In order to meet Falafel, the highest ranked backgammon player in the world, I took a Greyhound bus to Atlantic City, and then hopped a jitney to the Borgata Hotel. Falafel’s real name is Matvey Natanzon, but no one calls him that, not even his mother, who calls him Mike, the name that he adopted when they emigrated from Israel to Buffalo—one leg in a long journey that began in Soviet Russia. Now even Falafel calls himself Falafel...

Read the rest of the article, published in New York Times here.

The T system, which is used by many clubs and Directors in the world is now available not only through the Turkish server, but also through a German server, accessible at: http://tsystem.world-backgammon-association.com. 

Tournament Directors who have access with their login and password can choose either server to run their events.

Both servers contain the same software and setting options and offer the same features to all.

The number of breaks during a match has been changed.

Breaks are now added to the time bank of each player when a clock is in use. Clocks are NOT to be stopped during the breaks and the time will be running on the player on break. Please check General Rules section for the updates.