imminently. If you don’t receive yours or need assistance, drop julia@ukbgf.com a line. Voting will close at midnight on Saturday 24th August and the winners will be revealed at the UK Open! To give you some help, we’ve collated the things said about our nominees; read on… and if you’d like to add your tributes, please let me know!
British Player of the Year
Brian Lever: “He plays in many tournaments including those far from his own door step and is very consistent and has maintained a very high ranking over a period of time.”
Kevin Jones: “Outstanding year with wins at West Yorkshire and Liverpool”
“A nice guy, great performances and a huge commitment to UK Backgammon. The ratings do not lie!”
Tim Cross: “On the one hand Tim completely dominated the 2018 Tour; on the other he is always to be found supporting smaller events and being a great ambassador for the game”
Overseas Player of the Year
Eli Roymi: “A fantastic performance to not only win the World Championship but to still be playing at PR 2.7 in the final after a gruelling week. And an exciting, instinctive player to watch in action.”
Jesper Carlsson: “Works tirelessly on running and streaming tournaments plus supporting and playing around the world”
Kimon Papachristopolous: “Has had some incredible results recently and he’s been to the UK Open!”
Mochy: “now a Super-Grandmaster, and winner of the Ultimate Backgammon Challenge in Monte Carlo in 2019, raising the bar for play to stratospheric levels.”
Tournament Director of the Year
Julia and Peter: “[Julia] never gets grumpy doing the job, always has a smile on her face and doesn’t make you feel as if she’s doing you a big favour…..even though she is!”
Kev, John and Mark: “They set the benchmark for how tournaments can and should be run and continue to improve year after year”
“Always a great tournament!! If there is a blueprint to follow then they wrote it!”
Sean Jones: “The Turkey is always a great fun finish to the year, and the Clubs Championships in Worcester was a great experience”
Club Organiser of the Year
Darren Woodcock: “Darren … was instrumental in the launch of Backgammon in Ealing (BGIE) in 2012. Since then, more than 350 different people at varying levels have played at the club.
The club’s growth has expanded to the point that the club has generated two satellite clubs; Backgammon for Fun (for Beginners) and Backgammon at The Grange (included in the Ealing Club ratings), which is a monthly tournament that attracts more advanced players.
He instituted occasional special tournaments, which have always been full, at the Ealing club that not only rewards the strong players, but the loyal, unlucky, weak and lucky players win something too!
His commitment to putting on top events and finding great venues cannot be underestimated. Aside from organising BGIE he has also sourced and liaised with venues for the UK Open since it was founded in 2014.”
Richard Biddle: “… very slick, professional, extremely well organised and on the ball. He also follows up the evening with an extremely funny and witty results email and keeping everybody informed of other tournaments. He also runs the London leagues and responds to any dispute queries immediately even when he is on holiday!
He makes sure that everybody has a good time, doesn’t sit around too long waiting for a game and has all the results and charts on his laptop.”
Steve Lee: “The best value monthly event that gets more and more popular”
Board Designer of the Year
Bone Club: “… are putting huge effort interacting with the backgammon community. Supporting various tournaments and events. Quality improving all the time.”
“Delighted that Bone Club support charity events, and their boards are great value”
Geoffrey Parker: “still consistently the board we look longingly at and hope – one day…”
Most Significant Contributor of the Year
Keith Gill: “Keith comes to every Saltburn Backgammon meeting, even though its a long drive for him, and he has been ever patient with our group of absolute beginners. His advice is much valued and our games have improved in speed (games took over 30 minutes apiece the first time we got together) and strategy. He answers our queries and gives advice. Thanks to Keith, the club where we hold our backgammon promotes us as “If you have not played before it’s not a problem as experts are on hand to guide you through the rules”. So for us, at Saltburn Backgammon, Keith is “Most Significant Contributor to British Backgammon of the Year”.
Tim Cross: “In addition to a superb year at the board, Tim’s work as Captain over a number of years has turned the UK into a major fighting force in world backgammon. He will be sorely missed and his successor has very big shoes to fill”
Tony Lezard: “… for all his work behind the scenes with the ratings system, including designing it in the first place for the London Clubs League and adapting it for the UKBGF, frequent upgrades with extra features to provide much more useful information for players as well as making it much more user-friendly for TDs. Also for his work with the membership system which was melting down last year until he stepped in to fix it. Although his work is much appreciated by many, Tony himself isn’t very visible and doesn’t get the credit he deserves”
Most Courteous / Sporting Player of the Year
Darren Woodcock: “Quite simply, I wish I could clone him – he’s always a pleasure to play…. always fun to play, entertaining everybody with his wit…and always buys me a drink :)”
Peter Hodson: “Who? Many will ask. Peter is the nicest person to play that I know. He also has a rather irritating habit of winning with incredible dignity and losing with equal sportsmanship. I have no doubt he will soon end up, like many of us, miserable losers, but until then let’s look forward to playing the Birmingham Bee-Keeping nice guy that is Peter Hodson!”
Richard Furborough: “A total joy to play! Great sport whether winning or losing. I aspire only to be as nice when losing!”
Many thanks to everyone who took the time to write in!
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