The UKBGF Online League and P-40 Knockout will be launching this weekend – on Saturday 16th January.
With a wonderful show of support from our growing membership, 342 players in the league (and 337 in the P-40 Cup) have entered what is now, by far, the largest online backgammon league in the world.
A glittering array of top British players have entered, and we also have players joining us from all over the world – not least of all, world number two Michihito Kageyama, better know to us as Michy. With the expansion of the online game, and bringing the world to your laptop, we are also joined by members from Europe, America, Asia, the Middle East and even New Zealand.
Because we are starting the first season with the League ordered by your UKBGF rating, Michy is starting in Division 3. There are also nearly one hundred players with no rating on our system, who have been assigned the default starting rating of 1500, and will be occupying divisions 14 to 16. Their places have been allocated in order of registration, and the cream is sure to rise quickly to the top.
The League has 57 divisions of six players, and because it is so large, we’ve decided to set it up in a pyramid structure. This means that the distance to travel from bottom to top is much shorter, which we hope will encourage more players to join. To further improve mobility, there will be two promotions and demotions from most divisions.
We have added an extra prize for all the division winners this year, they will each receive a Katgammon precision dice box with UKBGF branding. (Although we have ordered lots of them, we have had to restrict it to one per person for the year.)
The P-40 Knockout also starts this weekend. The number of players taking part is so big that we have had to split the draw into two 256 player halves, albeit with plenty of byes. We have two fantastic boards, a custom P40 tournament board for the winner, and a tournament sized Erhan 869 board for the runner up.
A special word of acknowledgement and thanks to Tony Lezard and David Potter, the key architects and designers of the League. All matches will form part of the UKBGF National Online Ratings, and all participants will be able add their results directly into the League system online, so that the League table and knockout draws will always be up to date.
All participants will shortly receive a guide to the League including exactly how you will be entering your results and, shortly before the Saturday start, will receive direct emails relating to your league divisions and knockout opponents. All key information, including rules and regulations, will be available on the Backgammonlondon website.
Your Tournament Directors will be myself, David, and Tony, and all we ask is you have fun, be friendly and please, please ensure you both arrange and play your matches in a timely manner!
To allow this to be as flexible and enjoyable as possible for all players, we haven’t mandated which platform you should play on or which time setting to use. However, we have set up a room in Studio Heroes that will be the default when players can’t agree. It’s in the External Tournaments section, UKBGF League & Cup, and is preset with 90 second per point and 10 seconds delay.
If you are one of the members who has yet to join, you can sign up now to start the league in April. If you do wish to join up, please Sign up here.
Both 2021 and the Online revolution is providing a Brave New World, we hope you enjoy being a part of it!
How many defeats do it take to fly out of the Knockout?
1 or 2?
The P-40 knockout tournament is single-elimination, so just one defeat and you’re out.
Here, here! Well done to all those contributing to the organisation here. ‘Keeping BG players sane during the pandemic’.
Great work.
Well done to the UKBGF team , old and new, for getting these super tournaments off the ground .
Really takes UKBGF to a new level , and particular thanks to Tony and David , the unsung heroes working so hard behind the scenes , to make it happen .
With the league and cup so big now , it’s essential that all participants play their part in minimising the management workload on the UKBGF organisers. Let 2021 be the Year of Effortless Fun in backgammon , and so nice to welcome high calibre international participants like Michy.