essä om backgammon, långt

The Beautiful Game of Backgammon

They say the Brazilian national football team no longer plays the beautiful game

Their new approach to me, a little, tame; exchanging the free-flowing football for a common 4-3-3 formation

The standard way unless going for a gammon, to play a 3-4 opening roll is 24-21 13-9, and the checkers are at their proper station

The game has feel and requires a constant position recognition and feel, but not like chess

This is more feel, hard to explain, but it is feel

Perhaps that is why the 70’s showed a boost in interest for backgammon,

The hippies were trying to relieve Bangladesh of famine

But also a generation somewhat eccentric

Their approach to the game perhaps affective

There have been a whole lot of books, dating back to at least 1844,

To any enthusiast you can find a comprehensive list of them on ‘’Backgammon Galore’’

To improve your skills, a book that fulfills, the grasp of the game, titled ‘’Backgammon’’ by Paul Magriel is still worthy of fame; referred to as the ‘’Backgammon Bible’’ and published in 1976 – again the 70’s in the mix

At any rate, myself I own two books, and I may be treading on thin ice

But some writers just wrote, reading need not suffice

One is no more used, on an India-originated religion, one is called ‘’New Ideas in Backgammon’’

Co-written by a Canadian and an American in 1996, their grip of the game was really hands-on

Real-life tournament backgammon positions, wrongly played, were presented, what would be the best move with the dice? An entertaining approach, and past its release a backgammon book that can still entice

Worthy of fun study

In essence chess is all skill

Backgammon is skill and luck

The gist, you roll two dice, and move checkers accordingly, while potentially hitting other checkers

A time of congenial get-togethers

As far as skill, a prevalent example, is thinking of a situation’s risk versus reward

Maybe you could cut through the concepts like Norwegian landscaped fjords

It seems to require intellect, and intuition

But beginners, and novices, all respect and salutation

One thing that seems to have dwindled from the online backgammon in the 90’s – is etiquette

And everybody should not forget about that, for example writing gg (good game) or well-played, as well as general chat, we are now outdated for That!

For that matter, professionals like to play - with a doubling cube, up to a certain amount of points, to eliminate much of the luck factor

Covering both fields like a tractor, in modern day, they say many Texas Hold’em poker players also play backgammon

A dream is the Nordic Open in Denmark but I can not do pip-counting which is essential for live tournament play of backgammon

And although the dream has ran-on and ran-on it appears thus to have ran-away

But hell, maybe someday

There are a hand-full of sites for backgammon, the prestigious gridgammon.com – invitation only

In all seriousness can anyone help this poet lonely, join the eminent gridgammon?

The irony is at this place, it is only humans, no BOTS (robots/programmed computers) so if I play where I play I may have a better touch of the game than many at gridgammon, and if I were to join (again, which is BOT-free) I would soon be starting to play in the style of my opponents – at a lower level, yet this is the top level of humans, if you follow along, actually, really makes for a perfect song, for Bots don’t belong on backgammon sites, that statement is right, I do stand by that, I tip my hat to gridgammon

The concept of the game is to win. But, as apparent, Bots(robots) have kind of taken the fun out of it. Especially the last ten years or so, they have challenged conventional, and even modern, thinking – so general principles are less relevant and the terminology is not as pertinent

Common terms are less common but this might entertain a casual reader or new participant ‘’dancing on the bar’’, ‘’lover’s leap’’, ‘’6-point-prime’’, ‘’blot-hitting-contest’’, ‘’race’’.

My synopsis: chess distorts creativity in the head, backgammon is neutral to it

The origins of the game, I would tell you, if I knew it

It seems every poetic piece I put in, has a pun on technology

I dare not speculate from where or when, sorry

Anybody who has seen a backgammon board, has probably taken a second-look

For it is beautiful or elegant indeed

And, thank you, that you, did read

So why is backgammon so beautiful?

The game play is much on flow, feel, and it is decorative, with strategy. That is my answer.

I had fun with this piece!

May your imagination release!