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BackgammonGalaxy UK Open 2022

Home	Register	Players	Format/Schedule	Fees	Prizes
Venue	Rules	Sponsors/Guests	UK Youth Event	Contact Us	Links

	Our main sponsors this yeare are BackgammonGalaxy who are very kindly providing 2 boards for the winner of both the masters and imtermediate flights. Marc Olsen is the CEO and founder. He achieved mastery in backgammon in his early 20s and most famous for making youtube commentary on backgammon, as well as having written the three best selling books: From Basics to Badass, Pure Strategy and Cube Like a Boss. He is Grandmaster in the BMAB federation and played 3.1 in PR average in the first UBC contender tournament in 2020. Also he has been on the top32 in the Giants of Backgammon list the last two lists, for 2017 and 2019. We are hopeful Marc will be able to join us this year but cannot commit until nearer the time. Backgammongalaxy are also sponsoring this years 53rd World Championship in Monte Carlo. Full information can be found at their facebook page and the official website.
	Joseph Tohme, the founder of Joseph Tohme & Sons, started the mission of keeping alive ancient traditions by creating handcrafted Backgammon board games and then handed the mission to his son Elie Tohme who is now pursuing the growth of the business. Today we have already distributed Backgammon boards for more than 150 celebrities and 9 presidents. We currently have unique boards collections handmade in Lebanon with high-quality wood and meticulously handcrafted. Our line is not only limited to the boards that we already have, you can create and customize the board to match your style and needs: Since 2018 we began engraving in English and Arabic personalized calligraphy, pictures, and messages on our Backgammon boards weather from the inside or outside so they can be the perfect meaningful gift for your beloved ones or a unique element for your home. Joseph Tohme & Sons will be providing 2 prize boards.
	Our Super Jackpot sponsor is the World Backgammon Federation Our goal is simple: We want to unite nations from all over the world in our shared passion: Backgammon. For that the federation and its membernations host 10 World Championships, it organizes backgammon lessons for young students and works together intensively with its strong team and partners. Until 2023 we will proudly call 40 nations from America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia members of our federation. WBGF will be providing a prize board for the winner of SUper Jackpot 1
	Operated by Rowena Paliwoda ButterfliesAndBoxes is my Etsy shop where I sell all sorts of hand made one-off craft items in wood, leather and cloth. Now retired, I find I have lots of time to enjoy my crafting hobbies as well as working on improving my Backgammon skills. Making Backgammon accessories is the perfect way to combine both hobbies. Please contact me through Etsy or look for me at various UKBGF Backgammon Tournaments around the country. Rowena is very kindly donating over £200 worth of accessories to be given away over the weekend.
	Our sponsor for the UKBGF NATIONAL YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022 is none other than Michihito Kageyama “Michy” is one of the most notable Japanese players in the international backgammon scene and is currently ranked at #2 in the current Giants of Backgammon rankings which he won in 2019. Michy started playing backgammon professionally in 1997, and since then he authored a number of backgammon books including Opening Concepts, Endgame Technique and Back Checker Strategy. The winner of this year's event will receive The Michihito Kageyama Trophy, signed/dedicated copies of his backgammon books and the opportunity to play an online match against him with streaming / commentary

We are honoured to welcome Art (the Mathemagician) Benjamin to this years event.

Art is both a professor of mathematics and a magician as well as being formidable BG player. He has combined his two loves to create a dynamic presentation called "Mathemagics," suitable for all audiences, where he demonstrates and explains his secrets for performing rapid mental calculations faster than a calculator. He has presented his high energy talk for thousands of groups throughout the world. His TED talks on mathematics have been viewed over 50 million times.

He is a two-time winner of the American Backgammon Tour (including the 2020 ABT Online) and write's a regular column for the USBGF magazine, called Math Overboard.

In addition to playing in the tournament he will be presenting a demonstration of his math skills for us mere mortals on Saturday morning and a lecture on "Solving the Race with EPC" on Sunday morning.

Check out some of his videos on our links page and on his own website

Joe Dwek, author of Backgammon For Profit is very kindly providing a bespoke trophy for our event. He will be joining us on the Sunday to present to the winner of the Masters flight.

Joe was born in Cairo in 1938 and was educated at Manchester University and Harvard Business School. He has played backgammon since 1961 when he learned the hard way: for money by trial and error. From 1965 to 1971 he worked in Wall Street, since when he has devoted most of his time to professional backgammon He has won tournaments in the USA as well as most of the major events in Europe. No player from the UK has ever won the World Championship but Joe has come the closest to doing so. In 1976 he won the prestigious European Championships and then, in 1981, he faced Lee Genud in the World Championship final in Monte Carlo.