The long-awaited JBL Backgammon Festival is just around the corner!

We will be holding our 6th proficiency test this coming 8th of October, the very first day of it. We are looking forward to having you.

The test is supervised by Masayuki “Mochy” Mochizuki (#1 Giant 2015-2016) and Michihito “Michy” Kageyama (#2 Giant 2015-2016) that we can certainly recommend with confidence.
(Details at https://blog.backgammonexam.com/en/about/)

So far, the 6th version of our test has been hold at JBL Ouisen (Japan), Capital Classic Championships (US), Chicago Open (US), World Championship (Monaco), Šibenik Backgammon Open (Croatia) and so on. There are already more than 100 players who have participated in it.
Currently, Falafel ranks first among all of them. We are looking for new challengers!!

It is scheduled as follows:

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM, Saturday, October 8
Backgammon Proficiency Test – Test Given

FYI, we provide a guide for an estimation of an approximate backgammon skill level as follows. Of course, it varies among players, please use just as a reference.

• More than 45 correct answers … World champion class
• More than 40 correct answers … National champion class
• More than 35 correct answers … Local champion class
• More than 30 correct answers … Advanced class
• More than 20 correct answers … Intermediate class

At Šibenik Backgammon Open 2016, Masayuki “Mochy” Mochizuki (Giants #1 2015-2016) presented our 6th “Backgammon Proficiency Test” on Friday, September 2.

From September 2 to 4, Mislav Kovacic hosted his local backgammon event at Šibenik and had invited Mochy to join it. Thus, the first-time backgammon proficiency test in Croatia came true.

Twenty players enjoyed to challenge our test. Thank you so much! 😉

Mislav is the host of Šibenik Backgammon Open and is the leading player himself. Actually, he played Mochy in the final round of the championship. In this proficiency test, he got 36 points (out of 50) and took the first place among all of the testees.

All of the testee’s scores are as below:

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	36	1445	Mislav Kovacic
2	30	2315	Pavel Zaoral
3	29	1986	Eva Zizkova
4	27	1916	Damjan Plesec
4	27	2170	Gabriel Cutencu
6	26	2065	Peter Hasselberg
6	26	2472	Honza Cerny
8	24	2240	Bogidar Iliev
8	24	2876	D. C.
10	21	2695	Daniel Kocsis
10	21	3164	Martin Zizka
10	21	3845	Alma Pasic
13	20	3205	M. R.
14	19	3031	Martin Filipi
15	18	3013	Katalin Veszeli
16	17	3380	Istvan Eger
16	17	3803	Drazenko Vucina
18	16	3311	Lukas Jankovsky
19	15	4971	Muhamed Pasic
20	12	4492	V. C.
Total 20	Ave. 22.3	Ave. 2920

Thank you again for joining us! 🙂

今年も夏休み恒例の若手プレイヤーのためのバックギャモン合宿（通称「U25合宿」）が行われ、望月正行プロと景山充人プロ監督の下で「第6回バックギャモン検定」に挑戦してもらうことになりました。

今回の受検者は 4名でした。

前回の第5回検定では全体で第一位になったチェコの Zdenek Zizka も合宿に参加し、第6回検定の初受験となりました。残念ながら今回も一位とはならなかったものの、35点（50点満点）という高得点を叩き出しました。若手プレイヤーながら、その実力は本物です！

講師に世界ランキング一位の望月正行プロと同二位の景山充人プロを迎え、今年も充実した合宿が行われたとのことですので、合宿参加者の皆さんにとって非常に勉強になったことと思います。

来年の検定も是非、挑戦してみてください！

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	35	1632	Zdenek Zizka
2	31	1898	K. M.
3	28	2432	Nakamura Yuri
4	14	4102	Shouta Kuroda
Total 4	Ave. 27.0	Ave. 2516

皆さん、合宿お疲れ様でした！

We are delighted to announce that Mochy will be presenting the 6th Backgammon Proficiency Test at 3rd Šibenik Backgammon Open 2016 starting at 2:00 pm on Friday, September 2nd.
The test is designed to measure your skill by solving 50 insightful and frequently occurring positions. It is administered all over the world and all solvers are ranked worldwide. You can also choose to solve it anonymously.

If you wish to participate you MUST register by contacting them through Facebook or e-mail.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1090907194284096/

Price of the test is only 100 HRK (14 euros), however first 15 people who sign-up for the test can solve it for free!
Falafel has the best score so far (40/50), can you beat him?

Masayuki “Mochy” Mochizuki (Giants #1 2015-2016) presented our 6th “Backgammon Proficiency Test” on Thursday, July 28th – the third day of the 41st Backgammon World Championship, Monte Carlo, Monaco.

That was the third year our test had been held there. The previous articles are here:

• 5th Proficiency Test – Round 3 @ 40th World Championship
• The 4th Backgammon Proficiency Test in 39th Backgammon World Championship

Twenty-two players took time to challenge it, and Mochy gave them the in-depth lecture with review of the answers on the next day.

The results were really high-level, and Falafel (USA, Giants #4) got the top score with 40 points (out of 50), followed by Steen Gronbech (Denmark, Giants #14). Currently, Falafel stands in first place in terms of the number of right answers among all of the testees.

(Falafel)

Furthermore, one of our testees, Jorgen Granstedt (Sweden) won the 41st Backgammon World Championship and got THREE time World Champion! Congratulations!!
It is a great honor for us that the greatest world champion took time to sit our test this time.

All of their scores are as below, and a list of overall results of our 6th test as of now is here.

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	40	835	Falafel
2	37	1040	Steen Gronbech
3	35	1224	Jorgen Granstedt
4	34	1348	Jacek Wojciechowski
4	34	1644	Martin Birkhahn
6	33	1587	Alain Babillon
7	31	1787	Benjamin Lund
8	30	2166	M. P.
9	29	1582	Doug Mayfield
9	29	1815	(Anonymous)
11	28	2005	G. G.
12	26	2317	Filomila Karantzali
12	26	2432	Romolo Mudu
14	25	3201	Max Mowzoon
15	24	1941	Cihangir Cetinel
16	23	2643	(Anonymous)
17	20	2898	(Anonymous)
18	19	3148	Cecilia Sparke
18	19	3638	Vaibhav Saxena
20	16	3638	Eliot Tawil
21	14	3548	Jean-Marc Trousson
22	12	4551	(Anonymous)
Total 22	Ave. 26.5	Ave. 2318

Thank you again for joining us! 🙂

We are happy to announce that Masayuki “Mochy” Mochizuki (#1 Giant of Backgammon 2015-2016) will be presenting the 6th backgammon proficiency test starting at 12:00 pm on Thursday, July 28th – the third day of the 41st Backgammon World Championship.

It is scheduled as follows:

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM, Thursday, July 28th
Backgammon Proficiency Exam – Exam Given

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM, Friday, July 29th
Backgammon Proficiency Exam – Lecture & Review

As you know, the Backgammon World Championship is one of the most famous and prestigious backgammon events in the world, and it is scheduled to be held from Tuesday, July 26th through Sunday, July 31st at the Fairmont Hotel in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
(Details at https://www.bwcmc.com/schedule.php)

Fifty high-quality and well-balanced questions are supervised by Mochy and Michihito “Michy” Kageyama (#2 Giant 2015-2016) for the test. Thus, it is a worthy challenge for players at the intermediate and advanced levels.
(Details at https://blog.backgammonexam.com/en/about/)

Until now, the 6th version of our test has been hold only at Ouisen (Tokyo, Japan), Chicago Open (Chicago, US) and Capital Classic Championships (Washington, US). So, it will be the first time for most of European players to see it.

By the way, we provide a guide for an estimation of an approximate backgammon skill level as follows. Of course, it varies among players, please use just as a reference.

• More than 45 correct answers … World champion class
• More than 40 correct answers … National champion class
• More than 35 correct answers … Local champion class
• More than 30 correct answers … Advanced class
• More than 20 correct answers … Intermediate class

You too, by all means please do challenge yourself to it.

Last Sunday, Masayuki “Mochy” Mochizuki (Giants #1 2015-2016) presented our 6th “Backgammon Proficiency Test” during the 36th Chicago Open Backgammon Tournament. That was the third consecutive time for us to conduct our test there.

The previous articles are here:

• 5th Backgammon Proficiency Test – Round 2 @ 35th Chicago Open
• The 4th Backgammon Proficiency Test in 34th Chicago Open

It was a great success this year too, and no less than 30 players participated in it. We are very glad to have so many players there every year.

According to the result, Dennis Culpepper and Mr. X tied for first with top scores of 35 out of 50 correct answers.

All of their scores are as below, and a list of overall results of our 6th test up to now is here.

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	35	1207	(Anonymous)
1	35	1840	Dennis Culpepper
3	32	2161	Steve Brown
4	29	2244	Claudio Ranieri
5	28	1642	Albert Steg
5	28	1762	Phil Simborg
5	28	2146	Nick Blasier
8	26	2203	Frank Talbot
8	26	2329	Charles Haley
10	25	2461	John Craig Anderson
11	24	2418	Jeb Horton
11	24	2669	G. A.
11	24	2777	Steve Hairgrove
14	23	2374	Mike Clapsadle
14	23	2767	Chuck Bower
14	23	2769	Narvey Goldman
17	22	2753	D. D.
17	22	2969	Steve Blanchard
19	21	3013	Eric Hiner
19	21	3013	Danny Frangiadakis
21	20	2893	B. S.
22	19	3022	Samuel Orandle
23	18	3622	J. S.
23	18	4245	Tatsuko Mochizuki
25	16	3875	Lorina Quartarone
26	15	3826	D. O.
26	15	4437	Old Bill
28	14	4993	(Anonymous)
29	13	4362	(Anonymous)
30	10	4803	John Baron
Total 30	Ave. 22.6	Ave. 2920

Thank you again for joining us! 🙂

Michihito “Michy” Kageyama (Giants #2 2015-2016) presented our 6th Backgammon Proficiency Test on Saturday, May 21st, the second day of the Capital Classic Championships 2016, Washington.

As we all know, Michy is a highly respected player, and was elected for the second rank in the “Giant of Backgammon 2015-2016”. He has been one of our test writers since two years ago.

This was the first time our test was held in Washington, and we are very happy that we could get a chance to let more players join us.

Nine studious players (including two Giants) participated in it. On the next day Michy gave them a lecture with a lively discussion.

Based on the number of correct answers, John O’Hagan (#22 Giant 2015-2016) and John Klein tied for first place with 39 points (out of 50). Ray Fogerlund (#23 Giant 2015-2016) also got high scores.

(John Klein, Michy and John O’Hagan)

Their scores are as below.

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	39	890	John O’Hagan
1	39	1134	John Klein
3	34	2270	Ray Fogerlund
4	25	2229	Bill Finneran
5	22	2814	Julius High
5	22	3215	Larry Brown
7	20	3032	Michael Vallicre
8	17	4192	A. H.
9	12	4911	L. D.
Total 9	Ave. 25.6	Ave. 2743

Thank you for joining us! 🙂
We hope we can hold our next test there.

The season of the 5th “Backgammon Proficiency Test” ended at the Nordic Open 2016 last April, a brand-new season of the 6th test has just started at the JBL Ouisen Tournament early in May.

Our proficiency test, which renews every May, started from May 2011. It is gradually known worldwide as a “world standard” backgammon test for the past five years.

We have more than 100 testees every year, and we had 114 players in the past year. This year we step up our efforts to have even more testees.

On Thursday, 5th May, our 6th test was held during the third day of the JBL Ouisen Tournament 2016. Fifteen players took it, and a special room for our test became practically full.

We would like to express our gratitude to all of the testees. They made us get off to a hot start!

The results of the first round at the Ouisen Tournament 2016, is as follows.

順位	正答数	エラー合計	氏名
1	34	1265	Shigeru Fukazawa
2	26	1907	K. O.
2	26	2438	N. K.
2	26	2630	Hiromichi Sugimoto
2	26	2680	Shinya Kimura
6	24	2587	Masaaki Isobe
7	23	2504	K. S.
8	22	2854	J. K.
8	22	2913	Ryutaro Ozawa
10	21	2533	Keita Morina
10	21	2540	Hiroyuki Kawakami
12	20	3069	Y. O.
13	18	3332	T. S.
13	18	3997	Takashi Otani
15	17	2907	Naoki Chiba
合計 15人	平均 22.9	平均 2677

Shigeru Fukasawa currently got first place, who had ranked in the 10th place in the former test. He is a regular testee, and earns over 30 points in each test showing his ability.

From now on, the 6th test is scheduled to be held at the 4th Capital Classic Championships (Washington, U.S.) on 21st May, followed by the 36th Chicago Open Backgammon Tournament (Chicago, U.S.) on 29th May.

GWと言えば、王位戦。
王位戦と言えば・・・そう、「バックギャモン検定」ですよね！ 😀

JBL掲示板の記事を見る

「バックギャモン検定」とは、運に左右されない「バックギャモンの知識や理解度」を測るための多肢選択（マークシート）方式のテストで、今年で6年目を迎える、王位戦での恒例イベントとなっています。

日本発の「バックギャモン検定」は日本国内に留まらず、世界選手権（モナコ）、Nordic Open （デンマーク）、Texas Backgammon Championships （アメリカ）、Istanbul Open （トルコ）などの世界有数の大会でも開催を重ね、著名なプレイヤーも多数参加する一大イベントになっています。

（昨年の王位戦でのバックギャモン検定の様子）

第5回検定の様子はこちら

• 王位戦2015
• 35th Chicago Open
• 40th World Championship
• バックギャモンフェスティバル2015
• Istanbul Open 2016
• Nordic Open 2016

問題作成チームは、世界ランキング トップクラスのプレイヤーである望月正行プロ・景山充人プロ、そして昨年度より永井一矢氏にもご協力いただき、世界最高峰の問題を用意いたしました。しかしながら決して、奇問・難問を集めたわけではありません。バックギャモンに勝つための知識が問われる問題をできるだけ多く提供できるよう心掛けております。

興味を持たれた方は、王位戦の会場に足をお運びください。
バックギャモン検定は現時点では大会会場以外では受検することができません。

また、初級者向けに、「バックギャモン初級検定」も合わせて実施します。
こちらは、「中上級者向けの『バックギャモン検定』は難しすぎる」という初級者の声を受けて設立された検定試験で、初級者を対象として、初級を卒業できるレベルに達しているかどうかを合否判定するためのテストです。「バックギャモン入門」 の内容がしっかりと理解できている人であれば合格できるようなレベルを想定しています。基本用語や簡単な確率計算、「当てる」「作る」「逃げる」といった基本テクニックに関する問題など、幅広い知識が問われます。ただし、キューブの問題は出題されません。

初級検定には合否があり、25問中18点以上で「合格認定」の成績証が発行されます（合格に満たなくても点数を記載した成績証が発行されます）。

なお、王位戦での初級戦の問題は、昨年10月のバックギャモンフェスティバルでの問題と同じものとなります。同じ検定を二度受検することはできませんのでご注意ください。