By: TJ Gill


The 19th City of Venice International Backgammon Tournament crowed a new champion this past weekend. The event was played at the beautiful Casino of Venice, located on the Grand Canal. The 4-day spectacle culminated with a final match involving a backgammon great and a relatively unknown player.

Slovenian backgammon champion Damian Plesac went heads up in the final against Japanese qualifier Masahito Yamamoto. The more experienced Plesac had no issue disposing of his counterpart, and earned the main championship title at the Venice International Backgammon Tournament.

In a somewhat humorous twist of fate, the elder champ Plesac wasn’t even planning on attending the festivities, claiming that he thought he was “not strong enough” at the time. Luckily for him he ended up registering for the event, and is now an international champion because of it.

The event also held some smaller championships that had been played out before the main title showdown. The most important of those was the Double Davis European Championship. That event was won by Italian natives Giuseppe Ricciardi and Piero Gallo, who took down Hans Koch and Michael Schmidt of Germany. This event is played in similar fashion to the Davis Cup in the sport of tennis, where players play two single matches (with a consultation afterwards) and then later play another two single matches to determine a final winner.

All in all, the tournament was a vast success, and players from all around the globe showcased their backgammon skills on one of the biggest stages in the world. Hopefully next year’s event will be as exciting as this one.


- 2007-12-04