From August 10th to 16th, the beautiful historic city of Aachen, Germany, hosted the inaugural German Aachen Festival, a new event eagerly anticipated by backgammon enthusiasts from all over Europe. On the fourth day of the tournament, Tuesday, August 13th, the fourth round of the 11th Backgammon Proficiency Test took place.

The inclusion of the Backgammon Proficiency Test was made possible through the efforts of tournament producer Marcus Reinhard, a key figure in Germany’s backgammon community. Marcus personally invited Michihito “Michy” Kageyama, a top professional player and a member of our test problem-writing team, to participate in the event. Marcus’s dedication to the game was evident, as he had taken the test himself at the Swedish Open in July.

Due to the lack of prior promotion, only seven participants took part in the test. Nevertheless, holding the test at the very first German Aachen Festival was a significant achievement. This small step marks the beginning of what could be a much wider spread of the Backgammon Proficiency Test across Germany and future editions of the German Aachen Festival.

Here are the scores of all participants:

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	38	1289	Oliver Squire
2	32	2353	Paulus van Rooijen
3	31	2337	Marc Friebe
4	30	1947	K. H.
5	20	4062	M. B.
5	20	4296	Kees Rooke
7	19	3784	K. B.
Total 7	Ave. 27.1	Ave. 2867

As the German Aachen Festival continues to grow into a major event attracting players from both within Germany and abroad, we hope the Backgammon Proficiency Test will draw even more players in the future.