What's news? Get your diaries out....

Shino and Phillip before the final of the July Invitational, both played Magriel back in the day.

Revamped invitational knockout now 1st Wednesday of every month

To make it easier to remember and get each month off to a great start, our 16 player knockout, which attracts only the finest players (see pic), will be on the first Wednesday of each month, starting Wednesday 3rd September. There is no knockout in August.

Backgammon for Fun now 1st Tuesday of every month

Backgammon for Fun now 1st Tuesday of every month

Our ever-popular monthly tournament-free evening of backgammon at the Steampacket Pub at Strand on the Green is also moving day, to accommodate the changed knockout date. Join us on the first Tuesday of every month for some relaxed and fun play.

Mindsports 17-25 August in NW3

The annual Mindsports Olympiad starts this Sunday and includes backgammon (see the blue blocks on the schedule opposite) - may be worth entering for something a bit different?

Can plays Farzin in our annual Cup final - watch it live on Hub

Ealing Cup final Thu 4 Sep 19h00

Which of these two 'smart' players will lift the Ealing Cup this year? The final is set to be played on Hub and you can watch it live!

Andrew studies the form guide while the TD rambles on before the Spring tournament.

Autumn tournament sign-up opens at 10h00 on Saturday 20 September

The one-day tournament itself is on Saturday 22 November, but such is the demand for the 32 places that we are advertising the sign-up date now so that you can be standing by to click on the invitation and not miss out. Put a reminder in your diary now!

The standard format of 3 rounds of Swiss qualifying, followed by main and consolation knockout, will be preceded by a Calcutta.

Kees (front left) visiting from The Netherlands and Yiannis (middle left) on his first visit to BGiE were amongst the 28 players on Monday. And just look at those lovely boards!

August GP results from this Monday

Another very busy night saw Jonathan Shaul win the F1 and Gulcin (pictured middle right) win the F2 - congratulations to them both! Thanks to everyone else that came along and made it such a great evening of backgammon! Sign up for next week's Swiss now.

Lawrence, Sion, Yas, Peter and Ilke - quarter-finalists at the Clubs Championship for the second year on the trot.

Clubs championship 2025

Same venue, same result two years in a row for BGiE. After a clean sweep of the qualifiers, we came unstuck against Birmingham in the quarter finals who, in turn, fell to Manchester in the semis.

We beat Manchester in the qualifiers.... ho hum, but it does show with a fair wind behind us we can win this title yet!

Next year the tournament is closer to home in Canterbury, so hopefully we can send more than one team.

Oh, and by the way, did I mention I won the York Intermediates tournament the same weekend? I treated myself to a new board with some of my winnings (see pic) and I only mention it on pain of death from those that shall remain nameless.

As I started with a mention of Magriel, I'll end by saying this is as close as I'll ever get to the great man - the X22 or Magriel board from Galaxy.