UK Legends Invitational Update…
…and there’s still time to register for the UK Open Online next weekend!
UK Open Online
August has been so far been a great month for UK Online backgammon. And if you want to join in the fun, you need to register for the UK Open online by 23.59 this Thursday 27th August. With 93 players in the Masters and 79 in the Intermediates there are still spaces left in both flights. To register, email ukbgopen@yahoo.com stating which flight you wish to enter and you will receive instructions for payment of the registration fee: just £15 for the Masters and £10 for the Intermediates. For more details, including prizes, see the UK Open Online webpage.
All UK Open Online matches will be played in a dedicated ‘tournament room’ on the Backgammon Studio Heroes platform, and players are asked to join a WhatsApp group to keep in contact with each other and the TD Team of Arda Findikoglu, Andrew Selby and David Potter. If you have already registered but not provided your WhatsApp details and your Heroes nickname, please send an email to the address for registering (see above). This also applies to those who would prefer not to use WhatsApp, as you need to arrange how you will keep in contact with the organisers during the tournament.
Selected matches will be streamed, with live commentary in the latter stages…to access the streaming see the UKBGF Facebook page. The regularly updated list of registered players for both flights (as well as those who entered the UK Legends event) can be found here. There are great prizes to be won, including boards from both Geoffrey Parker and P-40, but you must be a UKBGF member by 23.59 on Thursday 27th August to be eligible to win a P-40 board. If you are not yet a UKBGF member, join online here.
UK Legends Invitational
The UK Legends Invitational double elimination tournament kicked off with a stellar field of forty-four of the world’s best players on Thursday 13th August. With the likes of Mochy, Victor Ashkenazi, Neil Kazaross and Zdenek Zizka among the field, this was never going to be an easy tournament to win. When each round has been completed, a fresh draw is made (every 48 hours or so) and Round 5 is now in progress. Match times are posted in advance on Facebook enabling viewers to plan which matches they want to watch. All 15 point Legends matches have been streamed on Facebook and at the time of writing eleven players are still in contention, with either 4/4 or 3/4. To see the draw for each round and real time results click here.
Among the Brits still alive in the event are Lawrence Powell, who is yet to record a loss, and Andrew Selby of Backgammon London, who has been instrumental in setting up both the UK Legends and the UK Open Online events under the UKBGF umbrella in conjunction with Tournament Director Arda Findicoglu and his team.
And if you read this in time you are in for a treat…Lawrence will be playing Volker Schneider at 3.30pm this afternoon UK time, streamed live on the UKBGF Facebook page, with expert commentary by Rory Pascar and Chris Bray.
Rory Pascar will also be commentating on the 5th round match at 8pm this evening between Toni Bernaba and Michael Neagu – also well worth watching if other members of your family will allow you to devote both afternoon and evening to watching backgammon matches! Michael Neagu is the third remaining undefeated player, so this match will determine whether the winner of the Lawrence/Volker match is the last undefeated player standing.
Enjoy!
I don’t use Facebook. Is there any other platform where I can see these matches?
Having just spoken to Simon we have established that one cannot log in to the UKBGF Facebook page without a Facebook account. It is however possible to watch Legends matches (including Lawrence’s this afternoon) on Heroes but without the commentary.
On the Heroes site click on ‘Main’ on the left above the list of logged-in players and select ‘External Tournaments’ which is the last item in the drop-down menu. Then select ‘2020 UK Legends Invitational’ to enter this tournament room. It may not even be necessary to enter the tournament room to watch a Legends match – I’m not sure.