The US Open 2010 will take place in South San Francisco.

Bigger, better, nicer !

The 2nd US Open has been moved from Fresno to the Bay aera, South San Francisco, just 2 miles away from SFO international airport. The venue is an all-suites hotel at $99/night including breakfast, free parking, shuttle to/from airport and free internet.

This 4 days event will be part of the World Backgammon Tour (WBGT) and the American Backgammon Tour (ABT) and features a new format in the Last Chance.

Join the fun, compete against the best US players and earn valuable points towards the WBGT point race and your chance to qualify for the Grand Finale of WBGT with approx. $50,000 prize-pool.

Download your brochure and start making travel plans.

The increase of popularity and the many requests from players have forced  WBA to have the 5th edition of the "Portuguese Open", preceded by the Davis Doubles event, from 23rd to 27th of June 2010 in Estoril, a hop away from Lisbon.

End June guarantees warm temperatures and sunny days in Estoril.

This tournament is part of the "European Backgammon Tour 2010". All matches of the Champions Division will count towards the point race and the winner is granted a seat at the Grand Finale of the EBGT, to compete for a minimum prize-pool of 20,000 €.

The new venue is the SANA hotel, across the beach and within walking distance to the tables, slots and poker actions of the casino. The hotel offers a good backgammon rate, wifi, a nice playing room, a club to party and a pool to relax.

Download your brochure , make travel arrangements and join the fun and the competition at one of Europe´s most popular tournaments.

ISTAVDER, the Istanbul Backgammon Club, affiliated to WBA, will be celebrating its second anniversary with a wonderful tournament at the Bostanci Hotel from 26th to 28th of February in beautiful Istanbul.

This is what you have been waiting for:

6 top tournaments

3 continents

4 of the biggest Federations & Associations

3 ways to qualify & 16 qualified players

1 Grand Finale

$ 50,000 Prize-Pool

Check out the website and start making travel arrangements for the Nordic Open, the US Open, the London Open, the Swedish Open, the Japan Open and the French Open.

EBGT Season III is over and the winners are:

1. Jürgen Orlowski (Germany)

2. Frans BERGI (Austria)

3. Matvey "Falafel" NATANZON (Israel)

Full results can be viewed here.

The 3 "P"s pay off - Performance, Perseverence, Participation.

The point race was close til the very end of the last stop in Cyprus. Had Orlowski not managed to make it to the final, BERGI would have kept his lead.

Thanks to all 150 players of the EBGT.

EBGT will be back in 2010 with a new system: 16 players will qualify for a Grand Finale and compete for 20,000 € prize-pool.

News to be published here soon...

Phil Simborg´s new website is up. Phil not only gives online lessons to beginners, intermediates and advanced players but has put up a website with daily positions, explanation and other topics on backgammon.

Check out his site at: www.simborgbackgammonlessons.com

Everything about the game of online backgammon can be found on backgammontips.org, a site dedicated to the internet version of this game.

Read useful backgammon tips for internet players.

A report in French on backgammon in general and the WBA tournament in Enghien-les-Bains.

One of the countries where backgammon enjoys enormous popularity, Israel, is celebrating its 60th birthday. On this occasion, a special exhibition has been kicked off at the "Martin Luther King jr. Memorial Library" in Wasghinton DC.

"The Reconciliation Exhibition" presents 60 creations where backgammon boards have been turned into artistic objects dealing with the meaning of reconciliation as a starting point for the process of understanding and patience towards fellow man.

The exhibition of artistic backgammon boards presents a fascinating cross-section of present-day Israeli artists and is constructed as a “suitcase exhibition” designed especially for mobility. Each box contains additional photographs and material about the artists and their creation and in fact, the backgammon box acts as a “pocket exhibition” for each artist.

May the prayers of the artists for peace come true and this sign of reconciliation will prophesize peace and tranquility among all nations worldwide.

Please visit the web pages of the exhibition here . 

WBA is proud to announce the successful registration of SassanGammon (c), a new and interesting variation of backgammon.

The rules are the same. To start, each player rolls one die to decide who starts. The higher number has to play the combination of both dice as starting move. After the initial roll, each player rolls 3 dice instead of 2, but his opponent takes away 1 die, leaving him the combination of 2 dice to play. He completes his roll by lifting the dice after his play and putting them in the dice-cup of his opponent ,who now, has to roll with 3 dice. All other rules remain. ONly when a player has a checker on the bar, he rolls with 2 dice and plays them if he can. This game can be played with the doubling cube, the Jacoby and Crawford rule. 

More for intermediate and advanced players, this game has a faster pace than the regular form of it and needs to think more ahead than backgammon. Opening rolls are much more different than in regular backgammon. Gammons and backgammons are much harder to achieve.

This new variation of the game will be offered as side-event on future tournaments of WBA.

Try it out - you´ll like it... 

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