New for 2021: the UKBGF Online League and Knockout!
The first season of the UKBGF Online League was launched on 16 January. More about these competitions on the blog and the full guide for participants can be downloaded as a pdf here.
If you registered for these events but did not receive introductory emails from ukbgfonline@gmail.com please first check your spam and junk folders and add this email address to your safe senders list. Please also remember that when you log in to the results site, your username is your email address (not your ukbgf.com member profile username), but your password is your ukbgf.com member profile password. This can be reset here if you have forgotten it.
You can still sign up to join for the April – June season, and for the 2022 knockout.
UKBGF Code of Conduct
A new UKBGF Code of Conduct has been published to set and maintain a standard for acceptable behaviour for all players. The Code can be found here [PDF] and on the Resources page of the website under section 3. Rules and Conduct.
UKBGF Board Elections
Voting closed on 4th October 2020 to elect nine UKBGF Board members who will hold office for a two-year period from January 2021. The list of candidates can be found here and the successful candidates were announced in the Election Results blogpost published on 11th October 2020.
COVID-19
14th September 2020 update: New social distancing rules here and here have the force of law and still prohibit virtually all live backgammon. There is currently no target date for its resumption – see the ‘Rule of Six‘ blogpost for the latest guidance. As previously announced:
Both the 2020 and 2021 UKBGF Tours have been cancelled due to the pandemic. There will be no TWI event in January 2021 or January 2022.
While live play is suspended there are of course many online options and there is a new Online Results website for eligible online tournaments. Some online platforms are listed here on our ‘Resources’ page, with a more detailed discussion about the technical requirements here. The UKBGF rated match policy generally precludes the inclusion of online match results in the Live Ratings but, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, some pre-authorised, time limited exceptions to this rule have been granted. We do not anticipate granting any further exceptions during the pandemic and, in any case, no online match played after 30th June 2020 will be included in the Live Ratings, even if within the scope of an allowed exception. Furthermore, we reserve the right to exclude live tournament results if it appears that they have taken place in deliberate violation of the above rules.
Backgammon is one of the world’s truly great board games. Versions of the game have been played for about 5,000 years – a testament to its enduring fascination. Hundreds of people play live games regularly in the UK and thousands play regularly online.
If you are new to backgammon you can learn how to play by downloading and reading Chris Bray’s ‘Introduction to Backgammon’ which is one of the Newcomer’s Guides on our Resources page. If you are familiar with the game, but are hesitant about visiting a club or entering a tournament, other guides in this section might also be helpful, such as A Beginner’s Introduction to Tournaments and Tournament Etiquette for the Uninitiated. The Resources page also has a link to the current version of the UKBGF Tournament Rules, as well as other useful links.
There are many live tournaments throughout the year which you can enter, either weekly or monthly, at the growing number of backgammon clubs throughout the UK. Most of these clubs submit results to the UKBGF ratings system, enabling you to keep track of your progress in relation to the 1700+ other players in the live national ratings. As you progress you may also want to enter some of the larger annual tournaments, both in the UK and abroad.
The UKBGF oversees the annual UK Open and the UK Clubs Championship and also coordinates the UKBGF Tour, comprising about a dozen tournaments around the UK. All of these can be found on our UK Backgammon Calendar. Some include both ‘Masters’ and ‘Intermediate’ flights, and some also have separate competitions for beginners and inexperienced or ‘social’ players. Live streaming of matches from UK tournaments is becoming more common, and these can be followed on the UKBGF twitchtv channel. To see the UKBGF archive of match recordings from previous tournaments visit the UKBGF YouTube channel. A selection of photos from these and other tournaments can be found in the UKBGF Flickr account.
Backgammon is a friendly and social game. If you are new to the scene you will find a very warm welcome at any UK club night or tournament. You don’t have to be one of the 500+ UKBGF members to play in a UKBGF-affiliated club, but please consider joining to support our efforts to publicise and grow the game.
Click here for details of UKBGF membership benefits, fees and how to join. Please note that UKBGF membership is completely free for all full time students of any age and for all players under the age of 21.
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