Over the past year, the events of the 4th “Backgammon Proficiency Test” have been taking place throughout the world, like JBL Ouisen Tournament (May), Chicago Open (May), the World Championship (August), UK Open (September), Japan Open (October), Athens Open (October), Istanbul Open (January) and Texas Backgammon Championships (January).

This Nordic Open was the very last stop for the 4th test.

Twenty-three players took time to challenge the finals on April 5, and Masayuki “Mochy” Mochizuki (Giants #1 2013-2014) gave them the in-depth lecture with review of the answers on the next day.

The result was that Michael Nielsen and Mik Larsen got a very good grade with 31 marks (out of 50), followed by Steen Grønbech.

All of their records are as below.

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	31	1722	Michael Nielsen
1	31	1727	Mik Larsen
3	30	1798	Steen Grønbech
4	28	2440	Jason Pack
5	26	2950	(Anonymous)
6	25	2834	Tommy Kean
7	24	2503	H. L.
7	24	3463	Conny Eriksson
9	22	3166	Mattias Oscarson
10	21	3301	Jakob R. Holdt-Simonsen
11	20	3667	Terje Pedersen
11	20	3698	Giorgio Castellano
11	20	4049	Antonio Sgambato
14	19	3331	(Anonymous)
14	19	3639	Boncenne Philippe
14	19	3688	T. L.
17	17	3908	Pavel Zaoral
17	17	4005	Marek Makowski
17	17	4372	Vincento Riceputi
17	17	5189	Sinitzky Laurence
21	16	3838	Peter Hallberg
22	14	5423	I. G.
23	12	6129	(Anonymous)
Total 23	Ave. 21.3	Ave. 3515

Now that the 4th test is over, we’d like to summarize it.
We had 191 testees over the past year. It might be so difficult that the overall average score (21.2 out of 50) was pulled down by 6.1 as compared with the former test.

Here is a top 10 list of the entire 4th test.
Tim Line (UK) came out on top with amazing score (42 out of 50), and Falafel (USA/Israel) and Stick Rice (USA) take second place.

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	42	1038	Tim Line
2	38	1567	Falafel
2	38	1688	Stick Rice
4	36	1301	Yoshiyuki Nakamura
5	35	1369	Daisuke Katagami
5	35	1600	David Presser
7	34	1739	Kiyokazu Nishikawa
7	34	1761	John O’Hagan
9	33	1471	Arda Fındıkoğlu
9	33	1539	Kanade Kubota

You can see the final result of the 4th test at this page.

For your further interest, here is a histogram of the entire 4th test, showing the number of testees every two marks in score. The mode value is 16-17 marks (out of 50).

Here is a pie chart, showing the number of testees by nation.

We renew our “Backgammon Proficiency Test” every May (at JBL Ouisen Tournament in Japan).

See you again for our next test!! 🙂

On Friday, January 30th, the 4th Backgammon Proficiency Test was administered in the Texas Backgammon Championships 2015, just as last year.

Here is the report of the 3rd test last year at this time.
https://blog.backgammonexam.com/en/article/result-texas2014/

This time, twenty-five players challenged our test on the second day of the event.
Again this year, it includes a number of Giants of Backgammon like Stick Rice, Kit Woolsey, and Steve Sax.

The results were high-level, and Stick Rice (USA) got the top score with 38 marks (out of 50), followed by Steve Sax (USA). Stick currently stands in 2nd place overall.

Thank you for joining us on our test!
Plus, we would like to thank all of the staff in Texas for helping us.

Currently, Tim Line is #1 in terms of the most answers right and the least error made.
The current results of the 4th test are listed up here.

The result in Texas is as follows.

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	38	1688	Stick Rice
2	32	1826	Steve Sax
3	30	1980	Richard Munitz
3	30	2611	Justin Nunez
5	29	2315	Douglas Mayfield
5	29	2351	(Anonymous)
7	27	2203	C. P.
7	27	2848	(Anonymous)
9	26	3058	D. R.
10	25	2470	Kit Woolsey
10	25	2766	S.
12	23	2688	K. F.
12	23	2713	Albert Steg
12	23	3456	Rory Pascar
12	23	4154	(Anonymous)
16	22	3676	David Kettler
17	21	3927	(Anonymous)
17	21	4698	J. U.
19	20	3407	Bill Finneran
20	19	5017	Dima
21	18	3838	M. B.
22	14	5804	J. S.
23	12	5501	Rick Wedge
24	10	5186	P. W.
25	6	8413	Claudia Brown
Total 25	Ave. 22.9	Ave. 3544

Ten days after we administered “BGTV Proficiency Contest” in the Istanbul Open 2015, Arda Fındıkoğlu, the host of the Istanbul Open, and Cüneyt Argun Genç, who helped us as a test proctor, sat our proficiency test.

They both reached to good results. Arda got 33 marks (out of 50) and currently stands in 8th place overall. Cüneyt got 24 marks, much higher than average. Since they monitored each other as a witness to make it fair, we accept their scores into our official results.

Also, the current results of the 4th proficiency test are listed up here.

We really appreciate their cooperation in “BGTV Proficiency Contest”.
Thank you!

Merhaba! (Hello!)

On Saturday, 17th January, the 4th Backgammon Proficiency Test was conducted as “BGTV Proficiency Contest” during the Istanbul Open 2015, Turkey.

It’s a truly wonderful thing that this is the third time to conduct our test in Istanbul.
The problem booklets were translated into Turkish by Mr.Arda, the president of WBF Turkey.

A special room was prepared for the test.

This time, more players joined our test than last year, and the room was full of 22 testees.

As a result, Murat Hazır (Turkey) got the highest score, followed by Peter Ghaussy (Germany).

Tebrikler! (Congratulations!)

The result is as follows.

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	22	4073	Murat Hazır
2	21	4025	Peter Ghaussy
2	21	4123	Atila Malçok
2	21	5483	Emrullah Coşar
5	19	3219	Abdullah Sorgüven
5	19	3636	Cumhur Bektüre
5	19	4245	Seda Koç
5	19	4248	Igor Romashov
5	19	4406	Helmut Gerdenits
10	18	5656	Ali Kamış
10	18	5674	Hakan Aksu
12	17	4364	Refik Vural
12	17	5785	Tamer Celasun
14	16	5066	Faruk Perkin
15	15	3826	Ömer Mert Gülaçtı
15	15	5116	Kemal Okal
15	15	5157	Göksel Kılınç
18	14	3868	K. A.
18	14	4601	Zehra Aydın
18	14	5012	Cengiz Ergin
21	13	4717	Annick Hasdenteufel
22	12	4967	Y. G.
Total 22	Ave. 17.2	Ave. 4603

We hope they all enjoyed our test.
Teşekkür ederim! (Thank you for joining us!)

(All photos by Hiromi Yokose)

Current rankings for the 4th test are here.

On Saturday, October 25th, the 4th Backgammon Proficiency Test was conducted during the Athens Open 2014, Alimos, Greece.

Masayuki “Mochy” Mochizuki and Michihito “Michy” Kageyama had devised the test with us, and they proved themselves at the event. Mochy and his wife won the Doubles, and Michy won the Masters championship. Our warmest congratulations!

Well, during the event 10 players tried our test.
Giorgos Kleitsas, who got the great score at the 3rd test, ranked 1st on a list of them, and Platon Tserliagos got a tied score in terms of the number of correct answers.

(Photo by Masayuki Mochizuki)

The result is as follows.

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	27	2627	Giorgos Kleitsas
1	27	3117	(Anonymous)
3	24	2819	Michalis Manolios
3	24	3449	Tatsuya Tanaka
5	23	2845	Haris Christidis
6	20	3105	Atmatzidis Ioannis
7	18	3729	Murat Murat
8	17	4226	G. T.
9	16	6239	Antony Vamvakaris
10	12	5425	Y. V.
Total 10	Ave. 20.8	Ave. 3758

We hope they all enjoyed our test at this event.
Thank you all for joining us!

Current rankings for the 4th test are here.

We are pleased to announce that the 4th Backgammon Proficiency Test will be conducted with the current #1 Giant of Backgammon Masayuki “Mochy” Mochizuki during the Athens Open 2014, Greece.

This test is scheduled as follows:
Date: Saturday, October 25, 2014
Time: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

Mochy’s in-depth seminar reviewing some of the most interesting answers is scheduled on the next day:
Date: Sunday, October 26, 2014
Time: 11:00 am – (12:00 pm)

See: 2nd Athens Open | Oct 23-26 @ Palace Hotel, Alimos

A year ago, 13 participants took our 3rd test, and Giorgos Kleitsas got the highest score with 43 correct answers out of 50, followed by Kimon Papachristopoulos during the Porto Carras International Open on May 11, 2013.

See: The 3rd Backgammon Proficiency Test in Porto Carras International Open

(Photo of the Porto Carras International Open 2013)

Here is an interesting bar chart of the 3rd test, showing an average score by nation.
It looks to say that Greek is one of the strongest nation in the world.

The test is devised for the intermediate and advanced level players by Mochy and #2 Giant of Backgammon Michihito “Michy” Kageyama, but it is open to anyone.

Please attend it if your schedule permits.

日本最大のバックギャモンイベント 「バックギャモンフェスティバル2014」 において、中上級者向けの「第4回バックギャモン検定」を実施しました。

（バックギャモンフェスティバル会場）

中級戦に出場しているプレイヤーには参加しづらいスケジュールとなってしまいましたが、合計21名のプレイヤーに参加していただくことができました。

ちなみに今回で、第4回検定の参加者が全世界合計で100名オーバーとなりました。

Backgammon Giants 2013-2014 #59 で 第2回検定でも日本人トップの成績を修めた西川清一さん、第3回検定で日本人トップスコアだった金子真一郎さん、Backgammon Giants 2013-2014 #46 の Jake Jacobs、プロポーカープレイヤーの木原直哉さんにも参加していただき、順位争いもさらに激しくなってきました。

結果は、西川さんが34点（50点満点中）で21人中成績トップとなりました。

（バックギャモン検定会場）

なお、参加者からのコメントとして、

• 「いつも楽しみにしています！」
• 「実戦で出てきそう、でもわからない、という絶妙さを今年も感じることができました。」
• 「時間ギリギリでした。良い問題が多かったと思います。」
• 「相変わらず難しくて、いい問題だと思います。本番までのいい勉強にします。」
• 「時間が足りませんでした。基本を問うものが多かった気がします。」
• 「今後、支部で全員受験して勉強会を開きたいと思います。」

などの感想をいただき、「バックギャモン検定」が単なるクイズではなく、日々のバックギャモンで出会うシチュエーションを題材にして、幅広いバックギャモンの知識を問う実戦的なテストであることを実感していただけたようでした。

なお、今回の参加者21名の成績は以下になります。

順位	正答数	エラー合計	氏名
1	34	1739	Kiyokazu Nishikawa
2	32	2040	Naoya Kihara
3	31	1836	Shinichiro Kaneko
4	27	2298	Jake Jacobs
4	27	2509	Masahito Yamamoto
6	23	3476	Junichi Kieda
7	21	3174	K. O.
7	21	4388	Norihiro Kanamori
9	20	3684	A. H.
10	19	4061	T. I.
11	18	4928	J. K.
12	17	3702	R. O.
12	17	4119	Natsuhiko Nagumo
14	16	4885	T. I.
14	16	4893	(Anonymous)
16	15	4591	K. S.
16	15	5173	Shinya Kimura
18	14	4261	Susumu Mizutani
18	14	4515	I. Y.
20	12	4346	Y. T.
20	12	5056	Megumi Ishii
合計 21人	平均 20.0	平均 3794

これまでの全参加者の成績リストは、こちら です。

なお、初級者向けの「第3回バックギャモン初級検定」も同時開催され、4名中2名が合格（25点満点中18点以上）となりました。
参加者の皆さま、ありがとうございました。

We are proud to announce that the 4th Backgammon Proficiency Test will be conducted during the Backgammon Festival 2014 in October.

It is scheduled as follows:
Date: Saturday, 11th October, 2014
Time: 11:30 – 12:30 pm
Price: 3,000 yen
Venue: Shibuya Shidax Village 2F SHIDAX HALL, Tokyo, Japan

We have already finished translating all of the booklets into English, so every English speaker can take this test without language problems.

The test is devised for players at the intermediate and advanced levels by #1 Giant of Backgammon Mochy and #2 Giant of Backgammon Michy, and is intended to measure your degree of knowledge and understanding of backgammon.

Also, you can compete with players throughout the world on the rankings.
Current rankings for the 4th tests are here.

Over the past year, 144 players have taken the 3rd test, which has been presented at major tournaments all over the world, including the Nordic Open in Copenhagen, the Texas Backgammon Championships in San Antonio, and the World Championships in Monte Carlo.

Now, try to get the highest score!

On Friday, 19th September, the 4th Backgammon Proficiency Test was presented by #1 Giant of Backgammon Masayuki “Mochy” Mochizuki during the UK Backgammon Open 2014, at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
Many attenders also took part in his in-depth seminar reviewing all the answers to this test on the next day.

During the event, 21 players finished our test. They might have a hard time with 50 challenging problems because most of them were first-time attenders.
The result is that Tim Line did great and he overachieved the Falafel’s existing record substantially. Chris Bray, Brian Lever and Gaz Owen also got a good grade with a score of 30 and above.

The result is as follows.

Rank	Total score	Total errors	Name
1	42	1038	Tim Line
2	31	1840	Chris Bray
2	31	2592	Brian Lever
4	30	2535	Gaz Owen
5	27	2565	P. J. B.
6	25	2459	Nick Barham
7	24	2634	Jon Barnes
8	22	3584	David Mcnamara
9	20	3220	Paul Plumptre
9	20	5094	M. W.
11	18	4089	M. F.
12	17	4332	George Jacobs
12	17	4618	D. D.
12	17	4847	(Anonymous)
15	16	3554	Paul Money
15	16	5535	Mark Manley
17	15	4743	L. G.
17	15	5198	(Anonymous)
19	13	4095	A. P.
19	13	4308	D. J. P.
21	12	4788	Graham Cornish
Total 21	Ave. 21.0	Ave. 3698

We hope they all enjoyed our test at this event.
Thank you all for joining us!

Current rankings for the 4th test are here.