A rare session of blindfold backgammon was played last night during the Monte Carlo World Backgammon Championship between Falafel and Sander Lylloff, two backgammon masters (no. 1 and 4 in the latest Giants of Backgammon list) who never reject an offer to make things interesting. The backgammon game was physically performed by two other players, who rolled the dice, informed on the outcome and moved the checkers according to Falafel and Sander’s orders. The game went quite well, say spectators; unofficially, it was Falafel stepped out as a winner, Snowie evaluation is required to determine the real winner.

 World Backgammon Championship Finals

 It is the last day of the 34th Monte Carlo World Backgammon Championship, and the championship final is taking place right now, and in a few hours we will be able to tell whether the Japanese player, who was born as Masayuki Mochizuki but mostly known as Mochy, is going to win his first world title, or if Dane Lars Trabolt will reclaim his 2008 world backgammon championship. The champion will take home a check on €62,280, while his runner up will do with €20,760.

The two backgammon pros arrived to the final after beating less experienced players in the semi finals; Mochy outplayed 23-21 a French man called Phillippe Lecomte and Trabolt defeated Roland Herrera of the UK 21-21 after the Crawford rule, both in front of cheering crowds that was thrilled to see that after all, skill bested luck in backgammon.

who said backgammon is not a spectators’ sport? 2008 World Backgammon Champion at the semi finals

Last Monte Carlo World Backgammon Championship?

The general air of disappointment surrounding the event in the last few years, imply that it might be the last year the World Backgammon Championship is held in Monte Carlo in the current format. Rumors say that the next world championship might take place in Las Vegas, probably under a brand new direction.

Play65 intends to clear out its online backgammon environment from the unjust presence of backgammon bots (snowie, gnubg and others). Please welcome the bots busters:

Feel like you’ve been cheated by a fellow? Do you suspect the human play of your opponent or you think a certain win can only be achieved by a machine? Then stop torturing yourself and call the bots busters.

Robert Wachtel, Masayuki "Mochy" Mochizuki and Michael "Falafel" Natanzon, three of the world’s top backgammon champions (numbers 9, 6 and 1 in the Giants of Backgammon list), who can descry a backgammon bot from an exceptionally good player, will serve as the judges in every complaint and suspicion of bot abuse. If the verdict is guilty, the penalty will be an immediate account suspension and a drawback to the cheated players’ accounts.

Use of backgammon bots, computer programs that offer games’ analysis as well as world class player’s advice on the correct play at any given position, is one of the most common and annoying cheats in online backgammon. The cheaters take advantage of the anonymity created by the online sphere and let the expert bots play instead of them, and often win their innocent opponents money that way.

Fortunately, most of these bots abuser can be traced with the help of Play65 backgammon bot busters, who plan to make the world of Play65 a safer place for fair players, by booting out the wrongdoer, taking the money from the bad guys and return it to the good ones.

"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."

Does the study and analysis of backgammon destroy the fun of playing the game? If you ask Nakamura Junko, 2008 Japan Open winner and the first female backgammon champion in the land of the rising sun, the answer is yes. "I’m sorry to say", she said in an exclusive interview with Play65 blog, "but as I study the game and become stronger, I have less "simple fun" feeling."

Nakamura Junko, who have been playing backgammon competitively for about 20 years, said that she never thought of backgammon as a masculine game, although in her homeland, exclusive backgammon tournaments for women (as common in chess) are "very well organized". Her experience in the international backgammon circuit (she played the Nevada State Backgammon Championship, the Nordic Open, and two Monte Carlo World Backgammon Championships) that women backgammon players "are usually assertive and blithe" and seeing how internet helps spreading backgammon to young men and women, she believes there is a good future ahead.

Women in Backgammon

 Nakamura Junko is one of the not too many women backgammon pros. Among her most famous female colleagues are the American Carol Joy Cole, the director of the Flint Area Backgammon Club in Michigan and the co-champion of the New York Doubles in the 2009 New York Metropolitan Backgammon Open; Dane Pia Jeppesen, the champion of the Backgammon & Poker on Board IX; Bulgarian Maria Krancheva, who has reached the final four at the 2007 WSOB UK Masters but disappeared from the backgammon map in the last couple of years, and probably many others. If I forgot to mention someone, please do not hesitate to add her name and short list of achievements in the comments.

Gil Galperin is the winner in Play65partners February promotion, taking home a brand new Wii console for bringing Play65 backgammon room the largest number of new members in February. In the following interview, Gil talks about his thriving affiliate businesses, the upsides and downsides of being an affiliate and provides some tips for beginners.  

Gil entered the affiliation business 9 years ago, and joined Play65 affiliate program about 2.5 years ago. Not knowing how to play backgammon, Gil has no special commitment to backgammon affiliation as he also promotes online casino and poker sites as well as adult sites (mostly dating).

- Did you make a special effort last month to win the Wii console award or is it your standard work?

- What do you think about Play65partners affiliate program? If you could change it, what would you do?

As for the program itself, I would add better marketing tools (banners, content). In general, I think the Play65 affiliate program is good. What can be improved is the Play65 product itself.

- Do you play on Play65?

I don’t play on Play65 as I don’t know how to play backgammon.  

- Which internet marketing tools do you use to promote?

I have some customized banners, but promote mostly through my forum. I do not use any default tools.      

- What are the things you enjoy the most about being an affiliate? What things you hate about it?

It is an easy question, which is common for most affiliates. The good thing about it is that you are the only boss of your time. The bad thing about it is that you might find yourself working alone at home, having dinner with yourself and talking to your cat/dog. 

- What tips can you give to a new affiliate in this business?

The best tip I can give is that you should simply understand what you promote and what your target segment is, is. If you promote backgammon, for example, try to concentrate on the areas where people actually heard about the game.

Everybody is talking about the 1970s as the heydays of backgammon. But if you missed those times, you can only imagine the luxurious yachts and exotic locations that accommodated the high stake backgammon tournaments, the lascivious groupies that surrounded backgammon stars and the stacks of cash piled at the end of the match.

In 1979, Sports Illustrated journalist Roger Dionne accompanied Paul Magriel, aka x-22, aka the human computer, in his "book-lined, television-less Manhattan apartment" to the palace of Prince Nawaf Ibn Abdul Aziz in Saudi Arabia (giving private backgammon lessons to the prince), and to a crowded Casino Las Vegas (losing to an anonymous player in a 25-points $10,000 match), managing to give a more focused look on what really happened there 30 years ago.