On Friday, July 29, the 10th “Backgammon Proficiency Test” was held for the first time in three years at the 53rd Backgammon World Championship in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Michihito “Michy” Kageyama, who presented an original seminar two days ago that was very well received, ran the test.
Our test is now in its 10th iteration this year, and here in Monte Carlo for the 7th time since 2014 (see 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), while Zdenek Zizka is participating for the 6th time and G.C. for the 7th time! It’s thanks to enthusiastic supporters like them that we have been able to keep it going. We are very grateful 😉
Here, a total of 24 players took up the challenge, including four Giants: John O’Hagan, Zdenek Zizka, Wilcox Snellings, and Marc Olsen (also the organizer of the 53rd BGWC). And all four of the Giants scored very well. In particular, Zdenek and Wilcox both took the time to take the test in spite of their hard schedule, as they were still in the Championship Main at the time. In the end, Zdenek ended up with a runner-up finish in the Championship Main. Congratulations!
The results of all 24 participants are as follows.
| Rank | Total score | Total errors | Name |
| 1 | 42 | 906 | John O’Hagan  |
| 2 | 40 | 806 | Wilcox Snellings  |
| 3 | 38 | 1247 | Zdenek Zizka  |
| 4 | 34 | 1711 | K. H.  |
| 5 | 33 | 1671 | Marc Olsen  |
| 6 | 31 | 2847 | Stephan Hartmann |
| 7 | 30 | 1793 | G. C.  |
| 7 | 30 | 2332 | Geert Van der Stricht  |
| 9 | 27 | 2232 | Johan Huyck |
| 10 | 24 | 4276 | M. W.  |
| 11 | 23 | 3595 | Peter Hallberg |
| 12 | 21 | 3295 | Pavlos Hatzinikolaou  |
| 12 | 21 | 4018 | Ian Anderson |
| 12 | 21 | 4290 | Ray Lightbourn  |
| 15 | 20 | 3888 | Kaspar Basse |
| 16 | 19 | 4315 | Anis Samaha  |
| 17 | 16 | 4109 | (Anonymous) |
| 18 | 15 | 3714 | Nicole Coleman |
| 18 | 15 | 4571 | (Anonymous)  |
| 20 | 14 | 4975 | D. V. |
| 21 | 13 | 4651 | Gigi Goyette |
| 22 | 12 | 4707 | George Forsyth |
| 23 | 11 | 4407 | Brenda Rosen |
| 24 | 9 | 5325 | (Anonymous) |
| Total 24 | Ave. 23.3 | Ave. 3320 |
If you have never taken our “Backgammon Proficiency Test” and are interested in it, here are the advantages of taking it:
1. you can measure your backgammon skills
2. you can find categories in which you have weaknesses
3. you can understand the key ideas of backgammon by reading the commentaries
In particular, the commentary booklet written by four world-class professional players, Masayuki “Mochy” Mochizuki (Giant #1 2019-2020), Michy (Giant #2), Kazuki Yokota, and Hideaki Ueda (Giant #27), is really worth reading. I believe it is worth the money to know the thoughts of these professionals on positions that come up many times in real games. For more information, please click here. If you have the opportunity to take it in the future, I hope you will.
And for those of you who took the test this time, thank you very much! 😉 It is our pleasure if you enjoyed it. You can see the current results for all participants of the 10th test here.
Finally, we would like to express our great appreciation to Marc Olsen and Arda Fındıkoğlu for their cooperation in advance despite their busy schedules.