Hello Hello Orderers,
As you know I romanticize the backgammon community as one of those last spaces of justice and order where things work as they are supposed to and collaboration and competition happen among different nations in their carefully ordered spaces. This is partially due to the wisdom of the tournament directors and Backgammon Galaxy which bring us the best tournament of the year in the best location and best venue. And part of mega ordering is kicking out the bad apples and policing for fairness—and all of that happened in Monaco at the World Championships of Backgammon this year. But the bigger part of Mega-Ordering is trying to foster a space where we can embrace difference and diversity and collaboration and competition where each person is bringing their unique skills to the party:
I was very fortunate at this year’s World Championship of Backgammon to make the above pictured semi-final and to win that match. The main tournament overall was was probably the strongest field of 200+ Backgammon players ever assembled for an eight round tournament of long matches. The format of two 17 point matches a day (eaching taking two to five hours) for four days relies on skill, stamina, luck, mental calm, and emotional fortitude in equal measures. When I got through many tough opponents to find myself in the final day playing Naoki Iketani, the Japanese Grandmaster, in the semi-final I was not only so grateful but also in a state of bewilderment… How could I prevail against such an unflappable and gracious and tenacious competitor?
And somehow I felt that the Mega-Ordering Gods took control of both my brain and my arms and they rolled and made the moves for me.. In addition to rolling like a superhuman I played one of the best matches of my career. And I feel it is something I should be proud of and share with supporters of the pod via the below YouTube.
I bested Ikutani both in Performance Rating and in Luck rating and then had to play the Grand Final for the Gold Medal against the then 3-time finalist, Petko Konstantinov, a Bulgarian/American Grandmaster.
Petko is to my right holding the Bulgarian and American flags… To his right is Arda Fındıkoğlu, the world’s most prominent and most highly regarded backgammon organizer, and to my left is Marc Olsen the former disorder podcast guest and host/owner of the World Championships of Backgammon who is also the owner of Backgammon Galaxy.
The match was both the most significant sporting/competitive moment of my life and also a non-contest, where I got so destroyed that I wish I had been the Chiefs in Feb 2025 in New Orleans facing the Eagles and only finding themselves down 24-0 at half time. Petko’s dice caught fire and he gammoned me at will. It was like Mahomes getting sacked everytime he dropped back to pass.
I played reasonably well overall and quite well given the circumstances but it was Petko’s moment and I simply couldn’t get any dice… and if you can’t hit shots that the opponent leaves and he throws big doubles to gammon and backgammon you by a roll, there is nothing that can be done but to grin and bear it. And grin I did. We both played the match reasonably well from a performance rating perspective… but the dice were the issue.. it was Petko’s moment…
So after coming second in Speedgammon last year as well in 2024, I now have added a second place Silver medal in the main event to my trophy case..
I got to share this emotional and momentous moment with my New York Crew especially, John Veltri and Ma Lang who just got married and contributed many of these photos… John got the finals of the High Roller event and I am so proud of him, he bested four of the world’s top grandmasters in a row to get the final.
Below is the video of a close German/Turkish friend, Pina, who supported me and helped me when I had a ‘bloody sports injury’ and needed some help
And lastly here are many of us celebrating my getting to the semi-final the night before it… On the left of the photo is Valeria Molinari of Milan who designs beautiful backgammon themed artwork, jewelry and boards.. In addition to work with glass, watercolour and gemstones, whe is herself a real gem..
She has made the gorgeous crown pins that she and I are wearing above.
https://backgammonbeauty.com/
So I may not have become World Champion of backgammon but as Vice-Champion I learned many lessons about mega orderering….humility and self-improvement and it requires friends and allies and trying to make yourself better always.. and trusting and collaborating with others..
And here is my speech upon receiving the Silver Medal:
I literally had no idea what I would say when handed the mic but all the years of podcasting seem to have come in handy..
So when I look back at my trophy case it may not look perfect, but I’ll take a page from my friend and mentor Johan Moazed and know to be so immensely grateful.
I hope you enjoy this this reminiscence on backgammon and that if you want to get into the spirit of the game that you check out how to play online (both on phone and computer) at https://www.backgammongalaxy.com/
You can not only play all players of all levels there but you can learn and improve and get lessons and merch and understand the game better via the range of associated products and services that Galaxy offers. It is truly the one stop shop for all things gammon..
From the Disorder angle, I want to tell the potential mega-orderers a story that happened to me today then offer you a discount:
So I am in the Men’s bathing pond in Highgate (north london) today… and while doing my horrible form of something resembling side stroke, I overhear discussion of Thames Water and why nationalization won’t be easy as the 16 billion debt would have to be born by taxpayers and that the liabilities that the company has that would need to be nationalized… And there were interesting points being made about Australian hedge funds and the British exchequer etc and how shoudl Burnham handle it… I was very fascinated and wanted to clarify something so, I felt i should interject… so I did.. And what do you know the people having the discussion in the water knew of disorder and knew Goalhanger and said they liked the show… and then having spoken a bit while wadding and paddling I set off to do backstroke and I heard an excuse me… and a slightly older gentleman says pardon me… and thensays… ‘I am so sorry to interrupt but are you Jason Pack.’ I said that I was… turns out he was a superfan and told me how much he likes Ms Kinninmont and our programme and what it adds to his life… and wow after my gratitude of winning in bg to be spotted not once but twice in a ten minute span by fans… hence I decreed in his honour and to commemorate my win there shall be discounts for all those who wish to join the Mega-Orderers club for early release and ad free episodes:
