Nat King Cole said it best...

We gave a fond farewell to Sion last week, as he stepped down from running the club after 5 great years. We presented him with a card and gifts (which annoyingly he didn't hold long enough to capture in a photo - they're sitting on the table behind him...) - including a stunning hand-made bejewelled bonsai tree that Roubina crafted. That tree represents the incredible community that Sion has grown at BGiE over the years. We all know he has green fingers - his allotment is tes

Our final night of the year attracted a healthy crowd of 28 - clearly the lure of the Rose & Crown's mince pies was too much to resist. Congratulations to Zigi, Lawrence, Rob, and Geoff, who all won their respective groups. It's been a brilliant year for the club, and we look forward to an even better 2026. The Ealing Cup 2026 begins in January; we're planning more tournaments (perhaps including a Doubles tournament); and working on some training weekends too. And 'dice on c

Congratulations Can! This year's winner of the Ealing Cup is Can Cag, pictured receiving his trophy on Monday this week. He also won...

The balancing act. In the news here in Ealing this week and, quite by chance, all across the backgammon world as well, is the ever-present tension of whether backgammon is a game focused on high stakes or on skill and a community of players. In the UK the gaming laws  restrict what we can do when it comes to stakes anyway, but even if that was not the case, BGiE stands firmly on the side of perfecting skill and the development of a community of players, rather than purely of

Tom (right) on his way to winning his Swiss on Monday on Gavin's new summer colours board. In last week's blog I featured a couple of new boards that have been on show at club nights recently and so to continue that theme, here's Gavin's really lovely new roll-up board from Alan Masters . Tom unfortunately showed no deference to the newness or beauty of the board, beating Gavin and winning this week's £20 Swiss. Congratulations to him and to Yas and Henry who won the other tw

Shino and Phillip before the final of the July Invitational, both played Magriel back in the day. Revamped invitational knockout now 1st...

Have you ever seen someone's nickname on Galaxy, Heroes or Hub and thought that's a smart name - wish I'd thought of that? Personally,...

or is it a plethora...? We've been running our weekly 'Study Corner' for two years now, and in that time we've amassed quite a collection...

The fat lady singing and counting. Mrs Malaprop is rightly famous for being the pineapple of using a wrong word with a sound resembling the right one. But even she didn't use malaphors (a blend of 'malapropism' and 'metaphor') where you take two common sayings and smash them together to make..... well, something new, like the title of this piece. If you're confused at this point, that's good because you get to share a little of the feeling the BGiE team had that traveled to S

Picture the scene - a man with his face supernaturally lit, a mother and child looking on reverentially, as he ritually cleans a sacred...

Time flies and the seasons change. This Monday saw the first club night match played outdoors in 2025. I can confirm that Gulcin and...

The BGiE team in York last year - we got knocked out in the quarter finals It's 4 months until the UK Clubs Championship takes place in...

Stephen Booth wins the first of our new trophies Over the past 5 days we've run the Spring Tournament, a regular Monday club night and...

The BGiE trophies up for grabs in 2025 Trophy - from the Greek tropē, meaning a rout. A memorial you put up of something left behind by...

The home of Backgammon in Ealing Recent blogs on what makes a great club member and the brilliant crew behind the scenes that make it...

AI really has no clue what backgammon or great look like... Following on from last week's blog about there being no secret to why BGiE...

The BGiE crew that make it all happen. As a tournament director, it's never easy to predict how many players are going to turn out for a club night, but a key measure of a good TD and the club systems is that they cope with whatever happens. This is especially true when more players than ever come through the doors, which was the case this week. Four 8-player Swiss tournaments and a 16-player knockout later, we closed out a record week. While the TD is on the frontline on the

If you've not been recently, why not do like Andre, Florin and Dan who've made it their new year's resolution to play more backgammon at...

Yas implores Merzad to get on with her Ealing Cup first round match. The deadline is Valentine's Day, which is next Friday for the...