The slides from the 2013 British Backgammon Awards

2. Player of the Year: Arthur Wright
Most Feared Opponent: Julian Fetterlein
Tournament Director of the Year: Mike Main
Board Designer of the Year: Max Parker
Largest Contributor to the Game: Phil Tutchings
Most Courteous Player of the Year: Peter Bennet
International Player of the Year: Mochy

9. • Over 50 nominations received;
• Shortlists compiled based on number and quality of
nominations submitted;
• Shortlists put out to the backgammon-playing public to
vote;
• Over 200 votes received;
• Votes counted;
• Additional category of Friendliest Player sponsored by
PAF;
• Results here tonight…

10. • Player of the Year;
• Most Feared Opponent;
• Tournament Director of the Year;
• Board Designer of the Year;
• Largest Contributor to the Game;
• Biggest Contributor to International Backgammon of the Year;
• Most Courteous Player of the Year;
• International Player of the Year;
• Friendliest Player.

11. • Adrian Jones;
• Eric McAlpine
• Jon Barnes;
• Marcus Wrinch;
• Yan Kit Chan.

13. “Adrian has consistently been
one of the top ranked players
on the Dailygammon site. He
is a tough competitor and an
excellent backgammon
player”

14. “Eric has massively
improved his game over the
past year and is now
playing at an extremely low
error rate. He is top of the
tree in the St Albans club
according to XG”

15. “Jon is one of the hardest
players to face in the UK.
He is one of the top players
at the St Albans club and
wins a lot of matches”

16. “Marcus is a great player.
He won the Backgammon
London Open 2012 and
topped the BIBA rankings”

17. “Yan is an inspiration. Not
only does he play fantastic
backgammon but he does
so without being able to see
the board. He is already a
really good player and he
keeps getting better and
better”

20. • John Hurst;
• Julian Fetterlein;
• Peter Bennet;
• Raj Jansari;
• Stuart Mann.

22. “John is one of the UK’s
best players. He never
gives up – even when you
are a long way ahead of him
you know that he has the
ability to come back at you
– you never feel you have
him beaten until the very
last shake of the dice”

23. “In my opinion Julian is the
best player in the UK and
that makes him the most
feared!”

24. “Peter is unfailingly polite
but he is also a killer
competitor – you don’t want
to be drawn against Peter
as you know that you will
have one of the most
difficult matches in the
draw”

25. “Raj has been voted a Giant
of backgammon for good
reason. He is a super-sharp
tournament and money
game player who is very
difficult to beat”

26. “Stuart is always very
deliberate in his play. You
can tell that he is analysing
each decision deeply. He is
a fearsome opponent
because he doesn’t make
many mistakes”

29. • Irving Czechowicz;
• John Wright;
• Michael Crane;
• Mike Main;
• Phil Tutchings.

31. “Irv runs fun, well attended
tournaments. He is really
moving backgammon
forward with added prize
money and decent venues.”

32. “John organizes both the
Liverpool and the Blackpool
tournaments, the latter
almost single-handed.
These are both among the
most well-attended
tournaments in the UK
calendar.”

33. “Michael Crane has been
running backgammon
tournaments in the UK for
decades. Brighton remains
one of the best tournaments
on the calendar”

34. “Mike is the exemplar of
how tournaments should be
run. His tournaments run on
time, are properly managed
and he is scrupulously fair.
Mike is rightly recognised
internationally as our top
Tournament Director”

35. “Phil runs the Backgammon
Federation of Central
England and his
tournaments are always
really well put together. The
team tournaments are a
great format that is
thoroughly enjoyable”

38. • Alexandra Llewellyn;
• Crisloid;
• Geoffrey Parker;
• Genesis Naylor;
• Hector Saxe.

40. “Alexandra makes the most
artistic boards in the UK
today. She even makes
bespoke boards that will tell
your life story”

41. “Crisloid boards represent
fantastic quality at a
fantastic price. They play
beautifully”

42. “Parker boards are the
ultimate in luxury boards. I
love the feel of the board
and the way the checkers
glide. If I could have any
board in the world it would
be a Parker”

43. “Genesis has taken over
from his father brilliantly. No
other boards have the same
quality. They are just
beautiful.”

44. “For my money, Hector
Saxe make the best boards
in the world. All of the
components are perfectly
realised and it is a real
privilege to play on one.”

47. • Arthur Wright;
• Chris Bray;
• John Wright;
• Ray Kershaw;
• Richard Biddle.

49. “Arthur does a fantastic job
organising the international
tournaments on
DailyGammon. The amount
of effort that goes into his
reports is phenomenal and
much appreciated.”

50. “Chris does so much for
backgammon. His weekly
column in the Independent
makes the paper worth
buying. I also really like his
new website.”

51. “John runs two fantastic
tournaments in Blackpool
and in Liverpool. No-one
does more to bring players
together.”

52. “Ray is a great guy and has
written a wonderful new
addition to the backgammon
literature – Backgammon
Funfair. For this alone he
should win the award!”

53. “Richard has done lots for
backgammon in the UK. His
London League is one of
the best ways to play
backgammon in the Capital.
He is always trying to push
backgammon forward.”

56. • Mochi;
• Phil Simborg;
• Steen Gronbech;
• Stick Rice;
• Xavier Dufaure de Citres.

58. “Mochi contributes so much
to backgammon and
learning about
backgammon. His quizes
and lectures are best in
class.”

59. “Phil has done much to promote the game every
year including starting clubs at schools of all levels;
donating his time to the USBGF; teaching kids
free; giving free seminars on facebook several
times a week; he co-authored a new set of rules
and standards for the game and led the group that
wrote it for international adoption; he helped
design and promote Extreme Gammon and
opening ceremony and a new web site dedicated
to teaching backgammon and he is the top teacher
in the game with the most students. He writes
articles in several places and he lectures live more
than anyone in the world.”

60. “Steen runs the best
tournament in the world –
the Nordic Open. This
tournament has done so
much to contribute to
backgammon including the
Beginners Tournament and
Denmark Vs the World
Tournament”

61. “Stick is a fantastic
backgammon player,
teacher and writer. His
bgonline forums are a great
source of knowledge about
the game and allow anyone
access to the thought
processes of the best
players in the world.”

62. “Xavier deserves the award
for the biggest contribution
to international
backgammon for creating
Extreme Gammon – it has
taken backgammon
computers to a new level. It
is both the strongest bot
and the easiest to use.”

66. • Alan Beckerson;
• David Broomfield;
• Lawrence Powell;
• Mike Ireland;
• Simon Morecroft.

68. “Alan is always a
gentleman. He is one of the
nicest guys on the
backgammon scene.”

69. “David shows remarkable maturity,
courtesy and patience over a
backgammon board. He is
ALWAYS polite when asking for a
game, and when playing, even
when the dice are very unkind to
him. He takes defeat VERY
stoically for one so young. In my
experience he is much more
courteous, whether he wins or
loses, than many adult players.”

70. “Nicest player on the
circuit!”

71. “Mike is the most friendly
player I know. He always
has a smile and a kind word
to say.”

72. “Whether winning or losing
Simon is always courteous
and friendly. He is an
example to all backgammon
players.”

75. • Bob Koca;
• Bob Wachtel;
• Carter Mattig;
• Michi Kageyama;
• Ralf Jonas.

77. “Bob is one of the top
players in the world AND he
wins tournaments. His
performance at the World
Series of Backgammon has
gone down in legend.”

78. “Bob is one of the most
travelled players on the
international backgammon
circuit who always performs
well playing at a very low
error rate.”

79. “Carter is the biggest
character in backgammon.
He is great fun to play and
always has a funny line.”

80. “I think that Michi is the best
player in the world right
now. He has a fantastic
work ethic and is constantly
improving his game. He is
also a really nice guy.”

81. “Ralf has had a fantastic run
of tournament results that
demonstrate just how good
he is both technically and in
match play. He is a tough
opponent.”

84. "I thank every player in UK for giving me such a great award. I
encourage the development of the backgammon community
in the UK and all over the world. I hope that the backgammon
strategy book which Roland Herrera and I are publishing will
help it."

89. Player of the Year Eric McAlpine
Most Feared Opponent John Hurst
Tournament Director of the Year Mike Main
Board Designer of the Year Geoffrey Parker
Largest Contributor to the Game Arthur Wright
Biggest Contributor to International Backgammon Phil Simborg
Most Courteous Player of the Year David Broomfield
International Player of the Year Michi Kageyama
Friendliest Player Lawrence Powell