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Jóhannes Jónsson

I'm an icelandic backgammon player coming back to the game after years of very little playing. I play in Bgroom and Play65 under the name of JJJBecker and apart from that I'm trying to spread the game a little here in Reykjavík.

I learned backgammon around the age of twenty from an Icelandic-American man by the name of Bardi. He carried with him a magnetic mini backgammon set at all times, and he taught the game to many people in Hressingarskálinn, the main café in town at that time. Bardi had studied Magriel's "Backgammon", he's a good player and teacher, and to me he is the father of icelandic backgammon - well, the little there is! I soon started ordering books about the game and for better or worse my earliest influence was Barclay Cooke. As a result my style is a strange blend of aggression and caution! I have later read books by Bill Robertie and other fine authors but somehow Mr. Cooke's way seems to stay with me.

Well, back to backgammon now after all these years and what a game! I just read an article by Kit Woolsey about the importance of the midpoint in backgames. From this article and others on the net I see clearly that my studies from before barely scratched the surface of our wonderful game.

My backgammon plans for the nearest future: Play a lot obviously, teach the game to more people and try to introduce the game to the poker clubs in town, study more books and backgammon material on the net, make more use of Jelly Fish which I bought years ago and also GNU backgammon which I downloaded the other day. I'm also thinking about taking a trip soon to either London or Copenhagen to play in a tournament. Any advice regarding that would be very well appreciated.

All the best to you backgammon lovers and long live the cruelest game.

Jóhannes Jónsson, Reykjavík, Iceland