John Graham on why British players have been left behind

Backgammon came of age in the Nineties. This may sound odd for a game that has been played for a good 2,500 years, but it was in 1991 that the modern game was born.

Its midwife was Dr Gerald Tesauro, of IBM Research Laboratories in White Plains, New York. His creation was a backgammon program that was so advanced that few could beat it.

Eight years on, advanced backgammon software is available and players without it no longer compete. Once, gifted amateurs could go a long wayin international tournaments.But such has been the computer-aided rise in standards that they areseen off in the early rounds.

Backgammon is a natural for the Internet. JellyFish, the most popular program, is on Norwegian site effect.no. For a news group, try rec.games.backgammon.

Biba, the British Isles Backgammon Association, is dedicated to promoting the game, and stages competitions for players of all abilities.

Backgammon at its highest level is dominated by options traders. At its heart is the tricky business of choosing between options of near-identical value. Serious money changes hands - in one American game the stakes are $100,000 a point - and an international tournament circuit runs from Paris to Palm Springs, Melbourne to Monaco. The winners receive five-figure cheques and side games last until dawn. Sadly, the winners are seldom British.

In the 1970s, when John Aspinall ran the Clermont Club in Berkeley Square, Britons were among the best in the world. Tournaments at the Clermont and Crockfords attracted the best from Europe, America and the Middle East. Today we cannot compete against the Americans, Germans or Scandinavians.

The reason is British law. It classifies backgammon as a game of chance, unlike bridge or chess, and this puts restrictions on the staging of tournaments and prize money.

Yet, if backgammon is just a gamble, why is it the subject of intellectual study and how do the same players continue to win? The effect of the law has been to remove the financial incentives that led players in other countries to develop their game. The greatest service anyone could do for the game is to lobby MPs to change the law.

Biba: 01522 888676 or 0411 361566; e-mail: biba@global net.co.uk