Backgammon World Championship is, for most players, the most prestigious tournament with the title everyone dreams of. First Backgammon World Championship was held in Monte Carlo in 1967. This year 53rd World Championship has been held in the Fairmont Hotel in Monte Carlo. Patti Rubin, a wonderful person, a significant contributor to the backgammon world & owner of the World Championship for the past years, passed away & Backgammon Galaxy took charge of the tournament for the first time this year. They have done an incredible job with the organization. They upgraded the tournament in many ways. One of the upgrades was providing new elegant boards, which were a pleasure to play on. We have a lot to look forward to in the following years!
The Monte Carlo tournament is the longest tournament in a year. This year´s dates were 23.7. – 31.7. Every time tournament starts with the Monte Carlo Open, where players can warm up and get ready for the real challenge. Monte Carlo Open had 80 participants in the Master’s category, and the winner was Ryan Rebelo from Canada, who outlasted Sean Williams in the finals. After three days of warming up in Monaco, two hundred seven players signed up to compete for the World Champion title.
Also, for the first time in history, I decided to publish vlogs from the World Championship to allow people who wonder what the World Championship or any other tournament looks like to experience the excitement, pressure, beautiful venue, and behind-the-scenes things. You can watch it day by day on Backgammon Coaching´s YouTube channel.
Personally, it was one of the most exciting tournaments in my life, especially being privileged to share my journey on camera via vlogs. After a week, I got into the undefeated semifinals, where I had to play against Wilcox Snellings, against whom I took a huge lead but lost in an extremely close match. After that, I had to win four matches in a row to get to the finals again instead of winning just one match. It would not be a great story if that did not happen. I won the next four matches and managed to get to the finals of the World Championship. In the finals, I met nobody else but my very good friend and the winner of the UBC contender tournament – Sander Lylloff. Yes, the Second final of another prestigious title against Sander.
Incredible week of backgammon, seeing friends, and enjoying the atmosphere grinding my way to the title ended quickly after an unforgotten backgame, after which I was unable to come back. Congratulations to Sander Lylloff, the 2022 Backgammon World Champion. See you all next year!