In this week’s backgammon quiz, a little bit of background in the history of art will bring you nearer to the weekly $20 bonus and/or the quarterly $200 bonus. The question is: who painted the backgammon board shown on the 1562 "The Triumph of Death"? If you are still unfamiliar with the drill, go visit play65 backgammon quiz rules.

Last week’s backgammon question wondered about a royalty member who had organized the first ever major European tournament in Monte Carlo. The answer is Prince Alexis Obolensky and the winner is a lucky Play65 member of Bulgaria.

Prince Alexis Obolensky is seen as the father of modern backgammon, whom under his influence backgammon flourished in the USA and worldwide in the 1970s. Before organizing the European backgammon tournament in Monte Carlo in 1973, the Prince had set up the first significant international tournament in the Bahamas in 1964. As the president of the World Backgammon Club, Prince Alexis Obolensky took care of organizing large backgammon events decorated with everybody who is somebody in the social elite, and promoting modern backgammon worldwide.

More questions? Watch Play65 Bonus Slideshow to clear things out.
 

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Where will you play a backgammon variant called Fevga? If you know the right answer, fill in Play65 6th backgammon quiz and what do you know – you might win $20 bonus.

(And if you don’t know the answer, learning how to say backgammon in different languages can get you closer to the desired bonus).

At the same opportunity, you might like to know the correct answer to last week’s backgammon quiz. 15. If you have two checkers left to bear off and win the game, one on your 6 point, and the second on your 1 point, then in 15 of the possible 36 rolls you’ll be able to bear off both checkers.

Well, not really, but Kylie Minogue was the right answer on Play65 4th quiz, which was wondering about a famous singer who had spent her Ibiza holiday sun bathing and playing backgammon at the same time. The winner of the 4th quiz $20 bonus is KevinJessup of Victoria, Australia.  

Backgammon quiz no. 5 is about dice roll possibilities: if you need to bear off two checkers to win the game, while one checker is on your 6-point and the other on your 1, on how many possible dice rolls out of 36 can you bear off both checkers? The possible answers are: 12, 13, 14 or 15.

If you are answering play65 quiz for the first time, simply mark the correct answer, fill in the required details and click on submit. If you gave the right answer and your name came up in the weekly draw, you’ll be notified next Sunday and a $20 bonus will be on its way to your online account.

Still, can’t draw back from a promise, so especially for you, Kylie on Play65 blog:

Our acquaintance, Phil Simborg, reports from the Chicago Open ABT Tournament:

I am sad to report that I lost in the Open and am playing last chance (I did win the first two rounds including a win over the great Herb Roman in Round 2).

In the Open Div, the Semis are Sam Pottle vs. John Jennings and Chris Yep vs. Alan Grunwald   (I own John and Alan in the Calcutta along with my partner, Scott Casty, who is in the finals of Intermediate, and we own him as well!)

In one of my later matches, this interesting positions came up.   Black trails 0-4 in a match to15 and is on roll.  Cube action?

Think you’re good enough to play at the World Series of Backgammon?

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and get a chance to win €100.000. That’s right:

 €100.000 in CASH!!!

* Play65 WSOB package includes: 
- A flight to Cannes, France.
- 5 Days accomodation.
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(WSOB final in Cannes is schedueled to July 22nd, flight is on July 17th).            

Read the amazing story of "The Wizard of Oz", a 22 unprofessional backgammon player named Oz, who played so remarkably at the 2008 Portuguese Open, they had to come up with a new trophy especially for him.

Oz Cohen-Zada is a 22 years old ex-serviceman of Israel, who, following his win at the Backgammon Championship of Israel organized by Play65 last March, got to represent his country at the WBA Portuguese Open 2008 held at the beginning of May. 

While Oz’s backgammon experience sums up to three years of amateur playing during his army service, his opponents at the backgammon event held in Casino Estoril in Portugal were the world’s leading pro players with Israeli Michel Natanzon aka Falafel, German Götz Hildsberg and Francois Tardieu of France among them. Nevertheless, Oz made it into the Masters Division.

On his first match at the tournament, Oz had defeated his German opponent Andreas Humke 13-0. Soon after, he found out that he played against the wrong opponent, and his came was out of the bracket. Therefore, he had to play another game. In his second game, Oz lost to the Portuguese millionaire Jose Salema and dropped out of the Masters Division (which eventually won by Oz’s compatriot Falafel).

Oz came back at the Consolation Division, where he continued amazing everyone by winning four recognized backgammon players. After beating Carter Mattig of the US, Oz made it to the semi-finals, by dropped out of the lucrative competition after losing the another Play65 qualifier, Denis Etienne of Sweden. 

By the time he made it to the Last Chance event, Oz was recognized as a phenomenon and he was nicknamed "The Wizard of Oz". He started out with an absolutely shocking triumph over French backgammon champ Francois Tardieu and continued winning Badri Tsertsevadze and Rida Hassan on his way to the top, where he lost to the Veteran Robert Wachtel of the United States. At the end of the 2008 Portuguese Open, Oz Cohen-Zada received a special fair play prize at the awards ceremony. 

The Wizard of Oz contemplating his next move

And in this guest post Phil Simborg is reporting from 14th Annual Ohio State Backgammon Championship:

I was pleased not only to attend this very fine ABT event, but I was also happy to be the Auctioneer for the Calcutta. I guess I got carried away doing the auction, as I ended up buying 4 teams with my partner. The good news is that someone came into the money on 3 of the 4 teams, so we made a few bucks on the deal in addition to our fun.

On Saturday morning, I gave a lecture to Intermediate and Beginner players on the basics of tournament play. There were 43 people in attendance, and I am told it was well-received. Many of the players there are friends and acquaintances from Play65 and other on-line play.

Then the actual play began, and for me, it was very exciting as I won my first three matches, beating some very fine Championship Level players. A good friend of mine, Greg Merriman, said he had an amazing place to go for dinner, and we ended up spending a lovely 2-hour dinner break with Scott Casty at one of the finest gourmet restaurants in the country by the name of Johnny’s. What a great surprise. It truly was one of the finer gourmet meals I’ve ever had.

The problem is, however, you cannot have a really fine meal like that without some really fine wine, and at $120 a bottle, we did indulge ourselves. Normally, I make it a rule never to drink alcohol when I am still alive in the main, but this meal demanded an exception, and the wine was as unbelievable as the food. I am sure I was not tipsy after the meal, but the results were sure tipsy, as I proceeded to lose my next three matches. I can’t blame it on the wine, however, as Scott drank and ate as much as I, and he won all of his matches but one and took the award for First Consolation.

It was a great event, well-attended, and I was also thrilled to see an old, great friend win the Championships.

See results below:

Championship: 1-Antoinette-Marie Williams (NY) 2-Robert Lessard (Canada) 1st Consolation: Steve Hast (PA)

Advanced: 1-Rose Sheedy (IN) 2-Chris Knapp (Canada) 1st Consolation: Scott Casty

Novice: 1-Ryan Hast (PA)

Masters: Thomas Meyer (IL)

Doubles: Peggy Jackson (OH) & Alan Martin (FL)

Following our newly born tradition of 1st person tournament coverage, Play65 blog is happy to host a special guest post by Phil Simborg, a legendary backgammon writer and a professional backgammon player who reports, especially for Play65 blog, on the last Las Vegas backgammon tournament. 

Las Vegas Tournament Report

By Phil Simborg 

Though I didn’t win the tournament, it was a most exciting one for me as I did win the 2 point Mimi match side event, and I enjoyed the competition, the trophy, and the money. 

Many of the top players in the world were in attendance in this highly prestigious event which was extremely well-run by Howard Markowitz and his staff. 

In the main event, I had one of the most exciting tournament as well, as I beat some of the best players in the world including Nack Ballard, Bill Robertie, and Perry Gartner. My luck failed me toward the end, and that left the door open for one of the all-time great players, Joe Russell, to advance to the finals. 

In the finals he met a top local player from Las Vegas, Drew Giavannis, and Drew won a most exciting finals 17-14. 

In the Super Jackpot, my good friend John O’Hagan defeated Nack Ballard. 

                                                                John O’Hagan            vs.          Nack Ballard

In the finals of my mini match, I had a very tough play to make. It is double match play, and I was black and it looked like I was about to win easily when I rolled the ONLY NUMBER that leaves a shot, 6-5. The question is, should I take two checkers off or should I move a checker to the ace point. What would you do?

Answer: The right play is to move the checker to the ace point. If he does roll a 1, he still has to get by your 4-prime, and he might even roll a 1 with a 4 which gives you a double shot in his inner board. If he rolls a 6, he’s out of your hair and you probably win the race easily. 

There was a big crowd watching, and a lot of side bets, and a couple of the best players in the world bet on the wrong play. Myself, over the board, I wasn’t sure, so to everyone’s amazement, I flipped a coin! It came up heads, I made the wrong play and got hit! The good news is that I rolled 6-6 and went on to win the game.