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Backgammon


Backgammon is probably both the oldest and the most youthful game in the world.
Lelia Hattersley, 1930 1) 


backgammon board This website is dedicated to the most thrilling board game ever - Backgammon! Admittedly this may not be a fully objective view  smiley
When you start to learn the game you will soon recognise that Backgammon is equally very entertaining and thrilling. And it is of a similar complexity to Chess or Go 2) . You can play and study the game of Backgammon your whole life long and still will not reach complete perfection. So it keeps you fascinated - addiction to the game is the normal state for most Backgammon players   lol
Main differences compared to chess are: In Backgammon, apart from skill, the luck factor is of some importance; you have to accept losing against weaker playing opponents from time to time. If you are a bad loser you should not start playing Backgammon; better to play Chess or Go, where no luck is involved - so you know who to blame for losing.
In the long run however, good, skilful play will be rewarded. For this reason you'll always find the same players at the top of the ranking lists.
To study good Backgammon literature is a good way to improve at Backgammon. Therefore the first section of my website is about Backgammon books. The backgammon bibliography, containing approx. 300 books, is available sorted by authors name, book title and year of publication. Each single book is presented with a picture of the front cover, details about the book and books reviews (if available). Particularly recommended books are introduced in the recommended reading section.
In the second section of this website I offer some tips on how to improve your backgammon. For studying the game you should use good backgammon software, which enables you to analyse your matches or positions of interest and identify the correct decisions. The purely theoretical study of the game is not sufficient to become a good player of course - you also have to play. The required opponents can be found on the internet at one of the many online play sites. Last, but not least, you may be interested in some backgammon related articles.
Into the third section of this website I have stuffed everything not fitting into the other sections, i.e. a tabular history of backgammon, a very ample collection of top backgammon matches, answers to many frequently asked questions (FAQ), photos of some splendid backgammon events and some very wise backgammon quotes.
Enjoy! Any feedback is appreciated!
Footnotes
1) Lelia Hattersley in her book How to Play the New Backgammon, p.9

2) Admittedly Chess and Go are of a somewhat higher complexity. All three games are of such complexity that you could study them a whole lifetime without ever reaching perfection.

There are different methods of measuring games complexity. The most interesting, yet imprecise, method I ever came across is the one by Bill Robertie.
He defines skill differentials: If a player A beats player B in about 70 - 75% of the time, they are one skill differential apart. The number of skill differentials between an absolute beginner and a world class player is the complexity number of a game. The games are assessed to be of the following complexity numbers:
Backgammon: 8
Chess: 14
Go: 40
Note: For backgammon the definition of a skill level applies to winning a match of about 25 points, not a single game.

Source: Magazine "Inside Backgammon", Vol. 2, No. 1, p.4
Last update: 4th January 2007