"Falafel" and Gus Hansnen at the Nordic Open

Play65 Nordic Open has ended last Monday with the victory of a relatively unknown name, Dane Claus Elken who defeated Tage Mellgren, also of the kingdom of Denmark, at the dramatic final, which will be eternally remembered for the hilarious commentary coming from the official kibitzers American backgammon player Carter Mattig (who was accompanied by his 15 years old daughter, who turned out to be the great hope of women’s backgammon) and local Karsten Bredahl (a Play65 representative, who was very close to make it to the top 4, but was eventually pushed down to the 5th position), with Israeli backgammon giant Falafel contributing some less official pears of wisdom of his own.

In addition to the predictable massive Nordic presence at the Helsingor, Denmark tournament (with Danish Backgammon Federation biggest star Gus Hansen as the welcome speaker), it was the Greek backgammon community (with Manos Mastorakis, the former director of the Greek backgammon federation among the top 16 players, and Play65 qualifier Filomila Karantzali winning the Super Jackpot) who showed the Danish people where backgammon history begins. The DBgF collaboration with their Japanese correspondings brought a group of Japanese players to Hamlet’s city, including Masayuki "Mochi" Mochizuki the current top Japanese backgammon player, and sent Jurgen Orlowski of Germany to a second, successive trip to the Japan Open backgammon tournament.

Play65 Nordic Open was opened on Thursday, April 9 with about 100 players at the Main Division and about 170 more who came all the way to the pastorally city of Helsingor, Denmark to play the Novice, Beginners and Intermediate divisions.

This year’s, 21st Nordic Open backgammon tournament is sponsored by online backgammon room Play65 and organized as usual by the Danish Backgammon Federation, who do it voluntarily. The backgammon site’s presence is, then, very noticeable. On top of the players and staff uniform – Play65 Nordic Open T-shirts – Play65 has representatives in the consolation flight and at the main championship.

Speaking of women in backgammon, the first player who won Play65 Nordic Open qualifier, turned out to be a woman. Filomila Karantzali, 31, Greece says in an exclusive interview to Play65 Blog that she strives to "beat those sharks and win the tourney", referring to the top backgammon pros who will be playing in the most prestigious event in the field on April 9-13 in Elsinore, Denmark, (along with two other Play65 qualifiers).

The 21st Nordic Open will not be Filomila first attempt to swim with the sharks. Though she doesn’t consider herself a professional backgammon player ("I don’t practice backgammon on a regular basis", she says, " I’m trying to play and analyze 1-2 matches per day, unless before live tournaments where I tend to practice more intensively), she had played several major tourneys including two Monte Carlo World Backgammon Championship, where she recently finished second in the Last Chance competition, Paris Open backgammon tournament, and won a monthly tournament held by the Greek Backgammon Federation.

Backgammon Beginning

As a Greek, Filomila has learned to play backgammon in early adolescence "as nearly everybody", but tavli, the backgammon variation played in Greece, is played without the doubling cube. Thus, "as soon as I discovered the online BG sites, around 2002, my first aim was to learn about the doubling cube", she recalls her start in online backgammon, "I tried to watch on a daily basis only the highest ranked players and to play preferably with strong ones or with online bots in order to improve my game skills." 

"In the meantime, I started making friends in this online BG community, so we then started attending some international live events. As time went by, I got even more hooked on backgammon and slowly began to study the game more thoroughly, by reading some BG books, practicing with GNUbg and analyzing my matches"

"My first tourney was in Monte Carlo 2004, where I played in the intermediate flight –just to get a taste of it. It made me realise that not only do I love the game and the live competition, but combining backgammon and travelling all over the world is a unique pleasure."

Backgammon and Women

"It is indeed a man’s BG-world!" she says when asked about the masculine image of the backgammon game. 

"Females don’t seem to be attracted not only to backgammon but to similar games as well. Perhaps this is because they don’t possess the appropriate (mainly mathematical) skills, and/or because backgammon and alikes are somewhat associated with gambling. Personally, the fact that backgammon is indeed a masculine game, is even more intriguing, because I become way more competitive when playing vs. males."

- What do you think of women in BG and how do you think we can support women in this field?

"Well, several efforts have already been made so far regarding the diffusion and promotion of backgammon among women, i.e., organization of online and offline Ladies’ tournaments worldwide, special female prizes in tournaments, MissGammon contests, interviews with female players etc. So, I don’t think there’s much left to do as far as “practical” support is concerned. Perhaps some changes should be made on the “attitude”, let’s say, level, since females in this field tend to be underestimated and treated accordingly by their male opponents. And, believe me, this may be so discouraging sometimes! Furthermore, in my personal opinion, even Ladies’ tournaments tend to intensify and encourage such attitudes, since females are being treated like something different, as if not being capable and equally strong to male players."