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Backgammon Live
in London is a celebration of the autumn backgammon weekend in
London which the indefatigable Mike Main has put on every year
from 2001. The Book is a hard back of 265 pages printed on very
high quality paper. The content can be divided into four types.
Firstly and for me the most enjoyable are short articles about the
enterprise. Mike Main, Bedstefar and Richard Biddle describe how
the event got started, how it has developed each year and the hard
work required to arrange venues, sponsorship and promotion and to
organise the numerous backgammon tournaments and other activities
(especially viewing the fireworks) which make up the weekend.
Stuart Mann, Simon Morecroft, Michael Williams and Peter Bennet
convey their enthusiasm about participating in these weekends.
Secondly, there are about 50 colour pictures of the players and
these come out very well. (But note that the pictures are poorly
reproduced in the very much cheaper black-and-white The
Paperback.)
Thirdly, there is the educational material. The Book contains the
colour charts which accompanied two seminars. Chris Bray presents
The Ten Commandments which summarise some of the content of his
Backgammon To Win. The fourth commandment is Thou shalt hit more
often (especially in the openings). This theme is illustrated in
several articles in Chris’s What Colour is the Wind ? and Second
Wind.
Adam Tansley’s seminar is a quite advanced survey of pip counting.
He explains at some length a method of quick and accurate pip
counting which is new to me. He calls it Crossovers and Residuals.
It may well work for you and is worth considering. Adam also
reviews how to make adjustments for uneven distributions of
checkers and criteria for doubling in non-contact races.
Sean Williams presents three positions which were given as a quiz
and his answers are impressive and comprehensive.
Finally Peter Bennet, Sean Williams, Adam Tansley and Nicky Check
provide their analyses of a few games played at Backgammon Live. I
feel that the preparation of these analyses has been rushed. I am
not faulting the perceptive comments by Peter, Sean and Adam
(though Nicky’s comments are extremely spartan). But: the diagrams
do not show the pip counts nor the match scores; there are a few
errors in the game records; and there is inconsistency between the
analyses in the extent to which they display a diagram after each
roll and in how frequently commentary is provided on a roll.
Perhaps none of this matters as this is not a text book. Mike Main
is the most innovative backgammon entrepreneur around and it is
good to see his services increasingly called on for international
tournaments. Backgammon in London Live is visually a very
attractive recognition and celebration of his achievements. I hope
you will be encouraged to buy either The Book or The Paperback and
to attend the 2008 backgammon weekend. |
