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.

The 33rd annual World Backgammon Championship ended up yesterday at the Fairmount Hotel in Monaco, Monte Carlo. The new World Backgammon Championship is Lars Trabolt of Denmark, who beat Portuguese Mario Sequieira 25-12 in the 25-point final match.

Full details, including personal experience of Falafel, Play65 blog correspondent (and number 4 at the Super Jackpot!) at the prestigious backgammon event, will be published soon. In the meantime, some pictures:

 Lars Trabolt, the 2008 World Backgammon Champion lifts the trophy and his 1 year old daughter

 The Japanese players leaving the trophies ceremony wearing traditional customs

 Play65 protects players from the blazing Monte Carlo sun

The 11th backgammon quiz, online since yesterday, brings up an odd story from 2004, directed indirectly to backgammon. Once upon a time in 2004, a local policeman was arrested in Patras, Greece while playing backgammon. The quiz asks about the cause of his arrest – was it due to an act of illegal parking, bank robbery, illegal fishing or stealing of an ambulance? If you know the answer, submit it and get into the weekly $20 bonus draw. 

Last week’s Play65 quiz brought up an even odder seeming story. As you may recall, it asked about a film festival in which a Salt Backgammon Tournament was held in the company of a huge salt backgammon sculpture. The right answer was Venice film festival, but it is only part of the answer.

Salt Backgammon Tournament

The Salt Backgammon Tournament, or "Una Notte di Sale" in Italy’s local language, was part of an installation made by Bettina Werner, a New York artist who is recognized with her salt crystal works of art. 

The Salt Backgammon Tournament took place during the 2005 Venice Film Festival at the ancient monastery in the Lido of Venice in the presence of some of Werner’s creations: huge backgammon board and dice composed of Sicilian salt. The winner of the special VIP backgammon tournament, the American shoe designer Stuart Weitzman, took home a $5,000 salt sculpture of a backgammon board.

The 2005 Venice Film Festival Salt Backgammon Tournament wasn’t the first time Bettina Werner artworks were involved in a backgammon competition, as equipment as well as the top prize. The artist has been making backgammon boards out of salt since 1994; since then, she was involved in several charity backgammon tournaments in which her famed salty boards were offered as a trophy.

Falafel, number 1 on 2007 Giants of Backgammon, will be posting on Play65 blog starting from now. Falafel is currently on his way to Monte Carlo and Cannes, to play at two of the most important tournaments in the world of backgammon, Monte Carlo World Championship and the last qualifier of the World Series of Backgammon, and at this year WSOB final event. From there, he will be reporting exclusively to Play65 blog readers live from his backgammon tournaments, share his thoughts, experiences and memories, and give backgammon advice. So, everyone, greet Falafel on his first post!

On the Road

I am about to leave for Monte Carlo, where I will be participating at the World Championship for the 9th time. The World Backgammon Championship in Monte Carlo is the most exciting event of the year, though I have never yet to win there. But who knows, I did not think I would be voted number 1 on the Backgammon Giants list, but I did and it was a very pleasant surprise…

Anyway, back to the backgammon tournaments. The Monte Carlo World Championship and the World Series of Backgammon final in Cannes are two of the most important events in backgammon. All the best backgammon players come to these tournaments from all over the world.

This year Play65 is sending 3 players to the WSOB final. These players are the winners of the three special WSOB qualifiers held by Play65 during the last three months. I assume that it will be their first experience at such a major live backgammon event. So let me tell you how it is going to be:

Besides playing backgammon all day long (which we all love), a live backgammon event also includes cocktail parties, gala dinners, and, of course, special prizes ceremonies where the players are awarded for their backgammon achievements.

Memories of Past Backgammon Tournaments

My best showing in Monte Carlo was 4 years ago, when I lost in the quarter finals and it all came down to DMP. What I remember most about that last game was that I played really well, but got very unlucky with the dice (isn’t that how we all feel after losing?).

Anyway, I’ve come along way since this unforgettable backgammon event: 2 years ago I actually won my really first big event which was in Las Vegas where I beat Carter Matting in a great final match that came down to DMP, and a few months ago I won my first European event, the Portuguese Open, which was a lot of fun, also at DMP!

Daily Routine of a Backgammon Giant

The last of Play65 WSOB qualifiers was held last Sunday, and the third player to occupy a seat at the 2008 WSOB final at the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes on the 21st of July, is a Dutch player named Aron Korper who is known in Play65 as matahari8 who will be celebrating his 50th birthday next month! Can’t think of a better way to celebrate a man’s first jubilee!  Aron Korper will be joining the other two winners Andrew Plater of England and Athanasios Lagopatis of Germany, who will be playing and mingling, probably for the first time, against the world’s top backgammon players. Good luck you all and have a great time!

Play65 backgammon quiz is starting its 10th week! And you thought it wouldn’t last! The 10th backgammon quiz is about an interesting backgammon event happened in 2005 (September 3, to be exact) as part of a film festival with a king-sized-bed-sized-sculpture made of salt. Do you know which film festival hosted the Salt Backgammon Tournament? If you do, don’t hesitate to submit your answer.

Last week’s backgammon quiz asked about the meaning of the Chinese backgammon variant Shan-liu. The correct answer was double six and the lucky winner whose online account is now $20 richer is sepo22 of Erevan, Armenia.

Here is a story that happened in a live backgammon tournament that cannot take place when playing online: 

A backgammon player named Badri Tsertsvadze got caught last week at the final day of the Partouche Gammon Tour in France with a crooked dice. The dice was found missing the number 2 but with extra pair of 5s. Needless to mention how this supposedly slight modification changes the player’s possibilities and opens him an entirely new world of good rolls. So the alleged crook was taken to the police by the Partouche Casino Security where he was charged with attempted fraud and another court discussion in his case was set to December. 

This attempt fraud story raises more questions: is it possible that the guy was playing with the wonder dice in other tournaments (including ones where he made some respectable achievements such as the 1st place at the French Open Masters, Last Chance winning at the 19th City Of Venice International Backgammon Tournament, among others)? And if so, which backgammon association can deal with this and protect the players from this kind of abuse? 

Therefore, Eric Guedj, the director of the PartoucheGammon Tour, decided to take advantage of this unpleasant circumstance and to invite his colleagues to form a new, stronger backgammon body, who will keep up his promise of fair and honest play in all backgammon tournaments. 

When playing backgammon online, things are not always quite so clean. Online players can do terrible things to one another, from calling out names to disconnecting right before losing, but at least you can be certain that the dice won’t be manipulated by your opponent.

crooked dice cooked rice

"CHARMEDONE75" of Bakersfield, California is the winner of Play65 8th quiz and the first woman to ever win the desirable $20 bonus!

The right answer to last week’s question (asking about the painter who included a backgammon board in his "The Triumph of Death" painting of 1562) is Pieter Bruegel. "The Triumph of Death", currently exhibited at the Prado Museum in Madrid, is a macabre masterpiece, which depicts on top of a deserted backgammon board, a herd of skeletons ambushing the living people and executing their deaths, either by drowning, throat-slitting, burring alive, etc.

 The Triumph of Death – on the right bottom: a backgammon board

The new quiz on Play65 asks about the meaning of the ancient Chinese backgammon variant called "Shan-liu". Does "Shan-liu" means battle on the board, twenty four triangles, hit and run or double six? If you know the answer, you might find yourself $20 richer next week, and if you don’t, be bold and take a wild guess; when worse comes to worse you might just not win!

And finally, a tribute to our first female winner:

California Girls by The Beach Boys: Oldies but Goldies

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.