Play65 has been co-operating with WBA on the EBGT tournaments project - Play65 EBGT. The idea behind the joint work was to create a parallel backgammon race, which is held simultaneously in live race points and as backgammon online competitions.

 The live tournaments that are considered to be race points on the tour are held in Europe with an additional special race point at the US - The Golden Gate Open at San Francisco. The live backgammon tournaments are the most prestigious European tournaments, such as The Nordic Open, The Portuguese Open, and The Georgian Open etc. Winning these exclusive tourneys grants the player with a free entry to the Grand Finale Tournament, to be held in Cyprus on December this year.

The backgammon online tournaments, which are conducted at Play65 website, are qualifiers satellites backgammon tournaments that award their winners with free entrance to the corresponding live tournaments. The finalists of those satellite tournaments are credited with WBA masterpoints for the Grand Finale tourney; as well as with a free VIP membership for a month. For the first time, the finalists’ scores will appear along with live backgammon events finalists throughout the Play65/EBGT 2011 season.

So far 6 satellite tournaments were held for the 2011 season; 3 Grand Finale qualifiers tournaments and 3 race points’ qualifiers tournaments. The happy winners of the Grand Finale qualifiers are waiting to be a part of one of the Richest and most interesting backgammon events of the year:

Winner: Claus Elken (claus_e) of Denmark
Finalist: Volker Schneider (miramaria) of Germany

Winner: Georgios Avdis (elite777) of Greece
Finalist: Mads Peter Andersen (bastianpi) of Denmark

Winner: Robert Wachtel (wurst_player) of United States
Finalist: Nicolas Déhon (dahu_dextre) of Switzerland

The winners of the race points qualifiers have already participated in the following exclusive events:

Winner: Tamer Andaç (mihrib) of Turkey
Finalist: Konstantinos Mitrelis (tsifas) of Greece

Winner:  Jürgen Orlowski (orlowski) of Germany
Finalist:   Konrad Fröschl (konfro) of Sweden

Winner: Oleg Amiranov (amiran36) of Russia
Finalist:  Karsten Bredahl (matatoro) of Denmark

Now there is just one more Grand Finale qualifiers satellite tournament planed to the end of this month and 4 qualifiers satellites for the remaining race points. If you have never tasted the aroma of prestigious thrilling event tournament, you should be aiming yourself to participate at least in one, since it is a fun and enriching experience; and you still have a chance to win a free entrance to the tour’s Grand Finale!

An online backgammon charity event will be held on 29^th of March 2011 at 20:00 GMT.

 

The incomprehensible catastrophe that has been taking place in Japan has caused WBA & Play65 to team up for the sake of the victims, in particular the Japanese children who lost their homes and relatives and have been in a tremendous risk since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. Numerous children have been exposed to physical injuries due to the cold weather, the poor conditions and the radioactive radiation and at the same time to major mental distress.

WBA & Play65, on behalf of the global backgammon community, have decided to contribute their share in helping those kids, by initiating an online backgammon charity tournament. The revenues from the 10£ registration fee, will be transferred to UNICEF and will be dedicated to this purpose.

Japan is a very active backgammon nation, which supports spreading the game among its people and especially among youth. Two backgammon Giants, well known members of the backgammon family, come from this country: Masayuki ‘Mochy ‘ Mochizuki and Michihito ‘Michi’ Kageyama; and there is no doubt that some of the younger genaration players will be following their steps.

Play65 team would like to express its condolences and sympathy to the Japanese people in general and of course to our backgammon family members.
We call all other family members to be recruited for the cause and join the charity tournament.

Two major online backgammon events will occur on Sunday, 6 March 2011 on Play65:

The monthly $15,000 Glorious backgammon tournament will take place at 21:00. As usual, the lucky winner will take home $4,000 all at once and the entry fees will be $200, which can be won on the daily satellites (every day, on 19:00 and 21:00 GMT) or the special VIP freerolls (Saturday, 18:00).

The next big thing in online backgammon, a new way to enjoy playing backgammon online, will also be introduced by Play65 this coming Sunday.

The second Play65/EBGT Grand Finale online satellite will take place the next Sunday, on 13 March 2011 at 18:30 GMT.

Backgammon was the first game in which an experimental computer defeated the world champion (though in that case, the winner was simply luckier); later it was chess, and now even trivia experts are not immunes. IBM’s AI creation, Watson, has defeated two Jeopardy! record breakers in a special exhibition match of the TV game show.

Despite failing to locate Toronto on the map, the supercomputer won the $1,000,000 first prize in the two-part show aired yesterday, while his strong opponents, 74-time Jeopardy! champion, Ken Jennings, and the biggest all-time money winner in Jeopardy!, Brad Rutter, took only $300,000 and $200,000 each. Watson’s prize will be obviously donated by IBM to selected charities.

Watson’s knowingness of Paris Hilton filmography

Play65/EBGT season has just begun with the 1st satellite of the Grand Finale, and it will continue with an exclusive online satellite for the first stop of the tour – the WBA 10th Anniversary/ISTAVDER 3rd Anniversary Tournament.

The live backgammon tournament will be in Istanbul, Turkey at the Green Park Hotel between 25 and 27 February 2011. Play65 online satellite will be on Saturday, 12 February 2011, at 18:30 GMT. Entry fees are only €15, and the first prize include free €150 seat at the Masters division of the WBA/ISTAVDER event and VIP Club upgrade.

Claus Elken is the first online qualifier for the Play65/EBGT Grand Finale. Known in Play65 as claus_e, the Dane backgammon player has won a €1.000 seat at the closing event of the Play65/EBGT season and a VIP Bronze status for a month. Claus Elken was also the winner of the 21st Play65 Nordic Open 2009 won and the finalist in the 2010 Portuguese Backgammon Open.

The finalist of the 1st Play65/EBGT Grand Finale online satellite is Volker Schneider of Germany (Play65 username: miramaria), who had won a Gold VIP status and attained 5 Master points that will be calculated for the Point Race.

Also congratulations to schniblor, for becoming the 4th player to win $4,000 at the $15,000 Glorious Monthly Backgammon Tournament, which ended yesterday’s online backgammon tournaments marathon.

Play65 is holding two huge online backgammon tournaments tonight - 6 February 2011, starting at 18:30 GMT and continuing until into the night, offering more than $16,000 in prizes!

On 18:30 GMT you can win your €1.000 seat at the Play65/EBGT Grand Finale, €500 for accommodation (depending on the prize pool), and an upgrade in your Play65 VIP Club level (to Bronze if you were a non-VIP player, Silver if your VIP Club level was bronze, etc).
And on 21:00, you can win the $4,000 1st prize at our monthly glorious $15,000 tournament.

Finalists will not go home empty handed in both tournaments; if you will be listed among the top four finalists of the Play65/EBGT online satellite, you will be credited with 5 Masterpoints, World Backgammon Association rating points. And on the later monthly glorious event, 16 winners will share the $15,000 prize pool.

The next monthly glorious backgammon tournament will be on February 6th at 21:00 GMT with $15,000 guaranteed prize pool and $4,000 guaranteed first prize. Entry fees are $200 ($185 + $15); satellite tournaments occur daily on 19:00 and 21:00 GMT, and there is a free satellite tournament for Silver and Gold VIP players on January 29th at 18:00.

The first satellite for the Play65/EBGT Grand Finale will be also on February 6th at 18:30 GMT. The winner will win a €1.000 seat for the prestigious backgammon tour’s €25,000 closing event on December 5-7 in Lefkosa, North Cyprus, and all the finalists will be credited with WBA Materpoints. Entry fees are €160 (€150 + €10).

The satellite for the Play65/EBGT first stop - where both the WBA 10th Anniversary and the ISTAVDER 3rd Anniversary (and the opening of the Play65/EBGT season 2011) will be celebrated at the Green Park Hotel Bostanci in Istanbul, Turkey between February 25 and 27 - is on Saturday February 12, 18:30 GMT. Entry fees are only €15.

Also, don’t miss Bob Wachtel’s adventures in Cyprus and in Meribel. In his Cyprus Backgammon Open 3 parts report, you can read about the differences between "modern backgammon", the Euro-American version of the game played with the doubling cube, and the traditional backgammon, played leisurely everywhere in the Middle East and the revival of the Middle Eastern backgammon online and tournament halls. Read about the military bureaucracy the innocent backgammon tourist might face in the divided capital of Cyprus, and about the Turkish conquest of the international backgammon tournament. Plus, you can follow some interesting backgammon positions from the Mochy and Falafel match in the quarterfinals and confront a backgammon sportsmanship dilemma.

About a year ago, when Mary Hickey won the 2nd US Backgammon Open and the Play65 US Backgammon Open qualifier, she said that "It is a highly improbable sequence of events… winning eight matches in a row, not a likely occurrence on any given day or weekend." But, the unlikely occurrence had occurred again, as Mary Hickey won the US Backgammon Open again, in the third anniversary of the WBA/ABT event, held this time in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on January 14-17, 2011.