Final minutes of 2007 Backgammon World Championship

Probably the most amazing piece of backgammon video ever seen - here are the final minutes of the final match of the 2007 World Backgammon Championship in Monte Carlo, played between Alvaro Savio of Brazil and Jorge Pan of Argentina.

Why so special?

Firstly, keep in mind that the two players and a referee are in a sealed room playing the final. GammonLife's Marjorie Serrano Blanco filmed what you will see off the big screen in another room where one or two hundred other players are watching as Backgammon Giant #4, Matvey "Falafel" Natanzon, does the commentary.

We take you right to Move 8 of the final game, when, after rolling a 6-3, Savio attempts a move and uses a checker to push aside the die with the 6 on it, off a point where he wants to place the checker he is moving... the die tumbles over landing on a 5 and neither player nor the referee seem to notice... but the spectators do! (You will hear Jürgen Orlowski sitting next to us saying "Six, six, six...".)


You will observe that this was accidental because Savio continues trying to play a 6. However, perhaps confused, and caught up in all the excitement of such a paramount moment, Savio eventually tries to move a 5. Savio told GammonLife after the match that at this point, referee Luigi Villa, told him to put the checkers back to the original position and that he must play the numbers currently showing on the dice, a 5 and 3, and not a 6 and 3!

The crowd reacts! Pan does not object and there's no turning back. Stuck behind a 5-point prime, and then a 6-point prime seconds later, how does Pan go on to become the 2007 World Champion? Watch and see...

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• backgammon
• world
• championship
• amazing
• final
• minutes

[GammonLifecom]

Trevoc, the players are playing in a closed, private room and there is a video feed to a large screen in another room where the spectators are seated.

[Zwaine]

dude, how can the ref miss that? that first "6-3" move ay caramba! world championship my ass..

[sokaboy]

lol! Pick a random guy from Bulgaria, Turkey or Greece and he'll give these amateurs a good lesson.

[florand]

i was so glad the cheater lost.

[crisis87]

@Trevoc2 you can play on FICS... the best free chess server in the world :)

[MastahPink]

@r3ddevill, I have never heard of that lifting your finger rule in backgammon...it's not chess. In backgammon it is your turn until you pull your dice from the board, no moves are set in stone until then. I have a 20 year old set that still has the book that came with it and it says the same thing. Is there some higher pro rule perhaps that this is true for?

[Trevoc2]

@r3ddevill You are right, once you move your finger off the piece, you've finished that move. So, whatever goes on in this video is not a tournament, its a circus of clowns.

[Trevoc2]

@mcpartridgeboy sorry Mc, I may have not phrased my comment correctly. I meant quiet like they have in chess games.....otherwise, Im no chess player. sorry for the confusion. I'm a backgammon player from way back when and always searching for someone to play, but most like to talk while playing or double and double etc.



[mcpartridgeboy]

@Trevoc2 whats your chess rating ?

[mcpartridgeboy]

@sokaboy yeah playing inferior games while your all shit at chess the main game

[r3ddevill]

@Trevoc2 this kinda of play is stupid, they move back and forward the pieces, wtf is this how we call it in Romania "bambilici"? is just wrong, my dead grandpa wold kick their asses just buy touching the pieces the same piece of backgammon after they mooved :[ wrong wrong wrong

[Trevoc2]

@r3ddevill I agree with you, they are definitely amateurs. My family is also from Romania, and I've been playing for over thirty years. Viva Romania!