St. Albans Backgammon Club

29/04/2026

A few moments captured during the St Albans Open 2026. 🎲
Great matches, great people, and a fantastic atmosphere throughout the tournament.
Thank you to everyone who took part, supported, organised, and helped make this event a special one for the backgammon community.
Here are a few snapshots from the weekend. 📸

24/12/2025

02/12/2025

📣 New Backgammon Club Opening in Hatfield! 🎲🟢

Great news for all backgammon enthusiasts in the Hatfield area!
Following our recent meeting, we are excited to officially launch a brand-new Backgammon Club in Hatfield, open to players of all levels — from beginners to experienced competitors.

📅 Start date: 24 November 2025
🕕 When: Every Monday, from 6:00 PM (local time)
📍 Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Y4TuWGDfqR6fRs8AA?g_st=aw

We will host weekly gatherings featuring a variety of competitive formats, offering both learning opportunities and a friendly, social environment.

To support the development of the club and offer players official recognition, we will be contacting UKBGF for approval so that games played here can count toward official UKBGF ratings.

👥 Hosts: Hannah Parente & Liviu Ionescu

Everyone is welcome — come join us, bring your friends, and enjoy great evenings of backgammon!
We look forward to seeing you over the board! 🎲🟢

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

05/11/2025

ST.ALBANS OPEN - FINAL CALL - 25/26 APRIL 2026

All 96 seats at next year's Open are already taken. If you want to join the waitlist, please see

ST ALBANS OPEN BACKGAMMON TOURNAMENT 2026 - HIGHLIGHTS Dates: 25/26 April 2026 New, larger venue: Marford Memorial Hall, Marford Road, Wheathampstead AL4 8AY More players: up to 96 players More...

15/04/2025

🎲 Official Announcement: Redbourn BG Academy Tournament 17th-18th May >2025 🏆
Dear registered players and backgammon enthusiasts,
We are thrilled to invite you to the Redbourn BG Academy Tournament 2025, a prestigious competition where strategy, skill, and passion collide!
# We have two categories Master & Intermediates 32 players for each category.
📅 Date: May 8-9, 2025 📍 Location: Redbourn Parish Council, The Park Centre, AL3 7LR, St Albans
MASTERS: (32 PLAYERS)
🔹 Tournament Details (Subject to 32 Players): 💰 Entry Fee: £50 organization fee + £300 allocated entirely to prizes (100%) 🔥 Side Pools Available: £10 / £20 / £50 (100% back to the prizes) – prizes split between the top two players in each category:
• •£10 (Bronze)
• •£20 (Silver)
• •£50 (Gold)

🏆 Prize Distribution: (Based on 32 players; amounts may be adjusted if fewer players register.)
• •🥇 1st Place: £4000 + Trophy
• •🥈 2nd Place: £3000 + Trophy
• •🥉 3rd Place: £1500
• •🎖️ 4th Place: £1100

🎟️ Side Pool Prizes:
• •🏅 1st Place: 70% of the pool
• •🏅 2nd Place: 30% of the pool

🎲 Game System & Match Rules:
✅ Format: Swiss system – triple elimination
✅ Match Length: 9 points
✅ Clock Setting (Mandatory): 90 seconds per player + 12 seconds delay per point
(Clock shows: 13min: 50sec in total)

✅ Dice on Checkers: Players will use the dice on checkers’ rule
INTERMEDIATES: (32 PLAYERS)
🔹 Tournament Details (Subject to 32 Players): 💰 Entry Fee: £40 organization fee + £200 allocated entirely to prizes (100%) 🔥 Side Pools Available: £10 / £20 / £30 (100% back to the prizes) – prizes split between the top two players in each category:
• •£10 (Bronze)
• •£20 (Silver)
• •£30 (Gold)

🏆 Prize Distribution: (Based on 32 players; amounts may be adjusted if fewer players register.)
• •🥇 1st Place: £2500 + Trophy
• •🥈 2nd Place: £1500 + Trophy
• •🥉 3rd Place: £1000
• •🎖️ 4th Place: £800
• •🎖️ 5th Place: £600
• •🎖️ 6th Place: £500

🎟️ Side Pool Prizes:
• •🏅 1st Place: 70% of the pool
• •🏅 2nd Place: 30% of the pool
🎲 Game System & Match Rules:
✅ Format: Swiss system – triple elimination
✅ Match Length: 9 points
✅ Clock Setting (Mandatory): 90 seconds per player + 12 seconds delay per point
(Clock shows: 13min: 50sec in total)

✅ Dice on Checkers: Players will use the dice on checkers’ rule

📅 Tournament Schedule – Saturday, May 17th:
🕤 9:30 AM – 10:00 AM: Last registration, payments, and side pool entries
🕙 10:00 AM: Start of the 1st round and rounds continue till 21:30 PM
Sunday, May 18th:
🕙 10:00 AM – Continuation of the remaining matches and rounds
🕒 Important Notice: There will be a maximum of 13 rounds. If we are unable to complete all rounds within the two scheduled days, the tournament will continue a later date, which will be mutually agreed upon by the remaining players. No additional costs will be required from the players for venue reservation or other organizational expenses.

11/12/2024

Jon Barnes won the Main, Hannah Parente the Consolation.
Correction: last week's Consolation was won by Chris Rogers
David Nathan and Simon Mouradian will play their 15/10/24 Consolation final when David is back with us.

Trophies & Rankings
In this year's Fotiadis Cup (12 events to qualify), Andrew Fotiadis 66%->67% snatches the lead from Roni Sofroniou 66.
In the 2024 Masterpoints Cup, Sean Clennell 42.48->42.79 leads Willum Scott 33.99.
UKBGF national rankings since 2014 are maintained separately from backgames.org statistics which are specific to St Albans play and run from 2011.
The club web page is at https://www.stalbansbg.co.uk/weekly-play.html
The Waite Winner's Cup post-Covid roll of honour reads
09/07/24 Afshin Foulad; 16/4/24 Peter Benson; 12/3/24 Serban Murgu
28/11/23 Sam Whiteing; 14/11/23 Ioannis Argyrou; 31/10/23 John Chrysostomou; 10/10/23 David Gwinnutt; 25/7/23 Hannah Parente; 13/6/23 Nick Ray; 30/5/23 Adrian Dinulescu; 3/1/23 Sara Sathyanandha
30/8/22 Liviu Ionescu; 10/5/22 Vasi Schiopu; 1/2/22 Nicky Freud

Christmas & New Year
Next Tuesday (17th Dec.) chouettes and tournament as usual. Please come ready to donate to a collection for the pub staff
Christmas Eve (24th Dec) afternoon chouettes only, at far end of right-hand bar area only. NO TOURNAMENT!!
New Year's Eve (31st Dec.) afternoon chouettes at far end of right-hand bar area. Tournament subject to demand.

11/12/2024

Celebrating our first year on Facebook. Thank you for your continued support. We could never have done it without you. 🙏🤗🎉
Best wishes from all members of:
St. Albans Backgammon Club

19/11/2024

19.11.2024

Check out ASC.BG.ACADEMY’s video.

12/11/2024

12.11.2024

Check out ASC.BG.ACADEMY’s video.

07/11/2024

A very good YouTube channel to watch. Analysis of matches between top players as well as interesting interviews.

This channel is full of backgammon videos including strategy, match commentary, interviews with backgammon stars, book reviews, backgammon online stores, and more. If you love backgammon or want to learn more, subscribe now. For lessons e-mail [email protected] Lesson Format Lessons....