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BGonline.org Forums
Was Prince Alexis Obolensky considered?
Posted By: Rick Janowski In Response To: New USBGF Hall of Fame Inductees? (Rick Janowski)
Date: Tuesday, 9 February 2016, at 4:44 a.m.
Was Prince Alexis Obolensky considered in the voting (he co-authored the first book on modern backgammon in 1965)?
From Play 65 website:
"When looking for information about the World Championships of Backgammon you will come across a number of events held at different venues since 1967 that were called the “World Championship”. These consist of a sequence of events held in Las Vegas from 1967 to 1975, followed by another series of backgammon tournaments organized in The Bahamas from 1976 to 1978 and then another in Monte Carlo from 1979 until the present day (2008). How are these three venues connected and what is the history of the World Backgammon Champions?
To start, we must go back to the 1960s when Prince Alexis Obolensky, known as “The Father of Modern Backgammon”, established the World Backgammon Club in New York City and began to organize the first international backgammon tournaments. Prince Obolensky’s parents and ancestors were of a noble family from the Rurik Dynasty that escaped from Russia to Turkey after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Born in 1914, Prince Alexis would have been between five and 10 years old when he was taught to play backgammon by his family’s gardener in Istanbul, this measured by the fact that his family also lived in France in the 1920s before they emigrated to the USA where Prince Alexis later graduated from the University of Virginia.
Being very charismatic, Prince Alexis Obolensky became well-acquainted with many socialites and celebrities in the USA and Europe, and shared his passion of the game with them. He devised a tournament system in 1963 and then organized the first major international backgammon tournament at the Lucayan Beach Hotel in Freeport, Bahamas in 1964. This ignited what is known as “the heyday of Backgammon” – people, young and old, began to play the game everywhere and backgammon tournaments grew in popularity.
Tobacco, liquor and automobile companies began sponsoring backgammon tournaments and the game was enjoyed by Playboy’s Hugh Hefner who organized backgammon parties at his famous Los Angeles mansion. Lucille Ball, Ari and Christina Onassis, Polly Bergen and Jill St. John are just a few of many socialites and celebrities that got involved in the game"
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