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.

Inspired and morally supported by Chicago Point, last week we introduced you to the bald truth and asked you to recognize the bright backgammon minds behind the shiny scalps. And now – the answers:

1.   

Our number 1 in the best baldest backgammon players parade is Bob Wachtel, number 9 in the 2007 Giants of Backgammon list, former World Backgammon Championship finalist and the author of the bestselling backgammon book In The Game Until The End, which presents a fresh and original approach to backgammon endgames.

2.

Howard Markowitz, the director of the Nevada Backgammon Association, which organizes the prestigious Las Vegas Open backgammon tournament and the director of the Monte Carlo World Backgammon Championship, also closed the last Giants of Backgammon list on number 64.

3.

Kenny Nissen, the director of the Dansk Backgammon Forbund, the Danish Backgammon Federation, that organizes the very prestigious Nordic Open and raises generations of hairy and hairless backgammon champs, such as the upcoming number 4 and number 5 in our list.

4.

Dane Lars Trabolt is the current World Backgammon Champion. The close up of his hairless head was taken in Monte Carlo last year during the trophies ceremony.

5.

Lucky for Michael Larsen, his backgammon career advances faster pace than his balding. The Great Dane was one of the winning Play65 team in 2008 Nordic Open, championing the Nations Cup and Team Event and finishing on number four at the Consultation Doubles.

6.

Bald and balding: right to left: Giant of Backgammon Falafel Natanzon of Israel with nothing to hide and Tassilo Rzymann of Austria with some cover up, getting ready for a soccer marathon aimed to determine the best kicker among backgammon players.

And who is the mysterious bald from our bonus question?

Maybe a little bit of context can clarify the mystery:

So, what happened to the 3 Play65 qualifiers who had made it into the final of the 2007-8 World Series of Backgammon in Cannes?

As you recall, Play65 sent 3 players to the 2008 WSOB final at the Palm Beach Casino in the French Riviera. The 3 players - Andrew Plater of England, Athanasios Lagopatis of Germany and Aron Korper of the Netherlands – were the winners of the special qualifying tournaments held on Play65 throughout May, June and July. This trio got to play against the world’s top ranked backgammon players and against online and live qualifiers as themselves.

Aron Korper, who played a live backgammon game for the first time, was defeated 3-2 by Falafel Natanzon, the Israeli backgammon player who was named 2007 Giant of Backgammon, and dropped out of the competition. Athanasios Lagopatis, who was placed against Rida Hassan, number 1 on World Series of Backgammon ranking list, lost 3-0 and left the tour. Andrew Plater played against John Hurst, the winner of the UK Masters, the first stop of the 2007-8 World Series of Backgammon, won 3-2 and progressed to the quarter finals.

On the quarter finals of the WSOB finale, Andrew Plater faced French Frederick Andrieu, another super satellite qualifier, and lost 3-0. Frederick Andrieu, on the other hand, moved up to the semi finals and then to the finals, beat American Robert (Bob) Koca and won the prestigious WSOB Championship title and the grand prize - €100,000.

In addition, two members of Play65 Danish team, who previously represented our backgammon site at the 2008 WSOB Nordic Open, played the WSOB Final as part of the 8 top ranked players in the world. Jacob Simonsen made it to the quarter finals, where he lost to the 2008 WSOB finalist, Bob Koca. At the same time, Karsten Bredahl lost to Falafel, yet became the number 1 ranked player in the world with 1750.8 rating points.

Since photographing during the WSOB final was prohibited, here are some more pics from the Riviera Cup:

The last stop of this year World Series of Backgammon is going on since Thursday, July 17 at the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes, France. The final table is due for today and the 2007-8 WSOB final table, with 16 players – 8 of them are the highest ranked players in the series and the 8 are online qualifiers including 3 who won on Play65 tournaments - is scheduled for tomorrow.

Similar to the Monte Carlo World Backgammon Championship, and apparently any other international backgammon tournament, the Dane people stood out above the jumble of nations and languages with backgammon stars such as Lars Trabolt (straight from Monte Carlo where he was crowned World Champion) and Gus Hansen (who arrived from a poker tourney in Las Vegas directly to the quarter finals), Pia Jeppesen (who beat her American counterparts in a row and dropped out of the competition at the quarter finals, following her loss to Gus Hansen, whom she had to pleasure to face, for the first time in her career) and Kenny Nissen (head of the Dansk Backgammon Forbund, the Denish Backgammon Federation). However, despite the Danish superiority, the Danish team did not win the annual Nations Cup. Germany team, headed by Gots, took the trophy to their homeland.

Today, the semi-finals are about to take place. Unfortunately, Falafel Natanzon is out of the competition. After losing to Jakob Holdt-Simonsen on the first round and moving to the Consolation, our man at the Riviera Cup was defeated, again by Holdt-Simonsen, at the 7th round. Yet, he left us with pictures of him playing against Gus Hansen and wearing Play65 cup.

Gus Hansen vs. Falafel Natanzon at the WSOB Riviera Cup

As for now, the competition lies between Robert Lindbom of Sweden who will battle against American Robert Koca and Gus Hansen who will be playing English Nicky Check.

Karsten Bredahl, the Dane backgammon player who represented Play65 at the recent 2008 Nordic Open, has published his memories from the prestigious event on the renewed internet backgammon magazine, GammOnLine. Some highlights from Karsten’s Nordic Open diary:

On the Championship Flight Draw:

"…Personally I should go for "no. 3", but expectations were small as the field contained a record number of 154 players in the Champ Flight and 33,500 Euros for the winner.The draw was made and I received the worst possible draw…. I was in the same quadrant as Gus Hansen, Goetz Hildsberg, Falafel, Mochy, Thomas Hansen, Marinos Hindkjaer and Lars Nielsen."

On the Consolation Flight:

"…I should have played "the consolation-champ" Rida Hassan (Egypt)…I began with absolutely natural dice and got ahead 6-0. Now I began to feel my own medicine and all of a sudden I was trailing 6-9… In the second attempt I managed to roll a 6-2 and after that I forced Mr. Hassan down to an acepoint game with borderline bad timing. He never hit any of the 2 shots I left him and I was in the final where some unknown guy from Japan was waiting for me."

As you recall, the "unknown guy from Japan" was no other than Masayuki Mochizuki aka Mochy (no. 6 on the 2007 Giants of Backgammon list), who was later crowned Consolation Champion and Karsten the Consolation Finalist.

The players sponsored by Play65 at the WSOB 2008 Nordic Open Backgammon Championship gained impressive achievements individually and as a team. The four Danish backgammon players - Henrik Løber, Karsten Bredahl, Jakob Holdt-Simonsen and Michael Kjærgaard Larsen - have all made Play65 very proud of its protégés at the Nordic Open held in March 20-24 at the Marienlyst Hotel and Casino in frozen Helsingør, Denmark.

Details right after the photographic proof:

 Play65 team at the Nordic Open says cheese

The 20^th Nordic Open Backgammon Championship was the second event in the series of prestigious World Series of Backgammon (WSOB). Took place in Helsingør, Denmark from March 20 until March 24, the backgammon tournament featured about 200 of the world’s top backgammon players including 4 players who were sponsored by Play65 backgammon site, that from now on and back will be known as "Play65 Team". 

The Play65 Team has revealed its championship potential in the various events that consisted the WSOB 2008 Nordic Open. Together, as Play65 Team, they have topped their contestants twice: first on the Nations’ Cup event that featured 12 teams and second at the Team Event in which they beat the Japanese Backgammon League. As individuals, the foursome didn’t embarrass their Play65 shirts but the other way around: Karsten Bredahl is the runner up at the Championship Consolation Division while Michael Larsen & Jakob Simonsen together semi finalized the Consultation Doubles event!

 One more smile to the camera and you’re free to go