The 31st World Backgammon Championship held from 10 -16 July at the fabulous Fairmont Luxury Resort in Monte Carlo saw 212 players competing in a heady mix of competition in the desire to become World Champion. What started with an entry level of 335 players soon, diminished to the final number of 212. In five days of intensive competition the number reduced down to the final two, Philip Vischjager of Netherlands and Luigi Villa of Italy.
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This was Vischjager’s debut at the World Championship’s; he hold’s the record of having become a finalist in 4 major Dutch tournaments, with back-to-back performances. His passage to the final was somewhat easier, before finally defeating Japanese player Shino Luigi in the semis. Whereas his opponent Luigi Villa came through a particular tough game in the semis against Andreas Humke of Germany after hauling himself back from losing in a Crawford game.
This made for an intense and competitive final watched over by some of the greats of the game, such as Paul Magriel, John OHagan, Falafel Nathanson, Dennis Carlston, and Mike Svobodny.
Dennis Carlston the winner of the 2005 World Backgammon Championship was inconsolable when he lost the opportunity to enroll his name in the very elite list of players, who had retained the title by winning in successive years.
Whether these players succumbed to nerves, or on the day just weren’t good enough, the Championship’s having no respect for title or for reputation, only they can tell you why they didn’t win.
But throughout their movements were captured by TV cameras who followed their every move with an almost intrusive awareness, which could have provided additional pressure to their game. If this is the case then they will need to get used to it, because TV coverage is set to become a big sponsor of backgammon in the months to come. True Money Games, Snowie were the key sponsors providing the total prize money of 240,000, with the overall winner taking 75,000.
A breakdown of the Championships follows:
The result of championship has been compiled from the website (http://www.chicagopoint.com/).
CHAMPIONSHIP (212):
1-Philip Vischjager (Netherlands), 2-Luigi Villa (Italy), 3/4-Andreas Humke (Germany) / Kazuhiro Shino (Japan/England); First Consolation:1C-Fabrizio Lo Surdo (Italy), 2C-Pierre Svara (Monaco), 3C/4C-Martin Foldager (Denmark) / Daisuke Katagami (Japan); Second Consolation: 1C-Masayuki Mochizuki (Japan), 2C-Slava Pryadkin (Ukraine), 3C/4C-Oscar Carlsson (Sweden) / Johan Moazed (Iran/Sweden); 1LC-Jan Jacobowitz (Germany), 2LC-K.C. Carlston (USA). Ladies Prize: Pia Jeppesen (Denmark).
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