By Robert Wachtel.
Perhaps the most tireless ambassador of backgammon today is the Japanese superstar and world’s current #1 player, Masayuki Mochizuki (aka Mochy). A true professional, Mochy not only consistently performs at the highest level in backgammon tournaments both on his native island, in the United States and on the European circuit; he teaches as well. His web site, http://back-gammon.tv/offers video lessons for players at all levels; and most of the time, if you play in one of the backgammon tournaments he attends, your registration fee will buy you a seat at one of his neatly organized, instructive lectures.
The perennial challenge, for vagabonds like Mochy and me, is that of planning backgammontournament itinerary months in advance. In deciding whether to attend a particular tournament (or sequence of tournaments), there are many factors to take into account: your financial expectation (based upon the expected strength of the field, side action, added money, etc); the charm of a venue and quality of its accommodations; the difficulty involved in reaching the location from your previous site; your possible need for a rest week or time to decompress from the last competition, and so on.
This year we faced a particularly difficult choice. Most of the world’s top players and serious amateurs had assembled at the Nordic Open over the Easter weekend for that premier event, which featured the second edition of the Denmark vs. the Rest of the World match. And once embarked where to go next? That question is not a crucial one for most Europeans, especially Scandinavians -- for from Copenhagen they can easily just go home. But for those of us who hail from other continents, home is far, far away. If our trip is to make sense, we need another backgammon tournamentor two to attend – as soon as possible.
This requirement has been fulfilled, over the last twenty years or so, by the convivial Italian organizer, Marco Fornasair, who has held a tournament in the pretty resort town of Velden, Austria, on the weekend following Easter for the last twenty years or so. It’s not far from Copenhagen to Velden. I made the trip last year and had a great time – though as usual, I won nothing.
But this year, Marco’s rival, the Iranian-German organizer Chiva Tafazolli, decided to challenge him for this desirable weekend. Rightly or wrongly, Marco has always called his Velden event the European Backgammon Championship; and this year, Chiva chose the same post-Easter weekend to stage his own backgammon tournament in Cyprus, calling it the “European Professional Backgammon Championship.” Chiva’s tournament, with its inclusion in his cumulative-points-European-race tour (EBGT), added money, and all the perks that the Cyprus casinos have to offer was sure to attract most of the world’s greats: and indeed, even Eli Roymi and Falafel, the Israeli aces who had won the main and consolation flights last year at Velden, were headed towards the east-Mediterranean island. Nonetheless, after a great deal of contemplation, I finally decided to take a break and relax at Marco’s low-key event. Among top players, I was joined only by Mochy, who had agreed to present a lecture for the intermediates in Marco’s backgammon tournament on the proper use of the doubling cube. I made the most of this circumstance: catching Mochy in a weak moment, I asked him if he would be my partner in the consulting doubles event. He graciously accepted: and with the sole remaining “giant” in the field on my side, I reckoned that I could look forward to achieving a decent result – for once.