Once upon a time, backgammon players could argue for hours about which play was right – and there wasn’t a good way to settle the argument.
Today that’s all changed, with programs like Extreme Backgammon (known as XG) that can analyze complex situations in seconds.
But one person you would not want to argue with today is Masayuki Mochizuki, known universally in the backgammon community as Mochy.
This past week, Mochy achieved a pinnacle that no other human has ever reached: Super Grandmaster Class 3, which means that he played with an average PR of not more than 2.40 over the course of 300 experience points (in his case, that was 27 matches).
PR stands for Performance Rating, and 0.00 is perfect, at least according to XG. Most open players play between 4 and 7. For a player to be over 1.5 PR points better than the best open players is an amazing – and once thought impossible – achievement.
Backgammon titles are administered by the BMAB, the Backgammon Masters Awarding Body.
Mochy is a Voice of Backgammon expert co-host and you can watch him play and see his live commentary on twitch.tv/voiceofbackgammon. You may register to receive notifications for upcoming tournaments.
Please join me in saluting Mochy on Facebook for his inspirational achievement.